AIR TRAVEL

Getting there is easy. American Airlines has two flights daily from Miami to Providenciales  It's a quick, easy, and luxurious 1:20 minute ride on a 727. Roundtrip airfares from Cleveland vary from about $360 to something like $740, depending on when you purchase tickets. Watch for sales, pick your dates, and grab tickets when they are cheap. I watch prices on the Internet at http://www.aa.com . You might also watch http://www.traveldiscounters.com/   . If I see good prices, I'll let you all know right away by e-mail. Everybody else do the same? Help us find the best fares as a group...! Another good source of travel deals is http://www.travelocity.com  .

AMERICAN AIRLINES BAGGAGE LIMITS TO PROVO

Each passenger is allowed two checked bags with a combined weight limit of 100 lb and one carry-on bag with a weight limit of 40 lb. (Thanks to
W8TK for this info, current as of 9 January 1998.)

AMERICAN AIRLINES FREIGHT POLICIES

Thanks to Goose for the following info.

0-50 lbs = $75

51-70 lbs = $150

These are the costs per parcel. The container that holds the amps, etc. cannot exceed a total size (L+W+H) of 90 inches. You can check the
freight between 4 hrs and 1 hr before flight departure but you must check it in the day of the flight. You have to make out some
shipping/customs documents (more on that later) in triplicate to ship with the package. AA requires a connection time of 2 hours in Miami or San
Juan to insure delivery at the final destination on the same day. This means that we could essentially have our stuff on the same flights that we
are going on !!! If the connection time is less than 2 hrs, we will get it the next day. The only fly in the ointment is that the freight offices are
only open on Mondays through Fridays. But the guy says that since we are going to the Caribbean, we could probably sweet talk them down there
in Provo to release it.

LODGING

You're encouraged to make your own lodging arrangements. Have a look at some of the Turks sites elsewhere on the VP5CW site. Figure something like $600 lodging for 5-6 days, in a shared-living kind of setup. More, of course, if you want a lot of privacy. If you know your dates FOR SURE, please let me know, and I'll put them into the lodging planning. The current lodging arrangements can be viewed by clicking here.

OTHER COSTS

There will be some costs common to the entire team, such as shares of the cost of renting the station QTH, possibly leased computers, possible equipment shipping and insurance costs, QSLs, and others that are presently unforseen. We'll simply divide this cost by the number of operating hams on the team.

RENTAL CARS

Rental cars are available on Provo, but reservations need to be made as far in advance as possible. Make your own reservations -- you can save some dollars by arranging to share a car with someone else on the team. The agency is "Provo Rent a Car Limited", (809) 946-4404. There are also other agencies there -- see the Turks links. They're not cheap -- on the order of $50/day. You must have a Visa card at Provo Rent a Car   -- they won't take anything else.

PASSPORTS

You need not have a passport. An original U.S. birth certificate will get you into and out of the country. A passport is very good insurance while traveling out of the states, though. Call the post office in your town and ask for the location of a post office that does passport servicing. Pick up a passport application form at AAA or a travel agent. Then go to AAA, Kinkos, or almost any commercial photographer to get an official passport photo shot. Take the photo, the completed application form, and your birth certificate to the passport-servicing post office. The fee is $85, and you need to allow at least two months lead time.

LICENSES

Each operator will need to have a VP5 ham license. Send me a copy of your stateside license (or FAX it to (330) 672-2953) and a check payable to Geoff Howard for $25 and I'll take care of the rest. Geoff Howard, W0CG, 1984 Trares Road, Suffield, OH 44260.

CUSTOMS

I will need serial numbers for all equipment once we figure out who is bringing what.