FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS – INBOUND JOURNEYS
Also see: JOURNEYS – PAST AND FUTURE
How can I participate in an Inbound Journey?
There are so many ways to experience an Incoming Journey. You can be a Home Host, a Day Host, a Planning Committee Member, an interpreter, a photographer, a small dinner host, a driver, a snack provider, etc.
- Home Host: Home Hosts are responsible for having the Ambassador stay in their home (usually 5 – 7 nights) and providing any meals that are not group events. You will communicate with the Ambassador prior to their arrival, pick them up, bring them to your home, show them around, make their stay comfortable, transport them and join them in the various scheduled group activities, engage with them and become a friend. You can take a break for a day or a few by requesting a Day Host as you may have something you cannot reschedule or you just need some down time. This is perfectly acceptable and allows other Club members to get to know an Ambassador. You should plan to attend the welcome and farewell events too, and you will have to pay your own costs. We do have an application for Hosting and if you have not done so previously, we will chat with you to make sure you have all of your questions answered and that your place is set up for visitors.
- Day Host: A Day Host is someone who cannot or does not wish to take on the full responsibility of Hosting for a week. A Day Host will either pick up the Ambassador at the Host’s home or meet at a car pooling place, etc. and then escort the Ambassador for the day and participate in the scheduled activities. It is a great way to get started as an FF member. You will be expected to pay your own way for the costs of the day’s activities.
- Planning Committee Member: A great deal of planning goes into hosting another club and many helpers are required. Each day involves activities (group visits to local attractions or things that are unique to the area), though one day is usually a “wish” day or a “free” day when the Host and Ambassador can do whatever they would most enjoy. Every group day requires planning – researching times, distances, ticket costs, lunch options, budgeting, transportation arrangements, organizing Day Hosts and Small Dinner Hosts, a welcome and farewell event, usually a small gift bag, an itinerary and contact information, a welcome booklet, photos, etc. If the group is full of people who do not speak English, a translator might be needed. It’s complicated – and many hands make lighter work. It’s fun, and you get to know your fellow Club members.
- Small Dinner Host: our Club usually builds a small dinner into our schedule. This allows a member who is not Home Hosting to hold a small dinner in their home – anywhere from 4 – 8 people. More in depth conversation in a quieter setting provides a better chance to get to know each other. You can cook – but you can also buy something already prepared. It really doesn’t matter – the fellowship is what matters.
- ]Other Tasks: We can often use a photographer, sometimes an interpreter, a welcome booklet maker, someone who makes phone calls to find dinner hosts, someone who matches Hosts with Ambassadors, schedules and coordinates Day Hosts, picks people up at the airport, etc. and takes them where they need to be, provides entertainment at a welcome or farewell event, make snacks for a bus trip, shops for miscellaneous items that are needed, checks people in at an event, set up and cleanup at events, etc. Maybe you have experience with the country Ambassadors are coming from and can tell Hosts about the culture. If you have an hour or 20, we have a job you can do. Please join us! It is a good way to learn and get to know others here
Contact the Journey Manager, Stephanie Sorensen at ssorensen268@gmail.com or 608 819-6646 with specific detailed questions.