The International Study Course is an incredible opportunity to learn how to navigate planning an international trip and experience cultural and economic differences.
As part of the Meals & Logistics team for the South Korea trip, our responsibilities include organizing accommodations, transportation and meals during the week. To successfully tackle these tasks, the Meals & Logistics team strategically plans, demonstrates time management skills, has clear communication, as well as strong organizational skills.
Here’s the approach we used in order to set expectations for the team and successfully execute our planning strategy:
Assess the city and country you are travelling to
Every destination has their own unique characteristics that impact the kinds of public transit, accommodations and restaurants available. Taking time at the beginning to research and understand the city will make planning easier. Seoul, for instance, has an extensive public transportation system that spans the entire city. Therefore, a hotel near a subway station where multiple lines connect would be most ideal. Furthermore, some sectors are better known for being foreigner-friendly, which also influences which areas to focus on when looking for hotels and restaurants.
Lastly, having an idea of the city’s relative cost of living is critical in order to have accurate expectations for the costs of accommodations and restaurant reservations. For example, Seoul likely has a cost of living that varies significantly from Hanoi. Thus, before beginning to book accommodations and restaurants, having an understanding of the city improves planning productivity.
Reach out to book accommodations
Hotels are typically booked the furthest in advance and are one of the larger expenses - so, finding availability in the early stages of planning is key.
Based on your mental picture of the city, determine what is the most optimal location of the hotel, whether it be near a transit station, in an affordable sector etc. Due to monetary restrictions, you may have to balance comfort and location preferences with the prices. However, as a rule of thumb, it is best to reach out to a variety of hotels, as the more options you have, the better!
Find restaurants for professional dinners
Ideally, all meetings would be booked prior to the search of restaurants, allowing for a more focused search. Taking budget into consideration, look for meal spots that are appropriate for a professional dinner. Try to use as many resources as possible to discover restaurants, including social media, Google Maps, travel agency sites, country-specific platforms and others. Contacting as many options as possible is important. In addition to the variety of restaurants, using multiple methods of communications to book reservations, such as calling, social media messaging and email, can help broaden your options.
Plan all transportation routes and methods
Finally, carefully plan all transportation routes based on your meetings and restaurants. Using the native navigation app of the country, write down all transportation courses with specific stations, stops, timestamps as well as back-up plans. Based on what country you may be travelling to, the typical online platforms such as Google, may not be the most optimal and accurate source. For instance, Google Maps is not typically used in Korea, and Naver Maps is used instead. If possible, it is best to have some extra time in case a meeting runs late or if you go the wrong direction.
Overall, organizing accommodations, transportation and restaurants requires a logical and methodical approach to account for international differences in structure, online information sources and cost of living.
The International Study Course provides numerous opportunities to develop skills in planning and analysis, problem-solving, and research.