Group travel vs. group travel
I leave for Belize in 23 hours and 23 minutes. And while I am feeling very, very excited and very, very fortunate, I’m also approaching this trip with a bit more hesitancy than I usually do.
I’m traveling to Belize — specifically the Cayo District in the Western part of the country — with a group called Global Brigades. Global Brigades has many different specialties and many different chapters around the world. My specific chapter, the Global Business Brigades at Marshall (USC’s business school), is heading to Belize to consult two locally-owned community business.
This is going to be an incredible learning experience for me, but I am definitely out of my comfort zone. In the 21 years of life that I have gratefully spent traveling, I’d venture to guess that about 95% of those experiences happened in a highly-populated urban area. I’m talking major cities with tons of tourist traps and overpriced taxis. This is the first time in my life where I’ll be staying in a more rural, removed region that sits right up against a vast expanse of wildlife.
San Ignacio is the region where I’ll be staying during my trip. It’s very far inland and right on the border with Guatemala.
By that regard, I’m already way in over my head. But then comes the element of being a Brigade Leader. Yes, yours truly was selected to be one of two leaders for this trip, which has meant extra meetings, tracking down members for their information, facilitating customs forms, and just in general making sure that everything goes smoothly. There are 12 of us total on the brigade although two are taking a separate flight. That means that it will be left up to me and our other Brigade Leader to keep track of eight people through:
Getting to LAX, four hours before our flight. There’s a major stipulation here as our trip logistics makes check-in online impossible. We all have to check in at the front desk.
Making it through LAX. Statistically, at least one person is going to have something in their carry-on or personal item that is going to elicit a bag search.
Making content. On top of being a Brigade Leader, I am also the Marketing Director for the club, so I have to be on top of my content game. I have plenty of fun ideas lined up, if my fellow brigaders are willing.
Navigating the Minneapolis airport on very few hours of sleep. We have a rather obscure flight path that takes us to the Midwest (which was obviously not my choice) before flying in to Belize City. Since our flight leaves at 11:50 p.m. PST, we’ll arrive in Minneapolis around 5:00 a.m. CST, meaning we’ll have gotten three hours of sleep, if we sleep at all.
Navigating the Belize City airport on few hours of sleep. We are meeting the Global Brigades correspondents at the airport, which means that we have to find these said correspondents.
Keeping the spirit alive during a dreadful car ride. As if 14-ish hours of airport traveling wasn’t enough, we are due for a 2.5-hour car ride out of Belize City to San Ignacio in the Cayo District. San Ignacio happens to be extremely close to the border with Guatemala!
Did I mention content? With my fried brain and semi-closed eyes, I’ll have to make sure that I’m documenting everything for our Instagram and for the memories. I feel like as time wears on my fellow brigaders will become less and less willing to participate.
And I think that sums up my current stressors. As you can see, this is much different than normal group traveling. I’m actually heading to Italy in May with five other people on a leisure trip, where the stakes are much lower even though two people are not even flying with us from the same U.S. airport. There’s something about being responsible for so many other people on top of having to fill out all the customs forms and USC-travel abroad forms that has just increased my anxiety levels. There’s the added pressure of performing well once we get to San Ignacio and making a lasting impact on the business that we help out.
So, I’m really learning about the differences between the different types of group travel. In this case, where I’m responsible for a lot, the pressure is mounting. It feels strange to search for the adult in the room to help lead a group, when in fact you are the aforementioned adult. I believe, however, that with my trusty itineraries and other brigade members around me, I’ll be fine.
