Spring Trip to New Orleans
Dear Mav Band and Guard Families,
SPRING TRIP TO NEW ORLEANS!!!! The McNeil Band is traveling to the Big Easy for our 2021-2022 trip. The dates of the trip are April 22-25 and it is for current Mav Band and Guard students and parents/ guardians. Other siblings or family members cannot attend this trip. We chose these dates because it will be after UIL Concert and Sight Reading Evaluation and before prom and AP & STAAR testing.
We will hit many major attractions, attend world-class performances, eat fantastic food, and make wonderful lifelong memories. Although the official dates have not been announced yet, this is the traditional weekend for the world-renowned New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and we plan on attending! This is the fourth time for the McNeil Band to travel to New Orleans and it is a favorite! I just got back from New Orleans on Sunday and I can't wait to go back!
One of the unique offerings in the band experience is traveling. These trips are consistently the most memorable experiences for students and they talk about them for the rest of their lives. There is nothing like traveling with a big group of friends and it is unique to our fine arts programs. Our goal is to have a vast majority of the students attend the trip, along with several parent chaperones.
REGISTER AND PUT DOWN YOUR DEPOSIT NOW….BUT DEFINITELY BY AUGUST 1!!!
Payment The cost of the trip is on the families and it is entirely optional. It will be one of the greatest high school experiences for everyone who goes. We open registration this early in order to allow you to spread the cost over more payments. Payments are all made directly to Educational Travel Adventures at www.etadventures.com. PLEASE DIRECT ALL QUESTIONS ABOUT REGISTRATION AND PAYMENTS TO ETA. THE DIRECTORS DO NOT HANDLE ANY OF THESE THINGS.
Rooming Assignments Students will room with other students of the same gender, and they will choose their roommates as the trip approaches. Students will develop new friendships they don’t know about yet, so you are only registering to attend the trip at this point.
If you sign up for a quad room, then there will be three other students in your room. Period. If you want your own bed or want to room with only one other person, then both students must sign up for a double. If you desire a room with two other specific students, then all three of you must sign up for a triple room. Again, all quad registrations will have three other students in the room.
Parent Chaperones?? Please let me know if you would like to chaperone this trip before signing up. We need several adults on this trip, but we must go through all of the proper RRISD channels first. Chaperones will stay in a double room with another adult. While we will try our best to refund part of the cost of the trip for chaperones, they should expect to pull the price in full. Again, chaperones need to wait to register until they hear back from me.
Trip Insurance This is optional, but highly recommended. Please note that ETA does not offer trip insurance, as it is provided by a third party.
Website Registration Instructions (PLEASE READ CAREFULLY)
1. Visit https://www.etadventures.com. Click the green button in the top right-hand corner "Log in to myETA"
Trip Code: mcneilband22
Password: msytrip22
2. Click on the Red Button that says "Make a New Reservation"
3. Complete the information and continue to follow the instructions to complete your registration.
4. Once you have completed your reservation, you will come to a page with tabs at the top, click on the "Passengers" tab.
5. On the Passengers tab, click on the "Waiver Incomplete View/Edit" button.
6. Complete all required information in the Waiver. You can log out and log back in to finish the waiver at a later date using the reservation information emailed to you.
7. Refer to these instructions again before contacting a director. They will likely ask you to follow these same instructions.
Sincerely,
Jason Dimiceli
Director of Bands
McNeil High School
512-464-6424