Looking to Travel?

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Do you have a valid passport? If not, you should get one. Ottawa University recently announced plans for several faculty-led trips abroad at a Tuesday afternoon information session.

The first option for Ottawa University students is a trip to Mumbai, India, tentatively scheduled for January 2-12, 2019. For the price of a roundtrip plane ticket, students will get to spend 10 days in India’s largest city on its western seashore. Current plane tickets from Kansas City to Mumbai are in the range of $1,200-$1,500. A flight to India takes roughly a whole day of flying, and plans are for students to stay in university housing in Mumbai.

India is a massive country with a growing population. A student traveling abroad to India will experience a vastly different country and culture. Dr. Russ McCullough, a veteran of two previous Ottawa University trips to India, says, “India will likely be the most exotic thing you’ve ever seen; it is really something else to see a different culture.”

McCullough is particularly enamored with Indian food, saying, “Indian cuisine is all across the board, and it’s wonderful”.

The second faculty led trip is to Canada in May 2019. This trip is led by Dr. Steven Foulke, Professor of History and Dr. Carine Ullom, School of Education. While the itinerary is still being processed, plans are for a three-city trip to Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal. Ottawa University students will be staying at university housing in Canada, including Ottawa University (Canada). Foulke and Ullom touted this trip as “Ottawa goes to Ottawa.”

The cost for Canada is estimated at just under $2,300 and covers roundtrip flights, ground transportation from Toronto to Ottawa to Montreal, public transportation and lodging. This trip also requires a course LAS/HPS to be taken as a prerequisite to travel abroad.

A trip to Canada, while taking less time to travel, will also give Ottawa Students a unique experience.

Foulke says, “So what’s kind of cool, I think, about the trip is that it’s actually a fairly contained area from Toronto to Ottawa to Montreal, but you’re sort of at least in two if not three different countries.”

He also notes the language difference, saying, “Montreal is only 45 minutes from the US border, but it feels like it’s on the other side of the Atlantic.”

More detailed information on both trips will be proved in an upcoming meeting next month, time and date to be announced.