All in a Day's Work
by Melody Fee, OSSN Vice President

Well, it's been an exciting month here at OSSN headquarters and I just want to share some of these highlights with you. As you can imagine, OSSN may have 20 irons in the fire at one time some months as we strive to provide unique educational opportunities for our members and as we just handle the day-to-day "events" that come up along the way!

This past week, OSSN president Gary Fee was in South Africa handling the final inspections for the upcoming International conference in Cape Town (and in the South Africa wine lands, Durban, Johannesburg and at Mabula Game Reserve!) And it was one whirlwind tour! He already made some great friends and new contacts for our event. We are really excited to have the support of a wonderful tourism organization called "Cape Town Routes Unlimited" which is headed up by executive manager, Sue Piper. ( www.capetourism.org) This regional tourism office is very excited that OSSN is coming over and has added some nice features to our daily agenda including a picnic lunch to be held in Kistenbosch National Botanical Gardens in Cape Town. Other special features that were not previously advertised are also being added but for now, we'll keep those a surprise for our attendees!

We also owe a GREAT BIG THANKS to South Africa Tourism for their support and their interest in OSSN's upcoming conference event! We know that South Africa Tourism has been doing a lot in the last six months to build awareness for their new "brand" campaign and we are glad that OSSN can be a part of this education for travel agents in our association! South Africa Tourism has just added NEW executive officers to its most important offices, including Mr. Claude Pretorius, Portfolio Manager of the Americas and also Dr. Felicia Suttle, President, South Africa Tourism! We welcome both to their new positions and look forward to working with them to support tourism to South Africa! And of course, I cannot say enough about our host suppliers, Big Five Tours and Three Cities Group Hotels, both of whom have been working diligently to put every piece of the conference in order, We have really enjoyed working with them and we know the attendees will appreciate their efforts, as well.

I would also add a special thank you to our host airline South Africa Airways for their tireless support and efforts to bring almost 100 agents to South Africa! They have offered us rates for a group of this size which are hard to get even for travel professionals and we look forward to introducing their "brand of service" to OSSN conference attendees and to all OSSN members! Jill Polsky, the reginal representative for South Africa Airways really went to bat for this group and we have enjoyed working with her!

Although our earlier choice of hotel in the wine lands was to be LeFranschhoek, in the village of Franschhoek, the former property is not quite ready for its grand opening and thus OSSN has actually been awarded the opportunity to now stay at one of the premium properties in all of the wine lands, Spier!

An enchanting Cape African experience awaits OSSN 2005 International Conference attendees at historic Spier in the heart of the Stellenbosch Wine lands. The Village at Spier hotel is designed to recreate the intimate and relaxed atmosphere of a small village. The 155 rooms are situated in Cape styled buildings. The buildings are centered around six private courtyards and swimming pools, and connected by indigenous gardens and walkways. Emphasis has been placed on maintaining the ecological integrity of the area, and where possible, natural materials and resources have been used. Spier is an internationally renowned destination that combines village ambience, superb restaurants and the peace and tranquility of the wine lands. So this was one of our exciting changes this week!

It has also been a special week due to the groundwork that has been going on as we plan for a special "educational fam" that OSSN is hosting in Breckinridge this December 2005. If you have ever had the opportunity to help a friend or client who is disabled to travel successfully or to overcome an obstacle that kept them from enjoying traveling, then you may be excited about this fam, especially if you like winter sports. I have watched an organization called Disabled Sports, USA to host a special ski event in Breckenridge several years ago and I was so surprised to see what this organization and these skiers could do! Hosted at Beaver Run Resort every year for quite some time, it is an action-packed week with ski and snowboard lessons, parties, trade shows and more for the participants who have a variety of disabilities to compensate for. I watched paraplegic skiers and even blind skiers come down the mountain with style and with confidence and I watched skiers take their first lessons with wonderful instructors that just knew exactly how to build that confidence in those students who so much wanted to take part in a sport that they felt might be out of their reach! And even though Beaver Run Resort isn't really set up to accommodate so many folks with disabilities at one time, they do a fine job by preparing all year long to assist this group!

So OSSN is going to take a group of agents to Beaver Run Resort ( 970-453 6000) in Breckenridge that same week to be a part of that excitement. We will help you learn more about these organizations that host this type of event AND even about an excellent local organization in Breckenridge named, Breckenridge Outdoor Education Center, that can line up this special training for your clients that also may have such special needs for "adaptive sports training."

It promises to be a motivational experience and one that I am really looking forward to! In fact I am already going to take at least one "special needs" client with me and he can't wait to start getting back on the slopes after his accident that left him paralyzed from the waist down one year ago this week. And maybe it is even because of him that I realized that EVERYONE must have (travel) goals and hope and excitement in their lives. As a travel professional, these are some of the joys that we do give back to our clients, whether they have physical challenges or not.

So as I try to prepare for the long flight to Africa, I also hope that you will all look forward to your own new opportunities to develop new business and to make your clients' real dreams a reality for them!

Happy Spring to each of you!