Chapter 25
metro systems. Six of the 7 Baret Home Base cities have large scale extensive metros and are easy to get around. All air and rail travel is economy class.
Transportation, Boarding, Dining, Visas & Vaccinations
Boarding/Hotels IN OUR Home Base cities, Baret arranges for blocks of rooms in major hotels or serviced apartments for students and the traveling Baret team. As our require- ments are substantial (significant confer- ence facilities/ technology, high quality food service, central city locations so our students can move around easily, and strong security systems) typically these hotels are global or national brands or af- filiates of such. For example, in the first semester of our current year, we are stay- ing in Sheraton or Pullman hotels. When possible, we secure entire floors, and Baret Fellows will reside on each floor. Students will be 2-to-a-room. Unless our students are participating with friends, roommates will change in each Home Base city, but we will be attentive to stu- dent preferences, including rooming with the friends they make as they go along in the Baret year. During Fellowship travel (where we don’t need the same level of conference capability and stays are shorter), hotels or serviced apartments will be safe and comfortable, but more basic, even rustic, when we are far off beaten paths. Dining BARET WILL provide breakfast and lunch every day, 7 days a week, for the entire program year. As we encourage students to engage with the city, including din- ing in various groups around the city, dinners are not included in the Baret meal plan. In Home Base cities we will be staying in major hotels or serviced apartments with excellent food service facilities. There, we’ll either provide breakfast and lunch or per diems for students which can be used wherever they like. In the cities/towns for Fellowships, students will usually dine out with per diem al- lowances for breakfast and lunch.
LOGISTICS, LOGISTICS, logistics. That is an apt description of the less than exciting, but no less critical, op- erational aspects of Baret Scholars. To the uninitiated, the task could seem daunting. To those of us on the Baret team who have built and managed large systems of schools with aggregate en- rollment of nearly 100,000 students, it is all in a day’s work. And to Jeanne Baret, who set out in a 100 foot wooden ship not even knowing her exact desti- nations, what we are executing wouldn’t seem challenging at all! Baret’s logistics begin with a multi- cultural, full-time, 36 person team (18 globally and 20 with the Baret Scholars each day) plus dozens of consultants. The Baret team was designed and built with an eye towards local logistics. Baret team members were born in and live in our 7 re- gions. They know the language, the laws, the norms and the pluses and minuses of each country’s infrastructure. They know that São Paulo to Rio is a short 220 miles (355 km) as the crow flies, but along the Dutra road, it can take 6–8 hours if you are unlucky with traffic. On the other hand, Beijing to Shanghai, a distance of over 700 miles (1,130 km), is an easy, 4 hour, high speed train ride. Strategic partners (like global air carriers and hotel groups) extend the expertise of the Baret team, as do strong contacts with state departments and embassies.
Here’s a snapshot of key logistical matters.
Transportation THOUGH BARET Scholars use almost ev- ery means of transport across the year, we will primarily be using air and rail. Between the 7 regions, we’ll use large, global, commercial carriers (for exam- ple, Emirates, British Airways, Delta, American, Air China). On in-country routes related to the Fellowships, we’ll use large, national carriers (for exam- ple, American, United, China South- ern, LATAM, Ethiopia). All flights will be scheduled by Baret and are included in the travel fee, though students will be responsible for their flights to orienta- tion, from graduation, and back and forth from home for winter break. As it is a far better way to get a sense of a country, rail will be used extensively in Baret’s Fellowship programs in Europe and China (which have the largest high speed networks) and, to a slightly lesser degree, in India. Baret will schedule all air and rail travel in the Fellowships, and this is included in the travel fee as well. The Home Base cities were chosen, in part, based on their “walkability” and
Visas BARET HAS a full-time visa expert on its team. Between students being accepted and their arrival at Baret’s orientation week, we will coordinate with students on their needed Visas. Note: as Visas typically have to be done individually, stu- dents will be responsible for their Visa ap- plications, with our guidance and support. Though a nuisance of foreign travel, it’s also a way for students to learn essential travel skills that will serve them for life.
Vaccinations THERE WILL be shots! Again, in the months between acceptance and orientation, our Chief Medical Officer will advise students of required (or recommended) vaccina- tions for each country. Students will need to arrange these, but we’ll guide them in that process.
134 BARET SCHOLARS
135 LOGISTICS, LOGISTICS, LOGISTICS
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