I’m going to Victoria Falls!

Tomorrow at 6am I board a flight to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.  While this technically is not a pleasure trip, I definitely plan to enjoy myself when I’m not working.  I am going to Victoria Falls for the United Nations World Tourism Organization General Assembly.  The General Assembly is the annual meeting where all the Ministers of Tourism from the member countries come to discuss tourism policy.

In honor of my upcoming trip I recently read “Into Africa: The Epic Adventures of Stanley and Livingstone” and “The Life & African Explorations of David Livingstone.” For those of you who may not be familiar with Dr. Livingstone, he was the inspiration behind the name of my blog, Dr. Phelan, I Presume?  If you haven’t read the details behind my blog title you can read about it in this post.

I’ve also been busy reading the several hundred pages of documents related to policy discussions which will take place during the UNWTO.  When I heard the UNWTO was being held in the countries right next door I contacted the UN and asked if I could attend.  Fortunately I did this way back in March because it took them several weeks of deliberation to determine whether or not I could participate.  I was eventually told, “This is an unusual request.  We have never had a professor ask to attend the UNWTO.  But given your appeal we would be happy to invite you to attend as a special guest.  Please find your invitation and credentials enclosed.”

Check this out- I am a Special Guest:

I always love attending conferences because I inevitably learn things and meet people I would never have expected.  Hopefully this one will as interesting and as much fun as I expect.