Plane, Bus, or Car: How Will Your Son Travel to Camp?
*Updates and changes due to COVID-19 (Last updated on March 12, 2021)
This month’s Handbook Helper will break down all that goes into getting your son to Minnesota’s Northwoods and back home again.
*Considerations for Car Travel to Camp
This summer, we strongly recommend driving your son to camp! It is the best way to limit exposure to COVID-19 while your son travels. Directions are available here on the website.
New Online Travel Form
For the summer of 2021 we have a new online travel form. It has a few more questions than the previous form as well as travel dates and time windows required for each session. It’s extremely important to make sure your son’s travel times fit within our windows.
Travel time windows are different depending on the travel method:
Air (Fly)
Bus
Car (Drive)
TO CAMP
AIR – Flights ARRIVE between 8:00am – 12:30pm; campers flying to MSP will be placed on the bus to camp
*BUS – ARRIVE at MSP by 1:30, meet at the IKEA parking lot; ensure your son has already eaten lunch before dropping him off.
CAR – ARRIVE at camp between 4:00pm – 5:00pm
FROM CAMP
AIR – Flights DEPART between 1:00pm – 4:00pm; campers flying from MSP will be placed on the bus from camp
*BUS – PICK UP at MSP between 11:00 – 11:30am; pickup location TBD
CAR – PICK UP at camp between 9:30am – 10:00am for Badger Camp; between 6:30am – 8:30am for 1st Session, 2nd Session, Full Session
Make travel plans early!
The Travel form is due no later than 3 weeks before your son’s session starts:
May 27th for Badger Camp I, 1st Session, Full Session and CLT Full Session
June 24th for Badger Camp II and 2nd Session
We need your son’s travel information in order to plan staffing at the airport to meet camper flights as well as campers dropped off to take the bus.
Considerations for Flying to/from MSP
All flights are met by a member of our counseling staff. Likewise, your son will be supervised and escorted to his gate for his return flight home by our staff. We will email a photo of our staff t-shirt 1 week before the session start date so you/your son knows what to look for when deplaning. ALL campers are met by a member of our staff and must not leave the gate area until a staff member has arrived just in case he is delayed for some reason. If your son will be traveling with a cell phone, please supply us with his phone number.
*Campers will not be able to buy lunch in the airport this year as part of our efforts to minimize exposure. Please pack a lunch or some nutritious snacks in your son’s carry-on bag for the ride up to camp!
Consider using TravelOne if flying (800-245-1111; ask for Donna Hoiem). TravelOne finds flights that fit within camp’s travel windows and groups campers on the same flight whenever possible. Here are the top 5 reasons for using TravelOne:
- Flight discounts on Delta Airlines
- Seating assignment with other kids attending camp
- Customer support for cancelled or delayed flights due to weather issues
- Lost baggage help
- Easily finds flights to fit Camp Chippewa flight arrival and departure windows
For more information, refer to the document called TravelOne.pdf in your CIT account for more details on using Delta Airlines through TravelOne, unaccompanied minor requirements, common flights to/from camp from major cities and other important travel information.
Campers flying with a chaperone require special considerations. Please use the Travel Key on Page 8 of the Parent Handbook if your son will be flying with a chaperone in order to complete our Travel Form correctly. Contact the camp office with any questions.
Unaccompanied Minor
Almost every airline will require children 14 and under to fly as unaccompanied minors (UM). If your son will be flying as a UM, the information you need to complete the UM Form to Camp is in the Parent Handbook and the document called UM Info.pdf located in your CIT account. This is the information you need to complete the UM form for your son’s flight to camp.
Mike Endres or authorized Camp Chippewa Representative
22767 Cap Endres Road SE Cass Lake, MN 56633
218-335-8807; 612-267-2625
Our Travel form asks for the name, address, and phone number of the person that will be meeting your son when he flies back home after camp. We need this information in order to complete the UM form for your son’s return flight home.
If you prepay the return UM fee, please send us the receipt! We cannot check–in your son for his return flight without paying the UM fee or having proof that it has already been paid; often the check-in agents cannot find prepaid fees in their system. If this happens, camp will pay the fee and charge it to your son’s camp store account. Please make sure to send the UM receipt (and prepaid baggage receipts, if you have those) to the camp office as soon as you are able.
For more specifics on age requirements, UM registration fees, and more, refer to UM Info.pdf in your CIT account!
Baggage
*If you son will be flying to camp and arriving in the Minneapolis St. Paul Airport Terminal 2, it is required to have his baggage shipped to camp to limit possible exposure time for him and our staff while in the airport. Terminal 1 arrivals are not required to send their baggage, but it is still an option available to you.
1st Session Baggage should arrive between Wed Jun 9 – Wed Jun 16
2nd Session Baggage should arrive between Wed Jul 7 – Wed Jul 14
If you’ll be sending the luggage with your son, you may be able to prepay the baggage fee for his return flight. This is almost identical to prepaying for the UM fee. If you’re able to prepay the baggage fee, please send a copy of the receipt to the camp office.
If you choose to send your son’s luggage beforehand or with him on the plane or bus, make sure to attach all of the blue Camp Chippewa tags you’ll receive in the mail the beginning of May (two to each bag for extra-easy identification!). This will make the luggage easily identifiable for our baggage handlers at the airport. Please make sure his carry-on bag is packed with a lunch or nutritious snacks for the bus ride, and a change of clothes and swimsuit just in case your son’s luggage is delayed. We’ll be sure to cover more on packing in the next Handbook Helper.
As always, if you have any questions, please contact the camp office.
