Catchfence

DAYTONA BEACH, FL (Tuesday, December 2, 2009) – With less than 60 days until the sounds of American Stock Car engines are fired up at the Phakisa Freeway Circuit in Welkom, Free State, South Africa, the final preparations are being made to bring over the drivers, teams, and officials over for the Inaugural Free State 500 event. Odyssey Travel / Virtuoso of Ormond Beach, FL has been busy making these preparations which includes making this a memorable experience for everyone.

“We are coordinating with all of the teams and anyone affiliated with the event as far as air travel goes, ground transportation, hotels, and maybe some pre and post-race activities so they can experience South Africa in a little different way outside of the racetrack,” Jeanne Huth of Odyssey Travel/Virtuoso said. “It’s a huge effort with many different components.”

The first part she is focused on is getting everyone over to South Africa with the goal of everyone arriving at the same time. “The goal is to get them all to one location either Atlanta, Washington D.C. or New York and send the majority on one flight,” Huth said. “It will be easy to get most of the people there at one time.”

Once they arrive in Johannesburg, South Africa they will all be taken by motorcoach to their hotel near the Phakisa Freeway Circuit. “We are using a couple different properties down near the racetrack. There aren’t a lot of properties to choose from but we do have that all set,” Huth explained. “We also have the ground transportation on a daily schedule between the hotel and track at different times for the teams to use as well.”

Jeanne is encouraging that everyone going over to South Africa to take the time and enjoy the country as South Africa has become one of the more popular tourist destinations in the world. “On the vacation side and from a travel agency standpoint, Africa and South Africa has been a huge vacation destination probably over the last five years minimum,” Huth exclaimed. “With the press that comes out about the safari’s, gaming, viewing gorillas in eastern and western Africa to Tanzania and Kenya and the vineyards near Capetown, its a fantastic country and I think it’s a big draw for Americans because English is almost the mother tongue, so there really isn’t a language barrier.”

Another factor is the South African currency known as the Rand is very friendly to the American dollar. As of this release, one American dollar is converting to about seven rand.

She is also is looking forward to her first visit to South Africa including a visit to The Savannah Africa (www.thesavannahafrica.com), one of three reserves in the world that breeds the Cheetah. “It is something that I am looking forward too,” Huth said. “I do have some people on the ground over there who work for Virtuoso helping me put this all together especially with the pre and post-race packages. We are looking at going to Savannah as well as other excursions if some are interested.”

She also said that there are currently no travel advisories nor does the Center for Disease Control (CDC) state that shots are needed for South Africa, but should still discuss with your physician before going. She did want to remind everyone to look at their passports and make sure the expiration date is not within six months of when they return to the United States as some countries will not allow entrance if your expiration date is within six months.

“We have a saying in our travel agency that says, “I will never be the same seeing the sunset on the other side of the planet.” So we hope everyone going takes the time to enjoy South Africa along with the race they will be participating in,” Huth said.

“Jeanne and her staff have done an awesome job of preparing everyone for our journey to South Africa,” Dennis Huth, ASA President said. “They have a lot of experience as they assisted me in the past with other oversea adventures. I think everyone will see a very seamless process as we make our trip.”

For more information on Odyssey Travel, please visit www.odysseytravel.com.

The event will take place on Sunday, January 31, 2010 on the 1.5-mile tri-oval.

This week many teams are on their way to the Port of Charleston and prepare their containers for the long voyage over to the Port of Durban. The final containers are scheduled to leave on December 7th.

To learn more about Phakisa Freeway, visit www.phakisa.com.

- American Speed Association® Press Release