Thanks for the information about the luggage - I'll see what we can find out about that!

We'll be working with an organization in the DR that is there on a permanent basis. They run groups of teens through their program a week at a time all summer long, and during the rest of the year they are present but doing other things. I know our activities will include things like visiting hospitals, taking food to Hatians who live at a dump that is on the Haiti/DR border, working with children in an orphanage, etc.... and the list of things we are to take is fairly extensive.

The TA with whom we've been in contact frequently arranges trips like ours for groups going on mission trips, so it's not entirely unfamiliar territory to him. The flight they originally quoted to us took us through NJ, and had us flying direct from Newark to the DR after spending the night in Newark. Online, that flight is actually a little bit more than the route I'd rather see us use, which would take us through Miami... but the rate they quoted for a group is cheaper for the Newark route than the Miami route. Through them, Newark would be $710/ea.

The Miami route would let us get there more rested than the Newark option, I believe. It will be a full week of hard work, and I hate to start it off already exhausted.