African Ample Assistance

Placement organization

Name of organization: African Ample Assistance
Town/city: Hout Bay
Country: Zuid-Afrika
Website: http://www.aaatravel.co.za

Name of student: Melissa Kuppens

Specialist area: MT
Placement period: 2014-2015

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Inbound touroperator
Organization’s activities: Inbound touroperator, focuses on B2B. They have clients all over the world. They try to distinguish themselves from other touroperators with personal attention.
Target group of the organization: Family travel
Company culture: The owners of the company are both Dutch and they both studied on the NHTV. There is a very personal and informal atmosphere. Everyone wants to help eachother and you can always ask your colleagues to help you. On the friday afternoon at 4 o’clock they have drinks together.
Number of employees: 35, but also 3 interns
Dress code: casual
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working? I am working in the sales & marketing department
Brief description of your daily activities: – Daily Social Media update (Twitter & Facebook)
– Translations
– Preparing routedescriptions
– Checking rates
and other small projects. My daily activities are very different.
Brief description of your company assignment: My company assignment is to update Social Media and the Newsletter. They want to know how they can improve that and what they have to improve. I have to compare it with other touroperators and I have to look for the trends.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: I am very happy with my supervisor Ingrid. You can always walk in and ask her for help. When you take your tasks seriously, she will always help you.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? independent, team player, sociable, organised, stress-proof, flexible and the one that very important is that you will learn something
Additional company requirements for this placement? Word, Excel, writing skills
English: Advanced
Spanish:
French:
German: Intermediate
Italian:
Other languages: It is good when you have a knowledge of German

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Airplane

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? Company, they offered me an apartment above the office
How did you go to work every day? Foot

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? Yes, exchange visa
Do you need a work permit? No
How did you arrange the necessary documents: Embassy, AAA travel
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents? For me it took 1 month, but I recommend to do it 2 or 3 months before.
Did you need certain vaccinations? Yes
How long in advance? 1 Month

Language course

Did you take a language course before you started your placement? No
Would you recommend to have a language course prior to this placement? No

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 1100 euro (Direct flight KLM)
Accommodation (monthly): € 150 euro
Local transport (monthly): € When I came her I bought a MyCiti card and I still have points on it, but it also depends on how much you travel. The card was 5 euro. You only need to put points on it.
General costs of living (monthly): € It depends per person
Costs of visa: € 50 euro
Costs of work permit: € –
What did the company pay for/to you? The company offered me an apartment above the office. They also offered me a discount with bookings through AAA Travel (excursions, accommodations, activities)

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
Not really, but everything goes much slower here and there is not a reason to rush. Cape Town is a developed city, but it is not like in the Netherlands. I had an appointment at the Visa centre, but it tooks so long because it was not planned at all.
Did the culture of the country influence your performance during the placement in any way? No

Future students on placement

Future students are free to contact me for further information: Yes
My e-mail address: 120846@edu.nhtv.nl

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Don’t walk around at night on your own. If you need to go somewhere in the evening, don’t go walking and take a taxi. Also when it is just 3 minutes away. Don’t show your Iphone, money or jewelry, because they can rob you easily. Don’t take a lot of money with you. You can get money everywhere and in most of the restaurants and bars can you pay by card.

If you follow the rules and keep you’re head straight nothing will happen to you.
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: Cape Town is a beautiful place, you can visit so many things like: Robben Island, Table Mountain, Victory & Alfred Waterfront, Town etc. There are also beautiful cities around Cape Town: Llandudno, Camps Bay, Simon’s Town, Kalk Bay, Muizenberg etc. You will not be bored, you can explore so much things here.

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link