Travelers Flock Together For Shared Fun
Experiential Vacations Leading the Way as Preferred Travel
The Signal - Business Section, May, 2005
To travel is to experience, and for today’s explorers a vacation must be more than just sightseeing. The value of travel is now measured by the quality of the experience. And that includes traveling for education, personal growth and just for fun.
Often this fun is found through niche group travel or on specialty cruise itineraries. You know the saying “birds of a feather flock together,” well it certainly applies to travel.
From a tour through the wine regions of France or New Zealand, to more active adventures on European river barges featuring the option of riding along-side the river on a bicycle, to a scrap-bookers-only club on a major cruise line. Whatever people enjoy doing in their free time at home, they love doing with others while on vacation. This is especially true when the hobby or special interest takes them to new places in foreign countries. Somehow the idea of cooking dinner is much more appealing when you first shop for your ingredients at a local farmer’s market in Italy, then return to the villa to prepare a feast. The food just tastes better.
Wine tasting tours and excursions play a big part of the growing trend of experiential travel. Thanks in part to the recent movie “Sideways” featuring the adventures of two couples through Northern California’s Napa Valley, wine drinkers everywhere are grabbing the corkscrew and heading to the vineyards. The wine-tasting experience is best with a seasoned tour guide, designated driver and a group of like-minded enthusiasts.
European river cruising is also gaining as a unique way to travel the waterways. Sailing at slower speeds and stopping at small villages along the way, these river boats offer travelers the chance to see how the locals live, up close and personal. The barges travel the winding rivers through regions you may never have heard of before, docking in the heart of the towns where you stop. If you prefer a more active experience, hop on a bicycle and ride the parallel land course the barge takes by water. Then return to the boat when it makes the next dock-stop. These upscale barges are of varying sizes, holding groups of six to 150 people and provide many of the luxury amenities and services offered on a major ocean-liner.
Then there’s scrap-booking. Quickly becoming the favorite pastime of people of all ages, this special interest group can continue their craft while on a cruise. Exclusive scrap-booking itineraries are available on many cruise lines, as are how-to courses on other specialty-focused trips. Whether it’s scrap-booking or quilting, weight-lifting or golfing, somewhere a specialty cruise exists for your favorite passion.
What a great concept. Bring people together who share a common interest and send them traveling. By taking their hobby on vacation, to a traveler it becomes new again. Like cooking in a foreign kitchen, golfing on a different course, or building a scrap-book from newly-found items of another land, it’s all in the experience.
Travel is a global opportunity like none other. To experience, is to travel and this is done best with others, especially those in your flock.
Commentary provided by Eric Maryanov, president and founder of All-Travel.com, the Los Angeles-based travel management company with an office in Valencia. He can be reached at 661.775.7511..
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