Free event will detail 2018 trips to Australia, Portugal, California, and New York
BAYTOWN, TX — For first-time participants Barbie and Gerry Plocheck, the allure of taking a trip with the Lee College Senior Adult & Travel Program was simple: All the arrangements for transportation, accommodations and activities would be made for them — they needed only to pack their bags, board a charter bus in Baytown and head off on their August adventure to Cape Cod and the Islands.
Senior adults can learn more about following in the footsteps of the Plochecks and dozens of other happy travelers at the 2018 Travel Showcase set for 5 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 10, at Tucker Hall on the Lee College campus. Program Manager Lynne Foley and representatives from Collette Vacations and Premier World Discovery will detail all the trips planned for next year, including Australia, New Zealand and the Fiji Islands; Portugal, the Estoril Coast, Alentejo and Algarve; the Pacific Northwest and California; and New York City and the Hudson Valley. Refreshments will be served.
“We’ve traveled a lot on our own but we’d never traveled on a completely guided and arranged group trip,” said Barbie Plocheck, who especially enjoyed the walking tour of Boston’s historic sites, spending time on Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard, and having the chance to get acquainted with new friends. She and her husband are already thinking about joining the upcoming trip to Australia, a destination on their bucket list.
“It’s much easier; you don’t have to make any decisions, and there is always someone there to call on if you need something,” she said. “They choose outstanding places, and we saw all the highlights we would have wanted to see had we planned it all on our own. It was perfect.”
Though DeAnne Duvall and her husband, Les, have been retired for 5 years and taken trips together with the Senior Adult & Travel Program, she thought the Cape Cod tour would be a great time to reconnect with her girlfriends. Like her, many of the people she met had previously traveled with Lee College and were eager to do it again.
“Everybody was extremely positive and fun. They want to travel and have someone else do all the legwork,” said Duvall, a former teacher who appreciated how Foley and the tour guides made everyone feel safe, comfortable and welcome. “I loved that all we had to do was get on the bus and go. They made sure we were all taken care of, and there were no worries about booking an airline ticket, finding places to park, making hotel reservations or anything like that. We’ve had nothing but positive experiences.”