![]() Our trolley tour guide was also a Road Scholar program leader and he had just returned from the Albuquerque balloon festival. “People complained they wanted private baths and that upped the price,” she said. She started when the company was Elderhostel, and misses those cheaper trips because lodging was often in college dorms. Our oldest traveler, from San Diego, said she has lost count of how many trips she’s taken with Road Scholar. (Road Scholar also offers women-only trips.) Our nearly two dozen scholars ranged in age from 62 to 86 and included couples, friends and solo travelers, and mostly women, which is typical, our program leader said. and Zelda Fitzgerald connections, but were surprised to learn that Asheville has the second highest number of working artists – Santa Fe is first – and boasts a large selection of Art Deco buildings.Įven before we left home, we were impressed with how well Road Scholar kept us informed about travel details, including COVID updates (all participants must be fully vaccinated and indoor face masks are recommended, and required in locations, such as Asheville, that mandate masks.) We know a bit about the city, including the Biltmore and F.S. Asheville is one of about 20 cities Road Scholar calls “signature” because of its vibrancy. We wanted to visit a city new to both of us. Asheville is a half-day drive from Cincinnati, where I live, and lodging was in one hotel for the entire trip. Maggie and I decided to take baby steps for our first trip. Our programs combine travel and education to provide experiential learning opportunities featuring an extraordinary range of topics, formats and locations, in every state in the U.S., 150 countries and aboard ships on rivers and oceans worldwide.” Keep it simple and close to home ![]() Today, Road Scholar offers “5,500 learning adventures, serving more than 100,000 participants annually. The organization began in 1975 as Elderhostel and rebranded itself in 2010 to appeal to older adults who might be turned off by being called “elders” and staying in “hostels.” While the all-inclusive travel company is popular with lifelong learners over the age of 50, younger adults are welcome, and children too for their intergenerational trips. I traveled with Maggie and it was also my first Road Scholar trip (a third of our group were “newbies”). “As always, Kendal residents did not steer me wrong and their high praises of Road Scholar was spot on,“ she said. So when she retired this spring as Kendal’s Admissions & Marketing Director, a Road Scholar trip was at the top of her bucket list.Ī six-day tour of Asheville, North Carolina under her belt, Maggie now knows why older adults are such big fans of the not-for-profit travel organization. “When you retire you have to sign up for a trip,” they often told Maggie. I was looking forward to many more future trips with Road Scholar now that I am finally retired, but after this experience I'm not sure I trust them any more.During Maggie Stark’s 27-year tenure working at Kendal at Oberlin she heard countless residents rave about their travel experiences with Elderhostel, now called Road Scholar. I have observed the number of trips that they offer mushroom over the past year, and it is you the customer left holding the bag if the trip you selected does not attract enough interest. Based on my discussion with one of their customer service agents they don’t seem to care about the impact on those customers affected, only their own economics. ![]() If you had researched and signed up for one of those trips you are out of luck, and you are stuck with any unused airfare and any other travel costs you may have expended, not to mention your planning time and calendar considerations. I got my final bill in mid June for an early September trip I booked, purchased our airfare to Portland, and they made the decision in mid July on the final payment due date to cancel the trip. Be aware that Road Scholar may cancel a trip at the final payment due date (typically two months before the travel date) if the economics does not work out for them.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |