Talking Travel with our Friends!

Recently, John and I hosted a dinner party at our home with friends that we had not seen for a while. One of the couples has traveled with Mayflower Tours on a River Cruise. The other couple travels quite often, but not with Mayflower as of yet.

No sooner than we sat down with our libations...off they went about travel.

Quite frankly, I do not bring up the subject as I know everyone wants to talk about their trips and they wish to share stories right and left. Yet the conversation seems to always come around to one key question that John and I get asked so often, "what are your favorite places to travel?" John pipes in Egypt (gasps), Canadian Rockies and anywhere In Italy. Egypt?!! They all said, "weren't you afraid of going there?" John said just a few months ago we had 100 travelers in Egypt and they had a ball. My favorites lean to England, close-in destinations like Mackinac Island, and home.

Another friend said her favorite place was Istanbul and "look what's happening there now!" Most of the evening returned to travel and what the joys of travel have brought to all of us. From there where we were planning to travel next was a big topic. One of our other great friends, Sandy, emailed me on what she has been doing this summer. We got going on a dialogue about what the "new norm for travel is." Sandy said "International terror is something else - I personally think it is here to stay and people will see it as the new normal. Sad but the genie is out of the bottle and I think it is way more complicated than we could ever imagine."

We talked about traveling with an escorted group and if that helps this situation? Her comment "I believe it gives a sense of security - a connection to help if there is an event where if you are traveling independently, you are on your own with no one to help you." I was enlightened to hear this as I know escorted group travel offers companionship, security, heightened learning experiences and value.

The main conclusion from the evening - travel is here to stay. Travel means so much to our bodies and souls.

By the way, our guests who had not traveled with Mayflower Tours before requested our brochures the next day.