Travel FREE - Chapter One

I'm Mary McCauley and for 22 years I have been a group tour and cruise travel director. I've shown countless travelers how to take cruises and tours FREE. Now you can take advantage of my knowledge, and, you don't have to be a certified Travel Director to do what I do. It’s all in this Six Steps to FREE Travel Handbook. It starts right now.

Travel by land
Travel by sea
Be a group Leader
And you travel FREE!

Are you a member of a group?

A reunion group?
Military?
High School?
College?
Church?

An affinity group?

Rotary!
Knights of Columbus!
American Legion!
Masons!
Sons of Italy!
VFW!

Are you retired?
Play golf / tennis?
In a bowling league/ football pool?

If you said yes to any one of these, or are a member of any group, you can become a 'group leader’ and Travel FREE!

Mary Ellen found a group at her book club when they discussed Michner's "Caribbean".  One of the girl's mentioned she longed to take a Caribbean Cruise. Mary Ellen told her that her parents raved about the cruise they had taken for their 45th wedding anniversary.

She remembered her mother had met a woman on board who was cruising free because she got a group together from her retirement community. The woman told her she only needed 15 people to go as a group and she could go free.

The idea was planted in Mary Ellen's mind. She went to her parent's travel agent, got information about the cruise, and took it to the next book club meeting. Six months later, Mary Ellen, her husband, the book group and their husbands, plus assorted friends who signed up to go, were cruising out of Miami to exciting ports in the Caribbean.  

Mary Ellen took a copy of Michner's book with her on the cruise. This time it was, "South Pacific". She wanted to get some ideas for her next FREE cruise.

Bob R was a retired utilities worker,
an active member of the local union and the American Legion. Many other union members were in the Legion and Bob enjoyed being with them and Alex, his best buddy for years.  It was after Alex's untimely death that Bob took stock.

Thinking about Alex, and some of the things Alex had talked about doing some day, Bob thought of things in life he wanted to do. He made a list. At the top of the list was to visit Australia. Bob's father had talked about his time in Australia returning from the war.

When another buddy from the Legion passed away unexpectedly, Bob went
to see a travel agent and was discouraged. There was no way he could
afford to make such an expensive trip.

Searching the Internet, he found tour companies doing group tours. On
their web pages he learned that group travel was cheaper and group leaders traveled FREE.

He got all the details; found out how many he needed to go free, began his campaign, and 14 months later, Bob, some of his Legion buddies, a few friends from church and his family went to Australia.  Bob's trip was FREE!

                                                                   STEP ONE!

                                                     Decide Where You Want to Go!

Picture the place clearly in your mind's eye. Think about what you want to do there, how you'll dress, and what you will see. If you desire to go to a certain place, you probably know a bit about it to begin with. Let's say you want to go to Hawaii. Close your eyes, feel the balmy breeze and the warm Pacific Ocean waves. Picture yourself there. What are you wearing? Are you on the beach? Flying over a volcano? Watching the dancers at a luau?

Vividly see yourself in Hawaii, or any other destination you have in mind. Picture yourself packing. What type of clothes will you take? See yourself going to the airport or the cruise port. Check into the hotel, or find your cabin on the ship. Feel the excitement. Is there a let down when you think you might never go there? What do you think might prevent you from actually being there? The cost? Don't let that thought spoil the scene. Don't think about the cost right now, just picture yourself where you want to be.

Perhaps you want to take a cruise. The ship is a floating hotel. Everything is done for you from keeping your stateroom in perfect order, serving elegant meals and providing Vegas style entertainment. You sit back, relax and enjoy the motion of the ship, the sight of the sun glistening on the water, and feel the ocean breeze lulling you to relax.

Maybe the Canadian Rockies are more what you desire. Take that fabulous train ride and see the spectacular sights of Banff, Calgary, and Lake Louise. Talk about spectacular scenery, you will never forget it. And of course there's my favorite, Alaska. You can cruise the Inside Passage or take a motorcoach tour on the ALCAN Highway, or do both. I did and it was fantastic. I've been to Alaska three times. If I had my way, I'd take every American to our last frontier. It is almost impossible to describe. There is something pristine about Alaska, the glaciers, the wildlife, and the openness, all combine to bring about an exhilarating experience that is impossible to forget. When you make a list of places you want to go, put Alaska on it. Trust me, it's fantastic.

A tour to Europe is on almost everyone's travel list. A picture safari in Africa is becoming more popular, as are tours to China. Once, I arranged for a group to shop in Singapore and Hong Kong. It was one of those, 'shop till you drop' tours. That brings me to another subject, specialized tours. How about wine tasting in France? A week studying art in Tuscany? A culinary learning experience in Paris? There's a winter wonderland, Christmas shopping tour in Germany, or the Octoberfest. I've had people interested in visiting the homes of great authors in England. A member from an Italian American club, asked me to arrange a ‘find your roots tour’ for some of its members. They each knew the area of origin of their family and asked me to arr

Take some time right now. Get paper and pencil. Sit, close your eyes, and think about where you want to go. Write whatever comes into your mind. Repeat places if they come to you more than once. This could be a clue to your most favorite.

Spend some time thinking about it and really get the feel of where you'd like to go.  In the next post here on Gather I'll take you to Step Two - Seeing a Travel Agent 

(I'd appreciate any comments you'd care to leave.  I hope this Free e-book gets you traveling where you want to go and doing it FREE.) 

 
© 2005 - M. Bradley McCauley
All Rights Reserved!

 Copying or reproducing in any format, print or electronic, without written permission of the author is unauthorized