 Home » What to Expect » People You'll Meet » Your Fellow Travelers » Customer Interviews and Stories Our customers and their stories . . .Those of us who are in constant contact with our own customers know how interesting they are - and if you've ever been on tour with a group of individuals excited to travel and experience the world, then you probably know what it is like to be with a group of ExperiencePlus! customers. But, for those who still wonder, who would be crazy enough to go on a bike tour - we started to include customer interviews in our monthly newsletter. Below you'll see the archive of these interviews and stories and like us, as you read through you'll realize how very funny, interesting and exciting most people who travel really are. So, sit back click away and meet our customers through their own words. Lori describes her experiences on a recent ExperiencePlus! Bicycle tour through Provence. Virginia, her husband, Michael, and their friend John have recently completed their 22nd bicycle trip together. Linda road her bicycle across Chile and Argentina with ExperiencePlus! in January 2009. In case you've wondered what sorts of people go on these Expeditions here's one example. Dave is an avid cyclist and traveler and has done more ExperiencePlus! tours than just about anyone. Don and Jane Volta have participated in 14 ExperiencePlus! bicycle tours since 2001 so many of you have probably had the pleasure of their company. Both are also highly respected, longtime members of the Cascade Cycling Club based in Washington State. Pretty impressive credentials so when they recently signed up for the May 8 – 14, 2009 Giro d’Italia in the Dolomites – a trip that they had already done in 2005 we thought we’d find out why. Irwin has joined an ExperiencePlus! bicycle tour every year since 2005. We thought it was high time we got to know him a little better. Felicia Bunce did her first bicycle trip ever this past fall and she shares a little about herself and the experience with us. Lois Moss has done several trips with ExperiencePlus! and her bicycle advocacy work in the Cleveland area is known world-wide. Most recently Lois has founded Walk+Roll Cleveland, which promotes human-powered neighborhood programs. Bill did the ExpeditionPlus! trip from St Petersburg, Russia to Istanbul, Turkey in 2007, and is looking forward to the ride across the High Andes in 2009. Peter and Carol are founders of the "Slow Bike Movement" whose aim is to maximize their time on their bikes. They are always looking for new members. We caught Deena and Jim between adventures in Italy and Africa. Larry decided to bicycle along the Dalmatian Coast, though he first had to learn to ride a bike... What motivates you to travel to far off places? 'I think the more we can learn about other cultures, the better we can ultimately understand and communicate with each other. My previous bike trips have been to France, Switzerland and Italy … and I found that the pace of seeing a “foreign” country on a bike to be just about perfect…. Provided you get good weather. When traveling by bike, you see things you might miss in a car or on the train. And you feel so much more connected to the people who live there.' You generally travel with a couple of friends and are known in the ExperiencePlus! world as the “Tres Amigos.” How did the three of you come together? During the Tuscany and Umbria tour one of the tour participants tagged us with the label "Tres Amigos" and it stuck. Dave, Stewart and I served together for about 15 years in the Army Medical Corps. . . . "Tres Amigos" is better than "three old Colonels." The National Multiple Sclerosis Society MS 150 has over 100 cycle trips in almost every state in the Union. Learn more about the Colorado chapter and the new ExperiencePlus! Team. This month we interview Bob and Penny Fink, who have joined us on many trips. Thanks Bob and Penny! This month we interviewed Stacey Sondek, who recently traveled with us on the Pedaling the Andes from Argentina to Chile tour. Thanks Stacey! What’s your favorite ride or hike in your hometown?My favorite ride in our area is up and over Mt. Diablo. I see it rising up from a distance as I am riding toward it and I am always impressed that in a few moments (and many huffs and puffs later) I will be at the top. "We began touring on our tandem 22 years ago when our children were mostly grown up. These almost yearly tours, mainly in Europe, were our way of having a great vacation in a foreign country and meeting people of different cultures, getting some serious exercise, and being able to eat anything we wanted...all day! Being laden down with paniers was a challenge, but we enjoyed the freedom of being on our own." Bob Keller has kindly agreed to be interviewed about his life and travels this month. Thank you, Bob! Janice Brannon is interviewed about her life and travels. She says "I have had 70 years of great adventures in this life, and what I look forward to now is the pleasure of continuing to be physically fit enough to enjoy an ExperiencePlus bike trip every year for AT LEAST ten more years." "The best thing about it is I'm still moving faster than the years, so they haven't caught up with me yet." Children and teenagers can obviously gain an enormous amount of enjoyment, memories and life skills from travel. We interviewed one globe-trotting youngster, Casey John, about his remarkable experiences... Sally sent us some humorous photos of "Betsy Anne" on our Athens to Olympia bike tour. ExperiencePlus! customer Renita Breitenbucher wrote to us about this cross country bike ride to support Pancreatic Cancer Research. Her brothers are making this trip in memory of their mom. |
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