Interview with Terre Lantzy

Name:  Terre Lantzy

Family Members:  Husband, Tyler; sons, Gavin, 24 and Ross, 21

Age: 58

How did your love of the outdoors develop?:  As a child my family always vacationed in Door County, WI…mostly camping.   I was born a nature lover and continued my girl scouting interests thru my high school years, which got me into biking, as that’s what we did during summer camp in the mid 1960’s.

Living in the West, we have ample access to many wonderful hiking and biking opportunities. And as my ankles started to limit my hiking abilities, I started enjoying biking more and more.  Our family has been taking annual trips to Moab, UT since the late 1970’s as it’s my husband who is the major biker in the family.  And then, when each of our sons was 15, I took them on an individual bike trip to Europe… just Mom and son…. With other Mom’s and their sons.  Those were small, self-guided trips that proved to be most adventurous… and my sons want to know when we’ll go again. 

Now, my work takes me to some of the most beautiful places in the west in Utah, Wyoming and Colorado… which is reigniting my interest in nature photography.  I’m kind of like the bear going over the mountain to see what he can see.  And that’s what drives me to ride a bit further to see what’s around that next bend.

You’ve done a custom trip with ExperiencePlus! in the past, and have now gathered a group of friends to bicycle in Croatia this fall. What do you prefer about setting up your own trip?:  Well, we’re all getting older, and the thought of changing hotels every night… even if ExperiencePlus! would transfer our bags, was our first reason for planning a custom trip. We wanted a day of relaxation between bike days… making the biking an option was important for some of our group. And since I’d done small custom trips that had varying degrees of successful days, I was happy to turn the planning over to ExperiencePlus!… and trust them to come up with an itinerary that would meet our needs.

How did you become the trip coordinator?:   This trip was something that I had planned to do for a few years…my own family heritage is Croatian/Slovenian, so I had been talking about it with all of our friends… bikers and non bikers alike … it was just a matter of figuring out when we could make it happen and then getting the word out to all the folks who had heard us talking about it.  And now with the internet and email… it’s quite painless to contact folks and get rather prompt responses.  Knowing a little bit about creating a group email is vitally important.

How did the group decide when and where to go?:  Well… the group didn’t have much say on what the itinerary was going to be.  I worked that out with Julie and Monica (ExperiencePlus! staff) and then we presented it to our friends as being already determined.  Too many opinions in the final plans can really increase the stress level for the coordinator. Since we had been talking about it for so long, we had a pretty good idea of what our friends wanted.  And the “rest days” help to make the trip seem less daunting to those of us who aren’t avid bikers.

The Dubrovnick add-on at the end was an option that we tossed out to anyone who wanted to go and only 8 of our party have chosen to do it.

Your trip currently has a waiting list! Is it just your dynamic personality or what inspired so many people to sign-up?:  HA!... I believe I had very little to do about the waiting list. We have a very diverse group of adventurous friends who also like to take ACTIVE vacations.  I was very open about alerting anyone who might be interested in this trip to pass the information onto those friends.  So 6 of our group are people I have never met.

I think that if your are putting together a custom trip, you must not assume too much control… Not everyone is going to be happy with every decision that is made…food and lodging being the most controversial.  Everyone in our group is on their own for their airfare/ travel arrangements and many of our group are adding additional days at the beginning or end in other European cities. 

Since we’re all adults, I cannot assume too much responsibility for the decisions of my friends and their friends… nor their own happiness.

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. 

Where is your favorite travel destination, and why?:  Well, having grown up on Lake Michigan, and living in land locked Colorado, I have to say that any destination that involves a large body of water is the first prerequisite for my vacations.  Give me a beach anywhere. 

It’s hard to pick a favorite place… I’m a naturally curious person so seeing something new is important.  And of course, I want there to be some historic/cultural/artistic or natural beauty to add interest.  Some past favorites include Venice, Italy,  San Francisco, CA, sailing the British Virgin Islands and floating the Grand Canyon. 

I also really enjoy travel that includes music… as in a festival or destination performance…. Those would include Telluride, CO or the Gorge in Washington State or Wolf Trap outside Washington DC.

Describe the greatest adventure you've yet to take:  This is hard, because I’m finding that as I get older, my own perception of myself is back somewhere in my 30’s/40’s… so what I can physically do might not match what I actually think I can do.  So I’m thinking that the physically adventurous travel that I’ve done in the past might not play out the way I’d like it to in the future.

I would like to visit St. Petersburg, Russia; Japan, and Argentina… spending time in each so absorb what I imagine it to be.  I‘d also like to float/bike the canals of France; sail/sea kayak the inner passage between Vancouver and Alaska; and visit South Africa.

However, having done bike trips before… the sensation of feeling stronger after each day of biking is a real bonus.  That’s what I remember and what I look forward to in this Croatian trip.

Do you have any movie or book recommendations?: … well I’ve had the opportunity to attend the Sundance Film festival for the past 8 years and have developed a real love for documentaries, but I’ve always loved any travel type movies… "Two for the Road" with Audrey Hepburn and Albert Finney was a long held favorite… but that dates me!  As for books, any historical fiction sits well with me.  I recently read Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet and really enjoyed it.

Tell us something about yourself that most people don't know:  When alone, I often whistle, sing or hum…I try to harmonize, if there is music on, but am probably just off key!