Grand Circle celebrates women who are passionate about exploring the world
There’s no denying that more and more single travelers are taking trips on their own. They’re reaching out of their comfort zones, taking more adventurous trips, and living life to the fullest through travel. Since the majority of these single travelers are women, we hosted a special day to celebrate women who have a desire and passion to travel the world.
About 135 enthusiastic women travelers braved the cold and snow flurries to join me, and others, at Grand Circle’s Boston headquarters two weeks ago for two sessions of a special Women Travelers’ Day. Although the air outside was brisk, it didn’t diminish the positive energy at the event.
We began the day in Harriet’s Corner, the special space in our Boston headquarters that serves as our physical embodiment of the “virtual” community we share online. It also functions as a living history of Grand Circle and OAT, celebrating our origins as a company and our vision for the future.
Travelers like Mary Lou Thornburg were able to meet fellow travelers and share their travel tales.
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Harriet Lewis welcomed travelers and introduced some of the women Executive Team leaders.
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Once travelers were able to mingle, I greeted everyone and introduced my daughter, Charlotte, Director of Marketing, who has been with Grand Circle since 2008, as well as some of the women Executive Team leaders, including Martha Prybylo, Executive Vice President of People & Culture, and Denise Sablone, Executive Vice President of World Wide Business Operations, who have both been with Grand Circle since 1994.
Denise and I talked about trends in the travel industry … specifically how we’ve seen a growth in solo and women travelers. Our discussion gave our travelers the chance to share their stories with each other and allowed us to let travelers know about our most popular destinations (including Egypt, Africa, South America, and China). I encouraged our travelers to visit these far away, more difficult places now while we are healthy and able.
Travelers learned about Grand Circle Foundation and its support of schools and villages.
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Denise Sablone talked to travelers about the growing trends in the travel industry.
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I also expressed the importance of our Quality Surveys, explaining that it’s our travelers’ feedback that allows us to improve each of our trips.
We then moved to the fourth floor, where Martha and I talked about Grand Circle Foundation. Alan and I established the Foundation in 1992 because of my passion for education and giving back to a world that has already given us so much. Since its inception, we've donated more than $50 million to support villages, schools, and cultural treasures around the world. I talked about our new Foundation website and encouraged each of our travelers to join us in our efforts to give back to the villages, communities, and students we meet on our trips.
As I chatted with our travelers individually, many shared how the joy of travel includes not only experiencing the world, but also, a chance to try new things. Elba Rodriquez, a 6-time traveler from Acton, Massachusetts, shared that she rode a horse for the first time during her recent Chile & Argentina: The Andes to Patagonia adventure.
“I was there over Christmas and the mountains took my breath away,” Elba said. But riding a horse at a family-owned ranch with gauchos (cowboys) in the Patagonian plains was clearly the trip highlight for her. “I was panicking in the beginning, but I said, ‘I have to do this.’”
Travelers had a chance to meet fellow travelers, chat, and find potential roommates for future trips—like Beth Eaton, a 4-time traveler from North Easton, Massachusetts, and Joan Malfa-McLaughlin from West Roxbury, Massachusetts, who met last October at a similar event. Joan specifically attended the October event hoping to meet a potential roommate for a trip to Egypt she had always wanted to take. She met Beth and they discussed traveling to Egypt together, but personal family events in both of their lives this past year kept them from planning their trip. They reconnected at this year’s event and booked a trip to Egypt that day!
We invited our travelers to bring their friends along to this special event celebrating their passion for travel—and each woman who brought new travelers with them was given a chance to win a free trip for two. Congratulations to Nancy Brown, 2-time traveler from Greenland, New Hampshire, our lucky Grand Prize winner.
Travelers had the chance to meet potential travel companions for future trips.
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Competition was fierce as travelers played a trivia game to find the most-traveled in the group.
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At the end of each session, we played a Travel Trivia game, where we asked travel questions designed to find the most-traveled person in the room. Each traveler collected chips for their positive responses to questions including: Who’s visited the Pyramids of Giza? Walked on the Great Wall of China? Kissed the Blarney Stone?
One of the trivia winners, Mary Lou Thornburg, 12-time traveler from Needham Heights, was one of the few who had eaten guinea pig, a popular delicacy in Peru! Cornelia Hagerty, 4-time traveler from Hull, Massachusetts, was among those to have sampled snake wine in China, and Chloe King, 12-time traveler from Needham Heights, Massachusetts, was among those who had visited all seven continents.
It was incredibly rewarding to meet so many travelers with such a strong passion and desire for travel. I’m glad we were able to give them a chance to celebrate together and share what they’ve learned through travel, as well as what Grand Circle and OAT can do better. Thank you to all who were able to share this day with us.
To learn more about Grand Circle’s upcoming events in Harriet’s Corner in Boston, please visit our Calendar of Events.