How to Join a Senior Travel Club

The kids are grown, grandkids visit at your discretion, and you and your spouse, or maybe just you, decide to join a travel club. A travel club is a group, organization or a business that gives services that relate to travel to its members.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

1. Determine the type of club you'd like to join. Today's seniors are more active and concerned about staying into shape and healthy eating than 20 years ago. For these seniors, there are clubs offering trips that are more adventurous such as hiking, experiential or ecological excusions. Maybe you want to immerse yourself in a foreign culture in order to learn the language; perhaps a painter lives inside of you or a chef who is dying to chop, saute' and simmer. Amerispan offers worldwide immersion programs.
2. Decide on your budget. Think about how you want to allocate your funds-do you want to spend more on traveling to and from the destination, on the accommodations, the actual activity and so forth.
3. Decide to group or not to group. If you prefer not to travel alone, then you'll want to look at clubs that are geared more toward groups.
4. Use your favorite search engine to find clubs and then to narrow your list. Once you decide, check them out with the Better Business Bureau, American Society of Travel Agents, Association of Retail Travel Agents or the Cruise Lines International Association.
5. Compare prices to insure you're receiving not only the best dollar amount, but the best quality.

Tips & Warnings

• Beware of scams. Unless they are members of the associations listed in Step 4, don't waste your time and your hard-earned money.
• Beware of travel clubs offering to make you a travel agent, affording you with benefits of the position, for a "fee." These are usually scams out for your money.