Westworld Alberta

Bus-Tour Myths, Busted With the new generation of active and adventur- ous tours, it's clear that the notion of coaches being nursing homes on wheels is outdated to say the least. Below, AMA travel counsellor Yvonne Kergan debunks a few of the other myths surrounding coach travel. Coach tours are expensive. False. "If you had to do it on your own, using the same hotels and getting yourself around, it would cost you way more. Coach tours aren't expensive for what you get," Kergan says. Typically, that includes transportation, admission to attractions, accommodation and some meals. You don't really get to know the destination the way you would travelling on your own. False. "If you're on your own and you're driving or on the train, you don't know what you're seeing. Those tour directors make it much more ani- mated and exciting. They know what that rock was, who sat on it, what that castle is, who lived in there – all those historical and interesting details," Kergan says. The groups are large and unwieldy. False. They range, but gone are the days of hundred-strong tour groups. Some companies keep them as small as 13. Every moment is scheduled. False. "Some tours are like that, but a lot of tours are changing from one day in each city, to two or three days. If you want to sleep in or have a break or go do your washing, you can. Mostly, when you are scheduled, it's first thing in the morning to get everybody on the bus. Usually when you get to a town, you're on your own and they want you back at a certain time," Kergan says. such as Trafalgar and Insight Vacations are offering a growing range of more adventurous tours designed with families who have young children and teenagers in mind. Tours revolve around creative themes such as the Wild West, English castles or U.S. history, and offer desti- nations as diverse as Europe, Costa Rica, Japan and Peru. Plenty of free time and optional excursions are built into the sched- ules, allowing families the freedom to make the trip work for them. e advantages of family coach tours are manifold. Parents save time on planning, and fewer variables result in less hassle at the destination due to delays or unexpected 34 W E S T W O R L D A L B E R T A | S U M M E R 2 0 1 5

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