Westworld Alberta

S U M M E R 2 0 1 5 | W E S T W O R L D A L B E R T A 35 problems. As anyone who has travelled with children can attest, such issues can easily mushroom into disasters. Having everything done for you eliminates that stress, so the entire family is able to enjoy the holiday – and each other's company. "It makes life so much easier for everybody. e kids aren't bored or whining, and things are good," Kergan says. e relationships formed during the trip were another plus for Pat and Mikaila: their group included 40 travellers of all ages, from 13 kids aged six and up, to a pair of 70-year- olds celebrating their 50th anniversar y. Mikaila could hang out with her peers and make friends from around the world, opening up cultural understanding and exchange. Pat vividly recalls one night that two of the group's members performed as an impromptu guitar- and-singing duo. It's not uncommon for life- long friendships to form on these trips, says Kergan, who regularly sees clients booking international jaunts with (or to see) friends they first met on a coach tour. Perhaps one of the biggest advantages of a coach tour is getting to skip the lineups at key attractions, which are notorious in the summer – with children in tow, you might as well forget it. "You get so much more value from your day," Kergan says. "Otherwise, you spend three hours standing in line to see the Eiffel Tower and then you come down and that's it. Time for bed." It's also the little things: if you want to see a doctor, need your shoe fixed or are wonder- ing where you can use your debit card, the tour director knows the ins and outs of the destina- tion and is there to problem-solve. "From the time you leave, your tour director is looking after you," Kergan says. Along with taking care of all the transpor- tation, tickets and arrangements, the tour director and bus driver really enriched their experience, says Pat. As the group drove through Italy, the driver and director provided history, stories and anecdotes that put every- thing into context. "ey made what we were seeing meaningful in a way it wouldn't have been if I had arranged this trip on my own." Pat says the trip had the desired effect of broadening Mikaila's horizons and increasing her confidence to step out into the world – the teen plans to travel to Malta this summer for an anthropology field school. It also strength- ened their mutual bond: "I wanted the world to open up for Mikaila. To have shared this experience was completely wonderful for our relationship. We ended up more connected than when we'd started." W

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