on the record ❖
Readers Share Their Weird and Wacky Stories from the Road FOLLOWING ARE ANSWERS from Leisure Group Travel readers who responded to the questions: What’s the funniest or craziest incident that’s ever happened on one of your tours? What’s the most bizarre thing a tour member has said or done? WAYNE PARKER
A club director client called me from the parking lot of the Biltmore Winery, frantic because two of her charges had parked themselves in the tasting room and “tasted” so much they were staunchly – and loudly – refusing to leave. With the other 45 passengers on the coach patiently waiting to depart for their next destination in Pigeon Forge, Tenn. – some 90 minutes away – my client implored me for any ideas I might have that would successfully lure these two birds back to the coach. “Offer to leave them?” I suggested. “I actually think they would love that,” she shot back, clearly not amused. Still, she managed to convince them to leave, I know, because she called me exactly two hours later from the hotel parking lot asking for any ideas I might have to get them off the coach. Needless to say, this partying pair had no memory of being dragged to their rooms, tucked in (and locked in) while the group went on to dinner! Melinda Hughey The RH Factor/The Girlfriend Factor Pulaski, TN Melinda is working on War Stories, a book of wild but true tales from her years of escorting trips. Go to the Leisure Group Travel.com page (page 4) to find out more.
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BECKY I. WIEGAND
I took a Red Hat group to Greektown Casino in Detroit. They were dressed in all their Red glory. We have a few walkers in our group so they loved walking in the area. They let me know they were going to do their thing. I said fine, just be careful. Well, about an hour later they came back very upset. I asked what happened. Evidently, a nice-looking gentleman had stopped them and said they should really get off the street as there were a lot of police in the area. They could not figure out why he said that, but they scurried back quickly and found me. It took me a minute or so, but then I figured out what happened— he thought they were hookers working the street. Oh my, what a fun group. Marlene Kilner DreamFinder Travelers North Royalton, OH
A woman in my group called me the night she had arrived quite late in the evening and explained that her night gown wasn’t fitting right. I had to pause for a moment as I was half asleep and unsure what to say or do. I am all for exceeding our passengers’ expectations,
DAVID LYLE
but I was not going to go up to her room in the middle of the night to adjust a nightgown. Something told me she had the wrong bag and, well, jet lag does weird things to people, so I asked her to check the bag. Sure enough, it was the wrong bag—same color but wrong name. Yes, this woman had picked up the wrong bag at the airport, pulled out what she thought was her nightgown, and gone to bed. We had a good laugh about it and managed to get her bag, and nightgown, the following day. I have seen a lot and experienced a lot as a tour manager for the past 12 years, but this was by far the best. David Lyle, Tour Manager Collette Vacations Pawtucket, RI
Finally, my chance to share! I guess my favorite is this: So, I’m escorting a group to Branson. We flew in from BWI to St. Louis, where a motorcoach was waiting to take us to Branson. Morning 2, we met in the restaurant for breakfast when Bill, a wonderful senior citizen, proceeded to tell me he was mad. I questioned why, and he explained that the airline people stole his clothes, stole February 2010 15