On an East Coast trip in April, I enjoyed a three-night stay in Boston, Massachusetts, surely one of our most historic and interesting cities, as well as a prime destination for group tours.
It can also be one of the most confusing places to get around, since many of the streets reportedly originated as cow paths during Colonial times, and eventually were paved over as transportation technology advanced. Happily, however, I have not forgotten my way around town, learned by trial and error when I lived here for the better part of a year back in the early 1980s.
One of the fascinating things I’ve learned about Boston in over 40 years as a tour operator is that very few domestic groups outside of those domiciled in the Northeast and Middle Atlantic States ever get here except during fall foliage season. I suppose that the rationale is something along the line of “as long as we’re going to go to New England, we might as well go when we can see the beautiful fall colors.”
Far be it from me to discourage the annual “leaf peeping” migration, but I would like to suggest that Boston really is a destination in itself. In fact, like New York and San Francisco, it’s a great place for a four or five-day trip, and not just a big city to be seen as quickly as possible en route to Vermont and New Hampshire for autumn mountain splendor, maple sugar candy and Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream.
Bob Hoelscher, CTC, CTP, MCC, CTIE, is a longtime travel industry executive who has sold his tour company, bought a motorhome and is traveling the highways and byways of America. He is a former chairman of NTA, and was a founding member of Travel Alliance Partners (TAP).
Well-known in the industry as both a baseball and symphony aficionado, Bob is also one of the country’s biggest fans of our national parks, both large and small. He has already visited more than 325 NPS sites and has several dozen yet to see. He is currently traveling the country to visit as many of those parks as possible. His blog, “Travels with Bob,” appears periodically on The Group Travel Leader’s blogsite, “Are We There Yet”.
Bob is available for contractual work in the industry and may be reached at bobho52@aol.com or by calling (435) 590-1553.
Boston Public Library, Prudential Tower, Lenox Hotel and Boylston Street
Newbury Street bistros, Boston
Downtown Boston from Prudential Tower Skywalk Observatory
