Mashpee Travel Club Off To Strong Start

     The Mashpee Travel Club is a new service offered through the Mashpee Council on Aging, and is an expansion of a similar club run through the Barnstable Council on Aging. Karyn Wendell of Centerville coordinates both programs.
     “Seniors in the community certainly were looking for something like this as an outlet to travel and travel together,” Ms. Wendell said. The Travel Club is proving especially popular with seniors who have recently lost their spouse or a close friend “and are looking to get out and connect with other people.”
     James W. Long, director of the Mashpee COA, said he had been looking to start a travel club but lacked the staff to run it, and learned about Ms. Wendell’s efforts when he contacted the Barnstable COA for advice.
     Ms. Wendell, who has run the Barnstable Travel Club for about three years and has a background in travel planning, noted that some of the Barnstable club’s more recent participants were Mashpee residents.
     The Mashpee Travel Club meets in the Mashpee Senior Center on the second Thursday of each month at 10 AM, and starting next month, Ms. Wendell will be at the senior center on Thursdays from 9 AM to 1 PM for one-on-one conferences.
     “Our first meeting in June was standing room only,” she said, “and phone calls just flooded in afterwards.”
     “Everyone seemed really pleased with how things went,” Mr. Long said.
     Ms. Wendell described the club as a “service for seniors age 50 and up” interested in traveling with a group or individually. Her role with the club proper is to, in consultation with seniors, arrange group outings and make all the necessary arrangements on behalf of the travelers, who pay for the trip in advance.
     “They like knowing what the up-front cost will be, and they like knowing up-front what their costs cover,” Ms. Wendell said. “My job is to find them the best price available.”
     She also escorts the seniors on their day trips, the first of which will be to Foxwoods Casino in September. The next major outing will be the “Best of New England Old Sturbridge Village/Foliage Tour” in October. Other trips on the schedule: a four-day excursion to Niagara Falls; Oktoberfest in Newport, Rhode Island; a performance of “South Pacific” on Broadway; and an overnight trip to Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun.
     For people looking to take a trip on their own, Ms. Wendell is available to assist them with travel planning.
     The Mashpee Travel Club is open to all Mashpee residents age 50 and older. For more information, stop by the Travel Club desk at the Mashpee Senior Center, or contact Ms. Wendell at 508-420-5288 or .