Ninety years is a long, long time. Tour operators often proudly promote the fact that they have been in business for 20 years, and rightly so. That’s impressive. Keeping a tour operator in business through all the wars, stock market crashes, natural disasters and recessions of the last 20 years is a major accomplishment. Such events have taken down many along the way.

International tour operation is a business that is affected by every economic tremor and major event in the world. It’s not for anyone who wants to make an easy buck Read the rest of this entry »

The White House announced new provisions in support of transgender and LGBTQI+ rights. Americans will be able to choose an “X” in the gender portion of their passport applications – a move towards a gender-neutral and inclusive passport.

The “X” choice is also going to be allowed on U.S. Social Security cards. These measures aim to provide leeway and choice for intersex, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming individuals who do not identify with either male or female gender designations.

The change coincides with U.S. president Biden’s proclamation that the administration honors “transgender people fighting for freedom, equality, dignity, and respect.” To know more about the White House’s plans on advancing visibility and equality for transgender Americans, visit this fact sheet.

The option of selecting X as the gender marker begins on April 11 for U.S. citizens, according to Anthony Blinken, U.S. Secretary of State. It followed the State Department’s plans on passport applications in June regarding gender selection without medical documentation submission.

Facing challenges from the system to discrimination and violence, transgender Americans also deserve the liberties to be themselves, according to the Biden administration. Measures such as the X marker along with easier travel, provision of resources to transgender individuals, and access to federal services are some of the plans and offerings of the federal government to transgender Americans.

If ever there was a perfect time for a guided vacation, this is it.

As bored, but wary, travelers consider heading out their front doors, many still are concerned about how to navigate the ever-changing regulations, capacity restrictions, and chance of coming down with Covid far from home. If you can’t take your favorite travel advisor along with you, a guided vacation seems like the next-best thing.

Companies like Adventures by Disney, Collette, Globus, Insight Vacations/Luxury Gold, Tauck and Trafalgar, and the travel advisors who sell them, are reporting growing interest and sold-out tour groups to top US destinations—even in April and May of 2021. Collette’s website shows its Painted Canyons of the West, which includes five national parks, is sold out for all three May departures; National Parks is sold out for May Read the rest of this entry »