STA & G.A.P. — Travel for the young?

A couple of days ago, I received my periodic STA (Student Travel) email with updates on travel deals and destinations.  STA [a Swiss found company] has an office at the University of Kentucky and provide travel arrangement for students … young students.  By the way, I am a full-time graduate student and a full-time employee and I am not young … compared to the 18 — 22 year old who make up the majority of college students, but I am still a student.

I don’t know about your STA office, but the one at the University offers a significant number of prearranged packages from G.A.P., the Great Adventure People [a Canadian company].  My take on these two companies is that they really cater to budget conscious young people, e.g., those adventurous spirits.  Students are not their real focus.  Of course, they will take anyone’s money.

As I started, I receive an email from STA, “debunking myths about tours.”  Now, I must admit that what they were debunking like many myths and stereotypes had kernels of realism.  So, STA says don’t be afraid to take a tour.  Tours don’t have to be those boring stogy “look here, look there, touch this, don’t touch this …” bus trips that your parents made take on family holidays.  Also, don’t worry, you won’t be the oldest person on the tour either and it will actually be an adventure.  This is STA’s spiel.

As a person who likes to take tours, and admittedly sometimes we are the oldest people on the tour, they can be very informative and an adventure.  I don’t think that an adventure has to be on the back of a moped, driving down some alley way off the beaten path.  While this could be fun, I don’t think it is necessarily more of a tour than my climate control comfortable buses.