Why do you love being a worldwide tour escort?
“Sharing our experiences with fellow travellers in great places.”
Background information
What prior experience did you have?
We started caravanning in the early 1960’s with Geoff’s parents and brother. Little did we know it was to be the start of a lifelong addiction to both caravanning and all things camping. We have camped in bivouac, bell tent, ridge and frame tent and in all weathers and seasons. Had numerous caravans from the days of ‘bucket and chuck-it’ to the ‘all singing and all dancing jobs’.
For many years we have both, in our professional and in our ‘ordinary’ lives , taken an active role working with groups large and small, organising and taking part in camping and many other outdoor activities, including canoeing, rock climbing, pot holing, hill walking etc. We have also helped organise and participate in worldwide camps of several thousand people.
What did you do before you became tour escorts?
In 2001 we were asked to assist the Rally Stewards at the Camping and Caravanning Club Rally at Le Soulhol, St Cere in France, and then became Continental Winter and Summer Rally Stewards in both Portugal and France for the next 7 years.
Being on tour
What are the best bits of being a tour escort?
No bits, we just enjoy the whole experience! Meeting our fellow travellers and sharing our journey with them.
What is your favourite destination and why?
Each tour in which ever country has provided us with some fantastic memories, to the degree that we would not put any one of them above another, whether it be for the flora, fauna, scenery or culture.
What are the highlights from your favourite tour?
We don’t have a favourite tour. However following the initial meeting with the group, the journey we share with our travelling partners.
Name one memory you’d take away from your last tour?
The super ‘sights and sounds’ of Iceland and the Faroe Isles, made even more fantastic by the unbelievably wonderful weather we experienced this year.
Do you keep in touch with the people you meet on tour?
This is one of the great things about the tours with which we have been involved. We meet so many great people with whom we keep in touch in various ways.
Why is this type of holiday better than an escorted coach tour?
Within the overall constraints of the tour;-
- the freedom to travel at your own pace;
- to stop and spend time at those places which particularly interest you;
- by taking your accommodation (motorhome) with you, you are not living out of the proverbial suitcase;
- the friendship and camaraderie of a group of similar minded people on tour.
What advice would you give to someone thinking about joining a tour of this nature?
If possible come along to one of the Caravan and Motor Home Shows to watch the tour presentation. Have a chat with the tour escort about the tour - its a great opportunity to get to know each other before the tour starts.
Any queries or concerns, talk to Carefree before you go, they will be happy to talk things through with you and may put you in touch with the tour escorts to help you further. We all want to do our best to make sure you have a super holiday.
Take spare memory cards, and battery for your camera. The unexpected always happens when the card is full. On our Canada Tour I still get so excited seeing a bear pop out of the trees by the roadside and have learned to travel with the cameras at the ready.
Whichever tour you choose don’t be in a hurry to arrive at the next site, enjoy the journey and relish the unexpected you may find as a result.
Relax and enjoy! We don’t travel in convoy, you are free to choose how you spend your days, travel at the speed which suits you, and explore.
Geoff & Jennie Dawson