One of the most difficult things to do is planning a group tour for your church, sports team, class, or even extended family. Coordinating everyone to be where they need to be at the proper times, and dealing with all of the details relating to getting your group to and through the trip, can be a pretty complicated task. However many people take on this task and get through it.
The key is making sure you rent a charter bus, and follow a few tried-and-true steps that assist you to make sure everything turns out well. Here are some of the most important steps just successfully planning a group tour.
Pick the Best Way to Get There
One way to make sure that you stay on course throughout your entire trip is to map out your route. You can use one of the online mapping programs like Google Maps or Waze to lay out the distance, best routes, alternative routes, time between milestones, and landmarks. By having all of this information in hand and clearly understood before you get on the road, you can let everyone in your group know exactly what’s going to happen and when. You can also share your route with your group.
Plan Key Stops Along the Way
When you lay out your route you should also look for places for you to stop along the way. The primary places you need to look for are restrooms and food. No matter what route you take these days you will be able to find public and private restrooms that can accommodate you and your group. Make sure to plan restroom stops every few hours. This way they can merely wait knowing that a restroom stop is coming.
In terms of restaurants, there are likely many different types of restaurants along your route.
However you should make sure that there are restaurants that can accommodate your particular group. For instance someone in your group might be vegan or allergic to certain types of foods. You need to make sure that wherever you stop, they can accommodate any specific food needs. Most restaurants post their menus online these days so you can see the particular type of food they serve. Do this in advance so you do not end up with a hungry group at a restaurant whose food they cannot enjoy.
Take in the Sights
One excellent idea is to make some sightseeing stops along your road trip route. When you plan out your route look for any attractions that may be along the route and are likely interesting to your group. If you are on a long road trip there’s likely dozens of interesting places that you can stop and spend a little time.
Try and aim for things that are relevant to your group. If it is a church group, perhaps you want to find interesting churches along the way, where you can stop and enjoy the architecture and maybe even a church service. If you are traveling with a sports team, look for sports monuments, museums, or even Sports fields that have a great reputation. Making these types of stops can add to the fun and excitement, and break up any boredom on your road trip.
Make Reservations for Accommodations
If your road trip is taking you someplace where you will need to stay overnight one more nights, you need to make reservations for accommodations in advance. If you have a large group, making reservations is even more important because the likelihood of stopping at a hotel or large motel that can accommodate your group on the spot, can be tricky. Perhaps you can even find one hotel chain that has several different hotels along your route. This will allow you to negotiate with them for better pricing. In any case, book well in advance of your trip.
Keep Your Group Busy
Bus rides can be long and boring. To keep your group interested, bring along games and activities that they can indulge in while they are on the bus. You can bring a portable DVD player, laptop computer, tablet computers and even plan on some games for your group.