Monday Q&A: 25 years of traveling the world

Ann Burkett took her first cruise, to the Mexican Riviera, several decades ago. From that trip, she was hooked on travel.

So she got together with 10 or 12 like-minded friends, who started meeting weekly at a Jack in the Box on McHenry Avenue in Modesto. That was the beginning of the Traveleers, a club that now counts roughly 300 people in its membership. The group soon outgrew its meeting spot at the fast-food restaurant and moved into the Denny’s next to the Wendy’s on McHenry Avenue, where members – who pay dues of $18 per year – meet at 11 a.m. each Friday.

Burkett and her assistant tour director, Mark Baptista, put together trips that range from a daylong trek to the Pear Faire in Courtland on the San Joaquin Delta to escorted journeys to Europe. When Burkett spoke to The Bee recently, a 13-day river cruise in France was under way. She talked about 25 years of helping people travel and her favorite trips.

Q: Who can join the Traveleers?

A: The group is open to anyone. We have mostly ladies. The youngest is 45, and the oldest is 92.

Q: What is the most popular trip you do?

A: People really like the mystery day trips.

Q: Mystery trip?

A: Yeah, they don’t know where we are going. They get information on cost, date and time and that’s it. Even if they ask the bus driver where we’re going, he will say he doesn’t know.

Q: What’s an example of a recent mystery trip?

A: We went to the Presidio (a former Army post in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park). We got into the old Spanish fort that is there, went through the George Lucas building and had lunch at the officers’ club. A lot of people won’t go on mystery trips – they don’t want to spend their money on something when they don’t know what it is. Then, when they find out where we went, they say, “Oh, I should have gone on that one!” I have another great mystery trip coming up (Sept. 17) ... but I can’t tell you about it.

Q: How do you come up with your travel ideas?

A: (Points to her head)

Q: What’s your most memorable trip?

A: Oh, there are so many. I’ve been three times to Australia and New Zealand. Italy, I absolutely love. There’s so much to see. Even in the United States.

Q: Any mishaps?

A: Oh, yeah. I’ve had a couple of fatalities. I’ve had people miss ships. I had a woman who had to get out to the cruise ship on a raft. When she got there and they lowered a ladder to her, everyone was on deck looking. She said, “I’m not climbing that ladder.” I said, “If you want to get on this ship, you’d better climb.” Another time, we landed in France when it was dark and raining and we had to get our connecting flight into Rome. The concourse was 3 miles away, and there was a porters strike. I was afraid I was going to leave someone behind. That was my scariest moment.

Q: What would you recommend for someone looking to take his or her first trip?

A: A cruise, definitely. Everything is there for them. You don’t have to cart your stuff around. You get nine meals a day, and the amenities are wonderful.

For more information on the Traveleers, For more information, call Burkett at (209) 529-5896 or Baptista at (209) 996-5242.

This story was originally published March 30, 2015 at 5:01 AM with the headline "Monday Q&A: 25 years of traveling the world."