Page 2 - Sports Traveler Blog

As tour leader at Sports Traveler, we get to experience every event along with our guests, but with a slightly different perspective. When I'm on tour, I'm trying to stay a few steps ahead of every moment of the day we have planned. It's hard work sometimes to keep up with everyone, but I love the people I meet on our tours. Still today, after 18 years of seeing so many fans at so many different games, I absolutely love it. 

My Sports Traveler teammates love to share our stories from the road. We realized that after 18 years of hosting tours, we also had a large collection of stories from our guests, too. Recently, we started to read through their letters and emails. The stories were so awesome and there were so many, we should probably consider publishing a book at some point. But an overall theme started to emerge. Yes, we travel for the game and to see the team and maybe even to tour the stadium. But biggest reason we love to travel are for The Stories.

We were so inspired by all

Arnold Palmer is perhaps the most recognizable golf name in the history of the sport and one of the greatest golfers of all time. I recently watched In Depth with Graham Bensinger’s tribute to Arnold Palmer and I was inspired by Arnold’s lifetime of career achievements, his dedication to his community, and the passion of his fans forever known as “Arnie’s Army”.

The episode of In Depth is a must-see for golf fans highlighting Arnie’s incredible career, all the wins on the Tour, and the iconic Masters Tournament moments. It also defines how he is the grandfather of modern sports marketing and golf fandom. Sure there were passionate golf fans before Arnold Palmer. But did anyone have his own Army of fans?

Unbelievably, Arnie never personally founded Arnie’s Army.

In 1959, television was becoming a part of every American household and golf was being broadcasted more than it ever had been before. The tickets to the Masters that year were sold for $5 a piece,

Dean & Carol Decker recently spent their New Years holiday on a Sports Traveler tour to the Tournament of Roses Parade and wrote in to let us know how it all went. They stayed in Marina Del Rey as part of the fully guided four-night Rose Parade tour package. One of the biggest highlights of their trip was a tour of LA, including a visit to Beverly Hills and the world-famous Rodeo Drive.  The day before the Rose Parade, the Decker family even went behind-the-scenes to look at the float decorating barns.

The Tournament of Roses Parade has been setting the standard in Pasadena, California since 1890, and for 128 years has proven to be one of the most popular ways to ring in the New Year. Floats covered in hundreds of thousands of flowers, shaped into intricately designed patterns, animals and shapes wind 5.5 miles throughout Southern California each New Years Day. The streets flood with parade fans of all ages, all watching in awe of the beauty and illusions the designers create.

When you think of Augusta, Georgia, you almost automatically think of The Masters and the historic Augusta National Golf Club. Despite visiting Augusta numerous times to host Masters Golf Tours, I admit, I had barely explored beyond the street that the Augusta National is located on, Washington Road.

A few years back, during one of my long weeks of working during Masters Week, I decided to escape to the Augusta Museum of History and eventually found myself on a trolley tour hosted by local historian and author, Stan Byrdy. Stan is the author of two great books that every golfer and golf fan should own, The Augusta National Golf Club: Alister MacKenzie's Masterpiece, and Augusta and Aiken in Golf's Golden Age.

As we toured around, Stan talked about the Revolutionary War and Civil War history of the city. We explored neighborhoods with stately homes and the homes of famous city residents, including Ty Cobb and Woodrow Wilson. Then Stan began tracing the history of golf and how the players

The last 108 years or so has been torturous for Chicago Cubs fans. Then, on Saturday, October 22, 2016, a day that shall live on in the memories of modern day Cubs fans forever, the Chicago Cubs won the NLCS and earned their first trip to the World Series since 1945!

The scene here in the city has been electric. Wrigleyville was packed with an estimated 300,000 on Saturday night. The bars were over-flowing, many charging much more than their normal cover charges for a game day. Fireworks were exploding in all the cities neighborhoods well into the night after the Cubs clinched.

At night, the Chicago skyline is dotted with Cubby Blue on most of the major skyscrapers. The Art Institute has donned Cubs caps on their world famous lion statues at their entrance. Cubs jersey's and W flags are present everywhere. Both Northsiders and Southsiders have joined in a sort of peaceful unity in honor the Chicago Cubs being in the World Series.

On my way to work this morning, I passed the Metra station

Rolling hills, beautiful scenery, and equine history await when you choose to stay in Lexington, Kentucky during the most popular horse racing week in the United States. Staying in Lexington has become one of our most popular tours and for good reason. Travelers can enjoy a laid back atmosphere, away from the hustle of downtown Louisville during Derby Week and instead relax during the evenings over looking the rolling hills of the legendary Blue Grass Country.

How to plan your trip:

Consider staying three or four nights in Lexington to fully experience everything the area has to offer during Derby Week. Our Lexington Kentucky Derby Packageincludes lodging at the Embassy Suites Lexington, located close to area highlights including area horse farms, bourbon distilleries, and downtown Lexington.

Lexington - Kentucky Derby Tour Itinerary:

Day 1: Arrive in Lexington. It's easy to fly into Blue Grass Airport (LEX). In the evening, relax at the hotel or take a quick cab ride to downtown Lexington

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Cowboys Sideline Reporter’s Travel Diary: A Special Night for the Team at Freedom Tower’s One World Observatory

--Kristi Scales

Ten road trips a year are among the biggest perks of broadcasting NFL games. Some people don’t like business travel or find it tedious to make trips that are quick turnarounds, but Cowboys road trips are among my favorite parts of the job.

During the 2015 season, Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett deviated from the team’s normal travel routine to provide an extra special experience for players and coaches (and a couple of lucky long-time broadcasters, including myself). For the game at the New York Giants in October, we left a day early so the team could spend Friday evening touring the 9/11 Memorial and attending a private team dinner party inside Freedom Tower.

It was a high-brow evening, to be sure. All the players and coaches were dressed in suits & ties. The team’s hotel is in Jersey City, so upon arrival on Friday evening at Newark Airport we took a bus to

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I want to express my gratitude to all our guests who have entrusted my team with planning their sports travel adventures over the years.

In this blog I'm sharing many of our memories (in no particular order) as we celebrate this business milestone. I invite all our past guests to share your special Sports Traveler trip memories and experiences by posting below, on Twitter using #SportsTraveler15 or on our Facebook page.

Here’s to another 15+ years!

Cheers!
Anbritt

#1: 2003 Eagles at Dolphins. The tour was successful for our guests, but what many people don’t know is what happened during our opening night reception. I choose a large dock for our groups evening meal overlooking the intercostal waterway. At some point during the event, one of our guests fell or jumped off the dock and onto the deck of one of the super yachts parked below. He was found alive by the crew, remarkably uninjured, and eating a pork chop in the galley. They returned him to us and I somehow convinced the captain of the boat to not call the police. The rest of the weekend went great, but to this day I have never done any of our receptions on a dock!

#2: Cubs Fan Tours 2002-2007. My family raised me a Cubs fan and in the mid-2000's I started a second company to focus on travel to Chicago to see Wrigley Field. We still offer similar Cubs tours every year at Sports Traveler and I’ll always be a Cubs fan no matter what my southsider friends say.

#3: Sports Traveler Chicago - Book Launch. Lydia Rypcinski and I wrote this book together and it won best non-fiction awards both in Illinois and National competitions! Our book launch party is still remembered fondly by those who attended. It was at Harry Caray’s, featured several sports mascots, and our guest of honor was the now late Minnie Minoso.

#4: STR: Sports Traveler Radio. For some reason in the early days all the college kids from my university’s radio station ended up working for my company. We launched our own podcast and had opinions about sports travel for 6+ awesome years on iTunes.

#5: Cowboys vs Redskins 2014. Our first marriage proposal! We were standing on the field at AT&T Stadium when he got down on his knee and she said yes! So sweet.