An Alternative to High-Priced Tours

Magic Holiday Travel Club, based in Montclair, is still another local tour company specializing in mature and senior travel with emphasis on modest-priced trips.

Now in its fourth year and operated by Sabrina and Michael Olsa, Magic Holiday Travel offers a pretty much year-round program of mostly motorcoach and air-and-motorcoach tours, with an occasional cruise.

“We feel we are offering an alternative to the ‘pricey’ super-deluxe tours currently being offered elsewhere, while still maintaining a quality tour experience that fits the mature traveler’s budget,” said the Olsas.

“We also keep in mind that people have different tastes and budgets for food, therefore we do not include meals on most of our tours,” they added.

“This allows our members to keep their costs down and at the same time not have to settle for a sometimes limited, pre-selected and usually over-priced menu. We also say up front, with no surprises, what is and what is not included in the tour price,” they explained.

Open to All

Magic Holiday Tours are open to all, but the Olsas also operate a travel club that, for $10 membership, provides lower prices on all tours (roughly 10%) as well as advance notice on all trips.

Typical of the motorcoach tours offered is a 15-day western swing that includes Yellowstone, Zion, Grand Teton and Grand Canyon National Parks as well as Mt. Rushmore and the Black Hills plus city visits to such destinations as Cheyenne and Albuquerque. Tour dates are Sept. 8 to 22 and the price for members is $755; for non-members it is $795.

A nice touch on the itinerary is the number of miles driven each day; the longest being 384 miles the first day and 350 miles the last day. Other daily mileages range from a low of 94 miles to an average of 240.

“We design our tours with comfort in mind,” Sabrina Olsa said. “Our driving time on the average is no more than six hours a day with two hours of rest and lunch stops.

“We take rest stops approximately every two hours and try to include something of interest each day of the tour,” she added.

Also scheduled on this late summer and fall agenda: Canyonlands, a six-day motorcoach tour to Zion, Bryce and Grand Canyon National Parks, Oct. 12 to 17, $295 for members, $330 for non-members; a four-day tour to San Francisco, Oct. 27 to 30, $185 for members, $205 for non-members; an eight-day air-and-motorcoach tour of New England, Sept. 29 to Oct. 6, which includes 18 meals, for $1,295.

Final Planning Stages

Magic Holiday’s 1987 program, which includes more than 15 tours and cruises from four- to six-day motorcoach tours to a 29-day cruise-tour of Alaska are in the final planning stages.

“All prices are based on double occupancy and we can often pair up single travelers to keep their costs down,” reported the Olsas. “We also arrange pick-up points in several locations, such as Los Angeles, the San Gabriel Valley, Orange and San Bernardino counties, which are the most convenient for the tour members.”

For more information write Magic Holiday Travel Club, 4795 Holt Blvd., Suite 202, Montclair 91763 or phone (714) 625-3938.

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Another fall foliage and historic America tour aimed at the mature market is the 18-day air and motorcoach tour offered by Great Western Travel departing Sept. 30. In addition to New England, the trip also includes Toronto and Niagara Falls, as well as New York City, Philadelphia and Valley Forge, Pennsylvania Dutch Country, Gettysburg, three days in Washington, D.C., Williamsburg and Monticello. For information phone (818) 578-1161 or (800) 344-7090 for the rest of California. Price is $1,995 per person based on double occupancy.

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It probably just confirms what many mature travelers already know about cutting costs on motoring vacations, but the latest Runzheimer Report on Travel Management says the average meal cost per day in small cities is 42% lower than in major cities.

The average cost for a breakfast, lunch and dinner in a typical small city (100,000 population) is $27.10 a day per person. In a larger city, the same three meals cost $38.45 on a national average. (In Los Angeles, notes Runzheimer, the average cost for three meals is $41.40).

On a regional basis, the highest per-day meal prices (a balance of both small and metropolitan cities) is the Pacific Coast region plus Alaska and Hawaii. This is $34.20 a day. That compares to $29.90 for the Mountain States (Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Idaho and Montana) and a low of $28.85 for the Southeast States, which includes Florida.