Kutztown Folk Festival

May 19, 2017Posted in Bus Tours, Day Trips, DestinationsWritten by admin2 Comments

Starting a new job certainly has its pluses and minuses. One of those minuses is that you need to wait for vacation time to accumulate before you can take time off of work. I was a little concerned about this until I started my new position with Starr (in October 2015) and I learned about ALL of the incredible Day Trips by bus that Starr has to offer!! And, because most of them are offered on weekends, I discovered that these convenient day trips can turn into one day mini-vacations for me and my family.

One of my favorite one day bus trips was to the Kutztown, PA Folk Festival. This summer, the 9-day festival that draws over 130,000 visitors will celebrate its 68^th year. Amazingly enough, the idea for this family-friendly event originated from three men who wanted to share their Pennsylvania Dutch heritage with others. A person’s curiosity is certainly settled after visiting this festival for just one day! After experiencing craft demonstrations, entertainment, wonderful food, folklore, and one of the nation’s finest quilt sales, I left with much greater knowledge and understanding of the PA Dutch lifestyle.

Kutztown Folk Festival

Upon entering the festival, one of the first displays we encountered was that of the farming community. There were many farming tractors that spanned from the early days to the present. It was fascinating to see how time and innovation has changed the farming industry for the better. Many of the early farmers worked a tremendous amount of man hours to get their fields ready to plant their crops. While farming is still classified as hard work, it is not nearly as hard today because of the progression of the agricultural equipment that is available for use.

As we continued walking through the festival, there were hundreds of vendors and crafters with so many beautiful handmade crafts, jewelry, and food items that you could sample, purchase, or make yourself. Originally, all those who participated were Pennsylvania Dutch natives. While that may not be true today, you will still witness the same level of craftsmanship being demonstrated and on display. One of the requirements to be involved is that “all products sold at the Festival MUST be American made.”

There are many hands-on activities that are available to participate in and many were quite different from what I have seen at other festivals. I loved observing the gentleman who had a booth set up for anyone who wanted to make their own silk scarf. You could choose your own colors and he would guide you through the process and then you would take your lovely new scarf home to wash and wear with pride. I also loved watching the man who makes straw brooms right before your eyes without any machine – just the use of his hands. My daughter had the opportunity to make her own tie-dye t-shirt that she is wearing a lot these days with the comeback of the ’70s “anything tie-dye” clothing. Furniture making, quilting, soap making, pottery, stained glass, pewter, tinning, blacksmith, and wood carving are a few more trades you will encounter throughout the day.

Besides the craft activities, some of the buildings you can visit are a 1-room schoolhouse from the 1800s, a 1-room church, antique building with hundreds of items from the past and a barn that is used to display over 2,500 hand-made quilts. An auction is held on the Saturday before the festival ends where 24 of the best quilts are put up for auction and one is raffled off. Also, each attendee can experience quilting and making their own square that is then assembled into the annual visitors quilt.

The variety of food offered is traditional Pennsylvania Dutch. You can purchase a family style dinner, homemade soups and sandwiches, and more. The areas that are reserved to have your meal are kept clean by the family members who are their selling their family recipes. The prices are very reasonable for lunch and dinner. Cinnamon buns, apple dumplings, and shoo-fly pie are favorites for dessert.

Our family had such a wonderful time last year that we are planning on going back to the festival again this year. If you are looking for an adventure, and don’t have a lot of time to take off, this is a day trip where you will not be disappointed. All in all I have now taken 9 day trips and 2 multi day vacations since I began working for Starr. That’s an average of 1 bus trip per every 7 weeks! Lucky me! Oh… lest I not forget the best news, I now have accrued paid time off and look forward to using it to experience one of Starr’s multi-day bus trips!!

Linda Ruggieri
Tour Services Specialist,
Starr Bus Charter and Tours

Off to the Races with Starr’s First Trip to the Kentucky Derby

May 5, 2017Posted in Bus Tours, DestinationsWritten by admin2 Comments

I was very happy to be the tour coordinator assigned to Starr’s first bus trip to the Kentucky Derby departing on May 3, 2017. Working on a new tour is very interesting, challenging and inspiring – and this tour was no exception.

This new tour had been “in the works” for more than 2 years and actually became “ready for sale” in January 2016 – 16 months before the tour’s departure date! We knew this bus trip was a “bucket list” item for many people because at the end of every Starr trip, we ask for future tour suggestions to be noted on their survey. Many of our customers had requested this trip and our office responded; and thus began the planning process. Not surprisingly, so many of our customers booked the trip within the first two months that a second bus was needed! Both buses filled up quickly and eventually became sold out! So our guests packed their special hats to wear on Derby Day and our Tour Directors prepared their notes and made games for the bus trip.

Of course the Kentucky Derby itself is the highlight of the tour, but Starr has included many other attractions so our passengers will really be immersed in the other events surrounding the Derby including being able to experience the highlights of the Louisville, Kentucky area as well. Starr guests will attend the Pegasus Parade, a true tradition of the Derby, and visit a horse training farm. They’ll see a farm that raises Longwool sheep, visit a local theatre with antique exhibits, and of course no visit to Kentucky is complete without a stop at a bourbon distillery! There will be food throughout the tour, too! At the Pegasus Parade they will enjoy a picnic dinner, on another day they’ll have lunch at Claudia Sanders Dinner House (you may know her husband, Colonel Sanders!), and they’ll have a great “Off to the Races” dinner party with a taste of Kentucky menu. Just before the Derby itself, our passengers will go on a Riverboat Cruise where they will meet with experts to help them place their bets when the go the Kentucky Derby later that day. Did I mention I am jealous of our Starr guests who get to experience this trip??!!

I really love getting the trips ready for the road! Some of my responsibilities include: planning the timing, making reservations, and providing directions along with additional information to give to our tour directors so that everything goes smoothly. We have someone in charge of booking the hotels and another person in charge of sending the rooming lists. Our Travel Advisors sell the trips and our marketing team develops the catalogs to entice you. As you can see, it really is a team effort in making each trip a wonderful experience for our passengers. This is why it makes us so happy when our travelers and our Tour Directors send in pictures of the trips which we then post on the Starr Tours Facebook page. I love seeing our Starr guests having a great time! Don’t you?

When I plan a tour, I usually include some fun information for our Tour Directors to share with our passengers. For example, did you know there are 554 roses in the garland of roses presented to the winner of the Kentucky Derby? “Each garland is also adorned with a ‘crown’ of roses, green fern and ribbon. The ‘crown,’ a single rose pointing upward in the center of the garland, symbolizes the struggle and heart necessary to reach the Derby Winner’s Circle.”¹ Also, 100,000 Mint Juleps are poured during the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks!

Traveling is something that I enjoy very much and I truly hope that our passengers enjoy this trip to the fullest extent. I look forward to seeing lots of pictures on Facebook and if you “like” Starr’s Facebook page you can see them, too!

Don’t worry! If you missed this trip, we already have next year’s planned for May 2, 2018 and it is filling up! You could be part of the “Run for the Roses,” too!

Dawn Nachbaur,
Starr Bus Charter & Tours, Tour Services Department

¹Garland of Roses

Photos courtesy of the Louisville Area CVB

Go Greener With Starr

April 20, 2017Posted in Bus Charters, Bus Tours, NewsWritten by Sandy Borowsky1 Comment

Each year, Earth Day—April 22—marks the anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970. The largest secular observance in the world is celebrated by more than a billion people every year, and offers a day of action that changes human behavior and provokes policy changes. The fight for a clean environment is in full force at Starr and continues with increasing urgency, as the ravages of climate change become more manifest every day.

At Starr, we are committed to doing our part to help our environment and make a difference. That is why we invest in and maintain one of the “greenest” fleets on the East Coast. With numerous technologies and initiatives in place, Starr is actively working to protect our environment for future generations. Did you know that just one of our coaches can replace up to 56 cars on our roadways? It’s time to climb aboard a charter bus to help our environment!

In honor of this important day, here are (just a few of) the priorities that Starr focuses on in our daily regimen:

Starr continues to purchase motorcoaches that utilize cleaner engine technology
The Volvo D13 Engine, an engine in the newer buses that Starr purchases, delivers near-zero emissions of particulates and NOx – improving air quality and exceeding new EPA emissions requirements.
Starr operates a fleet of Prevost motorcoaches. Prevost is the only North American bus manufacturer to be a world-recognized environmental leader and is fully committed to safeguarding the environment. Prevost is the only coach manufacturer to have achieved an ISO 14001 Certification for environmental management.
Starr has retrofitted our older vehicles to reduce emissions up to 85%
Starr recycles oil, tires, batteries, and many more engine components to keep these items out of our landfills
Starr Charter Bus Drivers have been individually trained by the University of Vermont’s Certification for Sustainable Transportation.
Starr Charter Bus Drivers are not permitted to idle engines for longer than 3 minutes as unnecessary engine idling wastes fuel and creates senseless pollution.

Starr’s Charter Bus and Tour Headquarters in Hamilton, NJ:

Runs partially on Solar Power
Maintains up to date environmental planning for stormwater and spill prevention
Goes paperless whenever possible…emailing confirmations and invoices and printing only when necessary.
Has a recycling program in place that includes everything from paper to ink toner.

Motorcoach Travel – The Greener Way to Go!

A couple boarding a motorcoach will cut their carbon footprint nearly in half compared with driving even a hybrid car.
And if they take a motorcoach rather than flying, they will cut their emissions by 55 to 75 percent, depending on the distance they travel.
Motorcoaches emit the least carbon dioxide per passenger mile compared to other vehicles, and are 7 times more energy and fuel-efficient than single occupancy automobiles.
Motorcoaches are 3 times more efficient in reducing carbon dioxide output compared to commuter rail.
Motorcoaches are the most fuel-efficient transportation mode in North America when measured in terms of passenger miles per gallon of fuel providing 206.6 passenger mpg compared to commuter rail (92.4 passenger mpg), airlines (44 passenger mpg), and single occupancy automobiles (27.2 passenger mpg).
A single motorcoach can replace as many as 56 passenger cars on our highways.

As you can see, Starr has a strong commitment to preserving our environment. So this Earth Day, what will your focus be to help cherish and maintain our environment? Now, it’s more important than ever to Go Green!

Mid-Atlantic Maritime Magic

March 3, 2017Posted in Bus ToursWritten by admin1 Comment

My name is Jan Berger and I am one of the Tour Coordinators in Starr’s Tour Operations Department. Around this time of the year, my fellow Tour Coordinators and I are busy working on the itineraries and reservation details for the upcoming tour season. One of the new tours in my area of responsibility is the Mid-Atlantic Maritime Magic and I felt I just had to write about this great little get-away.

This little gem of a tour has so many wonderful attractions! The “magic” in the name of the tour is two-fold. An actual magic show is the featured entertainment one evening; but to me, the magic is the delightful components of this three day tour.

The first day features maritime history with the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michael’s, MD. Established in 1965, the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum is a world-class maritime museum dedicated to preserving and exploring the history, environment and people of the entire Chesapeake Bay, with the values of relevancy, authenticity, and stewardship guiding its mission. The museum’s campus includes a floating fleet of historic boats and 12 exhibition buildings. Its collection of Chesapeake Bay watercraft is the largest in existence numbering about 85 boats! The Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum is the only museum devoted to interpreting the entire maritime region of the Bay. Overnight accommodations for this lovely vacation are located directly on the beach in Ocean City, Maryland where every room features a private balcony with ocean views!

Get ready for another day filled with fun and fascination! The second day starts with the O.C. Life Saving Station. Housed in a beautifully restored building, the Station highlights exhibits concerning the history of the Life-Saving Service featuring aquariums, doll-house replicas of hotels that once lined the boardwalk, shipwreck artifacts, a mermaid collection, bathing suits from the past, and a Sand-From-Around-the-World exhibit.

Next, embark on a tour of Assateague Island before enjoying lunch in the quaint, Victorian town of Berlin. Then, board “The Explorer” for an exciting eco-cruise around Assawoman Bay. Learn about Ocean City’s Eco-system and wildlife while navigating the Ocean City fishing harbor and watch the fishing boats as they leave to get their daily catches. Each cruise features a professional naturalist and on-board touch tank so you can discover and learn firsthand about the unique coastal eco-system. Join in on the adventure as we actually land on Assateague Island! You’ll get hands on experience as you toss a net, hoist a crab pot,

and learn all about the fascinating creatures we discover as our naturalist collects and identifies our catch. We’ll explore salt marshes, observe ospreys, pelicans and other unique marine birds; and, of course, no cruise is complete without viewing the famous Assateague Ponies! This may be just the thing you need for a fun, enjoyable learning experience during your stay in Ocean City. Later, get ready for a magical evening at Dicken’s Parlour Theatre where some of the world’s best magicians entertain and mystify audiences in an intimate 60 seat theatre. Afterwards, you’ll be treated to a special meet and greet with the performers who will delight with a few more magic tricks at each table!

On the last day you’ll visit the DiscoverSea Shipwreck Museum which houses an ever-changing exhibit featuring new artifacts as they are recovered from wrecks off of Delaware’s coast. The collection of shipwreck and recovered artifacts is one of the largest in the Mid-Atlantic and contains shipwreck artifacts both regional and worldwide.

Finally, what would a visit to the coast be without lighthouses? We will make two lighthouse visits for some great photo ops; the Fenwick Lighthouse, built in 1858, and the Delaware Breakwater, built in 1767 and also known as the Cape Henlopen Lighthouse. And what’s a vacation without shopping? We can’t pass up a stop at the Tanger Outlets in Rehoboth Beach where we can pick up “a little something” for ourselves or that person we left at home!

Our departures are in early May (Aren’t you ready for a little sun and sand?), and early October (The crowds are gone but the weather should be perfect!) Come join us!

See you at the beach!
Jan Berger
Tour Services Specialist,
Starr Bus Charter and Tours

Photo Credits: Lee Cannon, and others courtesy of Assateague Explorer & Harrison Group

New Year’s Travel Resolutions for the Young at Heart – Cross Country

January 6, 2017Posted in Bus Tours, DestinationsWritten by Shana DattilioLeave a comment

“Travel More” is a common New Year’s Resolution, but like many resolutions, it will easily fall to the wayside without ideas and plans for how to make it happen. Throughout the month of January, we’ll be offering a destination a week on our blog with New Year’s Travel Resolution destinations that you should check out to fulfill your “Travel More” resolution!

Traveling across the country is a free spirited dream held by many. The open road, endless possibility, and the chance to see so much of our beautiful country is such a tempting idea. When we get out of our daily routine and travel away from home we gain perspective, embrace new challenges and passions, and find fulfillment. Traveling across the country truly is a vacation of a lifetime and it is about time you experienced it!

On our 26-day Cross Country by Bus tour you’ll be guided by an experienced driver and knowledgeable tour director who will make your trip effortless and stress free so you can fully experience every fantastic destination, comfortable hotel, delicious meal, fascinating attraction, breathtaking sight, and more!

Speaking of which, exactly what will you get to experience on your trip? How about 5 national parks, 15 states, 3 monuments/memorials, and 9 historic landmarks for starters? You’ll visit the St. Louis Gateway Arch and take its tram up through the arch itself to the Observation Deck, 630 feet above the ground, where you can see for 30 miles on a clear day. In Albuquerque, New Mexico, you’ll take a ride on the Sandia Peak Tramway, the world’s longest aerial tramway spanning a distance of 2.7 miles above deep canyons, and breathtaking terrain.

Photo Courtesy of the Greater Phoenix CVB

Visit Arizona and fall in love with the breathtaking beauty of this unique state with a visit to the must-see Grand Canyon, a stop in beautiful Sedona, and a trip through Petrified Forest National Park and the Painted Desert. Spend a day in thrilling Las Vegas, Nevada. Travel all the way to California and take in the many sights and attractions you’ve only ever dreamed about, including Hollywood, Los Angeles, and Alcatraz! Begin to make your way back home by crossing through the northwest and stopping at Mount Rushmore, and Wall Drug Store. Experience Old Faithful’s timely eruption, gaze in amazement at the painted landscape of Badlands National Park, and take in the excitement of downtown Chicago. All of this and so much more make this trip an unforgettable journey!

Passengers on our past Cross Country tours (over 10 years worth!) have formed close bonds that extend through the years. It’s hard not to become friends with people you travel with for 26 days! And we make it even easier to connect with past and present Cross Country Travelers with our private Facebook group where you can get advice on how to prepare for your “Journey of a Lifetime,” meet others on your trip, and share memories and photos afterwards.*

So what are you waiting for? Put aside your worries about being gone for a month and travel the scenic roads of our great country! Trust me, you’ll be glad you did!

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