Single mother’s frustration with finding an agency to plan adequate trip led to her own business.
April 13
By Sheena Delaziosdelazio@timesleader.com
Staff Writer
DALLAS – With so many family vacation hotspots nearby, Kate Burnside recently decided she could use that to her advantage.
On March 26, Kate and her mother Daylene held a grand opening of their Web-based travel agency specializing in arranging getaways suited to families.
“I had the idea for Adventure Family Trips on the way home from a ski trip in 2008,” Kate Burnside said. “That idea became a reality as I decided to leave my job in pharmaceutical sales and start my own company.”
Adventure Family Trips specializes in organizing fun-filled family trips to local and regional attractions such as Big Boulder/Jack Frost and Sno Mountain.
“As a single mother of two young boys, I felt I needed to do something that would involve them and provide them with a better lifestyle,” Burnside, 38, said.
Daylene Burnside has extensive experience in the travel industry and was a national sales manager for a wholesale tour operator. Daylene and Kate also have skied a great deal in the northeastern and western United States.
“She’s been my mentor,” Kate said of her mother.
When planning a 2008 vacation with her sons, now 6 and 9 years old, Kate Burnside had difficulty finding a travel agency that could plan a trip for her and her children. She decided to take planning into her own hands. “The trip was a success, but only because of all the time I spent doing the necessary research to make the trip run smoothly,” she said.
Burnside decided she could help other families through her own business.
Adventure Family Trips, based in Dallas, provides families with information ranging from prices of ski lift tickets to family-friendly lodging.
Burnside’s Web site also lists local eateries and directions and specifications about each location, such as the 33 trails located at Camelback Mountain Resort and its 50 inches of snow annually.
Several locations listed on Burnside’s Web site are also summer hot spots with water parks. Burnside said she is looking to add Red Rock Resort, Hershey Park and several other regional destinations to her list of places to go.
For families traveling in the spring and summer, Adventure Family Trips offers tips and tricks to planning a getaway, activities to do when finally there and what to bring and to leave home.
Burnside said she feels that shorter family trips are the way to go now with the slumping economy.
“There are so many memories to be made, so consider taking your children on an adventure,” Burnside said.
Booking a family trip?
Visit www.adventurefamilytrips.com
or call 1-888-267-4725.
