Destination Malaysia. Romania, Canada, Even Ecuador

Jewish Exponent
May 29, 2008

With the weather finally turning and vacation time accrued, it’s travel time, even for singles. But for many of us, the prospect of spending a week wandering the streets of some exotic location solo and seeing the sights all alone might not be a welcoming option.

So, what can the single traveler do? It’s not too late to hook up with a travel group, more specifically, a tour group catering to the Jewish single traveler. And I’m not just talking about a United Jewish Appeal Mission to Israel, even though those are first-rate and spiritual journeys.

Two businesses offer a wide range of tour packages for the single Jewish traveler: Premier Jewish Singles, out of St. Louis, and Amazing Journeys, from Pittsburgh.

In addition to organized trips, the owners say that their tours create lasting friendships, and even some marriages.

Premier Vacations still has room left for a July 19-Aug. 2 tour of Eastern and Central Europe (Budapest, Prague, Vienna and an optional trip to Berlin), said Roxanne Weisman of Premier Vacations. She has an October trip set for Romania, and a December one for Malaysia and Borneo (www.premr-jewish-singles.com).

“Singles often wait until the last minute,” she said, which could not only mean it might be too late for a specific trip, but because of rising fuel costs, the price could change. “We try to limit our tours to 25. It’s more intimate and easier for people to circulate and make friends.”

Though billed as Jewish singles vacations, Weisman said that her trips are not all about people “hooking up” or always finding that special someone.

“It’s probably not going to happen here, with somebody from New York and somebody from L.A.,” she said. “It’s very difficult to form long-term relationships when people are from all over the country and they are professionals.

“When we do a program, the destination is of prime importance: You want to go to Malaysia; you want to see Italy; you want to see China,” she continued. “We do travel. That’s why we want to promote the designation. You will come out of the trip having a good time and enjoying the destination.”

But these are more than simply trips to Weisman.

“Every trip that leaves this office is a personal one,” she said. “Either myself or my daughter go with the group. I do this because it is a love of my life, not to make a lot of money.”

Weisman has been organizing tours for 29 years, ever since she started when she was on the Midwest regional board for BBYO. Eventually, she graduated to organizing singles tours because, “like every Jewish mother, I wanted my daughter to be with other Jewish people, and here I am.

“This is a very important part of my life. I’m married, a mother, grandmother. It’s much more than having a client-business relationship.”

She pointed out that when she lost her son 41/2 years ago, people who had been on her trips from all over the country flew to St. Louis, sent her cards and shivah trays, as well as hundreds of tributes.

“We build friendships,” she said. “This is what has come from travel with singles. There’s almost no major city in the country I can’t go to and not have an invitation to dinner.”

Amazing Journey’s Malori Asman tells a similar story with her Pittsburgh-based business.

“I was doing this for 16 years in conjunction with the JCC of Pittsburgh. We started organizing Jewish singles travel,” she said.

Now, her company attracts Jewish single travelers from more than 20 states and at least five countries, she said.

Meet the Sister Amazing Journey’s July 10 Mediterranean cruise to Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Italy and Cyprus has limited availability. But the “End of Summer” cruise from New York City to New Brunswick, Canada, Aug. 28-Sept. 1, remains open, she said. Both tours have about 100 travelers.

Asman has led groups all over Europe and to exotic locations, like the Galapagos Islands and Ecuador, even an African safari. The gender breakdown tends to be 60 percent women to 40 percent male. Either Asman or her assistant leads the groups.

“We get a nice mixture of people,” she said. “We get some of the nicest people out there. We offer fun and exploration, a friendly down-to-earth group –vacations that can change your life.”

Her trips build a network of friends, she said, and possibly more. Asman claims that more than 100 people from her trips have gotten married.

This is not to say that people always find their special someone on every trip, but they may discover the next best things: “I say your husband might not be on a trip, but his sister might be.”

Roy S. Gutterman is a Syracuse, N.Y.-based writer. To contact him, visit:www.Lrev.com.

http://www.jewishexponent.com/article/16206

May 29, 2008 – Roy S. Gutterman, Jewish Exponent Feature