Stepping out

Chris's Group from Adena, Ohio, poses in front of Mount Rushmore, one of several sites on the group's recent trip to the Black Hills of South Dakota.

By Herb Sparrow

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By Marsha Mack Goberish

In Chris Konkoleski’s life as a group travel leader, she is sometimes taking money from customers for the second time.
 
The first time was as a cashier at a local grocery store near her hometown of Adena, Ohio, a job she enjoyed for 15 years. “I’ve always loved a social kind of job. But being a group travel leader and seeing the gorgeous sights in this country sure beats the sights in a grocery store,” she said.
 
Konkoleski is a long-time fan of motorcoach travel, having enjoyed many bus trips with her mother throughout the years.

“I loved it even back in those days. I used to look at the ladies who were leading those senior citizen trips and decided right then I would take their place when they weren’t able to do it anymore,” she said.

For the past five years, Konkoleski has recruited many of those senior citizens, dubbed Chris’s Group, in addition to many friends and neighbors for local and nationwide travel. Earlier this year, she quit her job at the grocery store to dedicate herself full time to group travel and Chris’s Group.

“For me to get out there and do the things I wanted to do, I needed more free time,” she said.

Although she admits “the big competitors are tough for my little business in this little area,” Konkoleski’s hard work is paying off. Sometimes with the help of professional tour operators or a travel agent, she is enjoying at least five excursions a year.

Chris Konkoleski, who quick her job with a grocery to work full-time planning travel for Chris's Group, takes in the view at Badlands National Park.

get there, but it didn’t seem like it, because we had so much fun.”

For each trip, this self-taught computer whiz creates her own brochures that she distributes to about 100 of her potential travelers, ranging in age from 20 to 80.

Konkoleski is tickled to greet so many newcomers, thanks to free word-of-mouth advertising. “We are an area of coal miners, retired steelworkers — real down-to-earth people.

“I’m very proud that one group, a family of eight that includes brothers and sisters and their spouses, travels with me every year for their annual vacation,” she said.

Konkoleski is now planning extended excursions to Texas, Florida and Maryland for 2010. “Maryland has a fall-foliage train journey I can’t wait to do,” she said.

Konkoleski reflected on why — besides her love of travel — she loves her job and why she is already dreaming about sights she and her group will enjoy beyond the upcoming year: “There are so many people who don’t drive anymore, and this is so rewarding, to offer fellowship, new friends and, of course, good times.

“I’m only 56 years old, and Lord willing, I’ll be doing this for many years to come.”

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