Traventours Specializes in Educational, Group Travel

In today's economy, anything goes, including new careers after old careers have stalled or run their course. So it is for Anne Alford and her husband, Sam, who with their daughter, Candice, operate Traventours in Brandon.

"I had been an event planner for 30 years, seven years with student-group trips," said Anne Alford, at the 2012 Brandon Business Expo & Taste of Brandon presented May 17 by the Greater Brandon Chamber of Commerce at the Florida State Fairgrounds.

"My husband was an IT guy, whose company was downsized three years ago," she added. "Raising your child to do what you do is really kind of cool. We think alike. We finish each other's sentences."

So there you have it, a family that complements each other's strengths, with an entrepreneurial spirit driven to make its mark as a small-business travel agency with a niche focus on group travel and on student, educational travel.

"We're family owned and operated, with more of a focus on customizing trips" for the individual or for the group, Anne Alford said.

That includes trips to beaches, resorts and Disney, for which Paula Drennan serves as the Disney Destination Specialist. A fall-foliage trip for senior adults. Educational and performance trips for students.

"Every city we take them into we want them to be able to experience the culture of how things are so it's not just another field trip," Anne Alford said. 

To Alford, travel is not "black and white." Rather, it is "pink and grey," she said, meaning that nothing is set in stone and things can change on a dime, especially with larger group outings.

"Money is black and white, things you can't flex on," she said. "Travel is not black and white. You change a date, you add more kids."

Let the school officials "focus on the education," she said. "We focus on the logistics."