Trips Inc. in the media

A Trips Inc. group tests the Elk Lake waters last September. Damon Quade (right) and Justin Hale (rear) served as chaperones on the venture.
Photos: Trips Inc.

Trips Inc. travelers and staff members visited Paris last June to see the Eiffel Tower, Euro Disney and the Louvre.
Photos: Trips Inc.

Still, Peterson said demand outstrips the trips he can supply.

It's not uncommon for the 20 to 30 slots available for a summer camping expedition in Central Oregon to be full six months in advance, said Rhonda Reed, travel coordinator for Trips. On those outdoor expeditions, the chaperone to traveler ratio is 1-to-1 or 1-to-2 for safety reasons, Peterson said.

Limited Opportunities

Peterson started the business a decade after failing to find adequate vacation opportunities for a disabled foster child in his care.

"I found a lot of camps, but what about going to San Francisco for a baseball game?" he said. "I thought about starting my own travel service, and 10 years later I did."

Peterson's personality drives the Trips paid staff. His philosophy is straightforward: Special needs folks need vacations like the rest of us, and the best way to educate the world about the disabled is to take them out into the world to recreate.

"I want the perception out there that we aren't all that different," he said. "People with developmental disabilities aren't made of glass."

Monica Venice is proof of that. Next week, the 38-year-old Cottage Grove woman with Down syndrome will embark on her fifth Trips vacation - this time on a cruise to the Bahamas.

"She usually does one every year," said Monica's mother, Becky Venice, noting that the journeys give her "very independent" daughter the incentive to work at McDonald's and save for traveling.

"It is so thrilling for her to have the opportunity to do a trip like this without Mom and Dad along," Becky Venice said. "Trips gives her as much freedom to be as independent as she can be."

Monica, who has been to Branson, Mo., Disneyworld, Hawaii and Mexico with Trips, said her most memorable venture thus far is the jaunt to Hawaii when she and her group swam with friendly marine mammals at the Dolphin Quest facility. "I kissed a dolphin," she said, giggling.

Letting Go of Kids

Some parents and guardians of special needs people tend to be overprotective and dismiss the supervised vacations offered by Trips and other similar firms, Becky Venice said.

"I've tried to talk it up to other parents to let their kids do this, but it's hard for them to put their kids in the hands of strangers," she said.

Janine Nilsen found Trips when she started looking for an organization for her son, Eric, to travel with after he graduated from Cottage Grove High School. Eric Nilsen, 29, has Down syndrome, and now works in the high school cafeteria.

"It's important for parents of kids with special needs to let them travel," Janine Nelson said. "These kids need real experiences to grow."

Nilsen said the tour groups are a chance for her son to be an ambassador for the special needs community. "To show the world they are not monsters," she said.

Nilsen recounts a vacation Eric took to Hawaii, and he and his group stopped at an Oahu bar. "A group of Japanese businessmen walked in, looked at them and were taken aback," she said. "Eric walked up to them and said 'Hi' and that melted the ice instantly."

Venice maintains she wasn't nervous when Monica took her first vacation without parents. She's known Peterson for almost 30 years, dating back to when both were volunteers for Special Olympics.

"He is such a natural with the population," Venice said. "He just connects with these guys and they love him."

Peterson, who has a master's degree in special education, said the vacations his company offers are the only chance for many disabled people to break their sometimes regimented routines.

"Traveling improves their confidence," he said. "They are adults, so let's get them out there to see the world."

Operating out of a two-story house on West Sixth Avenue in Eugene, the Trips staff plans the minute details of each adventure.

Aside from plane tickets, there are hotel room assignments, special diets and accommodations, instructions for medications, traveler profiles and the lining up of chaperons.

Reed, the travel coordinator and a licensed travel agent, puts it all together, Peterson said.

"We had a trip to Orlando (Fla.) once where we had people coming from 16 different airports," Reed said. "That was stressful."

Peterson insists that all staff members, even the office manager, take at least one trip "so they understand how important their jobs are."

Reed for example, has made several trips to Scotland and France. Tour leaders are also given flexibility to veer off the planned schedule to accommodate different interests.

"We set the itinerary, but they aren't canned trips," Peterson said. "We want people to experience everything."

Reed last June traveled with a group to Paris, and had to make some minor schedule changes. "They liked the Louvre so much they wanted to go back, so we did," she said. "If they don't like museums, I have to find something different for them to enjoy."

Peterson relies on paid group leaders and a network of 200 chaperons to keep his travelers safe. Chaperons, from a variety of backgrounds, are a mix of paid staff and volunteers. For the unpaid, Trips covers the costs, such as airfare, lodging and meals.

A special education teacher in Maryland makes a point of volunteering for one trip a year, Peterson said, while a Wyoming woman travels with Trips as many as 10 times a year.

"The only way it works is if I've got good chaperons," Peterson said, adding that all are thoroughly vetted, including background checks and interviews to screen their disposition and attitude.

Adam Gratch, a program supervisor for the Arc of Multnomah County, has chaperoned seven trips and is slated to head to Nashville in March.

"It's an incredible opportunity," he said. "You get to meet new friends and have new experiences."

Gratch said he appreciates Trips because the firm takes disabled folks to places they would never see on their own.

"They make connections that last well after the trip has ended," Gratch said. "There's a lot of learning that goes on."

Peterson said four couples who met on the trips have married.

Screening clients

Not all folks with developmental disabilities are fit for travel. Peterson requires each to submit a profile, and makes sure a person's social skills will fit with any given group. Formerly a director for a group home for the developmentally disabled, Peterson scrutinizes each profile for any disqualifying issues.

"Our biggest concern is safety. We're not coming at this from a travel agency perspective," he said. "If there are medical concerns that we can't handle, we'll have to say no, maybe another trip at another time."

The business has flattened out since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks - mirroring the national travel atmosphere - but remains profitable, Peterson said. "This is something that will not make you rich," he added.

Those who know Peterson said he operates Trips out of a deep affection for the disabled. "He loves the population," Venice said. "And his enthusiasm and demeanor rubs off on those people he hires."

Peterson said he loves the clients and their sheer joy in a recreational setting.

"If I had the chance to do it for another group, I wouldn't," he said. "These guys don't complain about the weather. They are simply grateful."
Trips Inc. Special Adventures

Business: Travel agency that caters exclusively to developmentally disabled adults. Conducts roughly 40 trips a year and serves as many as 750 clients a year.

Owner: Jim Peterson
Employees: Six paid staff plus a volunteer chaperon force of 200
Founded: 1991
Headquarters: Eugene

Copyright © 2004, The Register Guard
Reprinted with permission