It is no secret that things are pretty slow in the business of providing all-source intelligence analysts to the Federal Government. It was a pretty hot business sector when there were two or three major wars going on, but now not so much. A lot of us who were in the business for several decades are looking around for other opportunities, since there do not appear to be many around these parts. Property values in the Ballston neighborhood have sunk 10%, something I never would have imaged.
I was talking to my former co-worker Melissa the other day, and she is the smartest business person I know. She has decided to get ou t of the Intelligence sector and diversify. She got me really pumped as we talked about some potential tours for her agency. I was a travel agent a while back, and dreamed up really cool trips to support the Congressman.
An example was one I have talked about before: “Rep. Bill’s Fabulous Denied Areas and Great Hotels of Asia Tour!”
Visit Taipei (Grand Hotel!) Hong Kong (The Peninsula!), Hanoi (Sofitel Metropole!), Saigon “Historic Rex!), Bangkok (The Oriental) and Rangoon (The Strand!) and Singapore (Raffles!). Live life as a pasha did in the days of Empire!
Anyway, Melissa actually has a travel agency, and this is what we are working on at the moment- a work in progress, but some ideas for grand fun!
Ready to set off on travel and adventure? Let Ships and Shores Travel, LLC do the planning for you.
As a Cruise Planners franchise we have access to travel vendors for every type of trip. We also serve as an American Express Travel Representative, having a tremendous reputation for quality, service, and very competitive pricing for ALL of your travel needs. We can help you discover exciting adventures around the world.
Cruises, Land Vacations, Destination Weddings, Group Tours, Adventure Travel – we can find the right travel option for you.
One of our specialty areas is group trips and tours. Here are a few tours we have in the planning stages:
The War in the West
General Ulysses Grant may have won the Civil War with his triumphs on the Mississippi River. Tour the sites of his greatest victories at Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Jackson and Vicksburg, the Gibraltar of the Confederacy! Travel in luxury in a retro tribute to Mark Twain’s life on the River: the Queen of the Mississippi delivers an experience unlike any other riverboat. Launched in 2012 and modeled after traditional Victorian-style riverboats of the late 1800s, she was the first paddle wheeler built for the Mississippi River in nearly 20 years. Queen of the Mississippi offers passengers modern amenities and comforts including large staterooms with private balconies, hotel-style bathrooms, complimentary room service, Wi-Fi, and more.
Transporting guests back in time in the most elegant fashion, the experience aboard Queen of the Mississippi is a seamless blend of old and new. Beneath her historic décor, gleaming woodwork and brass fixtures is a framework of modern cruise ship technology that provides passengers with the most comfortable and upscale vacation imaginable on the Mississippi River!
Band of Brothers Tour!
Land on the Normandy Beaches! Follow the path of George Patton’s triumphant Third Army as he drove a dagger into the heart of the Nazi homeland! Combine fine dining, wine sampling and the stark history of the greatest conflict in human history!
A Fortress Like No Other:
Tour the impregnable Maginot Line, the ultimate fortress that the Germans ignored! It all remains today, a line of concrete forts, obstacles, and weapons installations from the Swiss border to Luxembourg the Gibraltar of the North! in a fortress impervious to attack, with state-of-the-art living conditions for garrisoned troops, air conditioning, mess halls and underground railways. Sample the regional cuisine of Alsace and the French countryside. Visit Paris and the wineries- and contemplate the folly of war.
Bataan Death March!
Pay tribute to the courage of those who fought America’s first battle in the Pacific War! Fly into exotic Metro Manila and sample the largest English-speaking nation of Asia! Tour the haunting ruins of the fortress at Corregidor and trace the path of the vicious Death March imposed on American POWs! Special day trips to Grande Island in Subic Bay, Cubi Point Air Station and the American Cemeteries at Manila and Clark Air Base!
Washington DC Spy Tours!
Break the Japanese diplomatic and naval codes with the On the Roof Gang! Visit the National Cryptologic Museum and see the 1st surviving mechanical computer that opened the German U-Boat codes! See the Nebraska Avenue Complex where the Navy beat Japan, and Arlington Hall Station where the Army cracked the Purple Codes! See Hospital Hill and the birthplace of the Office of Strategic Services!
Cold War Espionage!
Tour the bewildering world of mirrors as it existing at the height of the Cold War in the capital of the Free world! Visit dead drops and practice your espionage tradecraft in the woods of suburban Maryland and Virginia where Walker, Aimes, Pollard and Ana Montez…see the U2 and SR-71 spy planes that overflew the Soviet Union and Cuba at the Smithsonian and Udvar-Hazy museums and see where the imagery that identified Soviet ballistic missile in Cuba- and brought the world to the brink of nuclear holocaust- and sit at the table at the Occidental where the quiet agreement was reached to pull the missiles out. It is all happening in the World of Spooks and Spies! Special bonus: find the unmarked graves of the deadly Nazi saboteurs who were landed by U-Boat to poison American reservoirs and dynamite our factories! Six were executed and buried where no one- but you- will find them!
The Cockpit of Action!
Civil War as it really was in the most fought over counties in America! A two day Orientation to the key battlefields of Northern Virginia! See first and second Manassas where modern mass war began. See the site of the largest cavalry battle in American history at Brandy Station. Enjoy some country living and wine tasting in the rolling hills of Madison County and see the site of he desperate struggles at The Wilderness, the bloody crossroads of Chancellorsville, and the slaughter at Marye’s Heights at Fredericksburg, where stoic Union troopers wrote their names on tags so their bodies could be identified- the origin of the Dog Tag! Optional side trips include the persevered ramparts in DC of Fort Stevens, Monocracy Creek, Antietam and Gettysburg!
Stones of the District!
The first monuments authorized by the new American Congress are still there! Before the new capital city could be built, the District had to be surveyed. Follow the steps of Major Andrew Ellicott took in 1792 with freedman Benjamin Banneker to place the 40 sandstone markers, one each mile, that denote the boundaries of the Federal City. Through swamp and forest, hill and dale, this unique tour will show you the back of the house and the unique culture of the nation’s capital! Special day trip!
The above tours are hosted and narrated by Mr. JR Reddig, Military Historian and Ships and Shores Travel Group Tours Advisor.
Contact Ships and Shores Travel for further information on how you can be part of these unique tour opportunities.
Melissa Cutter
Ships and Shores Travel, LLC
703-828-7615
mcutter@shipsandshorestravel.com
melissa.cutter@cruiseplanners.com
www.shipsandshorestravel.com