Rowena and Melvin Reeves met while bowling. For years, that was their thing: setting them up and knocking them down.
Now, travel is their thing: setting them up and knocking people out with their destinations, scheduled activities and service. That is why they are known as Travel Plus.
“It means we’re going to travel, plus we’re going to have a whole lot of fun,” Rowena said.
The Reeveses are partners of 30 years. She is a retired Internal Revenue Service secretary. He is a retired maintenance worker. Together, the Ohio couple now spend their days planning trips and plotting destinations.
Partnership
She’s the leader; he’s her helper. They have been at it seven years, and they have a love for seeing different places, doing new things and making new friends. They are partners in every way.
“We travel together, we attend church together, and we enjoy our family together,” Rowena said of their bond.
Melvin agreed, and complimented his wife’s travel-planning prowess.
“Everybody seems to be satisfied with her trips,” Melvin said of his partner. “She’s just got an outgoing personality.”
The Reeveses’ first foray into organized travel came about 15 years ago. As a part of the Happy Couple’s Club, they and others in the group planned trips to various places. That group disbanded, however, and it was seven years ago, the Reeveses ventured out on their own.
Rowena got interested after long-time friend and travel planner Vanta Lewis of Pack N Go shared her love for travel planning.
Rowena ventured first to a GLAMER convention, where she learned the industry, made contacts and got travel ideas. She studied for a while and finally moved forward.
Her first trip was a five-day, four-night event to Atlantic City, N.J.
With a busload of 30 people, she planned a trip around the casinos. But that wasn’t the sole draw. Rowena added extras, like trips to a local winery, an excursion to a local glassmaker’s shop and shopping in Cape May, N.J., to round out the experience.
“I enjoy the travel, seeing different things and [learning] the different ethnic information,” Rowena said. “It’s just seeing the world that excites me. There’s just so much of it to see.”
Only overnights
The Reeveses started out with both day and extended trips. Today, they focus only on overnight extended trips to places near and far, like Canada, New England, Minnesota, Florida and Hawaii.
On each trip, travelers find Rowena at the helm and Melvin at her side or somewhere close by, handling the business aspect, handing out drinks, passing out nametags or doing whatever else his wife needs.
“Melvin is my support system,” Rowena said. “He’s there for whatever I need him for.”
Testifying to his wife’s success, Melvin recalled a group of unhappy travelers who were seeking his wife’s services. They had done a trip to Jamaica through someone else but hated how it was handled. They came to the Reeveses after remembering a previous trip they had done with her. Now a new trip is in the works for that group.
“We just offer people a lot of recreation,” Melvin said.
“All they have to do is sit back and watch the man drive. Then we get there, and she’s got plenty of activities for them to do.”
