Through travel, the Kingsport Senior Center broadens your adventuring spirit

Whether it’s a day trip to the country, a weekend bed and breakfast getaway or an annual vacation to the beach, traveling is a healthy activity for both young and old alike. Visiting other places can boost health, reduce stress and create memories with friends and family.

Which is why travel is one of the most popular offerings at the Kingsport Senior Center.

Trips are broken into two types at the Kingsport Senior Center – day trips and extended travel. Several day trips are scheduled throughout the month and include everything from lunches to theater performances, to sporting events and wellness trips.

• Lunches: The Out to Lunch Bunch takes place once a month and can accommodate 40 people. The group typically visits quaint restaurants located within 90 miles of Kingsport.
  
• Theater performances: The Kingsport Senior Center will travel to Barter Theatre in Abingdon or the Wohlfahrt Haus Dinner Theatre in Wytheville to grab lunch and then a matinee performance.
  
• Wellness trips: Hiking, white water rafting and ziplining are just a few examples of the wellness trips seniors take during the warmer months of the year. A variety of levels are offered, and destinations include Bays Mountain, Roan Mountain and Linville Falls.
  
• Other destinations: The Kingsport Senior Center takes a variety of other trips throughout the year, such as to Biltmore House, a University of Tennessee girls basketball game and to the Bush Beans factory.

If longer journeys to more exotic destinations are more your forte, then the Kingsport Senior Center can certainly punch your ticket.

“Every year we try to do two bus trips within the United States,” said Senior Center Director Shirley Buchanan. “This year we’re going to Niagara Falls and Albuquerque, New Mexico for the International Balloon Fiesta.”

Within the past year, the Kingsport Senior Center has taken extended trips to New York City, Iceland, and the Caribbean for a cruise of the Bahamas, Puerto Rico and Sint Maarten. Travel plans are in the works for trips to Spain and Alaska in 2025.

Extended travel typically runs from four to five days, but some trips can be longer, from seven to nine days. An upcoming cruise of Greece, Italy and Turkey is scheduled to lasts two weeks – the longest trip the Kingsport Senior Center has been on.

“We go through a tour company, and we always try to compare prices for our trips. And we audit them every other year just to make sure we give our seniors the best price and best experience we can,” Buchanan said. “Our seniors love to travel, and it’s certainly become a camaraderie among many of our members.”

To go on a day trip with the Kingsport Senior Center, you do have to be a member. If the trip is longer than three days, you do not have to be a member, but you do have to be at least 50 years old.

The Kingsport Senior Center has been doing extended travel trips for at least 30 years and more than 90% of the folks who go on these trips are KSC members.

For information about joining the Kingsport Center Senior, please visit seniors.kingsporttn.gov.