Off the Map: HUGS tours open to all ages

AINSWORTH - Sherrie Hazen-Hansen has always enjoyed traveling and meeting new people.

Part of her job years ago at the Washington YWCA was organizing group motor coach tours.

'I really liked doing it,” she said, 'but it was time consuming and I had 15 other programs to run so I couldn't focus all my time on it.”

So when she and her sister and another friend came up with the idea to start their own business, she jumped at the chance to focus solely on group travel.

The trio started the company, which they called Helping U Get Smiles, or HUGS for short, in 2001, to provide motor coach tours and catered meals.

Then two years ago, Hazen-Hansen's two founding partners retired from the business, leaving Hazen-Hansen and her husband to take over HUGS. They no longer provide catering, but the tour business, based out of Ainsworth, is going strong and Hazen-Hansen is happy to be doing what she loves.

'Our travelers tell us they would never be able to do something like this on our own so they appreciate that we do it,” she said. 'It is very comfortable travel and we have fun!”

As for where HUGS travels, Hazen-Hansen said that 90 percent of her tour destinations are determined by her travelers.

On-day unique shopping trips or one-day dinner theater excursions around the Midwest are particularly popular. 'We go to CIRCA 21 in Rock Island every other month or so,” she said. The group also makes an annual pre-Christmas trip to Branson, Mo. - they left last week in fact - and Hazen-Hansen said it is arguably her most popular destination.

But HUGS isn't limited to sightseeing around the Midwest. Hazen-Hansen has planned longer motor coach trips to destinations such as Washington D.C., New York City, and New Orleans. HUGS is planning to head to Dallas this summer.

'I have quite a waiting list,” she said of her longer excursions. 'There's so much to see. We are keeping our feet in the U.S. though.”

While the longer trips take more planning effort on Hazen-Hansen's part, she said each trip is as exciting as the last. And some of the unplanned happenings are the most memorable.

'I used to plan every minute of the trip,” she said. 'Now I allow time for letting the interaction between people happen. All of our destinations have special memories and a lot of that is because of the travelers. We get to meet all kinds of different people.”

For Hazen-Hansen, the people are truly what makes her job rewarding. 'I love the people as much as I love the destinations,” she said.

Because people enjoy their tours so much, HUGS has a lot of repeat travelers. 'Our advertising is word-of-mouth. People start to invite their friends on the next trip,” she said.

The HUGS customer base - which hails from all around Eastern Iowa - depends on the destination they are traveling to, but all tours are open to all ages. 'We've had young moms bring their elementary age children and we have a woman who still travels with us who is 104. So we serve people from ages 6 to 104 I guess you could say. That is what makes it so fun!”

For more information on H.U.G.S., visit their website