About Carrie’s Bus Tours…

Carrie & Todd

A little about me personally first. I grew up in and around the Youngwood/New Stanton/Greensburg area. I attended Hempfield until 6th grade when I moved to Greensburg Salem where I graduated in 1992. I went on a mission trip to Jamaica (my second one) the summer after I graduated & as luck would have it; I met my future husband while I was there. He was also working on the mission team & we hit it off. It turns out that he was only living about 2 miles from me at the time. We got married in 1994, bought a house in Youngwood, had our first daughter in 1997, had our second daughter in 2000, built a new home in New Stanton in 2008 and here we are 30 years later - essentially with an empty nest. Our oldest got her master’s in social work, gifted us with a wonderful son-in-law & is living fairly locally. Our youngest is finishing her schooling to be an optometrist & we are hopeful that she will also settle down locally upon completion of her schooling.

I started doing bus trips in 2003/2004 as part of my Longaberger business. I, along with some other consultants, took 2-4 trips per year out to Dresden, OH & the Longaberger Homestead. We did a lot of games/prizes & basically had a “bus party” every time we went! I loved it and added in additional stops & turned a few day trips into overnight trips. We added dinner stops, winery stops & one of my personal favorites was Roscoe Village and the horse drawn canal ride we did. I did these trips for probably close to 10 years. Then The Longaberger Company went out of business.

I went several years without doing bus trips, as I felt the people that went on my trips at that time would maybe not be interested in other trips. I was disappointed because I always enjoyed planning the trips, but I guess I just thought that was the end of it.

Fast forward to 2018, and I had been the secretary at my church for about 4 years. I had some church friends that knew I used to do bus trips suggest that I try doing a trip (just for fun) out to Lancaster’s Sight & Sound Theatre to see ‘Jesus’ in 2019. I decided to give it a try & did a couple day and overnight trips in 2019, with some great attendance & feedback. I had trips planned to go in 2020 & actually had a very full bus that was supposed to go see ‘Queen Esther’ in May of 2020…and then COVID. For two years I did not plan any trips due to COVID & mask requirements. Even though I could have scheduled trips during 2021, masks were still largely required & it was just too long of a day to wear a mask for 15 hours when you are trying to enjoy yourself on a little trip.

Early in 2022 some friends encouraged me to plan some trips again. So, I have booked a day trip to Lancaster to capacity, took an overnight trip to Lancaster, a trip to PNC Park for a Pirate game, a trip for Light-Up night in November.

I love to organize these trips, but they are definitely a LOT of work. I decided that I would like to turn this into a business for 2023. I applied for & was approved for my LLC effective January 1, 2023. And I obtained my tax ID number for the business.

I am super excited about this new venture, and I have started to go outside my immediate circle of friends & family to advertise my bus trips. I am looking forward to meeting some of you that have planned to travel with me soon & I look forward to meeting even more of you in the future. I love hosting parties and events and just in general making sure people have a good time. I am blessed to have found a business I love that allows me to also use my gifts. (If you familiar with the Spiritual Gifts, I score off the charts in hospitality).

For those of you that have stuck with me this long, I really appreciate all the support I have been given thus far & continue to ask for your support going forward. If that means you will be planning to travel with me, that is great! If that means you are willing to share my social media posts, that is great! If that means you work somewhere that you are willing to post flyers for me, that is great! If that means you spread the word at your church or among your friends, that is great! If that means you are willing to pray for me as I continue to move forward in my new business, that is great! I will take all the support that is offered!

After a great first year in 2023, I have been very busy working on trips for 2024 & beyond. It is my goal to provide a variety of fun & affordable travel options for my clients. If you have any input on future trips you would like to see, email your suggestions to me at carriesbustours@gmail.com for consideration! Thanks for all the support!

God Bless!

Carrie