In 1977, William Gearhart left his career as Marketing Director for a large banking network to begin Unlimited Adventures, a full service tour operator. Nancy Gearhart left teaching and joined forces with her husband in the business and they have been successfully working together for 32 years. They created unique weekend getaways for skiing, white water rafting, hot air ballooning, spa retreats and theatre weekend packages. The company then added Caribbean, Mexico, Hawaii and other domestic destinations to the mix. Their clients were all the banks in New York and New Jersey under the American Institute of Banking, and the employees of several large insurance companies.
Unlimited Adventures went on to become the tour operator for Amtrak by creating the “Party Train” concept, featuring party and dance trains for weekend getaways. Featured getaways were the “Disco Train” and “Party Train” to Montreal and Virginia Beach, the “Midnight Train to Georgia” to Atlanta, and the “Carabana” Train” to Toronto. These programs include unlimited music and dancing, deluxe hotel accommodations, access to local clubs and hotspots and sightseeing.
The company expanded to create 20th Century Limited Tours and the “Murder Mystery” Trains, with interactive murder mystery getaways to Montreal, Washington and Chicago. The cast of actors and actresses would board the train and interact with a group of 100 guests to enjoy the intrigue and excitement of solving the medley of murder and mystery on the tracks. The “Murder Mystery” trains popularity led to features on the TV shows “That’s Incredible” and “PM Magazine”. Popular with leisure and corporate clients alike, this quickly became a venue for special occasions and employee incentives, attracting notable names like Yogi Berra, who celebrated his 60th birthday on the train with family and friends.
Mr. Gearhart, being an avid outdoorsman, then created Wilderness Adventures, which focused on outdoor activities such as hunting, fishing, horseback riding, hiking and trekking at lodges and ranches in the Western United States, Canada, and Alaska.
In 1996, the Gearharts formed Classic Travel and Tours to become the umbrella organization for all the tour companies. CT & T specialized in creating and implementing meetings, conventions and incentive group programs for corporate clients such as Siemens Worldwide, Coopers and Lybrand, International Flavors and Fragrances, Datatech, Etienne Aigner and Ernst and Young.
CT & T began its long lasting relationship with Siemens Worldwide by creating incentive programs for their engineers and executives through the “Inventor of the Year” incentive series. They created itineraries to countries throughout the world, including England, Scotland, France, Spain, Portugal, Canada, United States, Austria, Hungary, Italy and Ireland. The most recent excursion included Bavaria and the Mosel region in Germany. Creating programs with incredible imagination, quality and value, attendees boast that they “will never forget the memorable travel experiences created for them by Classic Travel and Tours”.
Their extensive research and travel throughout Europe has made Classic Travel and Tours an award winning specialist in creating distinctive itineraries for Fortune 100 corporate and private groups, family vacations and individuals, which is unparalleled by other travel organizations. Custom vacations now include Africa, Asia and the Far East. Creating group, incentive and FIT travel programs to literally all corners of the earth, Classic Travel and Tours has all the resources to create imaginative travel programs to any and all destinations.
