A Look in the Past: Abroad in 1929

Brownell was founded in 1887. Amy and Edwin VanDeusen were some of our earliest travel advisors, guiding trips for Brownell in the 1920s. Marjorie VanDeusen was their daughter and was fortunate to spend some wonderful time traveling with her parents. We recently ran across this wonderful synopsis of their trip in 1929 and wanted to share! Enjoy the old photos and memories!

Marjorie VanDeusens Trip Abroad in 1929

When Marjorie was 12, the family took a trip together – to Europe, Scandinavia and North Africa.

The VanDeusens crossed the Atlantic on The Baltic, one of the ships in the White Star Line. It’s likely, though not certain, that the photographs below were taken at the beginning of their trip – on the way from New York to Europe.

Above: Amy, Edwin and Marjorie on the ocean liner, The Baltic, 1929.
Below: Marjorie playing “deck tennis” on The Baltic, 1929.

Below: More Pictures of Marjorie enjoying the transAtlantic trip on The Baltic, 1929.

Once they had crossed the ocean, Edwin and Amy VanDeusen led separate tours, as they did most summers. Marjorie traveled with her mother around Europe. In the photograph below, they are seated in the back of the tour bus.

One of their stops in the summer of 1929 was Venice. While there, Marjorie fed the pigeons.

It appears that Marjorie and her mother also visited Scandinavia that summer. The Prins Olav was probably the ship that took them there.

Below is the menu for their “Many Happy Returns Dinner” on July 23, 1929. On the left side of the menu is the Norwegian mountain, Romsdalshorn.

The amusing “poem” that follows was written on the other side of the above menu. The Prins Olav was one of the ships made by the Nordenfjeldske Steamship Company (abbreviated NFDS). The Prins Olav was built in 1907 and was seaworthy until 1940 when it sank.

When the summer was over, Marjorie and Amy met Edwin in Europe and the whole family traveled to North Africa. The VanDuesens crossed the Mediterranean Sea – from Genoa, Italy to Alexandria, Egypt – on one of the steamships of the Sitmar line.

The “Lista Passeggeiri” shows that their ship left on October 3, 1929 (in European fashion, listed as 3-10-1929). Listed alphabetically are the passengers on the ship that day, October 3, 1929. “Sig.r Van Deusen e famiglia” appears in the right hand column near the bottom of the page.Before making the trip abroad, Marjorie had received permission from the principal of her school to take the fall semester off. Rather than study, she did such educationally exciting things as riding camels and visiting the pyramids in Egypt.

By then it was October of 1929. Marjorie remembers hearing about the stock market crash while they were on that trip.

Below: Amy and Marjorie riding camels near the pyramids in 1929.

Below: Marjorie on a camel, 1929.

It’s hard to imagine a more interesting way to spend a portion of one’s twelfth year of life than traveling to so many fascinating parts of the world.

To learn more about Brownell travel advisors or our travel history of over 120 years, visit our website at www.brownelltravel.com.

Travel Specialists - What Does it Take?

by Emily Menendez

Does my travel agent really know their stuff? A fair question and one you should ask! These days you can book travel on your own--finding a tour group or a package online and click on a few buttons, then voila! You are on your way. Right? Well, not exactly.

Aside from the hassle and research you are going to go through and still not really know what you just purchased and whether or not that cruise line or airline or tour company is going to actually come through for you, the big problem for me is that you never talked to anyone who has actually been where you want to go!

And that is the main reason I love where I work-(yes, this is a shameless plug here for Brownell Travel)-our travel advisors are true experts! They have been there and they have experienced whatever there is to experience. How do I know? I am responsible each year for our destination specialist application and selection process--that’s right, every year, our agents have to actually prove that they know all there is to know about a destination before we tout them as specialists! I thought it would be worthwhile to give a little run down of what this process looks like and how our agents qualify:

First, a massive application goes out to all of our advisors. They have to apply for the categories where they want to be listed as specialists. And they can only choose so many, because we all know you can’t be an expert in everything. So they have narrowed it down to the places they really know. All of these applications roll in at once and my project begins! I evaluate every single applicant for every single destination based on a number of factors:

Travel: Have they been there? They must have traveled there personally over the past 2 years. Stopping through for a few hours doesn't count. The advisor must have true destination knowledge that is current!

Training: As a top Virtuoso travel agency we have partnerships with all the premier properties and tour companies all over the world. Our advisors are expected to keep current with knowledge on all of the properties and possibilities for travel in the destinations they specialize in. So, we look at the training they have done--are they really on top of things?

Clients: Have they sent anyone there? Do they have clients that trust them with this destination? They must have recent-within the last year-production to qualify here. We must know that this is somewhere they send clients regularly, and that their clients trust them with their vacation experiences in this destination.

Manager Oversight: As though the above weren’t enough, our team of owners and managers review every advisor that I recommend to be listed for each destination (We have just finished this phase of the process!). They have the final say if our agents qualify--and they work with them every day, so they KNOW who knows their stuff!

So, once you have made it past the flaming arrows, crossed the sulfur lake, and defeated the dragon, you can finally qualify to be listed as a specialist for the destinations you love. This is obviously difficult to maintain and our advisors work extremely hard to be true experts. I can't speak for other travel agencies, but I know first hand that Brownell Travel advisors are experts--I have spent way too many hours reviewing everyone’s credentials!

So, what does it take? See above. Then visit our website, choose a destination, and click on any name listed in that destination, since you know they all know their stuff.

(A group of Brownell travel advisors in Kenya this March)