Pictured here are Girls Trips on a Budget organizers Ty Moore and Regina Spain, along with members of the Jacksonville chapter, all smiling as they hold gift bags from the first meet and greet.
By Lynn Jones – Travel agency owner Ty Moore has traveled all across the United States, visiting nearly all 50 states. From the East Coast to the West Coast, the Jacksonville, Florida native and Wolfson High School graduate is on a mission to unite women of all backgrounds to travel on a budget. As a result, Ty created a Facebook group called “Girls Trips on a Budget” (GTOAB) for women to come together and bond to travel the world together. “Most of the women I know are trying to save pennies, and I’m always trying to save pennies, so when I travel, I always go on a budget,” says Ty. For over 20 years, Ty’s travel agency has booked over 200 trips for guests traveling around the world.
The idea for GTOAB was sparked while sitting with a girlfriend and chatting about booking a few trips, and in about 60 days, GTOAB’s social media pages were getting over 10,000-15,000 likes per day and 400,000 followers. Amazing! Since creating the page two months ago, Moore has hired 10 admins to filter the site’s uploads, scams, and membership options.
Now chapters have formed in all 50 states, and the Jacksonville Facebook group met recently at Copeland’s www.copelandsjax.com/restaurant on the Southside to network and discuss upcoming vacation destinations, travel agent options, who went where and when, next steps for text groups, Zoom call conferences and group idea exchanges.
GOATB member, military veteran and world traveler Regina Spain took the initiative to organize the meetup. “I took the initiative to look up the ladies’ schedules and set up the meetup to kick us off. I was excited to meet the ladies from my Facebook group,” said Spain. More than 20 women gathered, introduced themselves, proudly presented their travel tours and excursions, and were ready to meet new travel buddies and outline their travel preferences on a budget. “We had so much fun meeting new people, figuring out destinations and schedules, and are ready for our next girls budget trip,” said new member Cookie Robinson.
To join the group or get more information, please visit: https://www.facebook.com/groups/917749252546000
