A trip to Italy includes a stop at the Sistine Chapel for this TravelWorld group.
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Italy’s a fave destination for co-owner Matthew Kizis
A tropical destination gave this TravelWorld group the opportunity to enjoy some dramatic scenery.
Submitted Photo
Matthew Kizis, co-owner of Travel World, enjoys taking the headaches out of travel so clients can relax and have a good time.
Submitted Photo
A group of TravelWorld travelers poses by the Colosseum in Rome.
Submitted Photo
Their trip is over, the 30 or 40 people who started out as strangers have had a chance to bond, and now a simple good-bye won’t do.
“They’re hugging and exchanging phone numbers, maybe making plans to have dinner together or to go on another trip together,” Matthew Kizis said, describing a scene he’s witnessed more than once.
Kizis, who, with business partner Alan Kline, co-owns the TravelWorld travel agency, said couples, friends, and solo travelers often like to join a group for trips ranging from a “Treasures of Italy” tour to a seven-day trip down the Mississippi on a riverboat.
“Groups are 80% of our business,” Kizis said in a telephone interview, adding that “98% of the time a representative or employee of TravelWorld is leading the group” to make sure the trip runs smoothly.
TravelWorld’s efforts to offer top-quality trips to people in the area have now resulted in its winning the Travel Agency category in the Best of Lackawanna awards.
Of course, if you want a trip for just two people, or maybe just your family, TravelWorld can help arrange that for you as well.
“We arrange trips all over the world,” he said.
Recent Travel World excursions have taken people to Venice, Florence and Rome; Las Vegas; the Bahamas; Yankee Stadium; Alaska; and the White Mountains of New Hampshire. There was even a “Pizza Tour of Brooklyn.”
But ask Kizis about his favorite place, and he doesn’t hesitate to name a sunny, Mediterranean country filled with art, culture and world-renowned food.
“I’m an Italian citizen, and Italy means a lot to me. I have a lot of respect for the country,” he said, adding he thoroughly enjoys leading tours to Italy and helping other people “fall in love with the country as much as I fell in love with it.”
Trips to the northern Italian lakes and the mountains and the Island of Capri sell out year after year, he said.
The successful, sold-out trips are “a tribute to what John (Madden) and Debbie (Freas) built,” he said, giving credit to Travel World founder Debbie Freas and executive vice president John Madden, who built up the business over several years. “And it’s a tribute to what Alan and I are doing. It comes down to trust.”
Whether you’re a first-time traveler or seasoned, Kizis said, Travel World “can alleviate the travel headaches and plan the trip from start to finish”.
His special joy is “to see people who have never been out of the country” have their first international adventure, perhaps “eating the Italian pasta, tasting the Italian wine, seeing an authentic Tuscan village.”
