For over 29 years, Dr John H Heard Elementary has traveled with Bailey Tours to Washington, DC. Mr Tackett takes care of all the arrangements and all the school staff has to do is monitor and supervise the students. Bailey Tours plans with the school to ensure sites we visit are directly correlated to the curriculum. Tour Guides are provided to lecture students with unique and interesting facts of Washington DC.

I have been a tour guide in Amish Country, Lancaster County, PA. for the past 47 years, operating as President of Keystone Dutch Tours, INC. In 1995 I became associated with Bailey Tours, Jacksonville, Fl. Since then, I have had the distinct pleasure of working with Mr. Dick Tackett. From the inception, I was impressed that information and details for each group were provided by Bailey Tours office, keeping everyone involved on the same page. Additionally, a very unique, unusual and outstanding feature of Bailey Tours is they always arrive on time. This allows for the students to both learn & enjoy their Amish Country visit, learning about another culture. The very important fact that Mr. Tackett always accompanies each school group personally makes this a very successful arrangement for all participants. I have also found the students to be different from others because they arrive with some knowledge of the Amish. As a result of this, many schools return year after year. Needless to say, I have thoroughly enjoyed the 22 years of working with Dick Tackett and Bailey Tours.

I am writing to express my gratitude for your outstanding service which you have provided to me and the social studies teachers I support in Duval County Public Schools (DCPS). In my position as the district Coordinator of Social Studies, I appreciate the difficulties of organizing many people and providing them with a high level educational experience. Over the last 11 years, you have provided me with unprecedented service, quality, value and expertise in numerous trips that my teachers and I have taken with you. As you recall, we have gone to Washington D.C., Gettysburg, Yorktown, Williamsburg, Philadelphia, New York, New Orleans, Baltimore, and other locations. We have visited Fort McHenry, the Martin Luther King Memorial, Ford’s Theatre, all the Smithsonian museums, the American Civil War Museum, the D-Day Museum, Mt. Vernon, the Native American Indian Museum, the Capitol Building, Chalmette Battlefield, Antietam, the Holocaust Museum, the Vietnam Memorial, Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty, and scores of other museums, memorials and historic sites.

I never had to worry about the knowledge of the historical guides you provided. They were always of the utmost quality and teaching ability. Neither did I have to worry about logistics or how my teachers were treated and supported on the trips. You literally took care of every eventuality.

I can absolutely recommend you and your tours to any teacher, school or group wishing to take historical tours and be completely confident that the tour will be of the highest quality. In an age and culture becoming more distant and impersonal, you have excelled at what really matters most in a business: you provide exceptional customer service, personal service, and have a concern for the excellence of your work and the complete satisfaction of your customers. In 11 years, I have never had a single complaint about how you treated and provided for my teachers and me.

Please have any interested customers contact me, if they wish, and I will provide them with this testimony about your service.

Sincerely,

Phil Little
Coordinator, Social Sciences Department
Duval County Public Schools
1701 Prudential Drive, Fourth Floor
Jacksonville, Florida 32207-8182
Ph: 904-390-2670
Fax: 904-390-2260
e-mail: littlep@duvalschools.org

Our school has worked with Bailey Tours for over 30 years. Every year, our school is approached by other companies who claim to offer the trip for less money or to customize the trip to our liking, but Bailey Tours already has carefully crafted our 5 day/4 night trip to Washington D.C. and surrounding areas to include every detail we need. They take the time each year to understand our clientele and accommodate any special circumstances. Plus, Bailey Tours has demonstrated the knowledge and experience to recognize that sometimes options are needed due to unforeseen circumstances. Their customer service is outstanding and they go above and beyond to make sure our school’s needs are met. Each trip we have taken since I have been in charge of planning the school trip has been successful and unique due to careful attention to detail. Bailey Tours is not stuck in a “Let’s just do what worked before,” routine but actively pursues options and potential new points of interest that provide life-long memories of joy for our students, so while I mentioned above that each year other companies offer promises of cheaper and better, none can compare to the safety and security we know we have with Bailey Tours.

My name is Steve Whitmer and I teach American History at Fruit Cove Middle School in Jacksonville, FL. Our school has been using Bailey Tours for our annual 8th grade trip to Washington D.C., since we opened in 2001. They have been a top notch organization since day one. Bailey Tours is always willing to work with the school, the students and parents to meet all necessary accommodations and requests. Their drivers are excellent, their tour guides are amazing and very knowledgeable, and we are always able to pack as much sightseeing as possible in the time frame that we have. Dick Tackett has been doing this for a very long time and has connections all over the places that we travel. Colette Poore goes the extra mile when dealing with incoming deposits, payments, etc. The staff at our school that take the trip year after year knows the guides and drivers very well. It’s almost like a family reunion when we meet up with them to leave and begin our journey to the nation’s capital.

When I run into former students, sometimes years down the road, the first thing that they mention to me was how incredible the Washington Trip was and how much they got out of it. On multiple occasions they have called it “the trip of a lifetime.” Bailey Tours makes it possible to take care of everything so that the students can focus on the trip and get the most learning and enjoyment out of it.