Welcome to a Bright New Year of Travel!
Dear Travellers,
Welcome to 2025 – a fresh new year to pursue all your travel dreams. We hope you and your family had a warm and wonderful holiday season.
It’s hard to believe, but it’s been 50 YEARS since my father first started offering tours! A lot has changed since 1975, when we started off doing bus trips for seniors' centres and church groups.
To say we’ve grown since then is an understatement. We’ve gone from offering quick day trips to Niagara Falls to facilitating incredible global adventures – including an upcoming anniversary cruise with Princess Cruises we can’t wait to tell you about later this month (so stay tuned)!
In the meantime, we have an incredible assortment of wonderful tours in store in 2025, including the two featured in this month’s newsletter:
Our Grand Tour of Italy has it all - history, art, culture, and oh, the food. We’ll visit Milan, marvel at scenic Lake Garda, and explore the ancient canals and piazzas in Venice. You’ll sip wine in Tuscany, eat gelato in Rome, and wander the cobbled streets in breathtaking Taormina, Sicily.
And if you’re looking to experience nature’s light show like you’ve never seen it before, join us on our Search for the Northern Lights cruise. We’ll be aboard the luxurious Emerald Princess on a unique tour to remote regions where aurora borealis can be seen at its colourful best.
Whatever your destination this year, we’ll be there with you, ensuring you have the adventure of a lifetime!
Here’s to many more years of travelling together.
Sincerely,
Danny Shay, President
Senior Discovery Tours
We Turn 50 in 2025!
1975: Larry Shay starts Senior Citizens Tour and Travel Services Inc. as a retirement hobby, arranging day trips for seniors from Toronto to Niagara Falls and the occasional 3-day bus trip. 1978: We start running bus trips down to sunny Treasure Island, Florida. 1981: On our inaugural tour of Western Canada, we explore Banff and the Rockies. 1982: Our first overseas trip takes us to beautiful Portugal, where we visit Lisbon and the Algarve. 1983: Larry hands over the reins to his son Danny, the current President of Senior Discovery Tours. 1985: We head to South America for the first time with a tour to Rio de Janerio, Salvador, Buenos Aires, and Iguazu Falls. 1986: We set sail for warm tropical waters on our first Caribbean cruise. 1992: We travelled to Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji Islands for the first time. 1997: We change our name to Senior Tours Canada. 2000: Travellers enjoy our first rail tour on the Rocky Mountaineer in Western Canada. 2014: Our first walking tour was launched, exploring Wales and the Cotswolds on foot. 2015: We rebrand, changing our name once more, this time to the one you know and love: Senior Discovery Tours. 2025: Celebrating 50 years of adventure with an anniversary cruise – and look forward to many more!
Exploring Pompeii
There is no trip to Italy that is complete without a visit to Pompeii. When Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD, this ancient imperial city was buried in volcanic ash – preserving everything from buildings to human forms, and giving us detailed insights into Roman life. This UNESCO World Heritage site is one of the most well-preserved archaeological sites in the world, and a must-see for travellers interested in history and archaeology. The site itself is massive, with a tremendous number of fascinating areas to see and explore. These are just a few highlights.The Forum. For a glimpse into Roman urban planning and the city's social structure, check out this civic, religious, and economic hub of Pompeii. This area was surrounded by temples, public buildings, and marketplaces including the Temple of Jupiter, the Macellum (a food marketplace), and the grand Basilica.Villa of the Mysteries. This large Roman villa on the outskirts of Pompeii is famous for its vibrant frescoes depicting the mysterious initiation rites of the Dionysian cult. These beautifully preserved frescoes are some of the best examples of Roman wall painting around, still showing vivid reds, yellows, and greens after millennia.The Amphitheatre. This is one of the oldest surviving Roman amphitheatres: it predates the Colosseum in Rome. It once hosted gladiatorial games and other public spectacles and could accommodate a remarkable 20,000 spectators.House of the Faun. This luxurious residence, named for a statue of a dancing faun, will give you a good picture of the lavish lifestyle of Pompeii’s wealthiest citizens. Don’t miss the Alexander Mosaic, which shows Alexander the Great in battle.Bathhouses. Romans used these for bathing and relaxation, but they were also social hubs – and fascinating structures that showcase Roman engineering and artistry.Plaster casts. Archaeologists made casts of the voids left by bodies trapped in the ash layers, creating casts of Pompeii's victims in their final moments and bringing a human dimension to the tragedy.You can visit Pompeii and other incredible Italian destinations on our 16-day Grand Tour of Italy, which starts in Milan and includes visits to Verona, Venice, Florence, Siena, Rome, Sorrento, and Sicily. We have tours departing April 11, April 20, and May 2 – the perfect time to explore this fascinating country.
6 Fascinating Facts About
The Northern Lights
There’s nothing quite like seeing this spectacular light show to make you marvel at what nature can do. How much do you know about the Northern Lights (also known as the Aurora Borealis)?
They happen when charged particles from the sun collide with gases in Earth's atmosphere. These particles are carried by solar winds and guided by Earth's magnetic field toward the polar regions. The collisions release energy, creating vibrant colours.
The colours we see depend on what kind of gas is involved. Green (the most common hue) is produced when particles meet oxygen at lower altitudes. Red occurs when they interact with oxygen at higher altitudes. Blue and purple, which are the least common colours, are caused by interaction with nitrogen.
The Northern Lights are best seen near the North or South poles. The Aurora Borealis is most visible in regions close to the magnetic North Pole, such as Alaska, Canada, Scandinavia, and Iceland. Its southern counterpart, the Aurora Australis, can be seen near the South Pole.
Auroras happen on other planets, too. On Jupiter and Saturn, they are caused by strong magnetic fields, solar wind and interactions with the planet's moons.
Northern Lights can mess with technology. Auroras are linked to geomagnetic storms, which can disrupt communication systems, GPS signals, and power grids. The intense energy released can cause disturbances in technology, especially in regions closer to the poles.
Tromsø, Norway is one the best places on earth to see the Northern Lights. The town sits directly below the “Northern Lights Oval,” a ring-shaped region around the Earth’s magnetic poles where auroras are most commonly observed.
Tromsø is a stop on our Search for the Northern Lights cruise aboard the Emerald Princess, departing Sept 25, 2025. Join us to see nature’s most spectacular light show!
Why travel with us? Reason #9:
Get rewards for every trip you take!
We want to thank you for choosing Senior Discovery Tours as your travel partner. Our Discovery Rewards loyalty program is designed to do just that.Earn exclusive gifts and great savings on future tours – signing up is free! Get started today.
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