Travel Time
Vacations score near the top of members’ interests. 
By Col. Warren S. Lacy, USA-Ret.

Taken any great vacations lately? When was the last time you dropped everything, packed a few bags, jumped in your car, or boarded a ship, plane, train, dugout canoe ... ? If you’re a typical MOAA member, odds are you hit the travel trail in the past year. And it’s very likely you now may be planning your next venture away from home. 

How do I know this? Well, in order to serve our members and focus the magazine on topics you want to read, we regularly survey readers. We know what content most members would like to see in their magazine. Without fail, year after year, you’ve told us the No. 1 topic you want us to cover is news about the association’s legislative campaigns. After all, that’s MOAA’s reason for being. Thus, the largest department of the magazine every month is “Washington Scene.” “Scene” brings you our latest legislative information and tells you how to take action to reach our goals. 

The second most requested reader topic is news about national defense and national security. We cover that through frequent interviews with senior leaders in DoD and the administration. We also carry several feature articles on national security, homeland defense, and other strategic issues. 

After these two “must-have” topic areas, we come to the “nice-to-have” subjects—the fun stuff. In this category, members’ most requested items are travel, financial planning, health and wellness, and military history. These four topics actually tie for the top rating in the “nice-to-have” category. 

All this brings me to the theme of this month’s Military Officer issue: travel. Because travel scores so highly with you, our readers, we decided to create a special travel section. We chose the March issue because this is a good time to regroup after a tough winter and start thinking about kinder, gentler climes. 
The first step in getting ready for a vacation is to research and build the plan. This is a process all of us former military planners can appreciate. In the not-so-distant past, we had just one major source of assistance: the travel agent. Today, however, the Internet has opened a whole new range of vacation planning possibilities. But is the do-it-yourself, Internet option always the best bet? We try to answer that question in our story “Book It!” (page 64). 

To further spur your wanderlust, we preview two prime travel destinations, one on the East Coast and one on the West. And, of course, no travel issue would be complete without covering a perennial favorite, the ocean cruise. 

Don’t worry, this magazine issue still discusses the hot legislative topics and important information about military benefits. That we’ll always do. But maybe this month we also can whet your travel appetite and offer some useful information for your next vacation. Bon voyage!