Our Story
In Business Since 1985
Ball Travel Service launched in the spring of 2014 to:
1. Help bring family, friends and love ones together across the miles even with health, mobility or time constraints. For instance:
- Perhaps you cannot take time off from work to go get the individual(s) or take them back or
- Their relatives or friends are afraid to fly alone or the individual wishing them to visit is afraid of having them travel by themselves or
- Trips require change of planes or other transfers in busy hub airports or
- We can help give you a respite, by accompanying your loved one to a destination of choice or
- Accompany a loved one for medical trips that do not require a nurse, like visits to the Cleveland or Mayo Clinics
2. We also provide an experienced travel Concierge Service, allowing individuals to extend their independent travel years further into retirement. This service is ideal for those who wish to travel but do not feel confident or comfortable exploring on their own. Our clients enjoy the benefit of an added sense of security when they are accompanied by an experienced travel concierge, and find that they are better able to relax and enjoy visiting the places they have always wanted to see.
At Ball Travel Service, we take care of you and your loved ones as though you were members of our families. To help keep that promise, we follow the Michigan Patient Advocate Designation law to protect your loved ones in the event of a medical emergency.
Ball Travel Services was first envisioned by Kenneth W. Linville, Ph.D., as a compassionate specialty travel service. From personal experience, Dr. Linville had developed a profound understanding of the challenges families sometimes face in bringing love ones together across the miles–particularly those with health, mobility or time constraints.
When you ask Ball Travel Services for their help, you are tapping into decades of expertise. Dr. Linville (Ken) has had extensive travel experience in various capacities since 1976. Throughout his career, he has become adept in every aspect of travel planning, particularly the development of complex itineraries using multiple scheduling resources.
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Through his experience in developing software for long term care facilities, exposure to the many problems staff, residents and families face, gave Ken unique insight into the difficulties of growing older. Ken faced some of these same problems personally as the primary care-giver for his elderly mother. For many years, he lived through the challenges that aging individuals and their families encounter daily. He knows first-hand the critical importance of emotional support, social interaction and physical activities for impaired adults.
In December 2008, Ken was faced with a new dilemma. He had to send his 92 year-old mother, unattended, on a round-trip between Michigan and Missouri. She was homesick, and he needed a respite from the responsibilities of daily care giving. Naturally, he was concerned about his mother's safe arrival. He asked another passenger for help in making sure his mother did not get off the plane in Chicago, but continued on to Kansas City.
Fortunately, the passenger agreed and helped her off the plane where she met her waiting daughter.
Realizing that we cannot always rely upon the kindness of strangers for the care and well-being of our traveling loved ones, Ken decided to put his experience to work. Ball Travel Services was just the thing to offer respite and peace of mind to other busy or exhausted caregivers. And so, Ball Travel Services was formed, a natural and obvious extension to a life spent creating innovative, compassionate solutions for those in need.
Ball Travel Services is located in the East Lansing, Michigan area which offers easy access and affordable fares through:
O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, IL,
Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport in Hennepin County, MN,
Metropolitan Wayne County Airport in Detroit, MI,
and many other major hubs with service from United, Delta, American, Southwest and many international carriers.
Our experienced Traveling Concierges, Karen and Ken, are available to help Traveling Individuals with all of your travel needs. Please using our "Have A Question" tab and put us to work assisting you.
Our Founder
Kenneth W. Linville, Ph.D., has an extensive history as an innovator and problem solver. Dr. Linville founded Ball Research, Inc., the first of his business opportunities, in 1985 to address the underutilization of public-sector university herbicide field research data by decision-makers. During his previous eight years as a Technical Field Product Development Representative for Diamond Shamrock, Kalo Laboratories, and U.S. Borax, Dr. Linville spent many hours trying to summarizing university herbicide field research data. He soon realized that this public-sector data was reported in a frustrating variety of non-compatible formats, resulting in underutilization of data by decision-makers. Dr. Linville was well aware of the need for field product performance information in a standardized, useful format, and he developed software and databases to produce and retrieve field product performance information in a standardized, useful format. Today, the resulting products from Ball Research enable users to quickly and easily access this data.
In 2002, Dr. Linville began researching additional opportunities for Ball Research, Inc. On the return from a business trip to Philadelphia, in November, a casual conversation with a fellow traveler, in the Red Carpet Club, at the Philadelphia airport sparked his interest. The fellow traveler, a defense company employee, was on his way to Bangkok, Thailand, and was talking about his nephew and his efforts to bring the internet to nursing homes in the Philadelphia area so that residents could receive pictures from relatives on vacations. He asked, "Did you know that most nursing homes still operate using paper?"
Beginning in January 2003, Dr. Linville began the product development research necessary to determine if there was a need for software programs and databases in the extended care community. The results of this research showed that there were, indeed, specific needs that had not been addressed. With his 17 years of business experience in the development of databases and software programs, Dr. Linville decided to use his expertise by working with the employees of long term care facilities.
The experience in developing software for long term care facilities, plus on the job experiences with the problems staff, residents and families face, has given Dr. Linville a unique insight into the difficulties of growing older. Dr. Linville faced some of these same problems for many years while carrying for his elderly mother until she passed away at age 94 and 7 months. He has lived through many of the challenges that individual(s) and their families encounter daily. He knows the importance of emotional support, social interaction and physical activities for impaired adults.
Karen
Has been assisting seniors for the past ten years, both as a caregiver with Home Health, and as an independent employee for families seeking additional aid for their loved ones.
"What I love most about being a caregiver is the opportunity to impact lives by being a friend who is willing to help others accomplish any task. I genuinely care about people and feel blessed to be in a position that allows me to serve others. I am a nurturer by nature, and I enjoy making memories with my family, meeting new people, cooking, and traveling."
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Ball Research, Inc. d/b/a/ Ball Travel Services P.O. Box 1411 East Lansing, MI 48826 517 - 332 - 5070 Our WhatsApp No. |