Vision of the Seas!

I'm baaaaa-aaack!  First of all I must say that Vision of the Seas is a truly beautiful ship following it's revitalization. It was the first of the Vision Class ships which includes Splendor, Rhapsody, Grandeur, Legend and Enchantment of the Seas.  It was originally put into service in May of 1998 and just came out of dry dock last week following an extensive revitalization.  The ship still only carries 2,416 passengers at full capacity.  So it didn't become one of those crazy Oasis type super ships during the revitalization.  It just got some improvements, a new outdoor movie screen, lots of new carpet, several new dining options, new bathrooms in all the staterooms as well as other less visible changes.

Now I have to say that this was as much a work cruise for me as it was a vacation.  But still we managed to have plenty of fun along the way. My regular travel buddy, Jenny went with me.  We left Dallas bright and early on Saturday morning planning to have most of the day to spend in Miami seeing the city since neither of us had spent much time there previously. Arriving in Miami a little after noon, we took a taxi to our hotel the Hyatt Regency Downtown Miami.  The hotel is older but is very nice and the staff is really kind of unbelievable.

Upon our arrival, there was some sort of problem which resulted in the lady checking us in not being able to read either of our credit cards for room charges. This was really no inconvenience to us, yet she offered to comp our breakfast the following morning in the hotels restaurant for our inconvenience. What could we do but graciously accept?

Draw bridge over the Miami River next to the hotel.

Free beer courtesy of Curtis

Once in our room, we checked in with our families, checked things out and prepared to head out and explore Miami.  We walked around for 30 minutes or so just looking for a place to have lunch.  Finally around 2 PM, we decided to go back into the hotel and ask the concierge for help in finding a good pub or sports bar for lunch.

He told us about a couple of places and gave us a map with directions to get to them and then suggested that the hotels sports bar was probably just as good and obviously much closer. So we decided to check it out. With that the concierge, Curtis, walked us over to the bar in question showed us to a seat near the windows so that we could watch the boats and ships go buy on the Miami River and found our waitress Shannon. When Shannon arrived, Curtis announced that he would be buying our first drinks and left us to have lunch.

Empty Sangria glasses

During our second round, and while eating, the rain began.  This wasn't just a light shower, it was a full blown downpour!  Well, never let it be said that Susan Meyers and Jenny Stankus don't have enough sense to stay in out of the rain!  So, we ordered another round and watched all the yachts coming back up the river to get out of the storm.  Before Curtis got off from work for the night, he came back by a final time to check on us again and suggested a drink that was apparently the bartenders specialty.  It contained watermelon and basil.  And I must say, it was pretty darn good and again, Curtis bought the round.  So, all in all, we spent a cheap if not uneventful evening in Miami.  One of these days, I'd still like to see South Beach and Miami Beach but for now, I'll just tell you that the people at the Hyatt Regency Downtown Miami, know how to treat a guest!

The next morning, we enjoyed our free breakfast at the hotel before making our way over to the port which was a $12 cab ride from the Hyatt.  We were at the port before noon and after a short wait for the Coast Guard to clear the ship following the revitalization, we were allowed to board along with the other travel agents and their guests. Upon boarding,we received a bag, which included a tee-shirt, some fliers and a brochure.  Since we weren't able to get to our rooms until 1 we were redirected to the R Bar in the Centrum. This is sort of a hub on a Vision Class ship.  It is the area that the main elevators look onto.  With the revitalization, the 4th floor is the R Bar and the base of the Centrum, the 5th floor contains Guest Relations, the Shore Excursions desk and more seating and also looks out onto the Centrum, the 6th floor contains more seating, the computer area and still another view into the Centrum. Floors above that open up to the Centrum but have no seating areas.

 Most of the time in the R Bar a live band performs, if that isn't taking place, you just might get to see an aerial acrobat show taking place much like a Cirque du Soleil performance.  The performers dangle and dance from 5 stories high and it is pretty amazing and is a highlight of the revitalization.

Photo of the Centrum from the 7th floor which is all rooms.

The Centrum from the 4th floor looking up.

I must admit that Royal Caribbean does know how to make travel agents happy.  Their first tactic was to let us all know immediately that from the time we arrived on board through midnight, all drinks were free! Folks, I'm not sure RCCL will recover anytime soon from the dent several hundred travel agents and their guests put into their liquor stocks in one afternoon and evening. Additionally, they were not pouring the cheap stuff.  I will warn you that you should never allow your guest to "surprise" you with a drink order just before muster.  It could result in a dirty martini that creates gaps in your memory.  But prior to that fateful dirty martini, we went on a scavenger hunt of sorts arranged by RCCL that sent us around the ship searching for new suites, specialty dining venues, bars, children's areas and amenities.  This was great since it allowed us to become acquainted with various parts of the ship that we might not get to see otherwise.


One of the more amazing locations was the Royal Suite.  This might be my only opportunity to ever see a Royal Suite, so I thought I would share.... Yes! That grand piano IS inside the suite.  When you consider that most of the cabins on board a ship are less than 190 sq. ft. this suite at 1,087 sq. ft. is pretty darn nice.  However, unless you are a pretty good piano player who spends a lot of time in the bathroom, you might get better use out of one of the family suites which has less extraordinary bathrooms but sleeps up to 10 people depending on which suite you chose.

Shot 1 of the bathroom

Shot 3 of the bathroom

Shot 2 of he bathroom

Shot 1 of the master bedroom

Shot 2 of the master bedroom

Balcony which can be accessed from living room or master bedroom

Living Room

Living Room

Royal Suite Dining Room

Tomorrow, I'll tell you more about the terrific things on board the Vision of the Seas.  For now here is a picture of my chocolate souffle on the first night.

June is Vacation Month!

Did you think something had happened to me?  It did.  I got BUSY!  Yep that's right, it's getting to be the time of year when you need to start planning your summer vacations and a lot of people are getting the jump on you if you haven't started already.

For instance, if you are looking to book a June Caribbean vacation, since last week many packages have increased by as much as 24%!!!  Seriously!  That's why I've been so busy.  By the time I can write a quote, send it to a family, they've had time to review it and get back to me, the price has gone up again.  So, I spend my days chasing my tail.  I'm not complaining.  In fact, I'm happy about it.  Do you know how slowly a day can drag if all you have to do is write a blog, play with your cats and watch The Five each day?

For the last week, I've barely had time to get a cup of coffee in the morning.  And forget about eating regularly!  I finally had my first meal of the day yesterday at 6:45 PM.  I literally got up yesterday at 7, made coffee and started working immediately.  When I decided to go upstairs and change out of my pajamas it was 4:30 PM!!!!  So I came downstairs, started supper, posted a few things on Facebook while I cooked and ate my first morsels of food for the day at 6:45 and good morsels they were!  As hungry as I was, I probably would have been happy with catfood.  But nevertheless, YUM!

You may not be aware of it, but if you have kids in school and therefore have to plan your vacations around a school schedule, June is the best vacation month of the year.  Here's what makes it so great.

• School in Texas officially gets out June 6th.
• Although the Atlantic Hurricane Season starts June 1st, it doesn't usually get into full swing until later in the summer.  So June is fairly safe.
• The first few weeks or so of June are generally the cheapest summer weeks to take a vacation because some Northeastern schools aren't out until the middle of the month.
• Alaskan cruises are always cheaper at the beginning of June than in the warmer months of July and August.
• I have 8 rooms reserved on Navigator of the Seas that you can get a steal for the June 8th sailing out of Galveston!

There you have it!  Five great reasons to go ahead and request time off the first half of June this year.  Then your next step will be to call, text, email or Facebook your friendly neighborhood travel agent so you can join in the fiasco of watching her chase her tail around for days as she attempts to put the perfect trip together for you.

Have a great evening and I'll talk to you soon!

Planning a Trip to Miami!

Happy Friday!!!!  Can you believe that it's already November?  Me either!  I leave for a very short cruise in just 9 days.  It's going to be a fun trip.  I've never been on a travel industry familiarization cruise before.  But I'm thinking that a cruise ship full of travel agents who are on board at a minimal price is going to be fun.

We'll sail out of Miami.  So my travel buddy Jenny and I have decided to fly into Miami early on Saturday so that we can see a little bit of the city.  I still have done no research on what we should do, so how about if we just do that research now?  Let's take a look at what Miami has to offer!

I've only actually been to Miami once before and on that occasion, I landed at the airport and was met by a RCI representative who ushered me to a bus which took me to the port and directly to my ship.  So I have seen NOTHING of Miami other than through bus windows.

Our hotel is the Hyatt Regency which is located at 400 SE 2nd Ave. which is about a block from the bay and right on the riverwalk.  Apparently if your room is high enough you get excellent views.....  I hope our room is very high although we won't be there long and will only use it to sleep because we are going to have a lot of stuff to cram into 24 hours in Miami.

After doing a little bit of research, I have located a Hop On Hop Off water taxi through Island Queen Cruises.  One of the stops is literally at our hotel and this sounds like a great way to get around.  They start daily at 11:00 AM with final departures on weekdays at 5:00 PM.  But they have added 7:00 PM and 9:00 PM departures on weekends and holidays.  Since we'll be doing this on a Saturday, it sounds kind of perfect. It has stops at Bayside Marketplace, Miami Beach Marina, South Beach, Sea Isle Marina, and the two stops on the Miami River with Finnegan's River Irish Pub being the other in addition to our hotel stop. They also have stops at Marlins Stadium and American Airlines Arena.  If you had Miami Heat tickets it would be fun to arrive at a game by boat, huh?

I've never been to South Beach but I really think that we'll need to see the spectacle that is South Beach. All that I know about it I learned from watching Robin Williams and Nathan Lane in The Birdcage.  It just seems very colorful and fun.  But it's probably not the kind of place that I'll be interested in spending too much time in.  I think it would be a riot to go to a drag club.  But I'm not sure I'm up to it.  Can you imagine this east Texas girl in a drag club?  I don't really know what to expect from the two Marina stops.  I hope this turns out to be like the Fort Lauderdale water taxi that we did a few years ago on the day before a cruise.  Each stop had plenty of waterfront bars and restaurants to visit and we wound up just bar hopping for the day and having appetizers for our meals.

The Bayside Marketplace is apparently owned by the same people who own Faneuil Hall Marketplace in Boston.  Of all the places I went in Boston that was the only one that disappointed me.  I'm just not a big shopper.  And I NEVER shop for anything while I am on vacation that can be bought at home.  So, unless there are a lot of local shops, I have little to no interest.  I'm sorry, Dallas has plenty of Anne Taylor stores. I don't need to waste part of my 24 hours in Miami at one.

I've also discovered that there is a Metromover in downtown Miami which is free!  It is an elevated train system with Econoline van sized cars which you stand up in and it transports you from one location to another. It runs daily from 5 AM to midnight and runs on three loops with a stop close to our hotel.  So this will be another great method of transportation.  The Metromover has a stop in Little Havana which might be kind of interesting.  What better place to get a Cuban sandwich, right?

The port is only about a mile from our hotel.  So, we'll just take a taxi over there on Sunday.  I'm still not exactly sure about what to expect on the cruise itself.  The initial paperwork had the cruise starting on 11/10. Then once we were registered the departure date on the travel documents is 11/11.  But I received an email stating that we would board the ship on the 10th and it would just sail out of the port and back into Miami on Monday.  Then apparently, we will leave port again at some point on Monday and go to the Bahamas where we will have a day and then back to Miami again.  So, we may have all day to spend in Miami on Monday, as well.  It's all very vague.  But you can't really question too much on a $150 cruise, you know?

Have a great weekend and I'll talk to you all on Monday!

Holidays on Ships

Let's talk today about spending a holiday at sea?  I've done this a couple of times.  It's a lot of fun.  I once went on a Caribbean cruise on Freedom of the Seas out of Miami over Halloween.  It was pretty cool to be on the ship on that day.

Halloween was a couple of days into the cruise and it was on a day at sea.  So you had plenty of time to get ready and a lot of people were dressed in costumes all day long and having a great time goofing off on the ship. As you passed cabins along the halls, many of the doors had been decorated.  Some people were even walking up and down the halls trick or treating although based on their demeanor I would guess that more alcohol than candy was distributed.

I took along a Pirate Wench costume and didn't don it until dinner time that evening.  Some of the costumes on board were quite elaborate while others were obvious after thoughts.  But everyone had fun.  That night following the second dinner seating there was a costume judging contest.  I didn't even come close to winning.  If I remember correctly the winners were a huge group of people traveling together who came dressed as the zombie crew of the Loveboat.  You haven't seen anything until you have seen Julie McCoy as a zombie.

Following the costume judging they had everyone dressed in costume walk down the Promenade in a parade while the guests who hadn't dressed in costume threw candy and beads at us.  It was fun and I cleaned up in the candy department.

I was reading comments on Cruise Critic yesterday when they posed the question about dressing for Halloween on board ship.  One man said that he had been on a Mediterranean cruise once and the day that they visited Rome was Halloween so everyone came to dinner that night wearing the sheets off of their beds as togas.  He said it was totally impromptu but there were more people wearing togas than normal dining attire. I, on the other hand, put a lot of thought into my Pirate Wench costume.  I thought it was totally appropriate for a shipboard costume and if you know me, you know that I'm a little obsessed with all things pirate anyway. But a toga would be a great costume for a ship leaving Rome on Halloween.

I also spent Thanksgiving on board a ship once.  This was during the Mediterranean cruise that my travel buddy Jenny and I went on several years ago.  On Thanksgiving day our stop was Palermo, Sicily.  That night dinner was formal.  Everyone at our dining table was American so I think we all ended up choosing turkey and dressing for our main course.  But I remember thinking that the other dining options were pretty interesting as well.  A good portion of the ships passengers were European and of course they weren't celebrating a holiday.  But the ships crew did a great job of making the holiday as American as possible.  I will tell you that Sicily doesn't seem to look any different on Thanksgiving than any other day of the year.

I have read that Disney Cruise ships do holidays better than any other afloat and I can believe that.  Can you imagine what Halloween would be like on a Disney ship?  I imagine it would be like Pirates of the Caribbean coming to life.  I've read that Christmas on board is amazing!  I think if I was going to do a Disney Cruise, I would definitely choose to go on Halloween if possible.

Once I was in the Caribbean just a few weeks before Christmas on a Princess cruise.  You haven't lived until you have seen wreaths hanging on doors in Grand Cayman and decorated palm trees.  I can't justify (for myself) ever going on a cruise over Christmas since the prices usually double that week.  But I think it would be so much fun if you did.

Time for me to get back to work now.  If you are of a mind to experience a Halloween Disney Cruise next year, I can hook you up.  Have a safe and Happy Halloween!

Loyalty Pays... To An Extent...

What in the world is up with this weather?  This humidity is killing me.  But since the temperature is only in the low 70's, I'm having to turn my thermostat down to like 68 to try to keep it from raining inside my house. I think my windows are starting to frost up!!!!  I bet the weather's nice in the Caribbean today.  Let's check it out.

Okay, well....  If you are in the Dominican Republic today you are probably complaining about a little more than humidity and frost on the inside of your windows.  You might be complaining about that tropical storm that is blowing your hut over.  But I suppose, after it leaves, you'll have a great view of the beach.... cup half full, right?  And if you were in the Dominican Republic today you would have the added advantage of not having to listen to Kathleen Sebelius sitting in front of Congress saying things like "I didn't do it..." rather than the Fox News shows that usually air while you work. I know, I could turn the TV off.  But I really like having background noise while I work and the news is usually a good option since it doesn't generally distract me. 

Today, let's talk about the advantages of cruise line loyalty.  All cruise lines have loyalty programs.  With some lines you have to enroll after your first cruise.  On Princess, on your final day at sea of your first cruise, your cabin steward drops off your Princess loyalty information along with your membership pin.  It's all automatic with them.  I personally am a member of loyalty programs with Royal Caribbean, Princess and Celebrity.  I've sailed on NCL and Carnival too, but was disappointed enough with each of those experiences that I didn't bother joining their loyalty clubs since I felt they would go unused anyway.  

I know people who are absolutely loyal to one cruise line.  I'm not sure that these people would go on a $5 cruise if it were offered by another line.  On the other hand, there are a lot of people like me who want the advantages that a loyalty program offers but also want to experience what the other cruise lines have to offer. Royal Caribbean offers a Visa card that helps them get a great loyalty following.  With it you can earn points for cruises or even on board spending credits during your cruise.  In this program, you turn points in prior to your cruise departure in exchange for money that you can spend during your cruise.  My parents do this each time they sail on RCI.  If you use your RCI Visa card to book and pay for an RCI cruise, you get extra points. It's a great incentive to sail with Royal Caribbean.  

But even with the RCI Visa, some people don't sail exclusively with Royal Caribbean.  For instance, I just processed a final payment for a Princess cruise for clients last week using their Royal Caribbean Visa card. So, they're going to get Royal Caribbean points for sailing on Princess.  Additionally, I would imagine that they will use their RCI Visa for the shipboard spending account.  So, every penny they spend during this Princess cruise will get them closer to a free Royal Caribbean cruise.  I LOVE that!  

So you may be asking, if you don't have a Royal Caribbean Visa, are there any advantages to remaining loyal to one cruise line?  The answer is yes, but the benefits are not nearly as big.  For instance, I am a Platinum Crown and Anchor member on Royal Caribbean.  Your level is based on the number of nights you have spent on board the cruise lines ships.  With RCI the levels are as follows:

3 to 29 nights - Gold

30 to 54 nights - Platinum

55 - 79 nights - Emerald

80 - 174 nights - Diamond

175 to 699 nights - Diamond Plus

700 + nights Pinnacle

You'd be amazed at how many Diamond and Diamond Plus members you come across during any given cruise.  If you get to pinnacle you have basically been on 100 cruises just with Royal Caribbean.  That is crazy to me!  How many cruises do these people take each year????  And more importantly, how do I get to be their travel agent????

On each cruise there are past cruiser functions.  The higher you get into the program the more exclusive they become.  Everybody from Gold through Pinnacle is invited to the Welcome Back Party on each cruise.  At this event they'll pass a few free drinks around and then they will talk about how many members of each level are on board.  They will single out Diamond Plus and Pinnacle members who are on board.  The Captain usually attends and you can get a photo with him if you are inclined.  If you like getting a photo with the Captain, it is easier to do so here than at the Captains party to which everyone on board is invited. Additionally, all Gold through Pinnacle members get an on board coupon booklet at the beginning of each cruise.  The values in your booklet reflect your status.  So a Diamond booklet is worth much more than a Gold one.  You also get priority check in when boarding the ship.  Again, the higher up you are on the food chain the faster you get on board.  If you are Diamond Plus, I'm not sure that your feet hit the ground from the time you leave your ground transportation until you are in your upgraded room.

Once you get to Platinum, you get robes in your room for use while on board, you get a lapel pin and what they call a Top Tier Event.  Basically, it's a Welcome Back Party for members who are Platinum and higher. The only thing that Emerald gets that Platinum doesn't is a free gift in their room and a free drink.  This used to be available to Platinum members, but a few years ago, they changed the program up.  (I guess the cheap picture frames and luggage tags they were giving away were cutting into the bottom line....)  Before they changed the program, I got a picture frame, a luggage tag and a remarkably cheap tote bag on which the strap broke during my first use of it.  So really when it gets right down to it, the only difference between Platinum and Emerald is a single free drink.  

But Diamond is where it all starts to pay off.  It's sort of like moving from steerage to a luxury suite.  Once you get to 80 nights on board you get to use of the Diamond Lounge which is kind of what it's all about. This is a place where you can go and not deal with the riff raff that frequent the other areas of the ship.  Only people who have spent a lot of time on Royal Caribbean are admitted.  I mean these are strictly Thurston and Lovey Howell III types.  (Not really, most of them are pretty nice people.)  But it does give you a nice, quiet place to go before dinner that is out of the way and quiet since not many others are invited.  You also get a Chef's Gift/Amenity.  I have no idea what it might be.  I mean, do they hand out RCI spatulas?  I don't know.  Maybe it's a Royal Caribbean Cookbook. I have a few of those and I don't mind telling you, they are pretty nice if you are into cookbooks.  You also get a priority departure which gets you on the ship faster than Platinum members.  There is an "Exclusive NIGHTLY Diamond Event".  I can only assume that this means free drinks every night!  Talk about some savings!  You also get free specialty coffee at breakfast. I'm not a coffee snob so this holds no interest for me.  As long as there is caffeine in the coffee it is good enough for me.  On top of all this, you get an Entertainment Tour.  I suppose this means a tour of a theater which might involve meeting an entertainer or two.  

With Diamond Plus, you get a personalized gift, Concierge Lounge Access which is even more exclusive than Diamond.  I don't know, maybe you would be the only person with access on some cruises.  So, if you are into big crowds, this might not be a draw for you.  Once you get to 340 points you qualify for seating with a ships officer at dinner. I'm not sure how I would feel about this.  I mean, it would be neat to talk to the ships Captain or 1st Mate at dinner one night.  But on the other hand, you really have to worry about dripping soup down the front of your dress a lot more than usual.  It could be kind of humiliating. Priority seating for shows is included, plus upgraded bathroom amenities but only once you get up to 350 points. (That's 50 seven night cruises.)  I guess until then you'll continue to use Suave with the rest of us or bring your own. Once you make it to 525 points.... that's 75 seven night cruises....  you get an extra gift. I hope it's not luggage tags.  It's cheaper to bone up on your trivia and attend the daily trivia contests for luggage tags.

For the few people who make it to Pinnacle, there is a lapel pin and a Pinnacle Club Gold Card with exclusive privileges.  I know, this is kind of vague but that's all the website tells me.  I guess it's kind of good that there is not some exclusive Pinnacle Club on the top deck since you'd pretty much have to stand around in there alone watching all the peons (who have been on fewer than 100 seven night cruises... *losers!*) walk by looking in at you.  

All of those things that I just told you about are the on board benefits.  In addition to the on board benefits, there are exclusive Crown and Anchor cruises where only members are allowed on the ship, there are discounts sent out via email quarterly which are referred to as Savings Certificates, discounts on balcony and suite staterooms for Platinum and higher, reduced rate and sometimes even free upgrades.  Once you get to 340 points, you can go on a cruise by yourself and only pay 150% of the price for a single person rather than 200%.  Take my word for it, this is a big deal. Quite frankly, after 48.57 cruises, you are probably looking forward to 7 nights alone in a cabin.  At 700 and again at 1050 points, you get a free seven night cruise in a balcony stateroom.  I'll do the math for you.... after 100 seven night cruises and again at 150 seven night cruises, you get a free cruise in a balcony stateroom (Worth it?  I don't know).  Finally after 200 seven night cruises you get a free cruise in a Jr Suite stateroom and you get another free Jr Suite stateroom cruise every 350 points after that. (That's every 50 seven night cruises.)  So do you suppose there is someone out there with 400 seven night cruises under there belt who is racking up on the free 7 night Jr Suite cruises?  I kind of doubt it.

When I start thinking about this, I always wonder how many times a year you have to go on a cruise to reach some of these rewards.  Let's think about it.  If you don't start cruising until you are 30 and then you go on 2 seven night cruises a year from age 30 to age 50, that's only 40 seven night cruises.  You'll still have 60 more cruises to go to get a free cruise!  The most amazing part of all of this is that I have been on Royal Caribbean cruises with people who have been on 75 cruises!  REALLY!!!  I didn't personally know them.  But I saw them at a Welcome Back function and then again sitting at the Captains table on a formal night.  People who have been on 75 cruises dress really well in case you were wondering.  They get a lot of recognition.  All the crew members oooh and aw over them, as they should.  But here's the thing.... and I'll leave you with this.... If I could afford to go on 200+ Royal Caribbean cruises at double occupancy in my lifetime, is that really the way I would want to spend every single vacation?  I LOVE Royal Caribbean, but if I had that kind of money to blow on vacations, I think I would be wondering if there was more out there?  Just sayin'....

I'm going to get busy.  Have a terrific hump DAAAAAY.....

The 1970's Meyers Family Vacation Scenario

When I was a kid our vacations were nothing like the vacations that a lot of my friends kids go on these days. Now kids each have their own fancy suitcase and they go to places like Europe, St. Maartin, Puerto Vallarta and on Alaskan Cruises with their parents.  If they do have to slum it in a car, they each get their own row of seats so that there is no touching. Back then we went to Colorado and on occasion we drove around Texas eventually crossing the Mexican boarder to shop for "curios".  If you've ever been to Nuevo Larado more than once you have been there one time too many.

Back then vacations consisted of having your things packed in the "kids suitcase".  I never got to pack my own stuff. Mom did if for me.  I imagine this was to keep me from over packing since things were tight. Everything I was carrying had to be piled in a single suitcase that was shared between me and my brothers. Then on the morning that we were leaving or perhaps it would be more appropriate to say the "night" we were leaving since we always left before dawn.... on some occasions, way before dawn, we would all start hauling stuff out of the house and stacking it around the car.  This was the first evidence of self defense that would creep up during our trip. There would be more evidence of self defense to come throughout the trip.

The packing of the car was always a little bit of an adventure.  It was usually one of the only times Dad would lose his cool during the trip.  But keep in mind that following each stop the car had to be re-packed. So, approximately once a day, we'd get to experience Dad losing his cool.  Apparently, car packing is some sort of a science that requires absolute quiet and can only be done by one person.  If you walked out to the car and put whatever Mom had given you to carry out actually inside the car in an empty spot, the response was like that of placing a live grenade next to a person in a sleeping bag.  The item would be immediately thrown back away from the car.  Dad would say "Why did you put that there?"  I'd respond with some lame excuse like, "'Cuz it fit".  Then I would be lectured about how I needed to set everything on the ground so that he could pack the entire car.  Aye, aye, cap'n. (That last part was always said in my mind, smart alack comments like that would never have left my mouth in front of my Dad.)  Back then I didn't get his need for absolute control when it came to packing the car.  Now I do.

We always managed to fit enough clothes for 1 to 2 weeks of traveling for five people, a full size ice chest that we'll discuss shortly, a box or bag of groceries that didn't need to go into the ice chest, a sleeping bag or two, various pillows and other comforts of home into the trunk of whatever kind of Ford we were driving at the time.  Probably, if not for the scientific method of packing the car, we would have driven around with pillows tied to the top.

The ice chest was always a big part of packing the car.  We were, after all, a family of the 1970's and on a budget.  The only way these vacations could happen was if we maintained that budget.  That meant when you stopped for gas, kids didn't just go scrambling into the gas station for Cokes and snacks all willy nilly. We brought the snacks with us.  Likewise, lunch was almost always spent at a roadside park or rest area along the way. It was a great way to break up the day especially with three kids in a single backseat arguing because someone had touched someone else.  It gave us the opportunity to run around, explore and chase each other while Dad smoked a cigarette (back in the day, Dad still smoked) and Mom made sandwiches and set the chips and drinks out.  We usually looked for a "Comfort Station" rest area.  That meant that there was a bathroom on sight.  But many times lunch would be spent at a place that might just have a picnic table or two.  Several occasions, lunch was spent in a wide spot in the road with no tables at all.  But we usually found a pretty spot where we could still run around and it was still nice.

The food supplies generally consisted of the makings for both Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches, as well as, cold cuts and cheese.  Mayonnaise, mustard, lettuce, tomatoes and cheese rounded out the sandwich making supplies.  Then came the good stuff.  There were usually a few pieces of fruit packed away, some Snickers bars that you had to fight Mom for, those little packs of crackers that were filled with either peanut butter or cheese, peanuts, chips and canned bean dip.  Canned bean dip along with Fritos was a staple of my families traveling foods.  We usually started out with a couple of six packs of Cokes and replenished those as we went along.  Keep in mind, it was the '70's so these were generally bottled Cokes.  I'm not sure why a Coke out of a bottle tastes so much better but it still does.  I think they just get colder.

Now, when I say Cokes, you have to bear in mind that I am a Texan.  Our "Cokes" usually consisted of a few Sprites, a Diet Rite Cola for Mom, a Big Red for Ronnie, a few Dr. Peppers for whoever wanted them and I always drank plain old Coke or one of the Sprites if we were out of Coke.  Generally, in the morning, as we were getting ready to leave each stop just before dawn, part of Dad's car packing ritual seemed to involve a quick inventory of the food supplies and draining water out of the ice chest followed by refilling it from the motel's ice machine.  Sometimes, if the Coke machine in the motel had what Dad deemed were decent prices, we would refill our Coke supply from there, as well. Then the real loading of the car would commence. We all stood around quietly while Dad did what needed to be done.  Periodically, he would issue an order to Robbie, my oldest brother, who seemed to be his right hand in the car packing process. Robbie would follow through without comment.  Then we would get underway.

As we drove, the activities ranged from playing games like I Spy to judging the distance to some landmark we were approaching. In this game, you guessed the distance that you felt the car was from a fixed spot and once all the distances were in, Dad would follow it on the odometer of the car.  The person closest won and decided on the next object.  Sometimes when it rained we raced raindrops on windows of the car.  That was when you knew we had been in the car too long.  A rousing game of what we called back then Beep Beep (now known as Slug Bug) was always good to pass the time.

We weren't usually allowed to carry games and toys in the car.  My guess would be that they took up space and then we would just end up fighting over them. My Mrs. Beasley usually made the trip only because I would never have been able to sleep without her.  Sometimes Ronnie's Chester the Chimp would come along for the same reason and Robbie would bring a book.  Beyond that the backseat of our car was devoid of toys and entertainment. We entertained ourselves.  There were no DVD players in the head rest, no Ipods for us to listen to or even watch.  For Mom and Dad there was no satellite radio.  When we lost a station, Mom would scan the channels by turning the nob on the AM radio until she found something else that sounded like it was in the distance and might "come in" eventually.  If there were no other stations on the horizon, we would turn off the radio and sing.  That's right, we sang.  Nobody in my family could carry a tune in a bucket.  But nevertheless, we sang and loudly.  To this day when my car gets too quiet, I will break out into a rousing rendition of "Bullet in my shoulder, blood running down my vest.  Twenty in the posse, they're never gonna let me reeeeeeeeest...."  It was our big "go to" song.  We sang a lot of Marty Robins.  I suppose because they were good story songs but also just because Mom and Dad liked Marty Robins.  We also sang a lot of Johnny Cash.  You can never go wrong with Burnin' Ring of Fire.

All in all, I would say that our family vacations were some of the highlights of my childhood.  Nothing brings a family together like suffering in the backseat of a Ford.  I think part of what made it all so great was that there was only one backseat in our car and so we were forced to get along.  I know kids today who have never had reason to yell, "MOM!!!!  HE'S TOUCHING ME!!!!!"  That's just wrong.

Hackers Are Evil and I Don't Like Them

Okay, who knew that one little hacker could turn a persons world so upside down????!?!?  I mean, really? It's been more than a week and I'm literally still not functioning at all travel agent wise.  Okay, sure....  I went to my nephews football game on Friday, I've had a group of friends over for soap making and I've even been able to process final payments for a couple of cruises.  But can anyone email me?  Ummm.... perhaps.... can I see it?  That's a big NO!

I've actually emailed a couple of tests to myself on my new email address and received both of them.  My dad emailed a test to me on Saturday.  I got it this morning.  In all honesty, I may have gotten it before this morning.  But I didn't get it immediately on Saturday and then when I got home from Nacogdoches Saturday afternoon, I was too busy to check again because I had to get ready for soap making.  Then Sunday, is when the depression set in. You see, before the Great Email Hacking of '13 began, I was working on a group trip to the Dominican Republic for a friend and a group of her friends and relatives, a Hawaii trip for another client, a cruise for yet another, a European trip for my sister-in-law, and several other things.  Now, I have lost all of their email addresses along with any correspondence we had shared regarding each of these trips, I still hadn't gotten alternate contact information on some of these clients.  So, how do you get back in touch with them????

I was optimistic this morning when I got into my new email and saw the test from my Dad.  But then, I tried to make my new email, the primary one on my new Outlook account and it said, it would send me an email that I would need to work through to set it up and that was an hour ago.  Still no email.  I can't function like this.  Email is my life blood.  I'm not a phone person.  I LIKE email.  It is such a great way to communicate. Think about it.  It's sort of instantaneous.... usually.  You have a record of all that was said by each party.  If you are busy, you can get back to it later.  You can refer back to it for years if necessary.  And it's usually pretty easy to get to, I mean, you can carry it around on your cell phone!!! Unless of course, you have been hacked.  Then your cell phone just sort of sneers at you with a giant 24 in bold blue script next to your email app indicating that there are 24 unread emails in your account that, by the way, you can't see because you've been hacked!  Stupid email....

One of the worst things is that my Yahoo account also controls my Fantasy Football so I couldn't get into it last week to make changes to my roster for week 8 of the NFL season.  People, I had 4 people on my roster with week 8 byes.  This is a catastrophe.  Granted, I was in last place in my league even when I was still able to make changes to my roster.... (Thanks a LOT RGIII and Roddy White!)  But I didn't need to have 4 starters on bye this week.  Now you understand my deep depression yesterday.

So, my new email address is smeyers@placesuwillgo.com if you are inclined to send me an email so that I will have your email address or even if you just want to say hi or give me a hard time about my fantasy football team....  Or if I was working on something for you and you want to insure that I continue to work on it since my old email that I can no longer get into contained all of our correspondence, all of the details of what you were looking for and all of your contact information. If I was already working on something for you, maybe you could re-send me the initial emails in which we discussed your trip along with your last email since I probably didn't get it.  That would be terrific.

If I used to work with you at The Former Employer Who Shall Not Be Named and you just want to stay in touch, you might send me an email too.  If we are in a dinner club together, if we are related and you would like for me to send you details for Christmas at my house, I'm probably going to need your email address as well.  If we watch reality TV together on a semi regular basis - I don't have your email address anymore.  Basically, if you read this and you ever want to hear from me again other than through an occasional blog, send me an email.  If you have booked at trip through me in the past or have one currently booked, I do have your email on record.  Otherwise, I have no way of contacting you.

The sad reality is that I have like 6 email addresses stuck in my brain.  All the rest were in my contact list in my old email that I can no longer access.  The email addresses that I know belong to the following persons:

Mom and Dad
Jan Callihan
Doris and Don Bailey
Jenny Stankus (work only)
Me
Jon Lee - Don't ask...  I have no idea why I remember his....

I hope your day goes better than mine.  I'll be contacting all of my suppliers, if I can figure out how without their email addresses and giving them my new email address.  Ugh!