Mind Trip to Antigua - Day 2

So yesterday we left off on our "mind trip" just after visiting Devil's Bridge in Antigua.  Just to catch you up in case you didn't read yesterday's posting and are too busy right now to go back and review it, we've decided to take a virtual trip to Antigua in which money is no object, because after all, in my imagination, money has never been an object.  During the trip we are staying in a Caribbean Beachfront room at Sandals Grande Antigua Resort and Spa at a total cost including air, all inclusive amenities, roundtrip air to hotel transfers and insurance of $6792 per couple.

Now don't let this price scare you off from Antigua.  It can be done much more cheaply depending on where you choose to stay.  But since money was no object during this virtual trip, I chose the best!  What can I say? I'm a dreamer!

So we arrived in Antigua on Saturday after a relatively painless flight with one stop in Charlotte for only an hour and 20 minutes.  We were checked in and out on the beach before sunset.  After spending a couple of days enjoying all that Sandals Grande Antigua has to offer, on Monday we decided to rent scooters and spend a couple of days exploring this beautiful island.  So far we've been to English Harbor where we spent several hours visiting Nelson's Dockyard, Shirley Heights, and the Pillars of Hercules.  Then we drove up the coast to see Devil's Bridge and snapped a ba-zillion pictures there in order to get a perfect shot.  Today we're going to finish circumnavigating the island on our 150 CC scooters from Cheke's Rentals.  So let's head out!

Leaving this morning from the hotel, we'll be driving just a few miles on our scooters through Potters Village to the Stingray City Antigua headquarters for a morning of feeding stingrays.  I've done this a couple of times before in Grand Cayman.  But this will be my first time in Antigua. Once we arrive at our starting point we'll have a little time to enjoy the monkeys and parrots at the headquarters before boarding a speedboat that will take us out to Stingray City.  Antigua's Stingray City is located not too far off shore in a shallow sandy bottom pool on a coral reef.  Now, I'm just going to go ahead and tell you that the stingrays don't naturally hang out there all day long waiting for squid to be fed to them by humans who come up on boats.  They come there because, like Pavlov's Dogs, they know that when one of those boats comes up, there will be squid.  They tolerate the humans because the humans have thumbs and can get the squid out of the buckets for them.

This whole Stingray City concept began in Grand Cayman on a sandbar a little ways off shore where the fishermen used to clean their fish in the evenings.  They would throw their scraps out of the boat and the stingrays came up and fed on the scraps.  It was an effortless meal for them.  Over the years, the stingrays came to understand that when a boat stopped on the sandbar, they got easy food.  So, they came up to the boats.  Eventually, someone took a boat full of tourists out and let them feed the rays.  Now it has become a multi-million dollar industry for Grand Cayman (and seriously most of the commitment in the business comes from the squid).  There can be no doubt that someone in Antigua saw what was happening in Grand Cayman with the tourists flocking to pet a stingray and they found a good spot to start feeding rays off of their island.

Even knowing that the rays are just conditioned to come up to the humans because they want squid, it's still a thrill to get in the water with them and feel their weird alien bodies rubbing against your legs as they vie for a spot closest to the squid bucket.  When one takes the squid from your hands it is a bazaar feeling.  I'm totally against those dolphin swims in which the dolphins are in captivity and you get into their "pool" or even fenced in bay with them.  But I really don't have a problem with feeding wild animals in their natural environment and then taking advantage of that conditioning to get close to them.  Maybe some animal rights people would disagree.  But I figure the animals can swim away whenever they want.  They can go find their own squid that doesn't come in a bucket.  Or they can tolerate me for a few minutes while I feed it to them. The choice is theirs.

So after the stingray swim, the boat takes us back to the Stingray City Antigua headquarters where we'll have a free rum punch and browse their gift shop before hopping back on the scooters.  Oh, by the way, the headquarters has a coconut tree freshwater outdoor shower to rinse off once we get back.  So, once we have most of the salt off of us, we can head back out and enjoy the rest of our day.

Out next stop will be Betty's Hope, an old sugar plantation which was established in 1650.  It was actually owned and run by the same family from 1674 to 1944 but it is no longer operational and is now simply an open air museum.

Betty's Hope is really nothing more than a 30 minute stop to take a few photos and get off of the scooters. Then we'll be in route to another stop.

Our next stop will be Parham where we'll visit St. Peter's Church. Parham is the oldest town in Antigua and it was established in 1632.  The church is beautiful, but here's the problem... or maybe it's not a problem at all.... you be the judge. There are very few pictures of it on line since it is sort of off the beaten path and not such a big tourist attraction. So, while I hear and read that it is beautiful and has a scenic graveyard, I'm not finding many decent pictures to illustrate this point.  So your mission if you choose to accept it is to book a trip to Antigua (through your favorite travel agency - like.... let's just say.... Places You'll Go Travel), rent a couple of scooters for a day or two and visit St. Peter's in Parham and take some truly amazing pictures to send to me so that I can post them in a future travel blog.  Your photos will be famous, you'll be celebrated! People all over the world will refer to your pictures when they speak of St. Peter's church in Antigua and I'll be able to show my 12 readers how beautiful the church really is!  Win - Win!  But for now here is a semi decent picture of the inside.

The ceiling is wooden and is said to look like the upside down inside of a ships hull.

Okay, I have to admit, that the graveyard photo above is kinda creepy.  But it's also kind of pretty in a creepy sort of way.  Again, you go take some pictures and get back to me.  We could make you famous to at least 12 people!

So, after the church and the graveyard, we have sort of hit most of the highlights that Antigua has to offer from a touristy point of view.  I mean, let's face it.  You don't go to Antigua for long drawn out museum tours with droning tour guides.  Right?  This place is all about sun, sand and salt water.  So, after the graveyard, we'll spend the rest of the day riding our scooters along the coast just enjoying the scenery and stopping whenever the mood strikes us to take pictures or have a relaxing beverage.  There is a donkey sanctuary that you can visit if you are so inclined.  I just don't see that being a big draw for me.  But you do whatever you want.

At the end of the day, we'll return our scooters and take a taxi back to the hotel where we'll spend the rest of the week being waited on hand and foot. Did I mention that our resort reservation includes a $100 spa credit?  Yeah... going to have to make time for an open air massage.  After all, you never know when you'll get another chance to enjoy something like that.  This is a 7 day trip so we'll be leaving on Saturday.  The flight on the way back has another quick stop - less than 2 hours and you'll be going through customs, so there really won't even be time to sit down and catch up on Facebook before you'll be back in flight.

I hope you've enjoyed this virtual trip to Antigua.  I know I have.  The only problem now is that I have another location to add to my bucket list.

Have a Happy New Year!  Make 2014 your year to see the world!

A Mind Trip to Antigua!

Here's the deal.  Last night I decided that I wanted to take a virtual trip this week and I left it up to my followers on Facebook to suggest locations.  There were a number of very good suggestions.  However, Tricia Mixson was first to respond with Antigua and since I have had questions about Antigua in the past anyway, I thought it would be the perfect place to start with.  So, after just a little bit of research, I have put the following trip together. Now, you must keep in mind that since this is a virtual trip we aren't paying for it. With that in mind, we aren't going to settle for anything but the best.  MONEY IS NO OBJECT!  I LOVE saying that!

So, we're flying from DFW to Antigua with a short stop in Charlotte via US Air and will be on the island by 3:30 in the afternoon.  We'll be staying at the all inclusive Sandals Grande Antigua Resort and Spa in a Caribbean Beachfront Grande Luxe Club Level Room.  I looked at the Butler Level Suites, but I didn't want to get spoiled during this mind trip we're on so I decided to just stick with the beachfront club level room. Sandals includes roundtrip airport transfers.  So, we're saving like $25 on that so why not splurge?  Right?

If we were paying for this trip, our total price for the 7 night package including All In One Travel Protection would be $6792.  But lucky for us, we're just taking a cheap little mind trip and that doesn't cost a penny!

Caribbean Beach

Depending on which type of room you choose you could be on one of two beaches.  We've chosen a Caribbean Beachfront room which means we are in one of those rooms in the photo above that actually looks out onto Caribbean Beach.  Nice, huh?  Honestly, you could probably stick me in a broom closet in this resort and I wouldn't complain too much.  What's to complain about?  I just want to lay on one of those chairs in that pool and have this smiling young man wade up to me bringing more champagne all day long.  As long as I can get one of these pool chairs, I don't care what kind of room I'm in.

Hey!  How did I get in that picture?  Oh wait, that's just a girl who LOOKS a lot like me.... ;-)

Who could resist a nice moonlit dinner with ships passing by in the background?  Not me!  At Sandals, premium drinks are included in the price and you have a mini bar in your room which is refilled regularly.  There are a couple of pools, the big one above and this smaller pool below which is located close to Caribbean beach where we'll be staying. Although I could spend all week just laying around this hotel, I think we're going to need to get out and explore the island. So, lets rent some scooters and take a drive!

At Cheke's Rentals, we can get scooters by the day or week.  They are $400 each for the week or we can just get them by the day for $65.  If we choose to keep them for 2 days or more, the price is $60 per day. We're probably going to need scooters for at least 2 days.  So, I'm thinking we'll take a taxi over to Cheke's on Monday and pick them up for 2 days.  The island is only about 54 miles around so we ought to be able to see most of it in a couple of days.

Our hotel is located at St. John's and we are picking up our scooters at Falmouth in English Harbor which is on the south side of the island.  So we'll start off by exploring Nelson's Dockyard.  It was named for Admiral Horatio Nelson who actually lived there in the 1780's. Since Antigua is a big sailing destination for the rich and famous, this is a great place to go and see some amazing yachts and sailboats.  There is also a museum in the dockyard as well as various shops and restaurants.  There's even a wine bar.... They had me at wine.

English Harbor including Nelson's Dockyard and Shirley Heights

English Harbor is a deep water harbor and is well protected making it a safe harbor during storms.  Just around the corner from Nelson's Dockyard is the Pillars of Hercules.  We can get there on foot from the dockyard.  Just off shore is a great place for diving but not so great for snorkeling since the water is about 30 feet deep.  But the currents are strong here.  So you'll want to be careful.

Pillars of Hercules

After leaving the English Harbor area, we'll make our way up the coast to Devil's Bridge for a photo opportunity.  This is an area where the water has eroded the rock creating a natural bridge.  If you wait around for 30 minutes or so, you are sure to get a shot where the water is spraying up on you as you stand on the bridge.

Devil's Bridge

There is much more to see and do in Antigua and it can't all be done in a day so I'll finish telling you about it tomorrow.  I hope this little trip to Antigua is helping you to warm up on this miserably cold day.  The heater repairman is on his way to my house right now.  So, I'll talk to you tomorrow!

If I Won That Jackpot

If I won $365 million, or there abouts, I can't even fathom what I would do with all of it.  Don't worry, you'll continue to see my blogs for at least the not too distant future.  This morning as I checked my ticket against the winning numbers, as usual, I didn't get a single number right. So, if I'm currently working on a trip for you or a Business Plan, I will continue to do so.

But if I did win that kind of money, the possibilities are really kind of endless.  I always used to say I'd sell everything here and head to Grand Cayman with my cats where I'd open a charter boat business.  I'd take the tourists out to see the sting rays everyday enjoying the sun, water and nature.  The passengers would all call me Cap'n Susan.  I like that part best!  I always wanted to be called Cap'n Susan.  But the more I think about it, with a jackpot like this one, why would I sell everything here?  Why not just keep what I have here so that it could be my Dallas house and buy a new little multi-million dollar place in the Caymans?  Besides in the Caymans, money just turns into more money, right?  Isn't that why rich people are always sending money down there?

In recent years, I've re-thought that local a little.  I always used to say Grand Cayman.  Now I waiver between Grand Cayman and Roatan. I might just be able to send some of the money to Grand Cayman, you know so that it would multiply and I'd go to Roatan.  It's something to consider. I like Roatan for several reasons, the first of which is that you can still get into a place on Roatan pretty cheaply.  Of course, the prices go up every year.  But they aren't even close to Cayman prices yet.  I know what you're thinking. Ummmmm.... It's $365 million that I'm looking at here.  But I don't want to be one of those irresponsible lottery winners who blows all the money and ends up homeless in 10 years. Plus your good ol' US government is going to get half leaving me with only a measly $182.5 million.  Why, a girl can hardly make it on that!  I say your good ol' US government, because you know.... I won't live here anymore.  Sorry, I didn't mean to giggle maniacally....  Sure, I'll still have the Dallas house and I'll still visit from time to time.  But let's face it, Fox News is going to take a serious hit when I stop watching because I suddenly don't care anymore what those idiots in Washington are doing with your tax dollars.

After I got settled into my house in Roatan or Grand Cayman, I'd probably have to hire a house boy.  I'll need someone to take care of the cats when I travel.  So, I'm definitely going to need a house boy.  He'll also do all the cleaning and probably bring me Mai Tai's on the deck while I watch sunsets.  He won't have to cook though, because I'll have a personal chef for that.  You can't leave the cooking to a barefoot and shirtless house boy.  Wait, did I mention shirtless before?  No?  Well, I sort of thought it went without saying.  In addition to the house boy and chef, I'll have a personal trainer and will probably be skinnier than I ever imagined being.  And my personal trainer won't be Jill or Bob.  (I can't stand the girlish screaming of either of them!) No sir!  I'm going with Dolvett!  On the house boy's day off, I'll just have Dolvett take his shirt off.

One of the best things about winning the jackpot will be passing some of it on to others.  Of course my church would get a nice little sum.  Then there are a few charities I'd like to support.  Mom and Dad wouldn't have to worry that I suddenly live further away because they would have enough money to either come and visit whenever they wanted or buy the place next door to me if they decided to do that.  My brothers would suddenly experience similar wealth.  But that's where the passing out of money would have to stop.  I might gift a friend with plane tickets to come see me periodically.  But again, I don't want to end up one of those crazy homeless lottery winners.  It's all about responsible lottery money spending with me.

Of course my charter boat business would flourish.  I'd probably have to add boats and eventually have a fleet of them.  I think the best part about having boats in a tourist location like that would be naming them. They'd have names like Cha-Ching and Jackpot.  When my boats sailed by, people would get a little chuckle and think wistfully to themselves... Ahhhhh... if only I were as lucky as Susan.....  I like bringing a smile to people's faces....

Well, I have sat here and dreamed about money that people in California and Georgia won long enough.  I guess it's time for me to get myself in gear and start this day.  Have a great Wednesday.  I hope yours is half as good as mine will be.  I'm getting rid of a piano today and I get to have coffee with my Dad.  Winning!!!

Dallas Marathon Canceled... Boo!!!!

I have a number of friends who were supposed to be running the Dallas Marathon right now.  In some instances they have trained for months and this was to be their first marathon or half marathon ever.  Of course others of them run marathons regularly and likely already have another one on the books.  I know what your disappointment is like this morning, believe it or not.  Several years ago, I trained for the White Rock half, you know, back when it was still called White Rock.  Then just 6 weeks before it was to take place I blew out my knee and spent the next several months in rehab.  On the day the doctor told me I wasn't going to be able to run at White Rock, I was devastated.

The good news for you guys is that you have two healthy knees and as soon as some of this ice melts off you can go right back to running.  So, now all you have to do is find another marathon to run in the next few months and I'm here to help!  Unfortunately, the Honolulu Marathon is taking place later today and it's too late to get a flight out for that one at this point.  But worry not.... we'll find you an event to run.  I've found this handy-dandy website that lists all the marathons available.  So all we have to do now is find a great place to run and then book your trip.

Just scrolling through the list.  The first one to catch my eye is the Maui Paradise Run on January 12th.  I mean you definitely wouldn't have to worry about ice on the roads there, right?  But reading the reviews for that run, it would seem that it's a small local event and if you don't carry your own water, you'll collapse midway through since it's so sparsely attended.  One reviewer said that in 2009 they only had about 50 runners.  You probably don't want to fly all the way to Maui to collapse and die during a marathon.  So, let's look some more, shall we?

Of course on the same weekend as that Maui run, you could fly the other direction and do the Disney World Marathon.  I have several friends who have run this one.  People really can't say enough good things about it. You run through 4 Disney parks, what's not to love?  We could set you up in a Disney World Resort and you could do the Goofy Challenge if you are goofy enough to put yourself through that.  Or you could just run the marathon, enjoy a few days at Disney and then come on back.

But if you are really aching to do a Hawaii marathon, the following weekend, January 19th is the Maui Oceanfront Marathon.  This one only allows 600 entrants.  So it might be too late to register.  But it is a qualifier for Boston.  And apparently based on the reviews, you're probably going to be running past humpback whales jumping off the coast along this course. Plus who doesn't want a shirt from that marathon, right?

Looking to stick a little closer to home but still have a great experience?  Let me just tell you about the New Orleans Mardi Gras Marathon on February 2nd!  Guess what folks, it's a rock n' roll marathon!  Come on, seriously, you are going to have the time of your life.  Why isn't this the biggest marathon in America?  Bands playing along the route every mile, in NOLA, I would assume that you get beads in your goody bag and surely they must pass out Hurricanes at the water stations, right?  Who's in?  Heck, I'll even come with you to cheer you on.  One of the things that a lot of the reviewers seemed to like about this one is that the 1/2 runners start with the marathoners, so you get 12 miles with the 1/2'ers and that seems to make for a good pace and upbeat runners.  Let me know if you need me to book you a room for this one.  The nice thing is that you can drive to this one if you don't want to spend money on a flight.

If you are looking for something even closer to home, February 16th you'll be in luck.  On that day you can choose between the Austin Marathon and the Koala Health and Wellness Galveston Mardi Gras marathon. Austin is a big one with 22,000 plus runners while Galveston is going to have a much smaller group of runners.  It's only in it's third year.  Reviewers say that the Austin race course can be a little boring in some spots as far as scenery.  In Galveston assuming the fog isn't too think at race time you at least have the Gulf of Mexico to look at.  Austin starts and ends at the capital.  Galveston basically takes you around the island twice, the first time with the 1/2 runners and the second time with just the much smaller group of marathoners.

Want to stay even closer to home?  Then let's talk about the Cowtown Marathon on February 23rd.  This race gets really great reviews.  So why don't we hear more about it locally?  If you did this one, you'd probably want to get a hotel room over in Ft. Worth the night before just to make sure you don't miss the start.  Otherwise, you are spending practically no money other than on registration.  Even parking is free. And are you ready for this?  You get TWO shirts!!!!  Yep!  One for registering and another for finishing.

So despair not runners.  There are other events out there you can run to make up for this one.  If you wanted you could run one every weekend of the year... and we haven't even touched on the ones in foreign countries yet.  I'm thinking a travel agent could make a living just setting you crazy people up with hotels and flights for your races.  Have a great Sunday and stay warm!

Donny Osmond As He Relates to Travel

Well, last night I had the time of my life.  I went to see Donny and Marie in concert at Verizon Theater in Grand Prairie.  I know some of you are thinking to yourselves as you read this.... And I trust her with my travel needs??!?!?!  But your trust is well placed.  After all, you never hear about a wild mob of Donny Osmond fans rioting in the streets or trashing hotel rooms.  Nope, wild mobs of Donny Osmond fans are more likely to go on a cleaning binge or hold some kind of a crazy cookie bake off.  Donny Osmond fans are wholesome and trustworthy, just like you want your travel agent to be.

For those of you who haven't worked with a travel agent before, and the more I do this the more I realize that most of you haven't, you build a pretty strong relationship with your travel agent.  You are sort of trusting them with a very memorable week or so in your life.  I mean honestly, some of my best memories in life occurred while I was on vacation. So I know that you can't trust those precious memories to just anyone. It's got to be someone you can trust and who will go the extra mile for you. It's my job to make sure that each vacation you plan with me becomes one of the best memories of your life.

Now there are a lot of uncontrollables in travel.  You can't control what the weather will do, or whether or not a volcano in Iceland will erupt disrupting air travel for half the world.  You can't predict more than a few days out a super storm in late October holding more than 20 cruise ships just off the Atlantic coast in horrible conditions and you can't even predict a drunk ship's captain ramming his vessel into rocks off the Italian coast, sinking it.  But you can take precautions to make sure you are in the best possible shape if any of these issues occurs.

When you book travel on Expedia or Travelocity, you usually get a pretty good price.  Sometimes, it is better than a price I will quote you.  But sometimes for an important trip, you need to take into consideration what you are getting.  It's a do it yourself vacation.  YOU are responsible for everything on that trip.  The last step on many of those websites is to ask you if you want travel protection for an additional fee.  But you've already been sucked in by the amazingly low price and you don't want to have to go and tack another $150 per person onto your price.  So, I would guess that about 85% of the time, that answer is a resounding NO! When I quote a price on a vacation, unless my client tells me otherwise, up front, I always include the price of travel protection in each of my quotes.

I think it just makes sense to protect your $3,000 vacation with $300 worth of travel protection that will allow cancellation for any reason in many cases right up until airport checkin time.  It protects you medically above and beyond what your Blue Cross Blue Shield might cover, it covers lost luggage, missed flights, and will even compensate you for flight delays that result in an aborted itinerary. When I went to Europe 5 years ago, one piece of my luggage didn't make the trip.  I finally got it back 3 weeks after I got back home to Dallas with several items missing out of it.  If I had used travel protection and had a travel agent who explained it to me, I would have been able to file a claim that would have not only gotten me some new clothes and luggage during my trip but I would have received additional compensation later on.  Instead I was left to try to fight it out with an uncaring airline who continually insisted that there was no wrong doing and that if I had travel protection, it would cover that.

Earlier this week I listened to a webinar for FareBuzz. They are the new travel search engine on my website, which you can reach by the way at www.placesuwillgo.com, and one of the gentlemen conducting the webinar began to talk about the insurance offered by FareBuzz.  He was one of those people whose travel plans were effected by that Icelandic volcano a few years ago.  Now obviously in a situation like that the airline will attempt to get you on another flight.  But if there are no flights heading out for a week or two and you were scheduled to board a $7,000 river cruise the next day you are completely out of luck.  The airline is only going to try to reschedule a non-refundable ticket, but they won't give you any money back on the ticket even in the event of a natural disaster.  If you miss your river cruise completely and therefore decide not to reschedule the air, you lose all of your airfare.  The river cruise is going to leave it's home port on it's scheduled day whether you arrive or not.  If you miss the cruise and you don't have travel protection even if it's due to a volcano, you lose every penny you spent on it.  With just one volcanic episode your dream vacation could turn into a very expensive nightmare quickly.

I recently worked with a family who planned a $10,000 Disney World vacation.  It was, for them, to be the trip of a lifetime.  But due to the illness of one of the people traveling the entire vacation had to be canceled. Now, even without travel protection, Disney was set to give them a full refund since they weren't set to travel for more than 130 days from the cancellation date.  However, the airfare for all 8 members of the family was non-refundable and would have been lost without travel protection.  They got all their money back except for the price of the insurance saving them more than $2,000!

I haven't even mentioned yet that with most travel protection plans that you get through a travel agent, if the price of your trip goes down between the time you book it and the time you travel, you can get the lower price!  That's right, there are some occasions when your travel protection is paid for by a price reduction before you ever even leave town!  The caveat here is that if a component of the trip sells out prior to travel, then no other price reductions can be taken.  In other words, if you book a trip to Cancun on flight XYZ with American Airlines staying at Best Resort Ever in Cancun and flight XYZ sells out of seats a month after you book, then obviously the price of the trip is frozen at that point since that EXACT trip could not be booked at a lower price by anyone else at that point.  Likewise, if Best Resort Ever runs out of rooms exactly like yours for that week, no one else can book the trip at a lower price exactly as you booked it so the price of the trip is frozen.

I don't like being a voice of doom.  So I'll close today with this.  If you book through Travelocity or Expedia or any of the other travel sites, consider the travel protection, generally the peace of mind it can provide is worth the price.  If you would prefer to have someone else do the worrying for you and explain all aspects of the travel protection options while you just flit from location to location taking photos and creating memories, work through a milk drinking, Donny Osmond loving travel agent.

Have a great Thursday and stay warm!

Cruise 360 or BUST!

Yesterday was a momentous day in the world of Places You'll Go Travel.  I made the decision to attend Cruise 360 in Ft. Lauderdale this April.  I am now officially registered, booked in a hotel and on a flight and have scheduled classes and ship tours for each day I am there.

I'll be touring 5 ships during my trip including 2 Royal Caribbean ships, 1 Princess, 1 MSC and 1 Celebrity. I'll have 2 - 3 hours on each ship and hopefully will be able to see most of the really important stuff.  As details are finalized I'll give them to you so that if there is anything you want to know about each of the ships I'll be visiting you can send me your questions so that I can get you the answer you want.  This will be my first CLIA event and the beginning of me getting my CLIA certification.  I'm very excited about this.  CLIA stands for Cruise Lines International Association and it is the be all, end all for travel agents who book cruises.  They train you, send you communications regarding cruise industry news and just generally are the go to organization for travel agents who book cruises.

During the trip, I'll be attending classes on social media, marketing, the "new face" of luxury cruising and multiple other topics as well as attending three 2 hour long general sessions in addition to the 5 ship tours.  It promises to be a very busy 6 days in Ft. Lauderdale.  My major concern at this point is, will there be beach time???? I mean, really!  It's going to suck if I spend 6 days in Ft. Lauderdale and barely have time to drive by a beach, right?  Although this is going to be work, I am considering it my birthday gift to myself.  After all, nothing makes me happier than all things cruising related.

There will be vendors there from all 26 cruise lines associated with CLIA North America.  In fact, there will be more than 300 booths to tour.  I'll get one on one time with cruise industry people to ask questions and just visit.  Then at the end of each day, I'll be staying at the Hilton Marina in Ft. Lauderdale.  You can't beat that.  When it's all said and done, I get credits toward my certification.  So, I'm calling it a win - win!

This will also mark my first time to fly Spirit which is a pretty big deal.  I have booked a few passengers on Spirit and so I'm aware of their policies regarding luxuries, you know,  like water.  On Spirit, it costs money to carry on luggage, to check luggage, to eat a peanut or drink a glass of water.  Nothing is free with them. But as we all know, you can buy bottled water or anything else you want to carry on to eat or drink once you pass the TSA checkpoint at the airport and make yourself a little picnic once you sit down in your seat. So that seems a pretty small price to pay for a $200 discount for the next lower priced airline.  As long as I arrange for my luggage prior to travel on their website, the prices aren't extraordinary.  One checked bag is $20 and a carry on is $25.  I'm thinking I can probably do this trip with either one checked bag or a carry on and a personal item.  I've kind of gotten out of the habit of checking luggage when flying.  But since it is $5 less than a carry on, I'm thinking it might be an option.

So anyway, that's my big trip that I'll be going on in April.  It will be filled with work, but since I have the funnest job in the world, I'm not going to complain about that.  I mean, seriously... how could you complain about running around Ft. Lauderdale and Miami for 6 days from one ship to another checking out the amenities?  Oh and by the way, I'm told that it is also very important for me to check out some of the excursions that are available there so that I can recommend them to clients.... hmmmmmm.....  What should I try out??!?!?!?!

Have a great Wednesday!  I'll be spending my Wednesday evening with Donny and Marie!

The Use of Decision Trees in Planning Your Vacation (This is Science!)

Last night I was pinning on my new Places You'll Go Travel's Pinterest page, that incidentally still only has 3 Followers.... (Could use a little help here people!!!!) when I began to think of all the places that I really need to go.  You know, just little places like Istanbul, St. Petersburg (the one in Russia, not Florida), Patagonia, Bali, Casablanca... Nothing big. It made me think about just how big the world is and how difficult it is to narrow down the places you really NEED to go.  It's a hard thing to do!

I think that we need some kind of trip prioritizer in this world and I feel like someone is going to have to take this bull by the horns and start the work on it. Now this won't be available to you for use by November 30th. Unlike some politicians, I know my limitations. In fact, if you are looking for a website, it may never be ready. But perhaps this will give you a head start on planning your next trip.

Now, I'm no rocket scientist or software engineer so I'm just going to go old school and free hand a little decision making template.  (This is how we used to rock it at the former employer who shall not be named.) The first thing I have to do is decide what sort of climate I'm looking for.... Mountains? Beach? Rain Forest?  Then I sort of have to look at Price and then the next consideration I might have could be accessibility.  After all, if you're looking to travel in a few weeks, it might be kind of difficult to put together travel visas and sherpas so close to your travel date.

Then you have to decide if you want to travel domestically or internationally.  If internationally, do you want an exotic location?  There are really a lot of things to consider!  This could be a very complicated decision to make.  Here's a look at what I have come up with so far.

I know, I know... You can't believe I used a spiral notebook, right?  Well, you work with what you've got. But I think you can see from this what a complicated process it is to decide where to go on a trip.  I mean, it takes a lot of thought to decide between Nepal and Bali.  The elephants as pack animals part of it almost had me sold on Bali. But then if you start thinking about having your very own sherpa to guide you up Everest and you know.... the fact that you are going up Everest....  Nepal almost becomes a no brainer.

But hey, let's not discount Galveston.  See Galveston in there just below Ft. Lauderdale and Miami and just above Bora Bora. Go ahead, just try to tell me one other instance in which Galveston will EVER come in above Bora Bora.  But if you are looking for a US beach on a budget, it's really the only winner in that category!  So where do you think I should go next summer, Nepal or Galveston?  Hmmmm...  I might need another decision tree.

Wrapping up the Familiarization Cruise

Today we need to get back to talking about the short travel agent familiarization cruise I went on with Royal Caribbean last week. In my last post concerning this trip, I told you all about the ship.  After all, that was the point of the trip to check out Vision of the Seas and see all the things they did during the revitalization. Again, it was beautiful and as I've said before, I like these smaller Vision Class ships so it was ideal for me.

Bay Scallops Au Gratin

So we actually got on the ship on Sunday. However, only travel agents and their guests were allowed on board Sunday and as I mentioned previously, Sunday as part of the travel agent schmoozing thing, drinks were free. On Sunday evening, we were not assigned a table for dinner. We all just went to the dining room and they seated us.  Our table consisted of 4 travel agents and 4 guests and dinner was at 5:30 which I'm not crazy about.  But it turns out there was a method to RCI's madness.

Not sure what my entree was, looks like some sort of fish.

At dinner we had fun, made some new friends (Thank God! - This will come into play later on) and then followed the crowd out to the Centrum after dinner for a presentation.  In the Centrum, we were treated to the first performance of the aerial acrobat crew.  They were good. I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before, but I really hate these performances. They scare me. I can't stop thinking the entire time about one of them possibly falling and so I can't enjoy it.  But I played along and watched with not much more than a cringe on my face.

While we waited for whatever was going to take place there was a little bit of dancing, champagne was passed around and everybody just generally had fun.  I was thinking that the ships Captain would come out and say a few words, since that is usually what happens when they pass champagne around on a ship.  But to my surprise, when people started being paraded out onto the staircase in the Centrum the people who were to speak were Adam Goldstein and Richard Fain!  If you are not a travel agent, your probably thinking, WHO?  But if you are a travel agent or a travel geek, your thinking WOW!!!  Adam Goldstein is the President and CEO of RCCL and Richard Fain is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.  They both spoke briefly about the ship, RCCL, and their relationship with travel agents as well as expressing support for crew members throughout the company from the Philippines following the typhoon.

Then there was a toast, the aerial people did there thing and the party moved out to the pool deck. While all of this was taking place the ship had set sail but with no real location to go to.  I mean, I'm sure that they had a plan for where we would go since the Coast Guard probably requires that.  But we were only leaving port so that the casino and shops could open.  We were to be back in Miami the following morning to let some of the travel agents who weren't staying for the entire 3 nights off and to bring on a big group of paying passengers for a 2 night cruise to the Bahamas.

At dinner our new friends Margaret and Nikki had told us that they had gotten a letter in there cabin telling them that if they were staying on the ship for the entire trip, they needed to be in the theater the following morning between 7 and 8 a.m. to check back in. We were to bring our passports and Sea Pass cards with us. We had not gotten a similar letter in our cabin.  But we decided that we should do this anyway.  Thank goodness we had met them at dinner and they had gotten that information.

So we got up the next morning bright and early and went to the theater.  After a few minutes in line, we got new Sea Pass cards.  This time our Sea Pass cards had an 8:30 PM dinner time and a dining table number which we hadn't had previously.  Things were starting to feel a little more normal.  Following the trip to the theater, Jenny and I went to the Windjammer for breakfast and then made our way out to the pool.  Nikki from dinner the previous night was sitting behind us at the pool and we had prime chairs.  I had personally never gotten seating like this at the pool on a ship.  I had just gotten myself lathered down with some SPF 30 and posted a comment on Facebook meant to make my friends green with envy when Margaret came rushing up and informed us all that she had just been told by another passenger that there was a mandatory travel agent seminar taking place somewhere on the ship and she and I were supposed to be in it!!!!!

This was my view when I was informed that I was supposed to be in a class....

Here's proof that I was in the class.

So Margaret and I rushed to our cabins to shower and change and then found the class and sat in the back trying to act like we were there all along. The parts of the class that I didn't miss were very informative and will help me going forward.  There was probably even more helpful information that I missed.  Margaret and I were both really upset that we were unaware that the class was taking place.  I must say that if a schedule of all the things travel agents were supposed to do during the cruise had been handed out when we checked in on Sunday, I would have been much happier with the entire event.  I'm not sure how all the other agents found out about this class.  But I'm at least glad that I didn't miss all of it!  They gave us a lunch break around noon and we found Jenny and Nikki and all ate together before going back to class until 3 PM.

Then at 3 we had our 2nd muster in 2 days because all the new passengers were on board.  As we left the class, we were given beach towels, baseball caps and coupons for excursions the next day in the Bahamas that I carried to muster with me. Jenny and I had already booked an excursion for the Bahamas so following muster we went to the Shore Excursions desk and changed our excursion to the one that the coupon was for.  It was an all day water park thing at Atlantis. Then as we left port again, we stayed outside and took pictures of the sunset before going to get dressed for dinner.  When we entered our cabin to dress for dinner, we had gotten the letter that Margaret and Nikki had gotten the day before telling us that 11 hours earlier we were supposed to be downstairs to re-check in.  Better late than never, I guess....

As we stood outside taking pictures, I began to feel a little queasy.  I don't get seasick so I wasn't concerned about that.  But my stomach was not happy about something.  After sunset, we went back to the cabin to get ready for dinner and I still wasn't feeling any better. At dinner, we were at a table with 5 travel agents, 4 guests and a Business Development Manager from Royal Caribbean.  One of the travel agents was pretty young and well into her cups and intent on garnering all of the BDM's attention.  So I mostly talked to the other travel agents and their guests.  But I still wasn't feeling well.  Without even realizing it, I ordered the same appetizer from the night before and ate most of it.  But by the time the entree came out, my stomach was in full protest mode.  There was no way I was going to be able to eat that meal and keep it down.  So after a few bites, I stopped eating and I had no dessert which is totally bizarre for me on a ship.

I told Jenny that I wasn't feeling well and we went back to the room after dinner.  I got ready for bed and Jenny went out for a while.  For about the next 15 hours, I was in bed the entire time except when I was making a dash to the bathroom.  Jenny got up the next morning and went on our excursion alone.  She ran into some people from dinner the night before and spent some time with them during the excursion.  Around 1, I got out of bed and decided to get some hot tea and went up on deck for it.  From there I was able to see Atlantis as I passed by a window.  Then I went back to the cabin and made another dash to the bathroom.  Jenny got back on the ship around 3 and around 6 I decided that I wanted some soup.  We wound up having dinner in the Windjammer.  My dinner that night consisted of clear beef broth, bread and water.  But I felt much better!

The next morning we disembarked but our flight wasn't scheduled to leave Miami until 6:30.  We had booked an excursion prior to the cruise for Wednesday in Miami.  It was supposed to take us on an airboat ride in the Everglades.  During the airboat ride, they were supposed to store our luggage and then they would take us to the airport getting us there around 4 which would be perfect. We found out on Sunday, that this excursion had been canceled because they didn't get enough people on it.  So, we arrived at the airport around 10:30 Wednesday morning and changed our flight to an earlier one and came on home.  We still spent several hours in the airport, but at least it wasn't all day.

I will say that even though I got sick and totally missed seeing the Bahamas, a sick day on a ship is still better than a work day in any corporate office.  So, I can't complain.  I will look forward to doing another familiarization trip in the future.  But I think next time, I'm going to annoy the hell out of everyone I can find asking questions about where I should be and when.  It's really my only complaint about the entire trip, that I felt so uninformed the entire time. I hope you get a chance to get on board one of Royal Caribbean's newly revitalized ships going forward. If I can help you get there, let me know.  I have 8 cabins reserved on Navigator out of Galveston this June if you want one of them all you have to do is let me know.  I don't even need a deposit until after Christmas.  Have a great Tuesday!

It's Not a Tourist Attraction Without Tourists

Here's something I don't understand about many of the people I see taking photos while I'm on vacation.... Why do they stand around so long waiting for all forms of human life to leave the scene before taking a picture of a monument?  I get that you don't want another tourist to be in the foreground or to appear to be the center of your focus.  But aren't tourists part of what a tourist attraction is all about?  By definition a tourist attraction is a place that attracts tourists.  So what kind of loser tourist attraction are you portraying in your photo if there are no tourists there?

Sunday morning I went down to Dealy Plaza in Dallas. The 50th anniversary of the assassination of JFK is this week.  So, I thought it was an appropriate time of year to go down there and get a few photos for one of my Pinterest boards. I certainly don't want to be down there next Saturday. It will be nuts! But I thought the Sunday before the anniversary would be a good time for a visit.

I've visited Dealy Plaza a number of times, mostly on weekends when someone is in town and is interested in going.  Every time I have ever been, there have been a number of people milling about on the grassy knoll and even standing in the middle of the street on the X that indicates the vehicle's location when the fatal shot rang out.  I really feel that those people, many of whom were not even born when the event took place, are what the site is all about.  Why would someone want a photo of the grassy knoll with no one standing on it? Good luck trying to explain to your friends back home what that is.

I can just hear that conversation now....
"Hey Homer, why'd you take a picture of this grass?"
"It's the grassy knoll."
"The what?"
"You know, the grassy knoll near where JFK was shot!"
"Oh, where's the car?"
"Well that was 50 years ago, I took this picture last week."
"Hmph!  Just looks like grass, are you sure you didn't take this picture in your backyard?"

It's sort of hard to justify plane tickets to get to Dallas, a night or two in a hotel and a rental car to take a few pictures of some grass and an X painted on a street.  People have to be in the photo or it's meaningless.

So Sunday while I was down there it was interesting to see the number of people who stood impatiently waiting for all human life to leave the area so they could get a picture of empty grass or street.  Bizarre! On the other hand, my subject matter may have been totally skewed in the other direction.  The focus of almost every picture I took was the tourists themselves.  It's shocking how many foreign tourists visit the site regularly.  While I was there on Sunday, I was within earshot of a group of Germans, French people and some people who I think were from China. I saw license plates from Alaska, Virginia and Louisiana on cars parked along the street.

What's really weird is that no matter where they are from, they will risk their life to run out in traffic and get their picture taken standing on that X or to take a picture of the window of the School Book Depository from the X.  What's so compelling about the X?  The funniest thing about the area Sunday was that someone has put a big sign up that reads "GRASSY KNOLL".  Ummmm... Really?  Thanks for pointing it out.  I never would have known otherwise....

Here are a couple of pictures of various tourists standing on the X.  They literally go out in the street and wait while another person is getting their photo taken and then move onto the X themselves all while cars are blowing their horns at them.  Folks, that's dedication!

I didn't go into the museum Sunday.  I went once before. But Sunday I was strictly out taking photos of the city and enjoying the beautiful weather.  I think going forward, I'm going to try to pay closer attention to the other people in tourist attractions that I visit.  I am sitting here as I type this kicking myself in the butt for not taking pictures of the kids in St. Peter's Basilica who would walk up to a tomb of a dead pope in a glass case and make a crazy face.  Wouldn't those have been great pictures?  Live and learn.

A Close Look at Vision of the Seas

Yesterday I wasn't able to tell you about all the various areas of Vision of the Seas we were able to visit during the scavenger hunt Royal Caribbean sent us on during the afternoon we boarded last Sunday.  So I'll tell you about the rest of the scavenger hunt today.  As I mentioned yesterday, the ship is beautiful and totally revitalized.

We've already talked about the Royal Suite.  Some of the other types of cabins that we went into were the Royal Family Suite, and a Panoramic Oceanview Cabin.  The Royal Family Suite is no where near as fancy as the Royal Suite. There are no grand pianos or fancy chandeliers.  But it would be very nice for a family of 6 to 8.  It has two bathrooms one with a shower and the other with a bathtub.  So it's perfect for bathing the kiddies. There are also two bedrooms.  The second bedroom has bunks that will sleep 4 comfortably. Additionally, the sofa in the family room converts to sleep two more.  At just 486 sq. ft. you wouldn't think they could cram so much into a cabin.  But it is arranged very nicely.  The master has a queen size bed and is separated from the 2nd bedroom by the living room.

While there is no dining room in this cabin, there is plenty of space to spread out in the family room and there is a small table on the balcony.  So dining in the room is still an option, especially if you send the kids out to the nursery for babysitting or to Royal Tots At Sea for structured play time.  In fact that's the next place we'll go on our little tour.

2nd Bedroom

Master Bedroom

Family Room

Desk area with TV that swivels to face the family room

Kids programs on Royal Caribbean are second to none. But this was my first time to tour the kids areas.  I must say, I was impressed.  If I had a kid I wouldn't hesitate to put them in these areas and feel completely comfortable going about my day of leisure knowing that the kids were completely entertained and safe.  I have a friend with kids who sails on RCCL's larger ships regularly and says that her girls have always had a great time.  Her girls are getting older now and might not be as entertained on one of these smaller ships with no FloRider or zipline.  But the ship still has a rock climbing wall, a great teen area that even has a dance floor and for the smaller kids the play area looks like a blast.  The nice thing is that the areas are all split out so that there are no teens around the smaller kids and vice versa.

The thing I thought was neat about these areas was the wide open spaces for playing.  The kid to adult ratio in these areas seemed very good to me. Some areas are also set aside for adults to bring their children and play with them.  There are lots of toys and games for the kids to play with while they are there.  So there is no need to pack so many toys to bring along on the trip.  It's really kind of great.  And the cleanliness was terrific!

The lower pictures are of the Royal Babies and Tots area. There the adult to child ratio goes up even higher and the toddlers are kept separate from the babies.

There is one adult for every two children in the babies and tots rooms.  So, you can be assured that your little one is getting all the attention he or she needs.  There are 4 cribs for nap time. The colors are bright and the toys mounted to the walls are at the perfect level for crawlers. And what baby wouldn't want to be put down for a nap by a nice lady with a soothing British accent? Your kids might not want to leave!

But if this is the kids play area then, below is the adults play area.  All Royal Caribbean ships obviously have a full casino on board that is open anytime the ship leaves shore.  The casino on Vision was no different from the others.  This is generally one of the few places on board a RCCL ship where smoking is allowed.  So you will often times see the bar in the casino full of smokers.  As a non-gambler and a non-smoker, I like this.  It keeps the smokers away from me.  But if I was a gambler who didn't want to be around smoke, I would probably think this was a bad thing.  Regardless of where you fall on the smoking issue, you have to admit that this is a pretty nice looking casino!

Some of my favorite areas that we visited were the specialty restaurants.  These are brand new additions to Vision. In addition to a Chops Grille, Vision got an Izumi during the revitalization.  Izumi is located behind the Viking Crown Lounge and up one level at the very top of the ship.  I should point out that this ship only has 11 decks and Izumi is the only thing on deck 11.  So as far as actual public areas to walk around, things really only go up to deck 9.  On Deck 10 you have the Concierge Lounge which is limited to Diamond Plus Crown and Anchor members.  If you read my blog a few weeks ago about the RCCL loyalty program, you'll remember that to get to the Diamond Plus level you have to spend at least 175 nights on Royal Caribbean ships..... that's the equivalent of 25 seven night cruises.  Here are a few pictures of what you have to look forward to if you ever make it to Diamond Plus....

The young lady sitting at the computer as you walk in is viewing a photo of you that was taken as you boarded the ship.  If the person who used the Seapass card to get into the Concierge Lounge doesn't match the picture, you will be politely asked to leave the lounge.  Diamond Plus members can use this area for drinks, breakfast or just to relax.  My guess would be that if you make it to this level, you probably won't hand your Seapass card to just anybody to try to allow them access to the Concierge Lounge but I guess you can never be too careful.

As I mentioned earlier, Izumi is the only thing on Deck 11.  It is a specialty Japanese and sushi restaurant. There is an Izumi in Austin and several others around the country.  So you may have been to one on land before.  But I think a floating Izumi might be much nicer!  There is a cover charge for dining there.  A reservation is also required.  You should make your reservations prior to your cruise to have a better chance of getting in.  The specialty restaurants do fill up quickly on these cruises. We were lucky enough to get a tasting at Izumi during our scavenger hunt. I must say that it was the best sushi I have ever had.  Here are a few photos of the restaurant.

 
Just below Izumi is the Viking Crown Lounge which is open to all unless there is a private event taking place. It's a nice bar and it's where you can go for Karaoke on board as well as just a good place to sit during inclimate weather, to read, or see outside.

I've always liked going up to the Viking Crown Lounge on ships sailing out of Galveston during the winter for the sail away. It's a great place to have a relaxing drink as you pull out of port without being cold or getting wet.

One of the most exciting places we got to visit on Sunday as we ran around the ship was the Chef's Table which is located just off of the Dining Room. This is a closed room with a single table inside, which seats 16.  It costs $95 per person to dine in this room and since only 16 people a night can be in there, it fills up fast. So if you are interested in doing this, you must get a reservation on line prior to your cruise.  Dining here, you get a 5 course meal along with wines to compliment each course and the chef comes in to describe your meal.  If you are a foodie, this is a must!

We never made it to several of the places that were available to visit.  I've seen Chops on other ships before so I felt it was something I could bypass if there wasn't time.  For today, I'll leave you with a few pictures of the pool including the big new outdoor movie screen.  On Sunday, football games aired on the movie screen. Each night they aired a "movie under the stars".  Those movies are generally classics that are family appropriate.  On Monday night The Wizard of Oz was the movie.

As each of the Royal Caribbean ships goes through it's own revitalization, they get many of these updates that I've shown you.  Some get more and others get different ones.  But this is a sampling of the updates you can look forward to seeing on the older ships in the RCCL fleet going forward.  Navigator, the ship sailing out of Galveston, gets it's revitalization in January coming out of dry dock in February.  If you want to be among the first to experience some of these amazing upgrades, you know who to call! Have a great weekend and I'll tell you about the rest of the cruise next week.