On Wednesday, Sept. 21, thanks to the kindness of Jorge Gamboa of the Mexico Board of Tourism, I was invited to see The Royal Tour of Mexico, hosted by Presidente Felipe Calderon, his wife, Margarita Zavala, and Antonio Villaraigosa, the Mayor of the City of Los Angeles. Prior to the screening of the Royal Tour of Mexico, there was a reception in the lobby of the Regal Cinema by Staples Center.
To have been invited to this was an honor and I am most grateful to Jorge Gamboa for thinking of me and taking the time to invite me. I am also very grateful to my friend, Naomi Covarrubias, the owner of Naomi's Travel and Life's a Trip for letting me ride with her to the event. As agents, we are not in competition, our client base is different and our areas of expertise are different, but we share information and encourage each other. I respect and admire my travel agent friends. Sylvia Diaz from Far Horizons is another of my agent friends. We all try and help each other and some of the best information I have received regarding tour companies, sale prices, excursions and destinations has been from agent friends, and that, in turn, helps my clients.
Returning to the event, Presidente Calderon is very down to earth and loves Mexico dearly. It was a pleasure to hear him speak on a subject he knows so well. He is aware of the problems that have occurred in some of the cities and did not try and underplay or hide from those problems. However, he stressed, as we as agents do, that the problems are NOT in the places we send tourists to visit.
The film was amazing, starting out in Teotihuacan and the Pyramid of the Sun, going from there to Palenque, Chichen Itza,the State of Jalisco and Puerto Vallarta, Morelia, Michoacan; back to Jalisco and the town of Tequila; on to San Luis Potosi and a cave adventure; including scuba diving in a cenote in the Yucatan and a trip to see the Monarch butterflies in Michoacan. I loved the film! Many of those places I have visited more than once.
I understand there will be a Part II to this film. Mexico is a big country, there needs to be a part II.
What would I have changed or done differently in the making of this film? Probably a lot of things as a travel agent. First, I actually have clients who scuba, and they range from expert divers to people who are only resort certified, so I would probably have left in the part about scuba diving in a cenote. I considered that when my husband and I were staying in Chichen Itza (NOT scuba diving myself, just the possibility that some of my clients would enjoy that). Of course sending people to Palenque, Teotihuacan and Chichen Itza is something I would do for clients and highly recommend. Those are incredible, amazing ruins, proof that a higher civilization that rivaled that of Greece and Rome, once existed in North America.
Visit Tequila in the State of Jalisco...of course! There is even a Tequila Train that is a typical tourist experience.
However, Mexico misses the mark, by a lot, on how to make the most of their amazing tourist attractions. I am an experienced agent, and have lots of years of traveling in Mexico. I would have no idea how to send clients to the cave in San Luis Potosi and have them rappel into the cave. There are some fabulous caves in Mexico, and the first one that comes to mind is Cacahuamilpa, located in the State of Mexico. It is one of the largest cave systems in the world and is a National Park. I would not even have an idea how to get clients to that cave to explore it. Of course you start by flying people into Mexico City...but after that? I have not seen any tours offered nor would I know how to set up a tour.
I am amazed that a small Caribbean island like Barbados is able to have an organized, fascinating, cave tour at Harrison Cave, complete with a tram that takes you far and deep into the cave system and in Mexico I have no way to get people into Cacahuamilpa...or any other cave.
The Butterfly Reserve in Michoacan...my husband is from Michoacan and has never been there. Our niece was lost there overnight. The President rode in on horseback, tied the horses up, and proceed on foot to where the butterflies are...pretty tough hike! My observation is that wherever horses are offered to get to an attraction it is going to be tough going on foot! This from having hiked in to Paricutin and La Tzararacua waterfall...horses were offered, we chose to walk, there is a reason horses are offered!
Somehow, some way, there is a happy medium between what we do here...paved pathway, handrails on each side, ranger AND signs advising not to hold the hand rail in case of thunder storms, portapotty, first aide station...to get to see a natural wonder. This, of course, is an exageration! Hiking in to Devil's Postpile on the back side of Mammoth Lakes you must take a bus to get to the start of the trail. This is to cut down on pollution. From there, the trail is dirt but well maintained and it is what I would consider an easy hike to Devil's Postpile. Yes, there are reminders not to litter...no problem. Mexico could use a lot more signs reminding people not to litter!
Would it not be possible to invest some of the money for tourism into making the trail to the Monarch Butterfly Reserve truly accessible? Would it also not be possible to spend some of the tourism dollars on developing the Grutas of Cacahuamilpa into a true tourist attraction?
The Mexican Government does not always fail in developing a natural wonder to make it tourist friendly. Chichen Itza is a perfect example. It is easy to reach by paved highway. Once inside of the park, there are dirt paths taking you from one amazing ruin to the next. Very user friendly. Not too many years back you could climb the major pyramid, El Castillo, now one of the new 7 Wonders of the World. Climbing El Castillo is no longer allowed. Good reason, too much wear and tear on something that must be preserved. This was a step forward in preserving something wonderful.
Could other amazing wonders in Mexico not be treated with similar thought to the people who will go to visit, along with preserving the ecology of the area and the attraction itself? I would be delighted if I could send people to Paricutin and La Tzararacua. At the moment, I would first have to send them to meet one of our family in Morelia and have that person take them!
Tourism is a renewable resource for any country. Mexico cannot afford to NOT develop it's natural wonders and make them tourist friendly and accessible. Mexico cannot afford to let the current problems kill tourism. As I repeat over and over, on a daily basis, Cancun, Puerto Vallarta, Ixtapa, Manzanillo, Cabo San Lucas, Loreto, Huatulco and Mazalan are SAFE. Mexico City is safe, as in as safe as any large city plagued with poverty can be. What Mexico, as a tourist destination and as a country needs to do is find a way to make these incredible, natural destinations safe and easily accessible. And in this instance, when I say "safe" I am not speaking of drug violence...I am talking about having stairs that are evenly spaced, trails that are smooth, a way to get in and see the attraction without worrying that you may break a leg and have to be helivaked out...IF there were a way to get help!
Please see the movie. It is wonderful, it is beautiful, and the President Calderon is obviously in love with his country. And if anyone with influence in the area of tourism in Mexico should happen to read this, please realize that I love Mexico, too, and that my advice is sound!
Until next time,
Sonia
P.S. Don't forget to check out kiva.org
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Casino Royale And What It All MeansTo Mexico
A few weeks ago there was a tragedy in the city of Monterrey, Nuevo Leon. A casino there was fire bombed and lives were lost. Because that is a crime new to Mexico the fire bombing generated a lot of attention in the press, both here and in Mexico, and it continues to be an item of interest in the U.S. press. I read a quote on Facebook from a young lady, Susan Marie that states “Terrorism has no face, no race, no religion, no culture nor nation.” I wanted to quote her in this blog and give her credit for the quote, because it truly applies to this situation. Whoever did the fire bombing, for whatever reason they did it, it is terrorism. If we let this sort of thing, far from the resort areas of Mexico, stop travel to anywhere in Mexico, then the bad guys have truly won.
The true reasons for this act of terror have not yet come to light. There was a quick explanation given, but, as layers of facts and non-facts peel away, eventually the real reason will be exposed. This will not make things better for those who lost family and friends, but the truth will be known, as it always is.
What does this mean for tourism in Mexico and, if anyone is interested, what is my opinion of travel there. First, we have a considerable amount of family in Monterrey. There are four families, all nieces and nephews with children, who live in Monterrey. Monterrey, unfortunately, is caught in the cross hairs of a power struggle between cartels. It has always been an industrial city and it is located around 50 miles from the U.S. border. Perhaps Don Porfirio (Porfirio Diaz, President of Mexico from 1876 to 1880 and again from 1884 to 1911) said it best: "Poor Mexico, so far from God and so near to the United States."
Our family members have remained safe, something we hope continues. Monterrey continues to be a major industrial city. This is a bad series of events for the people living and working there, and, this too, shall pass. Are my husband and I going to Monterrey to visit? No, probably not any time soon.
We are, however, contemplating a trip to Morelia, Michoacan in December. Morelia, too, is involved in a war with the various drug cartels. We will go, we will exercise all due caution, and we will hope for the best. The bulk of my husband's family lives there and we want to visit them and he wants to go home. I understand and we will deal with it.
How do these problems relate to the tourist destinations in Mexico? It makes people here, who are not familiar with the geography of Mexico, uneasy. Consider this, Monterrey is 50 miles south of the U.S. border, closest to Brownsville, TX. Cancun is far removed from Monterrey, much further south and east. You would have to fly to Mexico City, which is a flight of around 3 hrs., then fly on to Cancun, which is over an hour away by plane. Do I consider Cancun safe...YES! Would I go? Of course!
Do people ever get killed in Cancun? Yeah, probably! People live there...it happens! Does it happen in and around the resort hotels? No! With the exception of the TV producer who most probably killed his wife at a resort hotel. With any luck, he will soon be extradited to Mexico and have to deal with Mexican justice.
Please understand that bad things happen in the U.S. as well. There was a shooting in Carson City, Nevada at an IHOP. Carson City is near where I'm from and, as cities go, probably as safe as they come. If something like that can happen in Carson City then nowhere is 100% safe, and I guess we really should not expect complete safety anywhere. Would I still go to Carson City? Of course!
To get to the bottom line, where do I consider to be a safe tourist destination in Mexico? Cancun, Cozumel, Isla Mujeres, Riviera Maya, Puerto Vallarta, Riviera Nayarit, Cabo San Lucas, Ixtapa-Zihuatinejo, Manzanillo, La Paz and Loreto. Mazatlan I have a few doubts about, but they are minor doubts and I would go there if the opportunity presented itself. Huatulco, great, but there hasn't been much call for it ever. Acapulco...NO! Sorry, Acapulco has had the problems spill over into the tourist zone once too often, I am simply not selling Acapulco.
I have done other blogs on how to stay safe, and my advice remains the same...doesn't matter if you're in Carson City, in Paris, in Mexico or in Jamaica...do not get out of control! That means don't go looking for those bars only the locals inhabit and don't get drunk with them. That also means don't be getting all Cheech and Chong with the locals regarding drugs...it's a business for some of those locals and you don't know which ones...leave it alone!
Other than that, enjoy. The beach cities I have named are fun, relaxing, and full of great deals. They know there is a problem, they are offering attractive specials, they are safe! Enjoy the break you are getting on the resorts because it won't last forever. The problems will diminish and the prices will go back up. Regarding Loreto, Baja California, WOW...safer than anywhere, including Independence, CA where I'm from. It is small town personified, as safe as it gets.
I would post this even if I were not involved in selling travel packages to Mexico. I have heard, all too many times over the course of my life, how dangerous it is to go ANYWHERE, Jamaica, Mexico, France, Spain, Italy, the list goes on and on. And yet I have been to all of those places, with the exception of Spain and Italy, sometimes multiple times, and always returned none the worse for wear. I look forward to many more years of travel using common sense and depending on what I have learned over the years to keep me safe.
If you have questions or comments, please feel free to contact me. If you would like a luxury vacation at a bargain price, please contact me. Mexico, much like the U.S., is safe. Like the U.S., some areas of Mexico are safer than others...call me to see where you would feel the most secure.
Remember to check out KIVA.ORG
Unitl next time,
Sonia
The true reasons for this act of terror have not yet come to light. There was a quick explanation given, but, as layers of facts and non-facts peel away, eventually the real reason will be exposed. This will not make things better for those who lost family and friends, but the truth will be known, as it always is.
What does this mean for tourism in Mexico and, if anyone is interested, what is my opinion of travel there. First, we have a considerable amount of family in Monterrey. There are four families, all nieces and nephews with children, who live in Monterrey. Monterrey, unfortunately, is caught in the cross hairs of a power struggle between cartels. It has always been an industrial city and it is located around 50 miles from the U.S. border. Perhaps Don Porfirio (Porfirio Diaz, President of Mexico from 1876 to 1880 and again from 1884 to 1911) said it best: "Poor Mexico, so far from God and so near to the United States."
Our family members have remained safe, something we hope continues. Monterrey continues to be a major industrial city. This is a bad series of events for the people living and working there, and, this too, shall pass. Are my husband and I going to Monterrey to visit? No, probably not any time soon.
We are, however, contemplating a trip to Morelia, Michoacan in December. Morelia, too, is involved in a war with the various drug cartels. We will go, we will exercise all due caution, and we will hope for the best. The bulk of my husband's family lives there and we want to visit them and he wants to go home. I understand and we will deal with it.
How do these problems relate to the tourist destinations in Mexico? It makes people here, who are not familiar with the geography of Mexico, uneasy. Consider this, Monterrey is 50 miles south of the U.S. border, closest to Brownsville, TX. Cancun is far removed from Monterrey, much further south and east. You would have to fly to Mexico City, which is a flight of around 3 hrs., then fly on to Cancun, which is over an hour away by plane. Do I consider Cancun safe...YES! Would I go? Of course!
Do people ever get killed in Cancun? Yeah, probably! People live there...it happens! Does it happen in and around the resort hotels? No! With the exception of the TV producer who most probably killed his wife at a resort hotel. With any luck, he will soon be extradited to Mexico and have to deal with Mexican justice.
Please understand that bad things happen in the U.S. as well. There was a shooting in Carson City, Nevada at an IHOP. Carson City is near where I'm from and, as cities go, probably as safe as they come. If something like that can happen in Carson City then nowhere is 100% safe, and I guess we really should not expect complete safety anywhere. Would I still go to Carson City? Of course!
To get to the bottom line, where do I consider to be a safe tourist destination in Mexico? Cancun, Cozumel, Isla Mujeres, Riviera Maya, Puerto Vallarta, Riviera Nayarit, Cabo San Lucas, Ixtapa-Zihuatinejo, Manzanillo, La Paz and Loreto. Mazatlan I have a few doubts about, but they are minor doubts and I would go there if the opportunity presented itself. Huatulco, great, but there hasn't been much call for it ever. Acapulco...NO! Sorry, Acapulco has had the problems spill over into the tourist zone once too often, I am simply not selling Acapulco.
I have done other blogs on how to stay safe, and my advice remains the same...doesn't matter if you're in Carson City, in Paris, in Mexico or in Jamaica...do not get out of control! That means don't go looking for those bars only the locals inhabit and don't get drunk with them. That also means don't be getting all Cheech and Chong with the locals regarding drugs...it's a business for some of those locals and you don't know which ones...leave it alone!
Other than that, enjoy. The beach cities I have named are fun, relaxing, and full of great deals. They know there is a problem, they are offering attractive specials, they are safe! Enjoy the break you are getting on the resorts because it won't last forever. The problems will diminish and the prices will go back up. Regarding Loreto, Baja California, WOW...safer than anywhere, including Independence, CA where I'm from. It is small town personified, as safe as it gets.
I would post this even if I were not involved in selling travel packages to Mexico. I have heard, all too many times over the course of my life, how dangerous it is to go ANYWHERE, Jamaica, Mexico, France, Spain, Italy, the list goes on and on. And yet I have been to all of those places, with the exception of Spain and Italy, sometimes multiple times, and always returned none the worse for wear. I look forward to many more years of travel using common sense and depending on what I have learned over the years to keep me safe.
If you have questions or comments, please feel free to contact me. If you would like a luxury vacation at a bargain price, please contact me. Mexico, much like the U.S., is safe. Like the U.S., some areas of Mexico are safer than others...call me to see where you would feel the most secure.
Remember to check out KIVA.ORG
Unitl next time,
Sonia
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Barbados...It Rolls Sweetly off the Tongue
My flight to Barbados left from LAX on a Wednesday night, bound for JFK in New York City. I am amazed that American Airlines has managed to jam even more seats, even closer together into the fuselage of a plane. WOW...way to go AA!! The flight from LAX to JFK is about 5 hrs., non-stop. Arriving at JFK we (group of travel agents from the west coast and our Barbados Board of Tourism Representative, the very kind and patient Denise Marie) found somewhere to buy coffee and treats and await our next flight that would take us to Barbados. The next flight, still on American, was more comfortable. It takes 4 more hours to get from JFK to Bridgetown, Barbados. What this means is, you don't want to go for a 4 night stay...which is what we were doing. This is a destination that requires a week, perhaps even 9 nights. It's worth the trip, but this is a destination that deserves the time spent to enjoy it fully.
We from the west coast stayed at The Crane Resort. Nice resort! Large, lots of restaurants, a few shops, a charming bar or two, nice lobby...and free wifi. This is not an all inclusive resort. All inclusive resorts are in rather short supply on Barbados, although I think they will be coming soon. The all inclusive resorts we inspected were clean, charming, and rather small. The Crane had a kitchen in every room and the rooms were quite large. I had a large bedroom, small but complete kitchen, huge bathroom, and a private patio with its own family of kittens there in the morning. Nice, comfortable four poster bed and a tv. All in all, a very nice room.
This was a MegaFam, drawing agents from all over the world. All of the hotels participated and took in agents. The Crane, along with the west coast agents, had a group from New York and some agents from the U.K. Several airlines also participated in bringing us all together to see Barbados. Along with American, which I was on, Jet Blue was also bringing agents, along with Air Canada and probably Air France. Agents were there from Brazil and Argentina and I'm not sure which carrier they traveled with, but it was a mass effort by the Barbados Board of Tourism to show off their lovely island.
Our driver to all functions was Carl Bovell, who I would recommend to anyone wanting to go see the island. His phone is 246-427-9702 and his email is carltaxis@live.com.
His card reads Reliable, Efficient, Day or Night, Reasonable Rates and that was all true. He was kind and patient and always there to get us to our next destination.
Our first night in Barbados, after a tour of The Crane, was a party at The Hilton, complete with live music. After flying all night and being in the air 9 hours I can honestly say I was glad to get back to the hotel, but the Hilton's location was lovely and I enjoyed watching the moon reflected on the ocean and seeing the lights from the party play on the water.
What I was most looking forward to was visiting the caves on Barbados. That was our destination on our first full day on the island, and we sent out with Mr. Bovell at the wheel, right after breakfast. The caves are Harrison Cave, there are others, but Harrison Cave has been explored and is set up to receive tourists. There is a Visitor's Center where you purchase tickets to enter the cave, then a set of elevators that take you down about 2 stories to the ground below. From there, you walk to an Interactive Visitor's Center where you can learn about how the cave was formed, who explored the extensive cave system, and what the flora and fauna in the area are. From there, you watch a short, interesting film, and then proceed to an open train that takes you deep into the cave system. The cave system, to say the least, is spectacular! We went to a depth of around 180 feet underground. Nice, steady temperature compared to the heat outside, and a driver/guide explaining what we were seeing as we went forward. We were given several opportunities to leave the train and walk short distances. This was probably my most favorite attraction of all the lovely things we saw and did. This would normally be about a half day tour, and there are shops around the entrance to the Interactive Visitor's Center, as well as places to picnic and a snack shop. If you are traveling with children, this would make a great excursion!
From the caves we went to St. Lawrence Gap, which is the center of restaurants, night life and activity. And there we found The Boat Yard, which is the kind of place you might expect to find Jimmy Buffett hanging out. Places to relax, nice bar with a wide variety of drinks, food, and also where we got ready to march/dance/walk in the Crop Over Carnival. We picked up tee shirts in whatever color we liked, had them "customized" which meant having them shredded artistically, and were then bussed to the start of the parade. The parade was a hoot! Hot sun, high humidity, and lots of beads and music. The Crop Over refers to a time when a given plantation would be done harvesting their crop...hence Crop Over...and there would be food, dancing and parades. We ended the parade at Divi Resort's beach with a bar-b-que and cold drinks. Of course since cane...meaning sugar cane...was the main crop of the island, that means rum was one of the island's biggest exports...and still is. Mt. Gay Rum is from Barbados and is world famous.
One morning and afternoon was spent snorkeling, doing two stops, one for tropical fish and one to swim with the turtles. Beautiful, clear water, great music on the boat, good drinks and a gourmet lunch. Again, this would be at least a half day tour. I have clients who are scuba divers and, as a non-diver, it certainly LOOKED to me, judging by the fish I could see from the boat deck, that it would be good for scuba as well as snorkel. Sport fishing looked good, too. The water is beautiful, Caribbean blue, turquoise and green and the beaches are soft, sandy, and, in the case of The Crane, pink sand beaches.
One morning was a trade show, giving all the hotels, apartments, car rental places and other tourist related business a chance to show us what they have to offer. The surprise to me was that the trade show was held in an airplane hangar...and there was a Concorde in the hangar! One of the remaining Concordes is permanently housed in Barbados. We were allowed to board the Concorde, which was thrilling. It was smaller inside than I had expected, but still had more legroom than the American flight from LAX to JFK!
Because much of Barbados' tourism comes from Canada and England, usually in the winter months and from people wanting to stay for a month or two, there are a lot of charming hotels, including The Crane, where I was, set up for light cooking. Many of the hotels have small kitchens, an area for dining, and are walking distance to markets. Fresh fruits and vegetables are easily obtained and there is a wonderful supply of fresh fish. Flying fish is one of the specialties of Barbados, usually served fried. Macaroni pie, which was delicious, is another specialty. No really strange food here, Andrew Zimmer from Bizarre Foods would be disappointed, but it was all tasty and well served, no matter where we ate.
Drinks lean toward rum based, I don't think I tried anything other than rum concoctions, but they were all good. There is an island beer, but it's not a dark beer, so I didn't sample it.
Barbados was owned by the English and has had independence for a number of years. The island is clean, the people are friendly and kind, and the education rate is high. Roads were in good condition, although I would probably not recommend renting a car, at least not right away, as driving is on the opposite side of the road for us. Over all, the fact that the island is prosperous and well educated means that there is very little petty crime. You feel safe walking around!
Our flight back was routed through Miami. It is about 3.5 hrs. from Barbados to Miami, then another 5 hrs. back from Miami to LAX. Again, this is NOT Cabo! This is not someplace to go for a long weekend or a few days. This is a destination with a variety of things to keep you busy and deserves a week, minimum.
Of course Barbados also offers top quality golf courses for those of you who are golfers.
Our last night in Barbados we were priviledged to be invited to a performance by Fantasia Barrino, however her opening acts were two very talented singers who are locals to Barbados. It was a great performance from everyone and a fitting last nigt on the island.
Having seen Barbados, I am hoping to get to see Dominican Republic soon, along with St. Lucia and Antigua. No plans in the near future, but those certainly are places where I would like to see the hotels and what is being offered.
Please remember to check out Kiva.org
Until next time,
Sonia
We from the west coast stayed at The Crane Resort. Nice resort! Large, lots of restaurants, a few shops, a charming bar or two, nice lobby...and free wifi. This is not an all inclusive resort. All inclusive resorts are in rather short supply on Barbados, although I think they will be coming soon. The all inclusive resorts we inspected were clean, charming, and rather small. The Crane had a kitchen in every room and the rooms were quite large. I had a large bedroom, small but complete kitchen, huge bathroom, and a private patio with its own family of kittens there in the morning. Nice, comfortable four poster bed and a tv. All in all, a very nice room.
This was a MegaFam, drawing agents from all over the world. All of the hotels participated and took in agents. The Crane, along with the west coast agents, had a group from New York and some agents from the U.K. Several airlines also participated in bringing us all together to see Barbados. Along with American, which I was on, Jet Blue was also bringing agents, along with Air Canada and probably Air France. Agents were there from Brazil and Argentina and I'm not sure which carrier they traveled with, but it was a mass effort by the Barbados Board of Tourism to show off their lovely island.
Our driver to all functions was Carl Bovell, who I would recommend to anyone wanting to go see the island. His phone is 246-427-9702 and his email is carltaxis@live.com.
His card reads Reliable, Efficient, Day or Night, Reasonable Rates and that was all true. He was kind and patient and always there to get us to our next destination.
Our first night in Barbados, after a tour of The Crane, was a party at The Hilton, complete with live music. After flying all night and being in the air 9 hours I can honestly say I was glad to get back to the hotel, but the Hilton's location was lovely and I enjoyed watching the moon reflected on the ocean and seeing the lights from the party play on the water.
What I was most looking forward to was visiting the caves on Barbados. That was our destination on our first full day on the island, and we sent out with Mr. Bovell at the wheel, right after breakfast. The caves are Harrison Cave, there are others, but Harrison Cave has been explored and is set up to receive tourists. There is a Visitor's Center where you purchase tickets to enter the cave, then a set of elevators that take you down about 2 stories to the ground below. From there, you walk to an Interactive Visitor's Center where you can learn about how the cave was formed, who explored the extensive cave system, and what the flora and fauna in the area are. From there, you watch a short, interesting film, and then proceed to an open train that takes you deep into the cave system. The cave system, to say the least, is spectacular! We went to a depth of around 180 feet underground. Nice, steady temperature compared to the heat outside, and a driver/guide explaining what we were seeing as we went forward. We were given several opportunities to leave the train and walk short distances. This was probably my most favorite attraction of all the lovely things we saw and did. This would normally be about a half day tour, and there are shops around the entrance to the Interactive Visitor's Center, as well as places to picnic and a snack shop. If you are traveling with children, this would make a great excursion!
From the caves we went to St. Lawrence Gap, which is the center of restaurants, night life and activity. And there we found The Boat Yard, which is the kind of place you might expect to find Jimmy Buffett hanging out. Places to relax, nice bar with a wide variety of drinks, food, and also where we got ready to march/dance/walk in the Crop Over Carnival. We picked up tee shirts in whatever color we liked, had them "customized" which meant having them shredded artistically, and were then bussed to the start of the parade. The parade was a hoot! Hot sun, high humidity, and lots of beads and music. The Crop Over refers to a time when a given plantation would be done harvesting their crop...hence Crop Over...and there would be food, dancing and parades. We ended the parade at Divi Resort's beach with a bar-b-que and cold drinks. Of course since cane...meaning sugar cane...was the main crop of the island, that means rum was one of the island's biggest exports...and still is. Mt. Gay Rum is from Barbados and is world famous.
One morning and afternoon was spent snorkeling, doing two stops, one for tropical fish and one to swim with the turtles. Beautiful, clear water, great music on the boat, good drinks and a gourmet lunch. Again, this would be at least a half day tour. I have clients who are scuba divers and, as a non-diver, it certainly LOOKED to me, judging by the fish I could see from the boat deck, that it would be good for scuba as well as snorkel. Sport fishing looked good, too. The water is beautiful, Caribbean blue, turquoise and green and the beaches are soft, sandy, and, in the case of The Crane, pink sand beaches.
One morning was a trade show, giving all the hotels, apartments, car rental places and other tourist related business a chance to show us what they have to offer. The surprise to me was that the trade show was held in an airplane hangar...and there was a Concorde in the hangar! One of the remaining Concordes is permanently housed in Barbados. We were allowed to board the Concorde, which was thrilling. It was smaller inside than I had expected, but still had more legroom than the American flight from LAX to JFK!
Because much of Barbados' tourism comes from Canada and England, usually in the winter months and from people wanting to stay for a month or two, there are a lot of charming hotels, including The Crane, where I was, set up for light cooking. Many of the hotels have small kitchens, an area for dining, and are walking distance to markets. Fresh fruits and vegetables are easily obtained and there is a wonderful supply of fresh fish. Flying fish is one of the specialties of Barbados, usually served fried. Macaroni pie, which was delicious, is another specialty. No really strange food here, Andrew Zimmer from Bizarre Foods would be disappointed, but it was all tasty and well served, no matter where we ate.
Drinks lean toward rum based, I don't think I tried anything other than rum concoctions, but they were all good. There is an island beer, but it's not a dark beer, so I didn't sample it.
Barbados was owned by the English and has had independence for a number of years. The island is clean, the people are friendly and kind, and the education rate is high. Roads were in good condition, although I would probably not recommend renting a car, at least not right away, as driving is on the opposite side of the road for us. Over all, the fact that the island is prosperous and well educated means that there is very little petty crime. You feel safe walking around!
Our flight back was routed through Miami. It is about 3.5 hrs. from Barbados to Miami, then another 5 hrs. back from Miami to LAX. Again, this is NOT Cabo! This is not someplace to go for a long weekend or a few days. This is a destination with a variety of things to keep you busy and deserves a week, minimum.
Of course Barbados also offers top quality golf courses for those of you who are golfers.
Our last night in Barbados we were priviledged to be invited to a performance by Fantasia Barrino, however her opening acts were two very talented singers who are locals to Barbados. It was a great performance from everyone and a fitting last nigt on the island.
Having seen Barbados, I am hoping to get to see Dominican Republic soon, along with St. Lucia and Antigua. No plans in the near future, but those certainly are places where I would like to see the hotels and what is being offered.
Please remember to check out Kiva.org
Until next time,
Sonia
Sunday, June 12, 2011
"HELP, I Need Sombody" with apologies to The Beatles
I see I have posted nothing since December. I think perhaps one of my New Year's Resolutions was to post something every other week. And then I decided perhaps I should only post when I have something to say...and so that's the way it is!
In June, 1985, I woke up slumped over my books and purse, sitting on a hard plastic seat in the airport in Tijuana. I looked around and wondered why my flight had not been called. My mother had accompanied me as far as the airport and then returned to Riverside. She and I had flown out of Tijuana before and she knew I would be fine, after all, I was 40 years old and had SOME common sense.
My routine in flying from Tijuana had been to check in, check my bags, go to the departure gate and buy a beer. There were cute little portable bars at each departure gate. There had been very little sleep the night before in anticipation of flying to Guadalajara and spending the night, then taking the bus from Guadalajara to Morelia to go back to school for the summer. The beer was good, the sun blasted through the window in front of where I was sitting, I was out like a light. When I woke up it was an hour after my flight was supposed to leave. I found someone working an AeroMexico gate and asked what had happened to my flight. It had been canceled, no reason given.
This left me by myself, stranded at the airport in Tijuana, my bags already checked in, and this was years before we all owned cell phones.
No explanation was ever given for why the flight was canceled. I met some wonderful, kind people while I waited for AeroMexico to find a flight to put us on. I arrived in Guadalajara around 3am and took a combi to my hotel, where, fortunately, I had a reservation. Since I had NO experience then as a travel agent I didn't know the chances of my bags being with me on my new flight were slim and none. As luck would have it, my bags arrived with me. I wish I knew the names of the people who were so kind to me in Tijuana. They were also trying to get to Guadalajara, they were concerned for me, and they made me feel not quite so alone.
The next time I was stranded was in Honolulu. I was on a FAM trip. We had visited the Big Island of Hawaii and we were flying Delta. There was a representative of Delta along on the trip, as well as a representative from Runaway Tours, the company who had kindly offered the FAM.
Prior to our flight departing, there was a long delay. Then, an electrician boarded the plane. He did something, got off, we taxied out. We then turned around and taxied back. The electrician got on the plane again, did something else, and got off. We taxied out and then taxied back. By now, I really, REALLY wanted off that plane. This was May, 1991. Again, some people probably had cell phones, I was not one of them. I desperately wanted to get off and purchase a ticket on some other airline, ANY other airline, back to LAX. By now I was a travel agent and I knew how expensive that would be. So, I waited to see what would happen next and prayed that we would not be forced to fly on that plane.
We were deboarded, given a meal voucher, and boarded on a later Delta flight. We were allowed one phone call and I was able to reach my husband and tell him I would be getting home very late.
I have been stranded twice more...once in Puerto Vallarta and, if you read my last blog, ALMOST stranded in Mexico City on our own vacation.
It really doesn't matter WHOSE fault it is, the airline, the person who did the ticketing, the weather...stranded is stranded and it isn't fun. The reason I mention my past experiences in being stranded is because I know how I felt at the time. Stranded, no one to call, no help from the airlines or, in one instance, the airport shuttle service...totally at the mercy of luck, wits and the kindness of strangers. I really don't want my clients to have to go through that, so
I give my cell phone number to certain clients. I'm not sure how I select which clients need my cell phone number. I guess it might be a sixth sense that there could be a problem. Obviously, my client traveling in Egypt as I write this has my cell phone. However, other clients have it as well. If you feel unsure and feel you need it, just ask, I will give it to you.
There are some rules that go with having my cell phone number. I have never written or stated those rules until now, but they are worth remembering for any emergency.
First, please, when you call, understand that you are having an emergency and I am not expecting you to call. If I have thought of you at all, it is to think that you are now on your way to a long awaited and well deserved vacation. If you are a friend from Facebook, your phone number and photo will show on my cell and I will know who's calling. If you're not a dear friend or a Facebook acquaintance, there will be NOTHING to tell me who you are. An unfamiliar number on my cell and no special ringtone. PLEASE identify yourself and make sure I'm awake enough to understand. I may be in bed (time differences), I may be getting ready for work, I may be just starting dinner. The one thing I am NOT doing is sitting around waiting for you to call.
Second, if you are stranded somewhere, make sure I know WHERE you are stranded. Yes, you probably told me. I might not catch where you are when you first tell me you are stuck, and I will PROBABLY assume you are stranded at LAX. My bad! Remember, I am NOT expecting you to call and I have no idea you have a problem, let alone what that problem is. Once you have established contact with me by calling, and you need to do that so I know you are in trouble, remember you can also text me. That means I can be on my computer looking for flights and have vital information from you as a text on my phone. I can also pass information you need on to you via text. This saves the problem of trying to understand flight numbers and confirmation numbers over the phone.
If the problem is a canceled flight, please remember you are your own best advocate. Good for you that you called me and I can get dressed an go to my office and try and find back up flights. However, as soon as you hang up with me, call the reservation number of the airline you are flying, while you are standing in line, and see if reservations can find you an alternate flight. You have a good chance that, between us, we can have the problem solved by the time you get to the front of the line.
If the problem is that the view from your room is not what you expected, please don't call in the middle of the night on my cell phone. This is something that can wait until the next day and be worked out. Things don't always go the way we want, some things are emergencies, some are not. I have given you my cell and it is to use "in case of EMERGENCY". However, I had two mothers and their teenage daughters I had booked into a hotel on Waikiki Beach. The hotel was short on rooms and had put the four of them in a room with a king size bed. NOT OK and, since one of the women called my cell during the day on a Saturday I was more than willing to help her out.
Sometimes the problem is a transfer. The transfer company did not show up as arranged, or they are insisting on taking you to a different hotel. In one instance, it really was an emergency that was happening at 4am MY time. I was in my office and working phones by 5am and the problem was resolved. In other instances, there may be nothing I can do other than tell you to take a cab and work on getting you a refund for the missing transfer when you get home.
Everyone should understand that flights get canceled. Everyone should also understand that cruise lines have a schedule to keep. Book the air through the cruise line or book it independently, if you are not at the pier when the ship sails, it will sail without you. I always advise flying in a day early when you are taking a cruise. I have yet to regret giving clients that advice. Yes, it is more expensive. If everything works the way it should, you will need a hotel. However, you will board the ship without the anxiety of wondering if you are going to miss the ship; and you will be well rested. It the worst happens, you have a day of grace to try and get to the ship before it sails. This is one of the reasons I highly recommend trip insurance. Trip insurance also covers trip delays, and may pay for getting you on to the next location of the cruise ship or tour. Trip insurance companies also have hot lines, where the phones are manned 24/7 by people who can help you schedule a flight to catch up to your ship...or straighten out the issue of lost luggage...or do a number of other things. Cruise lines DO NOT have 24 hour customer service, not for me, not for you, not for anyone.
Remember, ships do not wait, and if you miss your ship, you must go to the next port to pick it up at your own expense. Keep that in mind when booking shore excursions as well. Book your shore excursions with the ship and they will probably hold the ship in port until your group returns. Book on line with who knows who and should an accident or emergency occur while you are out on your excursion, the ship will be gone when you get back to port.
It's comforting to have someone to call in case of emergency. A voice on the phone who is advocating on your behalf is the best you can hope for. Please help me help you if you need to call me by being very specific about who you are, where you are and what the problem is. In other words, make sure I'm AWAKE! Last of all, when it is all over and the problem has been resolved, please text me that you are OK. I really would like to know you are safely on your cruise or at your resort or on your guided tour.
Returning to the subject of trip insurance, and borrowing a line from Kaiser Permanente "if you are having a medical emergency"...PLEASE DO NOT CALL ME FIRST! Please call the trip insurance company...and I hope you purchased trip insurance. You can call me afterwards and have me call your family. You can call and tell me what happened. But if you are seriously ill or hurt you should be calling the toll free number on the insurance brochure before you call anyone else. If you didn't take trip insurance there is little I can do to help, other than try and arrange a flight back home for you.
Since I'm heading for Barbados to look at hotels and island attractions at the end of June, my next blog will probably be on Barbados. My cell phone is going with me!
Until next time,
Sonia
In June, 1985, I woke up slumped over my books and purse, sitting on a hard plastic seat in the airport in Tijuana. I looked around and wondered why my flight had not been called. My mother had accompanied me as far as the airport and then returned to Riverside. She and I had flown out of Tijuana before and she knew I would be fine, after all, I was 40 years old and had SOME common sense.
My routine in flying from Tijuana had been to check in, check my bags, go to the departure gate and buy a beer. There were cute little portable bars at each departure gate. There had been very little sleep the night before in anticipation of flying to Guadalajara and spending the night, then taking the bus from Guadalajara to Morelia to go back to school for the summer. The beer was good, the sun blasted through the window in front of where I was sitting, I was out like a light. When I woke up it was an hour after my flight was supposed to leave. I found someone working an AeroMexico gate and asked what had happened to my flight. It had been canceled, no reason given.
This left me by myself, stranded at the airport in Tijuana, my bags already checked in, and this was years before we all owned cell phones.
No explanation was ever given for why the flight was canceled. I met some wonderful, kind people while I waited for AeroMexico to find a flight to put us on. I arrived in Guadalajara around 3am and took a combi to my hotel, where, fortunately, I had a reservation. Since I had NO experience then as a travel agent I didn't know the chances of my bags being with me on my new flight were slim and none. As luck would have it, my bags arrived with me. I wish I knew the names of the people who were so kind to me in Tijuana. They were also trying to get to Guadalajara, they were concerned for me, and they made me feel not quite so alone.
The next time I was stranded was in Honolulu. I was on a FAM trip. We had visited the Big Island of Hawaii and we were flying Delta. There was a representative of Delta along on the trip, as well as a representative from Runaway Tours, the company who had kindly offered the FAM.
Prior to our flight departing, there was a long delay. Then, an electrician boarded the plane. He did something, got off, we taxied out. We then turned around and taxied back. The electrician got on the plane again, did something else, and got off. We taxied out and then taxied back. By now, I really, REALLY wanted off that plane. This was May, 1991. Again, some people probably had cell phones, I was not one of them. I desperately wanted to get off and purchase a ticket on some other airline, ANY other airline, back to LAX. By now I was a travel agent and I knew how expensive that would be. So, I waited to see what would happen next and prayed that we would not be forced to fly on that plane.
We were deboarded, given a meal voucher, and boarded on a later Delta flight. We were allowed one phone call and I was able to reach my husband and tell him I would be getting home very late.
I have been stranded twice more...once in Puerto Vallarta and, if you read my last blog, ALMOST stranded in Mexico City on our own vacation.
It really doesn't matter WHOSE fault it is, the airline, the person who did the ticketing, the weather...stranded is stranded and it isn't fun. The reason I mention my past experiences in being stranded is because I know how I felt at the time. Stranded, no one to call, no help from the airlines or, in one instance, the airport shuttle service...totally at the mercy of luck, wits and the kindness of strangers. I really don't want my clients to have to go through that, so
I give my cell phone number to certain clients. I'm not sure how I select which clients need my cell phone number. I guess it might be a sixth sense that there could be a problem. Obviously, my client traveling in Egypt as I write this has my cell phone. However, other clients have it as well. If you feel unsure and feel you need it, just ask, I will give it to you.
There are some rules that go with having my cell phone number. I have never written or stated those rules until now, but they are worth remembering for any emergency.
First, please, when you call, understand that you are having an emergency and I am not expecting you to call. If I have thought of you at all, it is to think that you are now on your way to a long awaited and well deserved vacation. If you are a friend from Facebook, your phone number and photo will show on my cell and I will know who's calling. If you're not a dear friend or a Facebook acquaintance, there will be NOTHING to tell me who you are. An unfamiliar number on my cell and no special ringtone. PLEASE identify yourself and make sure I'm awake enough to understand. I may be in bed (time differences), I may be getting ready for work, I may be just starting dinner. The one thing I am NOT doing is sitting around waiting for you to call.
Second, if you are stranded somewhere, make sure I know WHERE you are stranded. Yes, you probably told me. I might not catch where you are when you first tell me you are stuck, and I will PROBABLY assume you are stranded at LAX. My bad! Remember, I am NOT expecting you to call and I have no idea you have a problem, let alone what that problem is. Once you have established contact with me by calling, and you need to do that so I know you are in trouble, remember you can also text me. That means I can be on my computer looking for flights and have vital information from you as a text on my phone. I can also pass information you need on to you via text. This saves the problem of trying to understand flight numbers and confirmation numbers over the phone.
If the problem is a canceled flight, please remember you are your own best advocate. Good for you that you called me and I can get dressed an go to my office and try and find back up flights. However, as soon as you hang up with me, call the reservation number of the airline you are flying, while you are standing in line, and see if reservations can find you an alternate flight. You have a good chance that, between us, we can have the problem solved by the time you get to the front of the line.
If the problem is that the view from your room is not what you expected, please don't call in the middle of the night on my cell phone. This is something that can wait until the next day and be worked out. Things don't always go the way we want, some things are emergencies, some are not. I have given you my cell and it is to use "in case of EMERGENCY". However, I had two mothers and their teenage daughters I had booked into a hotel on Waikiki Beach. The hotel was short on rooms and had put the four of them in a room with a king size bed. NOT OK and, since one of the women called my cell during the day on a Saturday I was more than willing to help her out.
Sometimes the problem is a transfer. The transfer company did not show up as arranged, or they are insisting on taking you to a different hotel. In one instance, it really was an emergency that was happening at 4am MY time. I was in my office and working phones by 5am and the problem was resolved. In other instances, there may be nothing I can do other than tell you to take a cab and work on getting you a refund for the missing transfer when you get home.
Everyone should understand that flights get canceled. Everyone should also understand that cruise lines have a schedule to keep. Book the air through the cruise line or book it independently, if you are not at the pier when the ship sails, it will sail without you. I always advise flying in a day early when you are taking a cruise. I have yet to regret giving clients that advice. Yes, it is more expensive. If everything works the way it should, you will need a hotel. However, you will board the ship without the anxiety of wondering if you are going to miss the ship; and you will be well rested. It the worst happens, you have a day of grace to try and get to the ship before it sails. This is one of the reasons I highly recommend trip insurance. Trip insurance also covers trip delays, and may pay for getting you on to the next location of the cruise ship or tour. Trip insurance companies also have hot lines, where the phones are manned 24/7 by people who can help you schedule a flight to catch up to your ship...or straighten out the issue of lost luggage...or do a number of other things. Cruise lines DO NOT have 24 hour customer service, not for me, not for you, not for anyone.
Remember, ships do not wait, and if you miss your ship, you must go to the next port to pick it up at your own expense. Keep that in mind when booking shore excursions as well. Book your shore excursions with the ship and they will probably hold the ship in port until your group returns. Book on line with who knows who and should an accident or emergency occur while you are out on your excursion, the ship will be gone when you get back to port.
It's comforting to have someone to call in case of emergency. A voice on the phone who is advocating on your behalf is the best you can hope for. Please help me help you if you need to call me by being very specific about who you are, where you are and what the problem is. In other words, make sure I'm AWAKE! Last of all, when it is all over and the problem has been resolved, please text me that you are OK. I really would like to know you are safely on your cruise or at your resort or on your guided tour.
Returning to the subject of trip insurance, and borrowing a line from Kaiser Permanente "if you are having a medical emergency"...PLEASE DO NOT CALL ME FIRST! Please call the trip insurance company...and I hope you purchased trip insurance. You can call me afterwards and have me call your family. You can call and tell me what happened. But if you are seriously ill or hurt you should be calling the toll free number on the insurance brochure before you call anyone else. If you didn't take trip insurance there is little I can do to help, other than try and arrange a flight back home for you.
Since I'm heading for Barbados to look at hotels and island attractions at the end of June, my next blog will probably be on Barbados. My cell phone is going with me!
Until next time,
Sonia
Monday, December 27, 2010
When Travel Agents Take a Vacation, II
So here were in Merida, in a room that was beautiful but apparently had not been completely cleaned, and it was getting on toward 3am. The air conditioning was loud but fairly efficient and the room was getting somewhat cooler. We went to bed.
In the morning, there was hot water, we had had some rest, we had the whole day to explore Merida as our trip to Celestun Nature Reserve and Biosphere was not until the next day. Breakfast was nice and our waiter was efficient and attentive and knew that I needed lots of coffee! The food was good, freshly made, not a breakfast buffet. We ate well and started out to explore. Around the corner from our hotel was a 17th century church, still in use. We walked in the courtyard of the church and looked around, then continued our walk to the downtown area, government palace, cathedral, shops and restaurants. It was very warm, but not as bad as the night before had been. Later in the day we caught a local bus out to a shopping center and had lunch at Cafe California. Cafe California is a chain of restaurants in Mexico, where you can do buffet dining or order off the menu.
Later that night we walked back to the center of Merida and had dinner, cochinito pibil, in the portales at outdoor tables. Cochinito Pibil is the official "dish" of Merida and the Yucatan. Nice chunks of well cooked pork (cochinito) in a not-too spicey sauce; fresh, homemade corn tortillas and flan for desert. A very nice end to our first day in Merida.
Nov. 4 and we were having breakfast at our hotel again and waiting for the guide to pick us up and take us to Celustun Nature Reserve. I had booked this trip for clients a year before and knew I wanted to go myself. Celestun has flamingos. I wanted to see flamingos in the wild.
Celustun is about an hour and a half from Merida, going through Mayan villages with traditional homes and small businesses. Our guide and driver was very informative and gave us time to stop and take photos.
We arrived at the ocean and continued on to Celustun, which is a series of channels and islands, an estuary. Our first stop was to see the flamingos. They are hatched white in color, and get their brilliant pink by eating shrimp. It takes around 6 months for the white babies to turn pink. We boarded a canoe and with a Mayan Indian as our guide and paddler, set out to see estuary. It was incredible! We paddled through mangroves with the guide pointing out fish, birds, huge termite nests, spiders and a great horned owl. Fish jumped across the water in front of our canoe, woodpeckers worked insects out of trees, one of the nicest excursions I've ever taken. The cost of the excursion is around $50. per person, plus a tip for our driver and our Mayan guide, well worth it and with lunch included.
By now, a northern front had arrived and the weather was quite cool and comfortable. Our trip through the estuary had come with short rain squalls, but nothing that disturbed our canoe trip. Temps had dropped from the mid 90s down to a very comfortable mid 70s during the day, probably mid 50s in the evening.
The next day after breakfast we were picked up an taken to Chichen Itza. This was a much longer trip than the one to the estuary. Approximate travel time is around 3hrs. The highway we took is a freeway, nothing really unusual or interesting to see, but a comfortable ride. I had been to Chichen Itza before and enjoyed it, but had no illusions that this would be a luxury hotel. I was hoping our room would be nicer than the one in Merida.
Upon our arrival at The Lodge at Chichen Itza we were escorted to our bungalow, concierge level room. I was amazed! A beautiful room in a group of 3 bungalows. The bungalows have their own private pool, hammock and concierge level comes with appetizers and a welcome drink. Appetizers were a large platter of tacos and antojitos, all Yucatan style. I ordered a Margarita and Jaime had a Bloody Mary....everything was wonderful...beyond expectations! We walked around the grounds of the hotel, then went back to our room and took a nap to make up for the lost sleep due to the very hard bed in Merida. We woke up around 4pm to the songs of what must have been a million different birds, all talking to each other and looking for their nests for the evening.
We walked around the grounds and explored some more, then went to the Sound and Light Show at Chichen Itza. For years I have wanted to attend the sound a light show at one of the ruins. Most of the ruins in Mexico present a night show. I had expected people to be on the ruins, coordinated with the narration and lights. To the contrary, there are no people you can see, only voices and lights. There were folding chairs set up in front of the grand pyramid, El Castillo, the only light was from the moon and stars, so El Castillo loomed up as a giant shadow. The program started and the lights and narration began, it was awesome! The narration is only in Spanish, so you must either understand Spanish or just relax and absorb the overall atmosphere. One of the verses quoted during the show is one I have carried in my wallet for many years, so it was very moving to hear the verse used in the context for which it was intended.
We had dinner in the main building of the Lodge and walked back to our bungalow listening to the night sounds in the jungle.
In the morning, we went back into the ruins to explore all of Chichen Itza in the daylight. We spent most of the day walking and taking photos. This was a much more relaxing way to see Chichen Itza than the day trip I did years ago. There is a sense of awe walking around the incredible artistry that was Chichen Itza. The good...well, the ruins, the silence once you move away from other groups, the amazing architecture. The bad...the vendors. I bought, Jaime bought...very hard to resist buying a few things, but the wave of vendors keeps coming, and coming! I had a hard time concentrating on all that I was seeing because I was constantly interrupted by someone asking me to buy something. I have great sympathy, because these are local people who come from nearby villages to sell their handmade wares...but somehow, there needs to be a limit. Perhaps if one large area were set aside just outside the park for vendors only. That will never happen, but it's an idea!
My biggest regret was not adding on to the nights at The Lodge at Chichen Itza. We could easily have stayed another two or three nights just relaxing and enjoying the bird songs and the people. The waiters were excellent. Helpful, friendly, some of the nicest people I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. Having a waiter who had worked for the establishment for 20 plus years was not unusual. Most of the waiters spoke Mayan, Spanish, English and a smattering of other languages including French and German. Chichen Itza is a truly international destination. Braulio, the captain of the waiters, was amazing. Whenever we wanted anything, no matter how small, he was at our side offering assistance. The young man in the gift shop did me the favor of wrapping the wood carving I purchased at Chichen Itza...without being asked, with no other idea than to be of service. Just amazing!
With regrets, we were off to the Riviera Maya the next afternoon. The ride from Chichen Itza to Riviera Maya is fairly long, 4 to 4.5 hrs, going on state routes and some very comfortable highways. The highway passes through small villages and some large towns, so, although long, it was interesting. We were going to El Dorado Royale by Karisma. Jaime had never been to an all inclusive resort nor seen a "swim up" room...we were going to have both!
We arrived at El Dorado Royale around 7pm, tired from the long ride. Our room was a "casita", there are 4 to a block, with two on the bottom, which are "swim up" rooms, and two on the top. We had two jacuzzi tubs, one in the living area and another in the bathroom, and an outdoor shower. LOVED the outdoor shower! When you turned on the taps you would hear birds singing. Step in, look up, and see the sky! What a treat! We had a very private patio (surrounded by gauzy curtains) with our swim up area with two loungers right in front. The patio was large enough for a table and two chairs and a sun bed. We had breakfast there every morning. There were birds joining us waiting for crumbs, and really bold birds coming right inside to join us for breakfast, and a very friendly iguana.
We did NOTHING for three whole days, other than take a shopping trip supplied by the hotel into Cancun. There were sun beds lined up along the beach and, unlike some resorts, there is no charge to use them. The waiter would come by bringing us skewers of fresh fruit, cold from the ice chest he carried them in. Other waiters would pass by and check to make sure we had what we wanted to drink. They were all charming and helpful. Probably my only complaint about El Dorado Royale was the beach. It's a bit rocky and it would have been nice to have river wader sandals to make it easier to walk out to deeper water. On the other hand, neither of us are ocean swimmers and we managed to pick out way out to where the water was chest deep and stand there and enjoy the warm Caribbean. Farther out, we watched people scuba diving and snorkeling.
There are more restaurants at the resort than one can sample in a 4 night stay. This was another place where a couple more nights would have been nice. We enjoyed the Mexican buffet, pronounced good by my husband, who is hard to please when it comes to Mexican cuisine. His favorite turned out to be the Asian Fusion restaurant, where they even did an excellent ceviche. A European influenced international restaurant got our attention one night...lovely food and service. We had lunch one day at the Caribbean restaurant, lunching on three different types of ceviche. What we missed? Well, the French restaurant and the Italian restaurant AND the pizza place, which smelled heavenly every time we walked by. Too many restaurants (all included in the price) too few days.
Drinks were excellent...just tell them what you want in your drink. I had my Bloody Marys with Ketel 1 Vodka; Margaritas were with Hornitos. Although the majority of those beautiful Corona commercials are shot in the area, getting a Corona seemed to be impossible. Beer was Tecate, Sol or Carta Blanca. All are good beers, none happen to be to my particular taste.
Bikes are free for your use at the resort. We really MEANT to pick up a couple and bike around...we just never got around to doing it. There are activities and entertainment and tours, but we just relaxed and did NOTHING and it felt really good!
What I liked best, besides the staff, who were helpful and friendly? NO wrist bands!! And no time share people approached us. Were they there? Probably, but they were in the main lobby and were not aggressive.
I booked this part of our vacation through Pleasant Mexico and they did an excellent job. Our transportation back to the airport in Cancun was there on time and did a fine job.
Once in the airport, we were given our gate. We got upstairs and waited...and waited. There was activity around our gate area and I sat on the floor with my cell phone plugged into a pillar to try and get sufficient charge to have an operating phone when we arrived at LAX. It was past boarding time and I was getting nervous. I walked over and asked and the gate agent said our flight had not yet come in. More waiting, and we have a plane to connect to in Mexico City. Finally, a man came around asking our names and told us our plane was at a different gate and was boarding. YIKES!! AeroMexico and their "guess the gate" struck again!
The flight back to Mexico City was quick and easy and, once there, we went through security no less than 4 times. Our plane back to LAX was on time, although we didn't know what gate we would be departing from for quite some time. We hit the duty free shops, bought water, bought a newspaper and killed time until it was time to board. Back at LAX we were quickly picked up and taken home by Go Fly.
What would I do different, you ask? Well, one less night in Merida; 2 more nights in Chichen Itza and at least 2 more nights at El Dorado Royale...and I would probably NOT fly AeroMexico. I would also pass on the corn sorbet I couldn't live without tasting in Merida.
The hotel in Merida had charm and flavor, two things I was looking for, but I would probably not use it for my clients. We went by the Hyatt several times, it is in a nice location and looked good, and that probably trumps a certain amount of "charm and flavor"! I would send people to The Lodge at Chichen Itza with great pleasure. Best time to go is when we were there, early November through the spring. Go in the middle of summer and the heat would be oppressive.
El Dorado Royale by Karisma...of course I will use for my clients! A wonderful experience. My husband, who is not in the business, commented that even the rooms that are NOT swim up looked very nice. The garden view rooms and regular ocean view rooms looked just fine. Were I to stay ONLY in the Riviera Maya area I would want to do a side trip to Coba (another Mayan ruin and one I have never seen); I would also want to go to Cozumel (wish we had done that!); and I would want to go to Sian Caan, which is much like Celustun, but closer to the Riviera Maya.
If there is a point to this whole story, the point would be this: We (travel agents in general and my husband and I in particular) pay for our vacations just like everyone else. Yes, there are discounts, but some things, such as the hotel in Merida, the trip to Celestun, and the 4 nights at the El Dorado Royale, we pay the same price our clients do. We worry (I worry) when it is OUR vacation about the same things my clients worry about. Is it going to be a nice hotel?...Will the vacation be worth the money we've spent on it?...Will the food be good?...Will the weather be good? Some things can't be guaranteed. Yes, the hotel in Merida looked great...but it fell a little short. Yes, there were some glitches, but not the things I was worrying about (hotels, food and weather!). The glitch was in the airline tickets. It doesn't pay to worry should be EVERYONE'S first lesson. Second lesson, keep calm, no matter how frustrating the circumstances. Third and most important lesson...keep your sense of humor! Nothing is perfect all the time; and nothing is a catastrophe all the time. If you can manage to not spend your time worrying over things you can't control, and you can stay calm and deal with the things you CAN control, you will have a great vacation...we did!
These are wonderful places and the spring would be a great time to go. Call me! If the travel agent liked her vacation, you will, too!
Until next time,
Sonia
Don't forget to check Kiva.Org
In the morning, there was hot water, we had had some rest, we had the whole day to explore Merida as our trip to Celestun Nature Reserve and Biosphere was not until the next day. Breakfast was nice and our waiter was efficient and attentive and knew that I needed lots of coffee! The food was good, freshly made, not a breakfast buffet. We ate well and started out to explore. Around the corner from our hotel was a 17th century church, still in use. We walked in the courtyard of the church and looked around, then continued our walk to the downtown area, government palace, cathedral, shops and restaurants. It was very warm, but not as bad as the night before had been. Later in the day we caught a local bus out to a shopping center and had lunch at Cafe California. Cafe California is a chain of restaurants in Mexico, where you can do buffet dining or order off the menu.
Later that night we walked back to the center of Merida and had dinner, cochinito pibil, in the portales at outdoor tables. Cochinito Pibil is the official "dish" of Merida and the Yucatan. Nice chunks of well cooked pork (cochinito) in a not-too spicey sauce; fresh, homemade corn tortillas and flan for desert. A very nice end to our first day in Merida.
Nov. 4 and we were having breakfast at our hotel again and waiting for the guide to pick us up and take us to Celustun Nature Reserve. I had booked this trip for clients a year before and knew I wanted to go myself. Celestun has flamingos. I wanted to see flamingos in the wild.
Celustun is about an hour and a half from Merida, going through Mayan villages with traditional homes and small businesses. Our guide and driver was very informative and gave us time to stop and take photos.
We arrived at the ocean and continued on to Celustun, which is a series of channels and islands, an estuary. Our first stop was to see the flamingos. They are hatched white in color, and get their brilliant pink by eating shrimp. It takes around 6 months for the white babies to turn pink. We boarded a canoe and with a Mayan Indian as our guide and paddler, set out to see estuary. It was incredible! We paddled through mangroves with the guide pointing out fish, birds, huge termite nests, spiders and a great horned owl. Fish jumped across the water in front of our canoe, woodpeckers worked insects out of trees, one of the nicest excursions I've ever taken. The cost of the excursion is around $50. per person, plus a tip for our driver and our Mayan guide, well worth it and with lunch included.
By now, a northern front had arrived and the weather was quite cool and comfortable. Our trip through the estuary had come with short rain squalls, but nothing that disturbed our canoe trip. Temps had dropped from the mid 90s down to a very comfortable mid 70s during the day, probably mid 50s in the evening.
The next day after breakfast we were picked up an taken to Chichen Itza. This was a much longer trip than the one to the estuary. Approximate travel time is around 3hrs. The highway we took is a freeway, nothing really unusual or interesting to see, but a comfortable ride. I had been to Chichen Itza before and enjoyed it, but had no illusions that this would be a luxury hotel. I was hoping our room would be nicer than the one in Merida.
Upon our arrival at The Lodge at Chichen Itza we were escorted to our bungalow, concierge level room. I was amazed! A beautiful room in a group of 3 bungalows. The bungalows have their own private pool, hammock and concierge level comes with appetizers and a welcome drink. Appetizers were a large platter of tacos and antojitos, all Yucatan style. I ordered a Margarita and Jaime had a Bloody Mary....everything was wonderful...beyond expectations! We walked around the grounds of the hotel, then went back to our room and took a nap to make up for the lost sleep due to the very hard bed in Merida. We woke up around 4pm to the songs of what must have been a million different birds, all talking to each other and looking for their nests for the evening.
We walked around the grounds and explored some more, then went to the Sound and Light Show at Chichen Itza. For years I have wanted to attend the sound a light show at one of the ruins. Most of the ruins in Mexico present a night show. I had expected people to be on the ruins, coordinated with the narration and lights. To the contrary, there are no people you can see, only voices and lights. There were folding chairs set up in front of the grand pyramid, El Castillo, the only light was from the moon and stars, so El Castillo loomed up as a giant shadow. The program started and the lights and narration began, it was awesome! The narration is only in Spanish, so you must either understand Spanish or just relax and absorb the overall atmosphere. One of the verses quoted during the show is one I have carried in my wallet for many years, so it was very moving to hear the verse used in the context for which it was intended.
We had dinner in the main building of the Lodge and walked back to our bungalow listening to the night sounds in the jungle.
In the morning, we went back into the ruins to explore all of Chichen Itza in the daylight. We spent most of the day walking and taking photos. This was a much more relaxing way to see Chichen Itza than the day trip I did years ago. There is a sense of awe walking around the incredible artistry that was Chichen Itza. The good...well, the ruins, the silence once you move away from other groups, the amazing architecture. The bad...the vendors. I bought, Jaime bought...very hard to resist buying a few things, but the wave of vendors keeps coming, and coming! I had a hard time concentrating on all that I was seeing because I was constantly interrupted by someone asking me to buy something. I have great sympathy, because these are local people who come from nearby villages to sell their handmade wares...but somehow, there needs to be a limit. Perhaps if one large area were set aside just outside the park for vendors only. That will never happen, but it's an idea!
My biggest regret was not adding on to the nights at The Lodge at Chichen Itza. We could easily have stayed another two or three nights just relaxing and enjoying the bird songs and the people. The waiters were excellent. Helpful, friendly, some of the nicest people I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. Having a waiter who had worked for the establishment for 20 plus years was not unusual. Most of the waiters spoke Mayan, Spanish, English and a smattering of other languages including French and German. Chichen Itza is a truly international destination. Braulio, the captain of the waiters, was amazing. Whenever we wanted anything, no matter how small, he was at our side offering assistance. The young man in the gift shop did me the favor of wrapping the wood carving I purchased at Chichen Itza...without being asked, with no other idea than to be of service. Just amazing!
With regrets, we were off to the Riviera Maya the next afternoon. The ride from Chichen Itza to Riviera Maya is fairly long, 4 to 4.5 hrs, going on state routes and some very comfortable highways. The highway passes through small villages and some large towns, so, although long, it was interesting. We were going to El Dorado Royale by Karisma. Jaime had never been to an all inclusive resort nor seen a "swim up" room...we were going to have both!
We arrived at El Dorado Royale around 7pm, tired from the long ride. Our room was a "casita", there are 4 to a block, with two on the bottom, which are "swim up" rooms, and two on the top. We had two jacuzzi tubs, one in the living area and another in the bathroom, and an outdoor shower. LOVED the outdoor shower! When you turned on the taps you would hear birds singing. Step in, look up, and see the sky! What a treat! We had a very private patio (surrounded by gauzy curtains) with our swim up area with two loungers right in front. The patio was large enough for a table and two chairs and a sun bed. We had breakfast there every morning. There were birds joining us waiting for crumbs, and really bold birds coming right inside to join us for breakfast, and a very friendly iguana.
We did NOTHING for three whole days, other than take a shopping trip supplied by the hotel into Cancun. There were sun beds lined up along the beach and, unlike some resorts, there is no charge to use them. The waiter would come by bringing us skewers of fresh fruit, cold from the ice chest he carried them in. Other waiters would pass by and check to make sure we had what we wanted to drink. They were all charming and helpful. Probably my only complaint about El Dorado Royale was the beach. It's a bit rocky and it would have been nice to have river wader sandals to make it easier to walk out to deeper water. On the other hand, neither of us are ocean swimmers and we managed to pick out way out to where the water was chest deep and stand there and enjoy the warm Caribbean. Farther out, we watched people scuba diving and snorkeling.
There are more restaurants at the resort than one can sample in a 4 night stay. This was another place where a couple more nights would have been nice. We enjoyed the Mexican buffet, pronounced good by my husband, who is hard to please when it comes to Mexican cuisine. His favorite turned out to be the Asian Fusion restaurant, where they even did an excellent ceviche. A European influenced international restaurant got our attention one night...lovely food and service. We had lunch one day at the Caribbean restaurant, lunching on three different types of ceviche. What we missed? Well, the French restaurant and the Italian restaurant AND the pizza place, which smelled heavenly every time we walked by. Too many restaurants (all included in the price) too few days.
Drinks were excellent...just tell them what you want in your drink. I had my Bloody Marys with Ketel 1 Vodka; Margaritas were with Hornitos. Although the majority of those beautiful Corona commercials are shot in the area, getting a Corona seemed to be impossible. Beer was Tecate, Sol or Carta Blanca. All are good beers, none happen to be to my particular taste.
Bikes are free for your use at the resort. We really MEANT to pick up a couple and bike around...we just never got around to doing it. There are activities and entertainment and tours, but we just relaxed and did NOTHING and it felt really good!
What I liked best, besides the staff, who were helpful and friendly? NO wrist bands!! And no time share people approached us. Were they there? Probably, but they were in the main lobby and were not aggressive.
I booked this part of our vacation through Pleasant Mexico and they did an excellent job. Our transportation back to the airport in Cancun was there on time and did a fine job.
Once in the airport, we were given our gate. We got upstairs and waited...and waited. There was activity around our gate area and I sat on the floor with my cell phone plugged into a pillar to try and get sufficient charge to have an operating phone when we arrived at LAX. It was past boarding time and I was getting nervous. I walked over and asked and the gate agent said our flight had not yet come in. More waiting, and we have a plane to connect to in Mexico City. Finally, a man came around asking our names and told us our plane was at a different gate and was boarding. YIKES!! AeroMexico and their "guess the gate" struck again!
The flight back to Mexico City was quick and easy and, once there, we went through security no less than 4 times. Our plane back to LAX was on time, although we didn't know what gate we would be departing from for quite some time. We hit the duty free shops, bought water, bought a newspaper and killed time until it was time to board. Back at LAX we were quickly picked up and taken home by Go Fly.
What would I do different, you ask? Well, one less night in Merida; 2 more nights in Chichen Itza and at least 2 more nights at El Dorado Royale...and I would probably NOT fly AeroMexico. I would also pass on the corn sorbet I couldn't live without tasting in Merida.
The hotel in Merida had charm and flavor, two things I was looking for, but I would probably not use it for my clients. We went by the Hyatt several times, it is in a nice location and looked good, and that probably trumps a certain amount of "charm and flavor"! I would send people to The Lodge at Chichen Itza with great pleasure. Best time to go is when we were there, early November through the spring. Go in the middle of summer and the heat would be oppressive.
El Dorado Royale by Karisma...of course I will use for my clients! A wonderful experience. My husband, who is not in the business, commented that even the rooms that are NOT swim up looked very nice. The garden view rooms and regular ocean view rooms looked just fine. Were I to stay ONLY in the Riviera Maya area I would want to do a side trip to Coba (another Mayan ruin and one I have never seen); I would also want to go to Cozumel (wish we had done that!); and I would want to go to Sian Caan, which is much like Celustun, but closer to the Riviera Maya.
If there is a point to this whole story, the point would be this: We (travel agents in general and my husband and I in particular) pay for our vacations just like everyone else. Yes, there are discounts, but some things, such as the hotel in Merida, the trip to Celestun, and the 4 nights at the El Dorado Royale, we pay the same price our clients do. We worry (I worry) when it is OUR vacation about the same things my clients worry about. Is it going to be a nice hotel?...Will the vacation be worth the money we've spent on it?...Will the food be good?...Will the weather be good? Some things can't be guaranteed. Yes, the hotel in Merida looked great...but it fell a little short. Yes, there were some glitches, but not the things I was worrying about (hotels, food and weather!). The glitch was in the airline tickets. It doesn't pay to worry should be EVERYONE'S first lesson. Second lesson, keep calm, no matter how frustrating the circumstances. Third and most important lesson...keep your sense of humor! Nothing is perfect all the time; and nothing is a catastrophe all the time. If you can manage to not spend your time worrying over things you can't control, and you can stay calm and deal with the things you CAN control, you will have a great vacation...we did!
These are wonderful places and the spring would be a great time to go. Call me! If the travel agent liked her vacation, you will, too!
Until next time,
Sonia
Don't forget to check Kiva.Org
Sunday, December 19, 2010
When Travel Agents Take a Vacation
Our vacation this year was to Mexico. The same Mexico you read horror stories about in the newspaper. The same Mexico it is supposed to be unsafe to travel to. The same Mexico that makes the news on TV on a nightly basis. But the Mexico we visited is not THAT Mexico. It is the Mexico where you can still have a safe, cost effective vacation.
Our vacation to Mexico started with me attending a bridal exposition in Cerritos in May. The show was to promote weddings in Mexico and inform us (agents, wedding coordinators, photographers) of the venues offered for weddings in Mexico, which, by the way, are legal in the U.S. and the rules and regs of getting married in different parts of Mexico.
At the end of the presentation my name was pulled in the drawing for the grand prize...1 free round trip ticket on AeroMexico and 2 free nights, with transfers, at Chichen Itza in The Lodge at Chichen Itza in one of their bungalows (concierge level). I sent my husband a text message and told him we were going to Mexico for our vacation.
We decided on going in November, and adding something on either side of Chichen Itza: 3 nights in Merida with a side trip to Clestun Biosphere Reserve and 4 nights in the Riviera Maya at El Dorado Royale. We used our transfers to go from Merida to Chichen Itza and from Chichen Itza to the Riviera Maya.
A couple of months prior to taking our vacation, AeroMexico contacted me and told me they would be closing their Los Angeles office in a few days and it would be nice if I would tell them what I wanted to do with the free ticket. We decided my husband should have the free ticket and I would fly on the Amigo ticket (a discount offered to travel agents only). Now, the "free" ticket isn't completely free. The taxes need to be paid and they are usually around $100. or more. The Amigo ticket is discounted, but is a ticket that requires all taxes be paid along with the cost of the actual ticket. I told the person at AeroMexico what I was looking for, a flight from LAX into Merida and a flight from Cancun back to LAX. The flights we agreed upon were good, both routed through Mexico City, but that was expected. The arrangements were made and the information emailed to me.
I looked the emailed itinerary over carefully and then called regular reservations to get seats assigned. I like an aisle seat, my husband prefers a window seat. Our usual routine is to each get what we like and hope no one sits between us. I called AeroMexico four different times to check out seats and our itinerary. We had a very minor schedule change, but, other than that, we were good to go.
To get to LAX I called the car service I use when I don't feel it's convenient to drive. The company is Go Fly and they are wonderful. We were picked up at home on Nov. 2 and taken to Terminal 2 at LAX. We checked in and the agent at the AeroMexico ticket counter appeared never to have seen an e-ticket before. She wanted some "additional identification". She was holding each of our passports and I explained that was pretty much all we had. She then asked if we didn't have some sort of company ID from AeroMexico. I understood then, and explained that my husband was holding a free ticket and that I was using the Amigo ticket agents are entitled to use. With much laughter all around, she then understood, but seemed to still be confused about what to do with us. Finally, we got checked in and had our bags checked in and headed upstairs to wait for our flight to board.
It is NOT a good sign when the the person at the ticket counter seems confused! We arrived in Mexico City and deplaned, going down to the immigration hall and on to baggage claim. Passing through immigration and collecting our luggage we went on to customs. I looked at our bags and saw they were only checked through to Mexico City...NOT a good thing. We decided our safest plan to have our bags arrive with us in Merida was to go upstairs with the bags, check in again, and have the bags checked through to Merida with us watching. So...onward and upward!
We found someone to check us in upstairs and she seemed to hesitate a great deal with my husband's ticket. I explained, yet again and in Spanish, that his ticket was FREE and I was traveling on the Amigo fare. The agent mentioned something about waitlisting and I explained that, no, neither of us were wait listed. These were confirmed seats. More hesitation and a lengthy trip to speak with another agent. Then the four of us, me, my husband, the agent we were dealing with...and yet another agent...examined the free ticket again. As luck would have it, the FREE ticket was not due to leave Mexico City for Merida until Nov. 4, while my ticket was to arrive in Merida on Nov. 2. I then explained, at length and in Spanish, about calling and reconfirming multiple times; about checking in at LAX, about conversations with the representative in the Los Angeles office, which had now been closed for two months. All to no avail, the tickets were not the kind you could use to fly stand by, even though the flight to Merida was wide open, and it was my fault for not catching the error when it first happened...despite reconfirming 4 times and not having anyone else catch the error.
At this point, those of you who know me, know that I was having a very hard time being civil. Being polite at all times in business dealings in Mexico is a necessity, and it was going through my head that I really needed to remain calm. With some bickering back and forth the agent agreed to go and talk to a higher power and see what could be done with my husband's ticket. Whoever the higher power was, he or she decided my husband should go with me to Merida that night, and the tickets were fixed, luggage sent off to be boarded on the plane and I was scolded once again. I then requested the return portion of both tickets be checked to make sure we had confirmed seats on the return...we did.
We were now free and clear. I was now concerned we might miss our flight, as the transaction had taken a great deal of time. We got to the departure hall and found our flight on the board, but no departure gate was listed yet. We sat a while, happy that disaster had been averted. Went to a farmacia and purchased two bottles of water and talked about the possibility of needing Pepto for later, deciding we really didn't need another thing to carry with us.
Back to checking the flight on the boards, no departure gate yet. I walked up to a gate agent and asked about our flight. They directed me to an information desk. We walked over and checked and found our flight was delayed but would be soon arriving and then departing for Merida. Hummm, sounding like Jamaica..."soon come". We looked for a place to eat and decided on the busiest restaurant/bar. The food was OK, not like the restaurants there used to be in the Mexico City airport, but OK nonetheless. I asked for a Margarita and was given a list of flavors that sounded like we were at Baskin Robbins. I explained a classic, regular Margarita, frozen, with salt, would be just fine. The waiter insisted I should order two and give one to Jaime because they were two for the price of one. With great patience and a smile I explained that Jaime did not really WANT a Margarita, but I certainly did, and one would be just fine. The waiter persisted and explained they were two for one and I should have two. The waiter is fortunate he escaped with his life. I snarled at him and told him to forget the Margarita and just give me a Coke like my husband. Lucky man!
VH1 was cranked up full volume in the restaurant with no one listening or paying attention except us. I was enjoying the music videos but could not hear announcements of departing flights, it was getting late, and I was getting nervous. I told my husband we needed to finish eating and get back out to the departure hall. Once again in the departure hall, there was no sign of our flight. I found a flight crew sitting around and asked if they were the crew for Merida. They were not, their flight was going to Cancun and it was delayed coming in. I was beginning to sense a pattern here!
We waited some more. At this point, my biggest fear was that our flight would be canceled and we would be forced to spend the night in Mexico City. First, I would lose one night's deposit at the hotel we had in Merida, but, far more important, I was not sure I would be able to get our tickets validated again for the next day. We waited some more and my husband went to the men's' room. I walked up to another gate agent and asked about our flight and was told a gate was assigned. I could see people assembling by the gate and the boarding call was being given...and my husband was in the men's' room. Hummmm...so I went in the men's' room and told him to get a move on, we were leaving! At a certain age, and I AM that age, I figure it's more important to catch a flight than to worry about who else might be in the men's' room!
We boarded the plane, hours past our scheduled departure, and were off to Merida and unexplored territory. Neither of us had ever been in Merida and we were both curious about what we would find. I was also curious about the chances of our hotel being open when we arrived.
The plane landed in Merida around 1:30am and we disembarked to a heat beyond anything I had imagined. I knew it would be humid and by November, I thought some of the heat would have abated. It must have been 90 degrees at 1:30am with 85% humidity. The air was practically liquid. We still needed to claim our luggage and get a taxi to our hotel, which was in the center of town. Getting a taxi means lining up outside the airport and buying a ticket, then lining up and waiting for a cab that is designated as "yours". Finally, in the dark and humid night, we were on our way to our hotel. We pulled up in front of the hotel at 2:20am. It had been a very long day. The cab driver rang the bell at the entrance with no response. I was hoping he wouldn't dump us and our luggage and leave and he didn't. He said not to worry, someone would answer and in a few minutes they did.
Walking into the hotel lobby I was pleased to note that it looked just like the photos I had seen on TripAdvisor. Very Mexican colonial, a fountain, a cozy little lobby bar that doubled as a breakfast room, and the desk clerk had our reservation. On the spot I reserved our excursion to Celestun Biosphere, and then we were shown up to our room. I had reserved the Master Suite. The photos on TripAdvisor were beautiful, and the room looked just like the photos. A small living area, marble steps leading up to the very large bedroom, nice size TV, beautiful bathroom with Jacuzzi tub and dual shower heads. And at what must have now been 2:45am all I wanted to do was go to sleep. The air had not been put on, so the room was hot and stuffy. We turned on the air. It was very loud...I no longer cared! Then, I noticed the wilted boutonniere on my nightstand, a damp towel on our chair, the maid's tip still uncollected in an envelop...and two empty Coke cans, not ours, in the bathroom wastebasket. I called the front desk and the young man came back up to our room. He took the towel away, but didn't seem terribly upset that the room had been used. At this point, I didn't care.
My husband decided he needed a shower before he could sleep. There was no hot water. He is FROM Mexico and should know by now, the hot water tank (the boiler) is usually turned off late at night, not to be turned on again until early in the morning...he took a cold shower. The bed was beautiful but hard...and we both slept until morning.
This is part I of a two part blog on our vacation. Please stay tuned! All I can tell you is that our vacation got MUCH better in fairly short order, and I decided it was probably best not to ever send non-Spanish speakers on AeroMexico flights routed through Mexico City. I also freely acknowledge that the person at AeroMexico who booked my flights was probably under a great deal of stress and I don't blame her for our difficulties. I got a vacation, she got a pink slip. "Fixing" the problem in Mexico City was difficult, but it got done. Sometimes, you have to remember if you are actually on a vacation...you won!
Until next time,
Sonia
Remember to check out Kiva.org
Our vacation to Mexico started with me attending a bridal exposition in Cerritos in May. The show was to promote weddings in Mexico and inform us (agents, wedding coordinators, photographers) of the venues offered for weddings in Mexico, which, by the way, are legal in the U.S. and the rules and regs of getting married in different parts of Mexico.
At the end of the presentation my name was pulled in the drawing for the grand prize...1 free round trip ticket on AeroMexico and 2 free nights, with transfers, at Chichen Itza in The Lodge at Chichen Itza in one of their bungalows (concierge level). I sent my husband a text message and told him we were going to Mexico for our vacation.
We decided on going in November, and adding something on either side of Chichen Itza: 3 nights in Merida with a side trip to Clestun Biosphere Reserve and 4 nights in the Riviera Maya at El Dorado Royale. We used our transfers to go from Merida to Chichen Itza and from Chichen Itza to the Riviera Maya.
A couple of months prior to taking our vacation, AeroMexico contacted me and told me they would be closing their Los Angeles office in a few days and it would be nice if I would tell them what I wanted to do with the free ticket. We decided my husband should have the free ticket and I would fly on the Amigo ticket (a discount offered to travel agents only). Now, the "free" ticket isn't completely free. The taxes need to be paid and they are usually around $100. or more. The Amigo ticket is discounted, but is a ticket that requires all taxes be paid along with the cost of the actual ticket. I told the person at AeroMexico what I was looking for, a flight from LAX into Merida and a flight from Cancun back to LAX. The flights we agreed upon were good, both routed through Mexico City, but that was expected. The arrangements were made and the information emailed to me.
I looked the emailed itinerary over carefully and then called regular reservations to get seats assigned. I like an aisle seat, my husband prefers a window seat. Our usual routine is to each get what we like and hope no one sits between us. I called AeroMexico four different times to check out seats and our itinerary. We had a very minor schedule change, but, other than that, we were good to go.
To get to LAX I called the car service I use when I don't feel it's convenient to drive. The company is Go Fly and they are wonderful. We were picked up at home on Nov. 2 and taken to Terminal 2 at LAX. We checked in and the agent at the AeroMexico ticket counter appeared never to have seen an e-ticket before. She wanted some "additional identification". She was holding each of our passports and I explained that was pretty much all we had. She then asked if we didn't have some sort of company ID from AeroMexico. I understood then, and explained that my husband was holding a free ticket and that I was using the Amigo ticket agents are entitled to use. With much laughter all around, she then understood, but seemed to still be confused about what to do with us. Finally, we got checked in and had our bags checked in and headed upstairs to wait for our flight to board.
It is NOT a good sign when the the person at the ticket counter seems confused! We arrived in Mexico City and deplaned, going down to the immigration hall and on to baggage claim. Passing through immigration and collecting our luggage we went on to customs. I looked at our bags and saw they were only checked through to Mexico City...NOT a good thing. We decided our safest plan to have our bags arrive with us in Merida was to go upstairs with the bags, check in again, and have the bags checked through to Merida with us watching. So...onward and upward!
We found someone to check us in upstairs and she seemed to hesitate a great deal with my husband's ticket. I explained, yet again and in Spanish, that his ticket was FREE and I was traveling on the Amigo fare. The agent mentioned something about waitlisting and I explained that, no, neither of us were wait listed. These were confirmed seats. More hesitation and a lengthy trip to speak with another agent. Then the four of us, me, my husband, the agent we were dealing with...and yet another agent...examined the free ticket again. As luck would have it, the FREE ticket was not due to leave Mexico City for Merida until Nov. 4, while my ticket was to arrive in Merida on Nov. 2. I then explained, at length and in Spanish, about calling and reconfirming multiple times; about checking in at LAX, about conversations with the representative in the Los Angeles office, which had now been closed for two months. All to no avail, the tickets were not the kind you could use to fly stand by, even though the flight to Merida was wide open, and it was my fault for not catching the error when it first happened...despite reconfirming 4 times and not having anyone else catch the error.
At this point, those of you who know me, know that I was having a very hard time being civil. Being polite at all times in business dealings in Mexico is a necessity, and it was going through my head that I really needed to remain calm. With some bickering back and forth the agent agreed to go and talk to a higher power and see what could be done with my husband's ticket. Whoever the higher power was, he or she decided my husband should go with me to Merida that night, and the tickets were fixed, luggage sent off to be boarded on the plane and I was scolded once again. I then requested the return portion of both tickets be checked to make sure we had confirmed seats on the return...we did.
We were now free and clear. I was now concerned we might miss our flight, as the transaction had taken a great deal of time. We got to the departure hall and found our flight on the board, but no departure gate was listed yet. We sat a while, happy that disaster had been averted. Went to a farmacia and purchased two bottles of water and talked about the possibility of needing Pepto for later, deciding we really didn't need another thing to carry with us.
Back to checking the flight on the boards, no departure gate yet. I walked up to a gate agent and asked about our flight. They directed me to an information desk. We walked over and checked and found our flight was delayed but would be soon arriving and then departing for Merida. Hummm, sounding like Jamaica..."soon come". We looked for a place to eat and decided on the busiest restaurant/bar. The food was OK, not like the restaurants there used to be in the Mexico City airport, but OK nonetheless. I asked for a Margarita and was given a list of flavors that sounded like we were at Baskin Robbins. I explained a classic, regular Margarita, frozen, with salt, would be just fine. The waiter insisted I should order two and give one to Jaime because they were two for the price of one. With great patience and a smile I explained that Jaime did not really WANT a Margarita, but I certainly did, and one would be just fine. The waiter persisted and explained they were two for one and I should have two. The waiter is fortunate he escaped with his life. I snarled at him and told him to forget the Margarita and just give me a Coke like my husband. Lucky man!
VH1 was cranked up full volume in the restaurant with no one listening or paying attention except us. I was enjoying the music videos but could not hear announcements of departing flights, it was getting late, and I was getting nervous. I told my husband we needed to finish eating and get back out to the departure hall. Once again in the departure hall, there was no sign of our flight. I found a flight crew sitting around and asked if they were the crew for Merida. They were not, their flight was going to Cancun and it was delayed coming in. I was beginning to sense a pattern here!
We waited some more. At this point, my biggest fear was that our flight would be canceled and we would be forced to spend the night in Mexico City. First, I would lose one night's deposit at the hotel we had in Merida, but, far more important, I was not sure I would be able to get our tickets validated again for the next day. We waited some more and my husband went to the men's' room. I walked up to another gate agent and asked about our flight and was told a gate was assigned. I could see people assembling by the gate and the boarding call was being given...and my husband was in the men's' room. Hummmm...so I went in the men's' room and told him to get a move on, we were leaving! At a certain age, and I AM that age, I figure it's more important to catch a flight than to worry about who else might be in the men's' room!
We boarded the plane, hours past our scheduled departure, and were off to Merida and unexplored territory. Neither of us had ever been in Merida and we were both curious about what we would find. I was also curious about the chances of our hotel being open when we arrived.
The plane landed in Merida around 1:30am and we disembarked to a heat beyond anything I had imagined. I knew it would be humid and by November, I thought some of the heat would have abated. It must have been 90 degrees at 1:30am with 85% humidity. The air was practically liquid. We still needed to claim our luggage and get a taxi to our hotel, which was in the center of town. Getting a taxi means lining up outside the airport and buying a ticket, then lining up and waiting for a cab that is designated as "yours". Finally, in the dark and humid night, we were on our way to our hotel. We pulled up in front of the hotel at 2:20am. It had been a very long day. The cab driver rang the bell at the entrance with no response. I was hoping he wouldn't dump us and our luggage and leave and he didn't. He said not to worry, someone would answer and in a few minutes they did.
Walking into the hotel lobby I was pleased to note that it looked just like the photos I had seen on TripAdvisor. Very Mexican colonial, a fountain, a cozy little lobby bar that doubled as a breakfast room, and the desk clerk had our reservation. On the spot I reserved our excursion to Celestun Biosphere, and then we were shown up to our room. I had reserved the Master Suite. The photos on TripAdvisor were beautiful, and the room looked just like the photos. A small living area, marble steps leading up to the very large bedroom, nice size TV, beautiful bathroom with Jacuzzi tub and dual shower heads. And at what must have now been 2:45am all I wanted to do was go to sleep. The air had not been put on, so the room was hot and stuffy. We turned on the air. It was very loud...I no longer cared! Then, I noticed the wilted boutonniere on my nightstand, a damp towel on our chair, the maid's tip still uncollected in an envelop...and two empty Coke cans, not ours, in the bathroom wastebasket. I called the front desk and the young man came back up to our room. He took the towel away, but didn't seem terribly upset that the room had been used. At this point, I didn't care.
My husband decided he needed a shower before he could sleep. There was no hot water. He is FROM Mexico and should know by now, the hot water tank (the boiler) is usually turned off late at night, not to be turned on again until early in the morning...he took a cold shower. The bed was beautiful but hard...and we both slept until morning.
This is part I of a two part blog on our vacation. Please stay tuned! All I can tell you is that our vacation got MUCH better in fairly short order, and I decided it was probably best not to ever send non-Spanish speakers on AeroMexico flights routed through Mexico City. I also freely acknowledge that the person at AeroMexico who booked my flights was probably under a great deal of stress and I don't blame her for our difficulties. I got a vacation, she got a pink slip. "Fixing" the problem in Mexico City was difficult, but it got done. Sometimes, you have to remember if you are actually on a vacation...you won!
Until next time,
Sonia
Remember to check out Kiva.org
Saturday, October 30, 2010
What Was I THINKING!?
FAM trips are what travel agents take to see hotels, resorts and destinations they hope to sell to clients. FAM trips are usually partially paid for by airlines, resorts, hotels and tourist boards. FAM is short for familiarization trip. It all sounds so neat and clean and easy, doesn't it? We (agents) take a trip that is low cost, usually being paid for by our agency or out of our own pocket. We look at the beautiful hotels, we dine at their expense, we participate in fun activities...and then we come home and sell, sell, sell...and everyone goes home happy!
A MegaFam is offered by one resort company, Sandals, Beaches and Grand Pineapple, who are owned and operated by Gordon 'Butch' Stewart. Mr. Stewart is Jamaican, from Kingston, and has an interesting back history. I think he has done a great deal for tourism in Jamaica and in other Caribbean islands as well. He is dynamic, a larger than life personality. So, what would agents expect from Mr. Stewart? Why, a MegaFam, of course!
There have been several MegaFams leaving from California in the past, but this is the first one I decided to try. It was not inexpensive, $399. for a mere two nights at Beaches Turks and Caicos, but I would get to see three resorts: The new Sandals Emerald Bay, Beaches Turks and Caicos, and Sandals Royal Bahamian. I was dying to see all three properties, so I bit!
First, breaking my #1 rule, there were to be roommates. I am old enough to NOT enjoy slumber parties. If I do a FAM I want to be GUARANTEED a room to myself. This is NOT a vacation, it's a work trip. I value "alone time" to collect my thoughts and not be required to visit, make small talk or listen to complaints. If it sounds like I'm somewhat of a "diva" it is because I AM! I take my profession very seriously! However, I really wanted to see these resorts. My roommate was to be an agent I know casually from seminars. She is nice and is a friend of a friend. My roommate-to-be got a bad cold/flu, so another friend of mine went in her place. That was even better. We have traveled together before and if I have to have a roommate, I would choose her. Rule #2, I prefer smaller FAMS where it has been pre-determined by IATA card or word from the vendors that all agents going actually sell travel. YTB "agents" and other that are simply part of some multi-level marketing scheme do not sell travel, they "sell" action in in MLMs and have no good information to share with other agents. With 162 agents on the chartered flight, some were not involved in selling anything other than action in their barely concealed "pyramid" programs.
Next was getting to LAX to board the plane. We left Riverside at approximately 8pm, having heard no seats were to be assigned until check in, we knew it was important to get to the airport early, and our flight was departing at 1:29am on Monday. We were in line by 9:30pm. The line was long when we arrived, but it got much longer as more and more agents and industry people arrived.
The flight left on time, I slept off and on, we landed in Great Exuma, Bahamas with a tropical storm. The wind was blowing, the sea was churning, and dark clouds were gathering, and we needed to see the golf course BEFORE we started our site inspection. Fortunately, it was a drive around the golf course and not a walk, and then we were at the hotel. From that point, we divided into groups of 10 or 12, each group with a guide, and proceeded to walk through the resort. It's a large resort, we got to see many room categories, and to walk through many of the public areas. We even got to walk onto the sand for a group photo, with sand blowing into my mouth and eyes as we stood there for the shot. Is there a better way to see and judge a hotel? Not really. This gave all of us a look at different room categories, at the grounds and the pools and the restaurants and pubs. Nice property! We then were seated in one of the conference halls, heard the presentation by the resident manager and other officials, had a buffet lunch, and headed back to the plane that would carry us on to Turks. By now it was raining.
Our plane took off from Great Exuma for the rather short flight to Turks. It was now raining hard, but I had been up for around 24 hrs and I sleep well on planes. The last thing I heard was that we would have to circle the airport in Turks and wait for the storm to let up before we could land. At that, I was out like a light. I have no idea how long I slept, but I heard we circled the airport for at least a half hour. When we started to land, finally, I woke up fast. I am hardly ever scared flying, but that startled me and woke me right up. We landed in the rain and it was a long walk to the terminal building.
Now, crammed in a shuttle with a driver who considered silence a curse upon society, we were on our way to Beaches Turks and Caicos, which is a family resort. We drove through puddles big enough to hide a small car, and pulled into the beautiful driveway of the resort in heavy rain. Out of the shuttle, tip to the driver, and up to our rooms. At that moment, we were free to change, relax a little, go to dinner at any of the restaurants and enjoy the resort as though we were guests...and it was only about 8pm! My roommate and I decided to try Schooners, which is the a seafood restaurant. Good choice! We had some of the best red snapper I've ever eaten, done to perfection. From there, we moved on through the rain to the chocolate and martini bar. Short stop there for dessert and we were off to see the disco, Liquid. OK, now we are just running on adrenalin, because we have been up well over 24 hours. Short stay at the disco and we were back in the room and finally asleep. Next morning would start early!
Next morning we needed to take our Sandals Certification Class. That meant being up, dressed and ready to listen and take notes by 7:30am. There was coffee (not enough!) pastries and fruit to take to our places, which were already equipped with notebooks and a workbook. Hands down, this was the BEST certification class I have ever taken! It was long, running around 5 hrs., but the speaker was excellent and brought to light many good points about sales in general. GREAT class and, although the time did not fly by, it held my attention for the entire class.
Next was lunch at Mario's, buffet style. OK, by now I was kind of hoping to order off a menu, have someone wait on me, and maybe, just MAYBE, bring me a drink. No menu, but I did get a Bloody Mary. More group photos were taken and we were off and walking. We did a walking tour of the whole resort, Caribbean Village, French Village and Italian Village. It is a very LARGE resort. The walking tour took 2 hrs. 45 minutes. I now was sure which village I would most like to put clients in, what restaurants were available, what ALL the pools looked like, and how a table set up on the beach for an intimate dinner looks (beautiful!). Fortunately, we weather had cleared and it was exquisite, warm and sunny with bright blue sky and fluffy white coulds...and NO rain!
The next few hours were ours to use as we wished, dining where we wanted, doing a little shopping and postcard writing, checking out the disco again, and back to the room because we had to be packed and ready to leave at 6:00am.
6:00am came quickly and we were checking out and lining up again, back to the airport, and on board for the short flight to Nassau, Bahamas. Arriving in Nassau it was blazing hot. The trip to Sandals Royal Bahamian was interesting, with a very informative bus driver pointing out the sights and points of interest.
Sandals Royal Bahamian was a lovely surprise and not what I had expected. We did a walking tour, which included the gym on the 6th floor with the most beautiful ocean view I've ever seen in a gym. The sun was brutal and we were walking outside to see as much as possible of the grounds. Great hotel! Upon entering one of the rooms I immediately knew which client I would like to have stay there, which is the purpose of these trips.
From there it was off to the ferry dock and on to the ferry and over to Sandals private island for a beach party. By now, I was seriously starting to wilt! I was not nearly as interested in the beach party as I was the possibility of getting home and getting to sleep in my own bed. The beach party is done once a week. If I were a guest at Sandals I would enjoy the entertainment and the food and ambiance. The music was great, the entertainment was fabulous...but I was wearing out.
Sandals let us try out their spa services. Any of us who wanted could get a short sample massage. It was wonderful. Made me feel like a new woman for a few minutes and eased the pain in my hip. Then, as a special surprise, Gordon Stewart, "Butch", came to speak to us in person. I have seen photos of him many times and have seen him speak on film at presentations. This was the first time I ever saw him in person. Very exciting! He had good things to say and a positive outlook on tourism that matches my own.
From there, on to the ferry, back to Nassau, back to the buses, back to the plane and back to LAX. We landed in LAX on Wednesday night, around 8:30pm.
That is a FAM. Was it typical? Yes and no. Yes, in that FAMS are usually short and fast paced, seeing a lot of resorts and learning a lot in a short span of time. Some FAMS include more activities. I have gone on a snorkel excursion, gone horseback riding, and done 4 wheeling on FAMS, as well as taken excursions to some interesting places. I tend to love those FAMS the most, because I can tell my clients what there is to do other than stay at the resort.
It is not typical to go on a FAM that includes 162 agents on a chartered flight. Usually I am flying on regular, commercial air, and there are 5 to 20 other agents on the trip. There is time to compare notes with other agents, which is a great source of learning about the industry. There was really no time on this trip to talk to other agents. Besides my roommate, I knew two other agents on the FAM. There was no time to compare notes.
Would I do it again? Well, I probably wouldn't go back to Turks and the Bahamas, having now been there, unless I could stay longer and see more. I have heard about the possibility of anothe MegaFAM, I would have to give it serious consideration. A little slower pace might have been nice!
FAMS are wonderful. Seeing a destination is really the only way to be able to describe it to a client, and the only way to be able to guide a client to the perfect vacation spot.
For those of you who think travel agent trips are all fun and lounging by the pool...think again! This trip was not for the faint of heart, but was worth all the stress in so many way. I understand Turks and Caicos offers great scuba diving, as do the Bahamas. If you are interested in learning to dive and live in the Riverside area, check out Wiley's Scuba Locker.
Please remember to check out Kiva.org.
Until next time,
Sonia
A MegaFam is offered by one resort company, Sandals, Beaches and Grand Pineapple, who are owned and operated by Gordon 'Butch' Stewart. Mr. Stewart is Jamaican, from Kingston, and has an interesting back history. I think he has done a great deal for tourism in Jamaica and in other Caribbean islands as well. He is dynamic, a larger than life personality. So, what would agents expect from Mr. Stewart? Why, a MegaFam, of course!
There have been several MegaFams leaving from California in the past, but this is the first one I decided to try. It was not inexpensive, $399. for a mere two nights at Beaches Turks and Caicos, but I would get to see three resorts: The new Sandals Emerald Bay, Beaches Turks and Caicos, and Sandals Royal Bahamian. I was dying to see all three properties, so I bit!
First, breaking my #1 rule, there were to be roommates. I am old enough to NOT enjoy slumber parties. If I do a FAM I want to be GUARANTEED a room to myself. This is NOT a vacation, it's a work trip. I value "alone time" to collect my thoughts and not be required to visit, make small talk or listen to complaints. If it sounds like I'm somewhat of a "diva" it is because I AM! I take my profession very seriously! However, I really wanted to see these resorts. My roommate was to be an agent I know casually from seminars. She is nice and is a friend of a friend. My roommate-to-be got a bad cold/flu, so another friend of mine went in her place. That was even better. We have traveled together before and if I have to have a roommate, I would choose her. Rule #2, I prefer smaller FAMS where it has been pre-determined by IATA card or word from the vendors that all agents going actually sell travel. YTB "agents" and other that are simply part of some multi-level marketing scheme do not sell travel, they "sell" action in in MLMs and have no good information to share with other agents. With 162 agents on the chartered flight, some were not involved in selling anything other than action in their barely concealed "pyramid" programs.
Next was getting to LAX to board the plane. We left Riverside at approximately 8pm, having heard no seats were to be assigned until check in, we knew it was important to get to the airport early, and our flight was departing at 1:29am on Monday. We were in line by 9:30pm. The line was long when we arrived, but it got much longer as more and more agents and industry people arrived.
The flight left on time, I slept off and on, we landed in Great Exuma, Bahamas with a tropical storm. The wind was blowing, the sea was churning, and dark clouds were gathering, and we needed to see the golf course BEFORE we started our site inspection. Fortunately, it was a drive around the golf course and not a walk, and then we were at the hotel. From that point, we divided into groups of 10 or 12, each group with a guide, and proceeded to walk through the resort. It's a large resort, we got to see many room categories, and to walk through many of the public areas. We even got to walk onto the sand for a group photo, with sand blowing into my mouth and eyes as we stood there for the shot. Is there a better way to see and judge a hotel? Not really. This gave all of us a look at different room categories, at the grounds and the pools and the restaurants and pubs. Nice property! We then were seated in one of the conference halls, heard the presentation by the resident manager and other officials, had a buffet lunch, and headed back to the plane that would carry us on to Turks. By now it was raining.
Our plane took off from Great Exuma for the rather short flight to Turks. It was now raining hard, but I had been up for around 24 hrs and I sleep well on planes. The last thing I heard was that we would have to circle the airport in Turks and wait for the storm to let up before we could land. At that, I was out like a light. I have no idea how long I slept, but I heard we circled the airport for at least a half hour. When we started to land, finally, I woke up fast. I am hardly ever scared flying, but that startled me and woke me right up. We landed in the rain and it was a long walk to the terminal building.
Now, crammed in a shuttle with a driver who considered silence a curse upon society, we were on our way to Beaches Turks and Caicos, which is a family resort. We drove through puddles big enough to hide a small car, and pulled into the beautiful driveway of the resort in heavy rain. Out of the shuttle, tip to the driver, and up to our rooms. At that moment, we were free to change, relax a little, go to dinner at any of the restaurants and enjoy the resort as though we were guests...and it was only about 8pm! My roommate and I decided to try Schooners, which is the a seafood restaurant. Good choice! We had some of the best red snapper I've ever eaten, done to perfection. From there, we moved on through the rain to the chocolate and martini bar. Short stop there for dessert and we were off to see the disco, Liquid. OK, now we are just running on adrenalin, because we have been up well over 24 hours. Short stay at the disco and we were back in the room and finally asleep. Next morning would start early!
Next morning we needed to take our Sandals Certification Class. That meant being up, dressed and ready to listen and take notes by 7:30am. There was coffee (not enough!) pastries and fruit to take to our places, which were already equipped with notebooks and a workbook. Hands down, this was the BEST certification class I have ever taken! It was long, running around 5 hrs., but the speaker was excellent and brought to light many good points about sales in general. GREAT class and, although the time did not fly by, it held my attention for the entire class.
Next was lunch at Mario's, buffet style. OK, by now I was kind of hoping to order off a menu, have someone wait on me, and maybe, just MAYBE, bring me a drink. No menu, but I did get a Bloody Mary. More group photos were taken and we were off and walking. We did a walking tour of the whole resort, Caribbean Village, French Village and Italian Village. It is a very LARGE resort. The walking tour took 2 hrs. 45 minutes. I now was sure which village I would most like to put clients in, what restaurants were available, what ALL the pools looked like, and how a table set up on the beach for an intimate dinner looks (beautiful!). Fortunately, we weather had cleared and it was exquisite, warm and sunny with bright blue sky and fluffy white coulds...and NO rain!
The next few hours were ours to use as we wished, dining where we wanted, doing a little shopping and postcard writing, checking out the disco again, and back to the room because we had to be packed and ready to leave at 6:00am.
6:00am came quickly and we were checking out and lining up again, back to the airport, and on board for the short flight to Nassau, Bahamas. Arriving in Nassau it was blazing hot. The trip to Sandals Royal Bahamian was interesting, with a very informative bus driver pointing out the sights and points of interest.
Sandals Royal Bahamian was a lovely surprise and not what I had expected. We did a walking tour, which included the gym on the 6th floor with the most beautiful ocean view I've ever seen in a gym. The sun was brutal and we were walking outside to see as much as possible of the grounds. Great hotel! Upon entering one of the rooms I immediately knew which client I would like to have stay there, which is the purpose of these trips.
From there it was off to the ferry dock and on to the ferry and over to Sandals private island for a beach party. By now, I was seriously starting to wilt! I was not nearly as interested in the beach party as I was the possibility of getting home and getting to sleep in my own bed. The beach party is done once a week. If I were a guest at Sandals I would enjoy the entertainment and the food and ambiance. The music was great, the entertainment was fabulous...but I was wearing out.
Sandals let us try out their spa services. Any of us who wanted could get a short sample massage. It was wonderful. Made me feel like a new woman for a few minutes and eased the pain in my hip. Then, as a special surprise, Gordon Stewart, "Butch", came to speak to us in person. I have seen photos of him many times and have seen him speak on film at presentations. This was the first time I ever saw him in person. Very exciting! He had good things to say and a positive outlook on tourism that matches my own.
From there, on to the ferry, back to Nassau, back to the buses, back to the plane and back to LAX. We landed in LAX on Wednesday night, around 8:30pm.
That is a FAM. Was it typical? Yes and no. Yes, in that FAMS are usually short and fast paced, seeing a lot of resorts and learning a lot in a short span of time. Some FAMS include more activities. I have gone on a snorkel excursion, gone horseback riding, and done 4 wheeling on FAMS, as well as taken excursions to some interesting places. I tend to love those FAMS the most, because I can tell my clients what there is to do other than stay at the resort.
It is not typical to go on a FAM that includes 162 agents on a chartered flight. Usually I am flying on regular, commercial air, and there are 5 to 20 other agents on the trip. There is time to compare notes with other agents, which is a great source of learning about the industry. There was really no time on this trip to talk to other agents. Besides my roommate, I knew two other agents on the FAM. There was no time to compare notes.
Would I do it again? Well, I probably wouldn't go back to Turks and the Bahamas, having now been there, unless I could stay longer and see more. I have heard about the possibility of anothe MegaFAM, I would have to give it serious consideration. A little slower pace might have been nice!
FAMS are wonderful. Seeing a destination is really the only way to be able to describe it to a client, and the only way to be able to guide a client to the perfect vacation spot.
For those of you who think travel agent trips are all fun and lounging by the pool...think again! This trip was not for the faint of heart, but was worth all the stress in so many way. I understand Turks and Caicos offers great scuba diving, as do the Bahamas. If you are interested in learning to dive and live in the Riverside area, check out Wiley's Scuba Locker.
Please remember to check out Kiva.org.
Until next time,
Sonia
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Casa Dorada in the heart of Cabo San Lucas
View from my bedroom balcony
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