An amazing January…thank you
Today is Wednesday, February 1, 2012. I wanted to stop for a moment and thank you for an amazing January. My readers. my clients, and my friends who have all been a part of this journey. This entry will be a bit more personal than usual. I hope you won’t mind reading. It has been a busy and long month of personal triumph and tragedy for my industry. As I did before, I must pause to take time to remember those victims of the sinking of Costa Concordia.
Animal crackers and not meeting expectations
Last year, when my daughter was preparing to go to summer camp for the first time, she read about a nightly ritual. On the daily schedule she saw the following entry:
10:15 pm – Devotional, Milk & Cookies
For weeks she thought about those cookies. She had visions of the type of cookies. She thought about how warm would they be; how cold would the milk be; how many would she get? She could feel them in her mouth, she could practically taste them. I think she was dreaming about those cookies. When we dropped her off thinking about all of the adventures she would have: Horseback riding, sports, leadership, team-building while we are sure all she thought about were those cookies.
Remember to lower the camera at times while traveling
Missed Hubbard Glacier Calving
Many of my greatest travel memories have been captured with my digital camera. I can go back and look at those pictures again and again and relive those memories. On the other hand, I have been at times so focused on looking at the LCD screen or through the viewfinder, I have missed living in the moment.
Where are cruise prices headed in 2012
The media, other travel writers and bloggers have been predicting that cruise prices would be dropping in the wake of the Costa Concordia accident. As someone who looks at cruise pricing every day, I want to be one of the first to tell you that I am not seeing it. In fact, I have been seeing a rise in prices year over year since their lowest levels in 2009. Even on Costa, prices have been rising for certain sailings.
Travel assistance when you need it most
Yesterday I was stuck in voicemail purgatory for 15 minutes. I couldn’t reach a human being. I had received my mortgage statement and payment coupon. The paper indicated that the servicer had received no payment. They had also added a late fee and of course the payment due for February. After trying every combination of button pressing, I went to go a website called Get Human to see if there was a secret way to get out of this prison. It turned out that there was for this company. Even after reaching someone, I had to explain to two different people on the phone the problem. The situation was resolved and the issue that had caused this problem was explained. However, I spent a total of 45 minutes trying to deal with this late yesterday afternoon.
