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Showing posts from 2013

Speechless in San Miguel de Allende.

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Here I am... in love with San Miguel I never thought I'd lack words to describe anything but when it comes to the Mexican city of San Miguel de Allende, I've come up short on adjectives that can accurately describe this gem of a town. We rolled into San Miguel which is in the state of Guanajuato. Our guide Jesus ( no, not the son of God), but our chauffeur navigated the narrow, cobblestone roads like he made the roads himself.  There are no stop lights in San Miguel and everyone simply yields to others if necessary. The roads were lined with houses in hues of  red, blue, yellow and every other color possible. The doors alone on the buildings were works of art as they were hundreds of years old, gigantic and extremely ornate. Those doors were created in  a labor of love. I could have taken thousands of photos of only doors in San Miguel because they were just /that/ beautiful. Mexico is filled with cathedrals and San Miguel is no exception to the rule. I'm not Cat

Day two of my my trek to Morelia . . .

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I woke up good and early with the clear intention of not missing an ounce of what I was set to do while I was in Morelia. I’d never been to this tourism fair so in all honestly, I had no idea what the heck I was to be doing in the first place. Since my approach of taking the day one step at a time had worked for me in getting to Mexico, I decided I’d try the same approach this day. Traveling alone forces one to push outside of one’s own comfort zone. That includes many things but this morning, it included inviting myself to breakfast with some people I’d met the   night before. They were gracious and welcoming and small talk abounded while we discussed just what on earth we were to do next as it related to the Cultural Tourism Fair.   People who work in the travel industry, are some of the most welcoming people I know. We’ve all traveled alone at one time or another and we all know how great it feels to finally have someone to share a meal with and share an experie

Viva la Vida Travel goes to Morelia, Michoacan!

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I was invited to the World Cultural Tourism Fair in Morelia, Michoacan, Mexico with the whole goal of encountering new vendors and destinations to sell to future clients. In all honesty, I was a bit freaked out by going to Morelia simply by what I’d heard on the news. My flight was through Atlanta to Mexico City then to Morelia…all of which made me a tad nervous. Why? Simply because traveling to Mexico City and then on to Morelia all by my lonesome seemed pretty damn daunting. Here I am, a 5’9, blonde haired. blue eyed Minnesotan traveling to the inner workings of Mexico~ alone. I decided to take the whole trip one leg at a time and not focus on the big picture because eventually, I’d get to my destination, or at least that is what I was telling myself. I landed in Mexico City and had a good 5 hours to wait before my  3 rd flight of the day to Morelia.  I didn’t have a gate assigned yet because in Mexico City, they don’t assign them until about 45 minutes before the fl

Nomance...it's a new term you may want to start using.

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Call me what you will, but I don’t believe in romance. I do believe in reconnecting and reigniting but I do not believe in the oozy, goozy thing called romance.  While in the airport in Atlanta, I had a brief conversation with a fella, who, after realizing I was a travel agent had told me that he wanted to go to San Francisco for his 15 th wedding anniversary. My friend, who is also a travel agent, pipes in and says, “How about Napa? It’s more romantic.” The man responded back with a roll of the eyes and heavy sigh that said, “ I don’t want any place really romantic. Really, after 15 years?” That got me thinking about romance and whether or not it really does exist and how do the expectations of “romantic” vacations play into it all. Anyhoo, as I spoke with this guy, I suggested DOING something with his wife, have an experience instead of having the stress of creating a magical heart felt moment with his wife that 1.) would never measure up to what she c

In the spirt of the holidays, consider this. . .

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This could be you. It's that time of year when we have barely gotten through the Halloween hoopla and are now force fed the Christmas season well before we are mentally prepared to deal with it. We haven't even reached Thanksgiving yet and the malls are offering pictures with Santa Claus! The toy catalogs have come out and the stress of buying that perfect gift for our family and friends is soaring high and occupying our waking ( and sometimes slumber) days with the never ending question, " What do I get him/ her/ them for Christmas?"  Are we really in the "spirit" to lay down money on gifts that may or may not ever get used or if they do, they get used throughout the holiday season and then get shoved aside to make room for more wishes and wants? Don't get me wrong, here, I'm no Scrooge and I do love Christmas and the holiday season. I really think, however, that material givings are way over rated and at the end of any year, we do not look back

I have been Sandal-ized!

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Our Sandals Chartered plane! As I sit here in chilly Minnesota post Sandals/ Beaches MEGA FAM trip down to Exuma, Nassau and Turks Caicos, I find myself exhausted but yet with a completely fired up and newly inspired vision for myself as well as future travelers. First of all, you're probably wondering what  a MEGA FAM is. . . let me explain. 150 travel agents from all over the midwest boarded a chartered Sandals airplane and flew down to the Caribbean to get a crash course in Sandals Emerald Bay, Royal Bahamian and Beaches Turks/ Caicos resorts. We disembarked planes, hopped on buses, toured resorts, ate delicious food, gulped down Beringer wine like it was going out of style, listened to live bands, then hopped aboard the plane to do it all over again but in a different resort and on a different island. Sandals footed the bill for all of us to come and experience their properties because they know that as travel agents, we cannot give accurate and personalized attention to ou