Viva la Vida Travel with Carmen Schaffer

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 s...

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...

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...