Viva la Vida Travel with Carmen Schaffer

Oaxaca ~ pronounced Wah-ha-ka, for those of you wondering what the heck I just wrote ~ is located in the Southwestern part of Mexico, bordered by the states of Guerrero to the West, Puebla to the East, Veracruz to the North and Chiapas to the East.  It's an enormous state rich in culture, traditions, delicious gastronomy and breathtaking vistas and I was just privy to be able to enjoy just a portion of what the state has to offer.  The omnipresent Virgin de Guadalupe Oaxaca has been on my radar for a while now mostly because it has been named as the gastronomic capitol of Mexico ~ known for it's moles, mezcal and everything in between and considering that Mexican cuisine is #1 on my top things to devour, of course it was on my radar!  We were escorted through quaint cobblestone streets of Oaxaca city that were flitting with banda music, vendors, people dancing, and in general, a vibrancy that is non-existent in my suburban town. I had to ask our guide if there was so

It’s so fun and always eye opening  to go on FAM trips, otherwise known as familiarization trips. It’s great to get to know the properties and the destinations but it’s also great to meet the sales managers and staff of the resorts. They are such gracious individuals and do such a good job at educating travel agents on their brand of hotel.  What is especially fun is when we have a little down time to enjoy the property, lie on the beach and mingle with actual guests of the hotel. It’s fun to see where everyone comes from ~ Scotland, France, Brazil, Oklahoma, you name it, the world is traveling and they are traveling to Mexico!   Maybe it's me or maybe it's just the vacation state of mind that people are in, but people are drawn to sharing their most intimate stories with me. I feel grateful for their immediate trust and relaxed state around me and I look forward to every time I hear the words, " Yeah, back home I . . . " as it is usually fol

Part of what I do as a   Dream Maker, a.k.a   Travel Agent, is to travel to different destinations to explore them thoroughly so that I can be as knowledgeable as possible about the destination and property. These travels include staying in hotels ranging from 3 star to 5 star, compliments of the resort itself in hopes of impressing us enough to get us to send travelers to their properties.   We are taken on excursions in the destination so as to   know what there is for you, the traveler, to do while on vacation.   We are wined and dined and put up in some very beautiful accommodations and some of us even get butlers while we are on the resort, however, I’ve never been so lucky as to be assigned a butler.. . yet.   Many people skoff at my “work” travels saying,   “Oh, it must be rough, being in Mexico or the Caribbean sipping on fruity drinks and 'working’ Truth be told, there is a great deal of work that goes into these travel agent trips and I’m here to set your mind at ease an