Eating when vacationing with Oasis

When a lot of people are on the road, they eat out. They might just grab some fast food, or they might go to a sit down restaurant and enjoy some time out of the car… But hen you vacation at an Oasis resort, they are going to treat you to the finer things in life. Let’s look at some things that will be on the menu.

• They will not have your regular taco on their buffet. Instead they will have a gordita. [I don’t think you should think of Taco Bell here.] These gorditas have nice thick shells.
• And instead of burritos, they have something called tortas ahogadas. These are bread rolls filled with pork and drenched with spicy sauce.
• Try ceviche instead of nachos. You are going to find these to be higher class seafood topped with tomatoes and avocados and things like that.
• When it comes to adult beverages, my joke is, “I like one kind of beer, and that’s root beer.” so I do not know much about any of that, but Oasis says that Mezcal is better than Tequilla. It is meant to be aaccompanied by orange slices and salt.

Apparently these are all more authentic Mexican foods. I’ve never tried them personally. And to be honest, I’m kind of partial to the Mexican food we have here. I would love to know your thoughts.

Advertisement

If you ever find yourself alone in San Francisco

Keep hearing the line from Inside Out, “Way to go, San Francisco, you ruined pizza.” Personally, I do not think broccoli would be bad on pizza at all, this blog is not about cartoons or food. Just wanted to share.

We are going to talk about San Francisco, and what to do if you ever find yourself alone in that beautiful city.

• You might want to start by taking a walk. There is a Free SF Walking Tour. They will meet every day., rain or shine, at 10 AM at Union Square. The tour is led by a guide who knows a lot about the city.
• You will want to visit Golden Gate Park. I’m a little amazed, and a little skeptical, by the picture of this park they have here. The picture shows this huge green meadow. It is not exactly what I think of when I think of a big city And you can see the famed bridge from the park in this picture as well.
• One of the perks of traveling by yourself is making new friends, and one of the best ways to do that is to stay in a hostel. Guests tend to rave about the Pacific Tradewinds Hostel. Here you are going to pay between $35 and $45 a night. You will get free wi-fi and free drinks.
• Whether you’re looking for some good food or some good shopping, you will want to try the Ferry Building Marketplace. They will have all of the usual things, and then they will have things like chocolate covered crickets.

I would love to know any thoughts or questions you might have.

LEGOLAND is great for young families

Memorial Day and the start of the summer season will be upon us before we know it. And if you haven’t already started the discussions, your family will start talking about your family wants to do for summer vacation. And if I know children, Orlando, the amusement park capitol, is going to come up.But if you have younger children, you might want to seriously consider LEGOLAND.

LEGOLAND prides itself on being the amusement park built for kids. Their take on Disney World is that the place is built for everyone, from children, to honeymooners, to older people. However, with LEGOLAND it’s different, they have built their site for kids, and that includes kids with different special needs.

Another thing I’m excited to share is that LEGOLAND tries to keep families together by placing kiddie rides right beside adult rides so that kids and parents can each have fun while still being together. They’ll also have rides that will appeal to the older kids in the same area.

LEGOLAND purposely has mostly rides that are great for those who are just starting out. They know that most families are going to outgrow their parks and move on to others. And they don’t want their rides to scare any of the youngsters.

I would love to know your thoughts about. Do you have any questions?

What we travel agents wish you knew

I know this is something I write about often, but it’s something I want you to understand. And please let me know if you have any questions about any of this. I’ll be more than happy to answer.

I know, I know, everyone can book travel through the internet.. So what is the point of booking through a travel agent? Don’t they charge more? Surely there is no advantage to going through a travel agent? Read on to find out some of the reasons you might want to book through a travel agent.

• Do we charge more? For the most part, we do not. If we charge a service charge upfront, that is usually applied to your deposit. We’ll get commission on the hotel, cruise,rental car when you book through us. I’m always getting e-mail about the latest travel deals, and I have ways to get in touch with the suppliers to try to get you an even better deals.
• Don’t we specialize? Yes, most travel agents do specialize in some way or other. I’m thinking about specializing in helping women who are business for themselves .. But that certainly doesn’t mean I don’t want to help anyone else. I’m more than happy to help anyone.
• What you do is pretty simple and wouldn’t really require a lot of work. Ideally, we are going to get to know you and your family’s needs through a series of e-mails. And then we’ll do the research and will put together two or three trips that should work well for you.. We can spend several hours working on a trip.
• We have an easy life. Traveling is something everyone loves to talk about. So sometimes it feels to us that we’re never off the clock. There is always something new to learn, something to figure out. Even when we travel, we’re always looking at the hotels and different venues, to see what we like what we don’t..
• And I’m just going to add that when you’re running your own business you have that much more to figure out and do.

I would love to know your thoughts on this.

Sharing space with kids on a cruise

Kids.. Most adults love them. They have children of their own who parents love raising, spending time with them, teaching them right from wrong.. But there are times when you want a break from children. Maybe you just want to rest or be alone with your husband.. Or maybe you’re newlyweds on a cruise. You know you are going to want kids, but right now you’re just looking for a romantic vacation.

Honestly, a lot of cruiselines are still trying to figure out how much space should be places for everyone and how much should be adults only. Disney is, of course,known for its family friendly atmosphere. They have mostly family friendly shows. They do not have casinos, instead that area is dedicated to their children’s programs. But Disney does have some adults-only space. Some go between kid-friendly and adults-only. And some places are exclusively adults-only.

Things are a little different with Carnival. They have opened up an adults-only pool to everyone. They’re probably going to add such some more adults-only spaces in the future. But right there doesn’t seem to be a nice pool that is just for adults. Maybe in the meantime they can have certain times of day where children are not allowed in the pool area.

I would love to know your thoughts about this. How much adults-only space would you like? How much time do you want to be away from your children while you’re on a cruise?

Even more cruise news

It’s Monday and I’m ready to dive into some serious work. I have several things I want to do today. But as always I want to make sure that work this and a couple of other things gets done before getting into extra things.. Let’s look at some more cruise news.

• First, Carnival is about to introduce something called “Carnival Playtime”. These are going to be different activities featuring My Little Pony and Transformers. Carnival will have different characters between these shows[?] make appearances.
• We do not know what the future holds for our relationship with Cuba. Airlines seem to be pulling back, but cruiselines seem to be pressing this relationship forward with more and more cruises to this country. And there is  a mixture of of inexpensive cruises ad luxury cruises.
• Royal Caribbean is going to help Puerto Rico upgrade its port. Their boarding bridge really needs work. And their plan is to also make improvements to their bathrooms and adding check points.
• Most businesses are always looking for ways to grow their clients and their bottom limes. Cruiselines are no exception to that. One thing they have tried is to get into the air business. Crystal is the latest cruiseline to try this..

I would love to know your questions about cruises.

Up for a mystery trip?

I’m kind of excited about some new things I’m starting to try in my business. I listened to a training yesterday that was talking about how important it is for people who are running businesses to connect and kind of trade lists and favors. That sounds like an idea I am going to be able to get into. I’ve been starting that and plan to do a lot more of that in the next few weeks. But let me get this done for today.

Most people have specific ideas when it comes to their vacation time. They know they want to get with their family and go on a cruise. Or they have decided that this is the year they are going to treat their children to Disney.. But sometimes you really just want to get away. You may be worn out from everything going on at work. Or you may just be bored and need sometime away. Apparently, there are several travel agencies that will send you on a mystery trip over in Europe. But one agency is starting to do this here in the US.

Now they will not send you anywhere they choose. You will need to fill out some surveys that will help them determine where you would like to go and what kind of things you like to do. They will always get an idea of your budget for this trip. Another thing you will tell them is your starting point, so that you won’t have to spend half of your time getting to and from your destination.

This kind of trip is not for everyone. A lot of people really like being part of the planning process.. What about you? Is this something you might be interested in? I would love to know your thoughts.

Flying… With children

I had an absolute blast on my big trip overseas. However, being in the airport, and on the long flights did get boring. And I’m an adult… Children tend to try to make their own fun when they are bored, which can get loud. But if parents discourage the fun, things can get loud too. And that’s no fun for, or for anyone else on the airplane. I know some people believe in the power of Benedryl, but for those who do not necessarily want to sleep, here are some other ideas.

• First bring your IPads or Kindles and let your children play on them. Yes, it’s nice if you have a communication device for yourself as well. There will be a screen in the seat ahead of you that will allow you to watch movies or play games.. That is, you will have these on your longer flights. But you will want to keep your children as content and quiet as they can be.
• And please, bring your headphones. No one else wants to hear your child’s favorite cartoon playing over and over again. If your children do not want to wear headphones, they can play their games quietly. Personally I had trouble keeping headphones on. Watching movies with subtitles works okay.
• No one likes to be kicked in the back. Have children keep arms and legs to themselves. Most everyone will understand being jostled when you have to get to the bathroom, but try to even keep that to a minimum.
• Boredom is not the only reason that children get cranky. Pack snacks.. But you will want to be careful what kind of snacks you take. Don’t take things that will be hard to eat or messy. You will also want to take snacks that your children will enjoy.
• And please don’t ignore your kids when they start to act up. You’ll want to do your best to nip it in the bud.. On going crying or shouting is one of the most annoying things on an airplane.

I would love to know your thoughts about this.

Hotel vs airbnb

For years when you went to a place where you didn’t have friends or family in the area, you had little choice but to book a hotel. But back in 2007, things started to change. Two guys couldn’t afford their rent and so they decided to try putting an air mattress on their living room floor as way to earn some extra cash. They had this idea in 2007, and apparently they had a good idea, because the business grew quickly, becoming a place where people could rent anything from a room to a whole house.

Well, this is starting to really cut into the hotel industry’s business. And so, starting this past year, the hotel industry has started a campaign to end airbnb. Their strategy is to have a series of laws passed that will harm airbnb. They are using some of the horror stories from airbnb to bolster their efforts.

But airbnb is not going to go down without a fight. One of the big charges airbnb makes against hotels is that they are always charging more during peak seasons. The smaller company is saying that it is saving consumers tons of money during those times.

The hotel industry’s response is that airbnb can do all their business without the regulations that hotels have to deal with… I would love to have you weigh in with your own thoughts on this.

Thoughts on United

I think by now everyone has heard about the debacle with United Airline. The truth is that most airlines o overbook.. Believe it or not, people do book flights, and then decide at the last minute not to show up. Airlines have bills to to pay like everyone else does, and so they try to make as much money as they can. Who doesn’t try to make as much money as they can when they’re in business?

United seems to be sending mixed messages in a lot of ways on this incident. Did they overbook or not? At first they said they did. Now they’re saying they didn’t, they just needed more room for their attendants.. They have apologized, but have also praised their staff handling the situation well.

So here are some things United should do in the future to get itself back on the right track.

• First, their staff needs to be emphatic. Being in the airport or on flights usually isn’t on people’s list of most fun. People just want to get to their destination. So airline employees should do their best to make sure to help whenever they can. And let me say here that I was impressed by how friendly and helpful the Turkish Airline people were on my big trip.
• And the other thing they have to remember is that they are a service business. And when you are a service business, you have to treat your customers well. If you do not treat them well, they will go somewhere else. United might want to go over some customer service training with their employees.

I would love to know your thoughts on this.