Above The Crowds Travel & Meeting Planning
Offering travel tips, travel planning advice, travel stories from my round-the-world adventures. I help plan once-in-a-life-time experiences for couples or groups; weekend getaways or extended adventures. In my private life I am the Grandmother of 13, wife of Chef Don, and keeper of a beautiful Papillon named Poppy and a cat named Charlotte. We both spent most of our lives in Ohio and are now located in Fort Mill, SC. Travel along - join in the conversation and offer up your travel stories.
Friday, August 01, 2014
Two days from now I leave for a travel agent familiarization trip to Los Cabos, Mexico.
It's been nearly ten years since I have been there so I can't wait to see how it's changed. I will be visiting all four of the AMResorts properties - Secrets Puerto Los Cabos, Dreams Los Cabos, Secrets Marquis and Zoetry Casa del Mar.
I'll post plenty of photos on Facebook so have a look!
Thursday, July 31, 2014
Cancun is for ... EVERYONE!
I love recommending Cancun because of the diverse activities to be found there, the extraordinary number of 5 star accommodations, the fabulous food, the safe atmosphere and the ease of getting there.
Whether I am working with a couple on a destination wedding, honeymoon or anniversary; with a family on a memory-making vacation; with a group of gals or guys on a bachelor or bachelorette party, or with a group leader on a meeting, incentive prize or golf trip, I find everything I'm looking for in this one great destination.
For destination weddings I can find dozens of beautiful romantic settings all in the same locale. If one resort happens to be sold out on a particular date there are plenty of other choices. Likewise on a honeymoon or anniversary trip or bachelor/bachelorette trip. There are choices, too, for every budget and the low-cost flights to Cancun are real budget savers.
I find with golf vacations that often one person is a golfer but their spouse or travel companion is not. Since the five great golf courses in Cancun are so near to the hotel zone and beach, the non-golfer can relax on the beach, go to one of the fabulous spas, or go shopping while the golfer is away for just a few hours playing their round.
Planning meetings and incentive trips to Cancun is a breeze since there is so much air lift from all over the USA (and the rest of the world). The newly remodeled Convention Center can take on even the largest meeting or convention plus, there are so many hotels with meeting facilities and Destination Wedding venues.
Families love Cancun because they can participate in so many activities, relax and play along the 14 miles of beautiful beach and see some of the most fascinating historical sites in the world. A great bonus for Cancun is its proximity to the world famous Mayan ruins in Chichen Itza (one of the modern day 7 Wonders of the World) and Tulum. Clients don't have to choose between culture and natural beauty - they can enjoy both at one destination!
World class shopping, luxurious spas and fabulous nightlife only serve to complete the Cancun experience.
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Happy(?) Spring!
Here it was. The first morning of the first day of Spring, my favorite season, and was I ready for it! Or so I thought.
In preparation for the new season, I committed to attend a new networking group I had heard about. It started at 7:45am so I got to bed early so I could be well rested and arrive on time, making a good impression on everyone I would meet.
That was the first flaw in the plan. Being in bed doesn't always mean sleeping (in many ways!). This particular night my brain must have been in overdrive because I had dream after dream, waking in between each and having more and more difficulty going back to sleep after each.
The alarm finally sounded and I got up to get dressed and have a bite to eat before leaving. Absolutely everything about me was off balance from my sleep-deprived night so it took longer to get ready than normal.
I finally left home only to run into heavier than usual traffic heading to the Interstate. That burned up another 5 minutes. By now I knew I would never be on time and considered just giving up and going back home. Anyone who knows me knows that I have a very low tolerance for lateness in others and here I was going to be "the rude one" who walked in late.
I made the decision that I would go ahead with my plan to attend and just sneak in and sit in the back.
Right about now you may be thinking I will say that miraculously, I got every light green, the traffic parted for me to breeze through and I arrived with time to spare.
No. Didn't happen.
All the lights were red, I went in the wrong door and had to ask for directions and I finally arrived a good 10 minutes late. My only consolation was that another woman was arriving just as I was.
Much to my surprise, the informal networking part of the meeting was still going on so I actually had a chance to catch my breath before I had to do my 30 second pitch.
Why am I sharing all of this trivia? Because at the meeting I met a dozen new business people and had a really good one-on-one chat with one woman who gave me a great promotional idea for my business.
If I had given up on my plan to attend because of the minor setback of my lateness, I would have missed a great opportunity to meet new people and promote my travel business.
Many times we give up on plans for such small reasons and never even give them a chance to succeed. I'm glad I stuck to my plan and didn't give up on my goal.
Will this mean that I forego my ethic of arriving on time in the future? Not a chance! But it WILL make me more forgiving of that "flaw" in others from now on. Who knows, maybe they had a bad night's sleep, as well?
Tuesday, January 08, 2013
Hard Rock Cancun, here I come!
This is an exciting week for me! Not only is the the kick-off to a brand new year but Saturday I take off to Cancun for my stint as Travel Impressions' Ambassador at the Hard Rock All-Inclusive Resort in Cancun!
Stay tuned for updates all next week as I enjoy this great resort and offer specials to my clients who want to vacation like a rock star.
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Thursday, December 20, 2012
I'm an Ambassador for All-inclusive Hard Rock Resorts!
Only a little over three weeks from now, I will be visiting yet another All-Inclusive Hard Rock Resort, this time the new one in Cancun and as a Travel Impressions Ambssador.
I already know the beach is to-die-for, having stayed right next door a mere three months ago. In fact, we were able to watch all the busy workers put the finishing touches on Hard Rock right from our balcony. Can't wait to see the finished product and experience the fine service I've some to know from this brand.
Here's a sneak peek from the website:
http://www.travimp.com/ambassadors/microsite/hardrock.html
Monday, March 05, 2012
10 best travel inventions
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