2022 - Virgin Voyages Caribbean with prone to seasick Rob who did "not" get seasick on this new state of the art vessel. Definitely an experience, great food and funky vibe. Two times, yea, crazy, on Royal Caribbean's Symphony of the Seas, once with a friend and once with Wesley - this is simply a City at Sea! Queretaro Mexico for a retreat with some amazing Travel Advisors and mentors, such a special town! I was really impressed with my navigating of a non tourist area and will go back, this part of Mexico is very special. BIG TRIP ASTA River Cruise Conference Budapest. The opportunity to tour and eat on almost all of the river cruise lines in Europe was a first for our industry. I am so grateful I was able to attend. Czech Tourism trip prior and an Avalon Danube cruise after. Just wonderful! Turks and Caicos for Agent On The Rise was the highlight of my professional career to date - I still cannot believe I qualified and I attended with the most amazing advanced advisors and suppliers I am now proud to call friends. Community over Competition. My host agency Travel Planners International and consortia Signature Travel Network were the best choices in a sea of choices. Florida Keys, Maui, Rocky Mountaineer Canada and a special California trip filled in the rest of the year. One more trip in a couple weeks will be a Viking Christmas Markets Cruise.

Wow when I type this out it is overwhelming, but makes me feel so great about my agency, its future and how I will help you with our most precious gift when spent on travel - our time. We often say in our industry - travel is one thing, vacation is another and although it may be hard to believe, none of my travels were vacations. Not for a second am I saying anything other than just that fact. I love love my industry and even during a pandemic and tourism challenges, my clients and my colleagues keep me moving. If I made it over the last couple of years, I'm here for the duration, bring it on! ​

Then the journey I/we could have never ever predicted, planned for, envisioned, anticipated and so forth - March 2020 to present. What can I truly say? Ummmmmmm, I am doing "all the things" that needed to be done when I hit the gate and opened for doors, but was too busy to really focus on. Cancelling, postponing, advocating for my clients, literally took like four times the amount of time and effort it takes to research and book travel! There is truly not enough print space to explain why or what that all means. I was 100% successful, albeit not 100% happy with a couple, but successful nevertheless, in getting a better result than they for certain could have gotten and even what most could have secured within industry - the time commitment was unreal. I am a bit of a never quit kinda Advisor. I'm going to refrain from going on about these months - we just need to move onward, upwards and OUTWARD of our homes and into the world.

Clients lost so many travel memories - Argentina, Italy, Maldives, Egypt, much Hawaii, much Carribean, Asia, so much Disney :o(, lots of Alaska and many many cruises, so on and so on. What has been experienced since - a lot of Mexico, including our family, some domestic, but basically, other than some rebooks for Fall, we are booking into 2022 heavily and trust me - EVERYONE is, so if you want to do any dreaming and planning and securing your plans, you need to be all about that and now! Especially when it comes to cruises, they are just going to be sold out with the rebooks, some multiple rebooks and the fact that cruisers want to cruise. 

The industry and us as Advisors have never worked harder, the real full time lovers of the business and you can trust us. We haven't been cleaning out closets, remodeling, getting in shape, scrapbooking, etc. etc. We want to be the best for tourism, for the boots on the group suppliers, for the land that had been neglected and has not had a reprieve, for the small country towns that have had to become closer and pool their resources like never before, for all the hotel managers and so on and so forth. Traveling may not be considered a necessity, but it has very necessary advantages to our world and our souls. 

So, with all the above said, I hope you are all doing as well as you can be in your place and space in this time and I hope that when travel returns you think of AAYT and me :o) Take great care.

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Suck it up, every second, make sure you budget for these "life list" experiences you don't even realize now are going to pass quickly. We will never have the actual possessions in life that fill this space, so take advantage of it as long as you can. Plan trips, give them as a gift at Christmas, pay on them for months and then pack and go! No kiddo is too little to reflect the elation and joy of a Disney character or a Hawaiian sunset through their eyes and then experienced by their parents and captured in a photo. Travel my friends and let me help!   ​