Planning your vacation: Basic information and Volunteerism
Finding the Right All-Inclusive Resort
All all-inclusive vacations are not for all travelers, for each resort comes with its own special mix of opportunities. Some are focused on romance, catering to couples who came to connect. Other are family oriented, providing a well-balanced diet of adventure for all ages.
The key is finding the right mix of fun and relaxation, and whether that mix includes multiple pools, a private beach, included water sports, kid and teen centers, family rooms, nearby attractions, indulgent spas, championship golf and fine dining options.
Here are some things to keep in mind when choosing the perfect all-inclusive resort for you and yours:
Where to Go
Paradise can be found in many locations, and each will have an all-inclusive resort nearby. If a picture-perfect beach lapped by turquoise waters is the one ingredient you can’t live without, set your sights on the idyllic islands in the Caribbean. If you want to explore your locale a bit more in depth, then chose a resort near grand attractions, such as Jamaica where you can go hiking up the Dunn’s River Falls, or Cozumel, where nearby Mayan ruins are waiting to be explored. Other resorts are on or near championship-quality golf courses, offering packages that include a few rounds.
When to Go
Like all popular holiday spots, summer, spring break and Christmas are peak times for all-inclusive resorts. Going at those times may be the most convenient for your schedule, but be prepared to deal with more fellow guests. Also, June through November is technically hurricane season in the Caribbean, so lower-priced packages come with a slight risk. Don’t worry, many resorts offer weather guarantees, giving you credit for a future stay if a hurricane is on path to disrupt your dream vacation.
How Much
The cost of an all-inclusive package can seem high at first glance, until you take into consideration all that package provides. Included in the cost of your stay is usually all meals, premium drinks, numerous sports and activities, social functions and often tips. Some resorts pride themselves in telling guests to bring little or no cash, for it’s not needed as long as you stay inside the resort.
The Contenders
Here is a short list of resort chains to consider, located in some of the most beautiful, sun-soaked destinations in the world.
SuperClubs
SuperClubs is proud to offer Super All-Inclusive packages, which include all food and snacks in a variety of dining options, free weddings and renewal of vows, piano bars that stay open until you say when, all land and water sports and unlimited premium brand cocktails. With eleven properties in Jamaica, Curacao, The Bahamas, The Dominican Republic and Brazil, you can find one that caters to your individual needs.
Beaches
Beaches specializes in offering the ultimate family getaway. From fun-filled fantasylands for kids to world-class luxury and amenities for adults, all in gorgeous tropical settings, Beaches truly has something for everyone. Kid-focused amenities include Vacation with Elmo and Friends, Xbox 360 Game Garage, Pirates Island, golf for kids in Jamaica, supervised kids camps, huge water slides, swim-up soda bar, fully-staffed nursery and a disco.
Sandals
Offering “Luxury Included Vacations for Two People in Love,” Sandals provides everything you need to escape with your partner for a romantic getaway. Sandals delights couples in love with supremely luxurious accommodations, gourmet candlelit dining for two, gorgeous tropical settings and some of the world’s most exquisite beaches.
Enhancing Your Travels with Voluntourism
Through Living and Learning we have discovered so many ways to volunteer while we are on vacations. Our children will be forever affected from our time volunteering at different centers, homeless shelters and poverty stricken areas. I found this great article on the Global travel website. I am a registered travel agent with them and occasionally book our trips through the website for great trips. If you are in volunteering and want more information below are some great ideas for you to participate in while on vacation.
To travel well is to thoroughly experience a destination in such a way that it changes you forever. Nowhere is this concept more obtainable than through voluntourism. This new way to experience the world—in which travelers spend part or all of their vacation volunteering their time and energy to assist the community—can make more of a difference in the lives of the local people than buying a few over-priced trinkets.
Not that there’s anything wrong with buying souvenirs and infusing the local economy with much-needed tourism dollars. But many cultures around the world need more than money. They need help fixing schools and building women’s shelters; learning valuable skills and new languages to make them viable in today’s global marketplace; and preserving their historic sites and fragile ecosystems.
Voluntourism is that help, letting you experience a new part of the world while intimately connecting with the indigenous people in an unforgettable way and making a tangible difference in their lives.
An underground idea for decades, voluntourism blossomed in recent years as more and more concerned citizens wanted to help in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the Southeast Asian tsunami of 2004. Today, travelers ready to lend a hand have many opportunities to aid communities around the world through one- and two-week programs.
Examples include building a rainwater collection unit at a rural school in Cambodia, cleaning reefs in the waters off Aruba, restoring a village in the Blue Mountains of Jamaica, caring for orphans in India, repairing Aboriginal homes in Australia, helping in the kitchen at a peace center in Northern Ireland, protecting dolphins in South Africa or working with senior citizens on an Indian reservation in South Dakota.
While each voluntourism trip is unique, they usually include meals highlighting the local cuisine, accommodations and ground transportation from the airport to the community site, leaving the airfare and visas up to you. Also, each trip generally comes with free time for you to venture away from the project and explore the host country.
But for most of the time during your volunteer adventure, you will work. The fruits of your labor will be small, but every improvement you make, every smile you bring to the face of a deprived child, helps that community take one more step in a positive direction…a step they could not have taken without the generous assistance of earnest voluntourists like you.
For more information, visit www.Tkohelpinghands.org , www.VolunTourism.org and www.GlobalVolunteers.org. For assistance with flights and other travel services to your destination, please give our agency a call. These organizations will help you find places for you to volunteer.
Persuading Your Teen to Take a Family Cruise
In a teenager’s mind, there’s nothing worse than spending a vacation with the family. To them, a trip with the ‘lame’ parents and ‘bratty’ little brother is filled with confined spaces, no personal freedom and limited interaction with other teens. Thankfully, teenagers are often misinformed, especially when it comes to a family cruise vacation.
Cruise lines have been working overtime to please teens, creating “cool” areas, shore excursions, spa programs and more, all geared specially for the teen set. Why go to such great lengths? Because one disgruntled teen can ruin the entire trip. And parents can’t relax unless they know everyone in their brood is in a good mood, which make cruises the ideal choice.
Below you’ll find a list of cruise lines and what they offer for teens. Armed with this information, you’ll have the upper hand in convincing your teen that a week with the fam island-hopping in the Caribbean or cruising past glaciers in Alaska won’t be so bad. One word of warning: some of these cruise lines offer so many options for your kids, you may barely see them for the entire vacation. Sounds blissful, doesn’t it?
Celebrity Cruises
Celebrity’s X-Club is designed to make sure your children enjoy the cruise as much as you do. Once on board, they will receive Teen Scene, a daily newsletter detailing the day’s activities. Ship includes popular Sony PlayStation® game titles, a teenager’s video arcade called Waves, late-night pool parties with music, teen disco, teen karaoke, pizza parties and e-mail services.
Holland America Line
Provides a wide variety of exciting youth- and teen-friendly activities and facilities for guests ages 3 to 17. For teens, The Loft and The Oasis features teen disco, karaoke sessions, video games, teen sports tournaments, card games, trivia contests, bingo, movies and videos.
Norwegian Cruise Line
NCL’s Freestyle Cruising is all about flexibility and freedom. Your teens can eat where they want (13 restaurants to choose from), when they want, and with whom they want (hopefully that includes you). Highlights for teen include Nintendo Wii games played on a two-story screen, the only bowling alleys at sea, rock climbing wall, internet café, theme parties, sports events, teen dining or taking in a show as a group.
Princess Cruises
Teen Centers are packed with PlayStation® 2, the latest movies and music, karaoke, giant screen TVs, card games, board games, ping pong tables and juke boxes. On the Grand Princess and Golden Princess, teens have a separate jacuzzi and sun deck just for them. Princess also offers teens-only dance parties, the Dating Game, t-shirt painting, sports tournaments, casino night, pizza parties, mocktails, hip hop dance classes and teen dinners.
Royal Caribbean International
When you cruise with RCI, you’re not just going on a vacation, you’re embarking on an adventure! Highlights for all onboard include a giant rock-climbing wall, ice skating rink and catching a wave on the FlowRider. Adventure Ocean groups give teens the freedom to come and go as they please for sports, themed parties, movie nights and more. Teens can also meet and relax in the laid-back Living Room lounge, or dance late into the night at Fuel, a teen-only nightclub.
Once you’ve decided which cruise line your teen would love most, call our agency to find the ideal departure that will get everyone in your family excited!
Avoiding Excess Luggage and Excessive Airline Luggage Fees
To compensate for skyrocketing fuel prices, more and more airlines are now charging for each piece of luggage you check. Switching to carry-on luggage to avoid this fee is not always the answer, due to safety considerations and federal rules regarding what you can or cannot take on board.
The best solution to avoiding excessive luggage fees is to simply avoid excessive luggage. You’ll pay less at check-in when you pack everything you need into one bag, instead of two or three, as long as that one bag does not exceed weight restrictions. Plus, packing lighter often makes your trip simpler—fewer pieces of luggage to rattle down cobblestone streets or keep your eyes on in crowded areas.
Here are a few tips to help you pack everything you need in as little space as possible.
Create a Packing List
A carefully-constructed packing list saves you from last-second over-packing, ensuring that everything you intend to bring is packed up and ready to go. Plus, in the unlikely event that your luggage is lost, the list can help you claim all that is missing. Packing lists also let you visualize everything you intend to bring, helping you realize that some items can be used more than once, thus allowing you to eliminate other items that are good for only one use.
Color Coordinate
Try to choose clothes that mix and match well together. Pick one color as your base—usually brown or black—and then choose neutral colors that match well, especially when layered. With one base color, it will be easier to bring just one pair of shoes that can be worn with multiple outfits.
Keep a Well-Stocked Travel Kit
A well-stocked travel kit, always filled with miniature bottles of all your usual toiletries, will save you time and space. Remember, when refilling your travel-sized bottles with hair gel or shampoo, don’t fill them up to the very top. The pressure inside the plane may cause contents to expand.
Find Out what Your Hotel Already Has
Check the hotel’s Web site or contact your travel agent to discover which in-room amenities will be waiting for you at your destination. Hair dryers and travel irons take up a lot of space, so leave them behind when you can.
Think Small, Pack Smaller
Think of ways you can minimize your daily items. Bring a shampoo/conditioner combo instead of two separate bottles. Leave electronic razors and toothbrushes behind and just pack regular ones. Find a moisturizer with SPF included.
Filed under: The Art of Giving | No Comments »
When I sat down to share my thoughts and insights about what it means to be a valuable mother to my children, I really had to look hard at myself for sometime. I began with the usual rigmarole regarding kindness, respect, empathy and I had to stop myself. Do I always portray an image of kindness ? Am I respectful as I carry on with the minutia of my day ? Am I empathetic when I am rushing to get my 10 year old to finish his homework during breakfast while listening to my 8 year old daughters bout with mean girl drama, all the while trying desperately 
Long ago, people realized that there is strength in numbers. For hundreds of years, we have been joining forces against all kinds of calamities — including financial troubles. 
Explore a life of living and learning with us; The Ellens