Blenda's Travel Escapades

02/11/2024

01/11/2024

I'm excited to introduce a new travel partner, Exoticca, specializing in moderately priced trips. I met Natalie Rogers at a recent travel conference. She is from the East Texas area originally and I look forward to working with her for great client trips.

30/10/2024

19/10/2024

My Sis, Chandra Richardson and daughter, Robyn White and I went to the Gold Over America, Olympic gymnasts tour in Austin last night. We saw Simone Biles, Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey and Jocelyn Robertson. Jocelyn is from Texarkana! Brody Malone and Fred Richards also performed.

I enjoyed hearing thousands of future gymnasts singing the songs with the performances. They were so excited. It was a great show with a blend of dance and gymnastics with video, music and lights. As the pictures show, we were high up in the Moody Center but could see everything. It was a fun night!

17/10/2024

BIG NEWS!
I received training with Universal Orlando at the National Convention and the Grand Opening has just been announced. It looks very exciting and now an opening date!

Universal Epic Universe- 5 Immersive Worlds. 1 Amazing Theme Park. Epic Universe will bring to life a new chapter in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, a dedicated land to How to Train Your Dragon, another Super Nintendo World, and a Dark Universe land full of the classic monsters like Dracula, Frankenstein, and more.

The new theme park will also introduce Celestial Park and Universal Helios Grand Hotel, A Loews Hotel, which will have direct access into the park.
Universal Epic Universe.

The fourth theme park at Universal Orlando Resort, officially opens May 22, 2025. On October 22, select multi-day tickets and packages will go on sale. Additional ticket products will be available at a later date.

16/10/2024

Will the Wise Travel Owl is back with an update of GOOD NEWS for travelers to Mexico. After reconsideration, Mexico has eliminated the fee for multiple electronics on visiting travelers!

https://www.travelpulse.com/Airlines-and-Airports/What-Travelers-Need-to-Know-After-Cancun-Airport-Eliminates-the-Fee-Associated-With-Multiple-Electronics/555507?utm_source=eNewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=tpdaily&oly_enc_id=6888C6274556F6A

This is wonderful news and less stress for travelers!

15/10/2024

On our Bonus Day at Sea on the Independence of the Sea, I had time to explore the ship. This is a great ship for families. They have a nursery that accepts babies as young as 6 months, and kids and teen areas. There is a great arcade area, flow rider and slides. The kids were loving the splash pads and kids pools. If putt-putt, pickleball or rock climbing is more your interest, it’s available. And porch swings! I’ve never seen porch swings on a ship before. What a great place to read a book.

14/10/2024

13/10/2024

On the last “official” day of our conference, we had presentations from AmaWaterways, one of my favorite river cruise lines. Our Consortia Leader, Travel Leaders Network, also presented.

The agents within our host agency believe in cooperation, not competition. This was demonstrated with a work session led by fellow agent, Byrd from San Antonio who assisted several of us with our websites. My website, https://www.BlendasTravelEscspades.com, is a work in progress but continues to improve. Watch for new ideas and additions!

11/10/2024

We are in Dallas after a crazy hour delay.. how do they put fuel in the wrong tank of an airplane??? And then, there’s another plane at our gate just because we’re already 30 minutes late? So, we sit for another 30 minutes! So, a day and an hour late, we’re back! I’ll catch up with the last 2 days of our cruise soon.

10/10/2024

10/10/2024

I had a few hours ashore at Taino Bay, Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic. I worked in the morning and caught a ride to the main terminal about noon. There is a free pool and lazy river at the terminal station. There was a DJ, swim up bar and entertainers. I hadn’t planned to go in but it was hot and there was a group of travel agents already in the pool. My family will tell you that it’s not the first time I’ve gone swimming in my clothes! It was very refreshing and fun for a short visit.

The dance production, Invitation to Dance, was moved to tonight in case of rocky water tomorrow night.

I’ve always heard of the elevator piano man but we actually were able to ride in the same elevator on this trip. He played outside the Windjammer Buffet, too. It’s so fun!

09/10/2024

Edited- The Captain just announced that the Port of Miami has closed. We will dock and disembark on Friday. After a very jam-packed schedule of learning seminars, we aren’t mad about that!

Hello from a slow boat to nowhere! We are currently stopped along the coast of Cuba. It’s a beautiful peaceful day for us as Hurricane Milton causes problems in Florida. The decision will be made in a few hours if we will try to make it in to Miami tonight after landfall or hold off until tomorrow. Whenever we dock, Teri and I are prepared. We have contingency plans for both situations. For certain, we aren’t flying in until Friday night.

08/10/2024

Thank you to those who have expressed your concern for our safety due to Hurricane Milton. Teri and I are being proactive and moved our flights to Friday. We haven’t heard officially but we really don’t think that we will be docking in Miami on Thursday. So, we changed our flights so that we would have flights. After I changed ours flights, there were only 4 seats left on that flight! But we are fine and watching everything carefully. With 200 travel agents onboard, there’s a lot of experience with pivoting travel plans!

08/10/2024

I was reunited with one of my fav travel colleagues, Michele, at the OA Covktail party. I’m so glad to see her. Yesterday was spent in seminars and presentations from suppliers. I think I’m going to offer a group train trip with Rocky Mountaineer in 2025. These aren’t sleeper cars so that you see all of the beautiful scenery rolling by but hotels are included in the package price. Who wants to travel by rail?

I had dinner in the Main Dining room and then watched the production of Grease. It was a full energy and fun show!

07/10/2024

I always tell clients that travel is an adventure and to be ready to pivot. Onboard the Independence of the Seas, we were advised last night that we won’t be in Cozumel tomorrow but at Puerta Playa, Dominican Republic in order to miss Hurricane Milton. I’ve never been to Dominican Republic so I’m excited to investigate this new port. We are scheduled to disembark on Thursday morning in Miami.. but… stay tuned.

07/10/2024

Yesterday, our host agency transferred over 200 travel agents through torrential rain from Ft. Lauderdale to Miami to begin our National Conference at Sea. At our general session, the keynote speaker was Vicki Freed, Senior Vice President of Royal Caribbean. She gave a fun and inspiring presentation. She also hinted at a big announcement from RCCL that will enable even more fun for guests on RCCL cruises. We have a lovely balcony room.

Once again (2nd time in a row), the sail away party was cancelled due to rain. But as we pulled away from port, we sailed past Icon of the Seas, the largest ship in the world. It is always fun waving and cheering at the passengers on other ships as you pull out of port.

One of my new suppliers, Natalie Rogers with Exxotica, invited Teri and I to join her at Izumi, the hibachi grill restaurant onboard. It’s the second night that I had fried rice but both were excellent. The lava cake was extreme ooey gooey decadent chocolate indulgence.

Have you ever seen a sports bar like this on a ship? I was quite impressed with the pool tables and number of screens available.

We watched the Ice Skating show which was very fun. After some dancing, this gal was done and ready for sleep!

06/10/2024

Show me your fav hat..

06/10/2024

A perfect way to have have a Perfect Day at Coco Cay with Royal Caribbean.. This is my first time to visit here. Who’s been to Coco Cay before? Tell us about your experience…

06/10/2024

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