That’s what they call me here. Ibu Camren, Ibu Christy, or just Ibu, which literally means mother, but in practice is like saying Miss or Mrs. It’s less formal though, friendlier. Welcome to Bali…

This is my third of four nights here and it has been a whirlwind – lounging on the beach, trekking through the “jungle”, watching craftsmen at work, eating strange and wonderful foods, and meeting wonderful people.

On the surface Bali is different than I expected. There is garbage and smoke and so many cars and motorcycles on narrow streets that I’m really quite amazed that we haven’t been involved in at least one accident. And while they’re not quite what I expected to find here, they’re all a part of Bali and are exciting and different and still a great part of this amazing experience.

The Bali I imagined is here, too. I’ve seen quiet villages and farmers tending their rice paddies or watching over their cows, children laughing, and some of the friendliest people you’ll ever meet.

It helps that I’ve got “connections” and great people taking care of me here.  I’ve been staying with Aman Resorts at Amanusa, Amandari and tomorrow, Amankila. As soon as I got off the plane and stepped foot on Bali I was greeted with a friendly smile and a “Welcome to Bali Ibu Camren”. I was escorted past the immigration line, which can be more than an hour long, and my visa was obtained while I waited for my luggage. Then it was off to the parking lot where an air-conditioned van was waiting with a cold cloth and cold drinks.

And that was just the first 30 minutes. It’s gotten more amazing each day.

Check back if you want to read more about my trip to Bali, and the cruise afterwards. I’ll try to post a few more times while I’m gone and add more details when I return home.

And, just in case you’re feeling sorry for me because I have to work while I’m here, here’s my view.

Share this with a friend!

Our new office!

This month we’ve been busy finalizing the details for our family travel showcase – Family Journeys of a Lifetime. This isn’t your typical travel showcase. We’ve brought together some of the best and most exciting family vacation companies in the world just for you. Whether you want an exciting adventure (polar bears in the wild anyone?), an authentic experience of a different culture (dinner with a family in China),  or just to enjoy some stress-free family time close to home (at a deluxe ranch with all activities and meals included) we KNOW you’ll leave with your mind swimming with possibilities.

Come out and see us Saturday anytime between 10AM and 2PM.
4848 E. Cactus Road Suite 800
(BabyStop Furniture behind Olive Garden and The Red Lobster)

Bring a friend. Bring the kids. (Thistle and Iris from Hidden Meadow Ranch will be there to say “Hi”.) And come ready to be inspired.

Thistle and Iris - Hidden Meadow Ranch's resident miniature Donkeys

Share this with a friend!

Space for this special event is quite limited so please call us if you wish to reserve a spot.

480-998-7606

Click here to view your invitation:
Royal African Safari Invitation

Share this with a friend!

I’m really looking forward to Halloween this year. My mom said I can wear my Dracula costume again – she says I look good in black and purple! I hope she takes me trick or treating. I love to get treats!

I had to stay with Uncle George last month because mom went to France. She said that I couldn’t go because it would be too long an airplane ride for me. She had a really good time. She and her mom, brother and sister rented a Villa in Provence. I wish I had been there. She said the food was really good, and that they let dogs go everywhere – in restaurants, grocery stores – everywhere!

Mom says that Hager’s Journeys is going to have a Family Travel Showcase in January. You can come and hear about lots of great family vacations – and some of them are pet friendly. I love those the best!

Well, that’s all for now. Happy trick or treating!

Share this with a friend!

Extraordinary… Breathtaking… Luxurious…

These are words our favorite hotels are used to hearing. But, nice? That sounds little underwhelming.

But that’s the exact word we used to describe the Hotel Helvetia & Bristol after we experienced it earlier this year and honestly, I can’t think of any higher praise.

The Hotel Helvetia & Bristol is a beautiful hotel.  Every room is unique – different sizes, shapes and furnishings. There is one thing they all have in common – they’re all individually designed and decorated with beautiful antiques. This isn’t an old, stuffy hotel, though. The rooms are fresh, cozy and comfortable. The goal at this hotel is to make you feel at home, and they absolutely do that. This where you stay if you want to feel like you’re in the Florence of old, but with every modern amenity.

But that is NOT what sets this hotel apart and that is certainly not why the girls nicknamed it the nice hotel. What makes this hotel shine, and the reason it holds such a special place in our hearts is the staff. They were so friendly and helpful and… nice. If they recommended a restaurant, they asked us how we liked it when we returned. And we were always greeted with a warm smile. We felt like they really liked us and cared that we were comfortable and had a great time in their city. It felt sincere and not like they were just being nice because it was their job. I’ve been to a lot of hotels with great service. This went beyond that. I don’t know how else to describe it except to say that the staff at the Hotel Helvetia & Bristol were all just… nice.

“Remember when we were staying at the nice hotel and…” That phrase was repeated several times throughout our trip. Even today, if I say something about “The Nice Hotel” the girls know what I’m talking about.

But wait, there’s more!

The hotel is in a GREAT location – right in the middle of the best shopping in Florence and within walking distance of the Duomo, The Acadamia and other top Florence attractions.

You can schedule a private or group cooking class in the kitchen of their restaurant, Hostaria Bibendm with their chef, Enzo Pettè, who has been voted one of the top 20 chefs in Italy.  Even better than that (in my opinion) is that you can join him in the morning as he chooses fresh produce at Mercato Centrale in San Lorenzo. Can you imagine a better way to experience Italian cuisine? (And yes, you do get to eat your creation at the end of the lesson AND wear a chef’s hat.)

Seriously, what’s not to love? Call us if you’d like us to arrange your stay. Guests who book with Hager’s Journeys receive:

• Room upgrade on arrival (subject to availability)
• Daily buffet breakfast for up to two in-room guests
• A unique Tuscan Gift
• Fresh Fruit plate in room on arrival

If you stay 4 or more nights you’ll also receive a 50 Euro credit to use for dinner in the Restaurant Hostaria.

Have you stayed at a hotel that made you feel completely at home like this? Leave a comment and let us know, we’d love to check it out.

PS
I did cheat and use the hotels photos. I have a really nice camera and took a lot of pictures but most of them look like this:

Share this with a friend!

Would you like to know what it’s like to be a princess? Now’s your chance. One of our very favorite hotels in London – The Goring – recently hosted Princess Kate (who was Kate Middleton at the time) and her family the night before the wedding. The family reserved all 68 rooms and suites with Kate enjoying the newly renovated Royal Suite, a four room suite taking up the entire top floor of the hotel.

The Goring recently released pictures of the Royal Suite which has just undergone a reported £150,000 renovation that took almost 18 months to complete from planning to refurbishment. Now you too can sleep in a bed literally fit for a future queen for just £5,000 per night. If you would rather sleep like a member of the future queen’s family, standard rooms start at around £359 per night. As clients of Hager’s Journeys you will receive special amenities including complimentary upgrade when available, full English breakfast for two, complimentary wi-fi and movies and, if you decide to stay in the Royal Suite, free round trip transportation between your London airport and the hotel.

Even before the Middleton family chose The Goring for their pre-wedding stay the 100 year old hotel has enjoyed a close relationship with England’s monarchy hosting kings and queens for breakfasts, lunches and teas. Guests of Buckingham Palace often stayed at the Goring, including the Norwegian Crown Prince in 1937 who said of The Goring – “At Buckingham Palace I have to share a bath with five people! Here I have one to myself”.

We’ve been sending clients to The Goring for years and are proud to say “We knew them when…”

Share this with a friend!

Before I left for Italy I read something in a guidebook about unsuspecting tourists paying €10 for a gelato. I couldn’t imagine why anyone would ever pay that much. These were obviously people who didn’t care if they wasted money. I was certain there was no way I would ever do anything like that. Unfortunately the guidebook author didn’t say HOW these poor tourists ended up paying so much. I assumed they just thought that was the regular price and weren’t smart enough to get off the tourist track to find something cheaper.

My name is Christy and I paid €7 for a gelato. This is my story.

We ate gelato every day while we were in Italy. (Sometimes more than once.) We always got a small because we wanted to save room for other treats. Even in the busy tourist areas a small cone or cup cost €1.50 – €3 each.

One afternoon in Florence we walked into a gelato shop and immediately the girls behind the counter started rushing us to place our orders. I looked at the board behind the counter with prices, saw that a small cup was €3, and said I wanted a piccolo cup. (piccolo means small in Italian) The girl taking my order picked up the smallest cup on the counter, said something in Italian, and I said – “Yes, piccolo. Piccolo.”

While she was scooping my gelato the others in my group started placing their orders. My daughter was the last to order and apparently noticed a few things while she was waiting for her turn. The cones on the counter were sugar cones and she knew that typically she received something smaller, made out of the same stuff our American cake cones are made out of. When she said she wanted a small cone, and the server reached for the smallest sugar cone on the counter, my daughter insisted that no, she wanted a small cone. Finally, after several attempt to get my daughter to accept the sugar cone, the server relented and took a small cone from the counter behind her.

It was at that point that the rest of us realized that we weren’t given the small cones or cups we had asked for but mediums at a much higher price. We were MAD. We paid (after some arguing) and complained about it for the next 30 minutes as we walked around Florence eating our delicious gelato. But then we had to laugh.

“What is that? $10? I can’t believe we paid that much for one cone.”

“Wait, I didn’t hear her say she was going to call the police!”

“At least it’s good gelato.”

“Did you hear me yelling at her not to add that second scoop?”

“Oh well, we’re in Italy…”

In hindsight there were signs that something wasn’t right. First, the cones and cups weren’t labeled with their prices, just stacked on the counter. There was a board listing prices behind the counter but in most gelato shops each cup and cone is clearly labeled with the price, and each size is displayed clearly on the counter like this:

Second, there was no reason for them to rush us the way they did. We were the only customers in the shop at the time, but even in busy shops the employees let us take our time deciding what flavor we wanted and waited for us to approach them when we were ready. Because we felt rushed we didn’t notice that the small cones and cups weren’t displayed on the counter. And we were too busy to listen to the little voice telling us something wasn’t right.

So, what’s the moral of this story? Take you’re time, don’t let people rush you, and pay attention. And if you do end up paying €7 for a gelato while you’re in Italy, don’t let it ruin your day. You’re in Italy! You’re eating gelato! You can’t go back and change things so you might as well laugh about it. And, now you have a great story tell when you get back home.

It’s so fun and exciting to be able to experience other cultures. Enjoy everything about it! Even when things don’t go as planned.

**We ate approximately one ton of gelato during our two weeks in Italy and this was the ONLY time we had an issue. Italy was great and the people were amazingly friendly. I’m not trying to scare you, just save you a few bucks Euro.**

Share this with a friend!

Italy was fun, crazy, busy, relaxing and completely amazing. Of course not everything went as planned. It rained more days than it didn’t, we ate some not so great meals, paid more than we should have for gelato, got off the train at the wrong stop, missed a connection… They weren’t fun experiences at the time but we laughed about them later. They’re all lessons learned, and really, are just part of traveling. We just said, “But we’re in Italy!” A lot. Raining? “But we’re in Italy!” 7 Euro for a gelato? “But we’re in Italy!” Inconvenient and disappointing things happen every day so if it’s going to rain on us, at least it was raining on us in Italy!

Over the next few weeks I’ll be sharing what went wrong, and giving you tips on what you can do to avoid some of the same problems. (or how to make the best of them when you can’t avoid them) I’ll also tell you about what went right because, as I’m sure you can imagine, we had some great moments in Italy and came home with a lot of fabulous memories. Maybe you’ll see something you’d like to experience, too!

I hope you’ll join in the conversation and share your experiences, too. Check back often, or even better,  sign up for free updates using the subscription links on the upper right side of the page to be notified when there’s a new post.

Share this with a friend!

I read a post on Monique Rubin’s blog recently   about a  similar tradition in her family, but with a twist. Instead of dreaming about dolls and bikes, her children are dreaming about travel.  Monique leaves a copy of Lonely Planet’s The Travel Book on the family’s coffee table where her two daughters can spend hours remembering where they’ve been, and dreaming about where they want to go next. This 448 page, 8.2 pound book literally provides a world of ideas.

A few days after I read that blog post I was looking through a children’s atlas with my nephew.  I wasn’t thinking about it in terms of travel, we were just looking at the pictures of the animals. One of the pages had a map of the US with the animals from each area pictured on the map. “I want to go there.” Carter said, pointing to a whale. “Wouldn’t it be cool to go there?” he asked later, when he saw a picture of a tiger. So much nicer than hearing, “I want that and that and that!”

I wish I had been smart enough to leave books like this out for my kids to pour through when they were younger. I’d much rather have them dreaming about exploring the world, learning new things, and making memories than about toys.

Share this with a friend!

We are very careful about the companies we entrust with your travel dreams. We only work with companies who have a history of exceptional service – who take care of not just the big details, but the small things as well. And, especially in places like Egypt, we only use companies who have the infrastructure in place to get you home safely in an emergency.

Our preferred suppliers for Egypt not only have offices and staff IN Egypt but also here in the US and the rest of the world so when communication was cut they were still able to keep everyone updated and continue to make arrangements to bring travelers home. During this time everything possible was done to make sure all travelers were comfortable and safe while waiting for their flights home. For our clients who had not yet left for Egypt, we worked with the airlines and our travel partners to process any refunds required.

Was it an easy, stress-free time for our clients or us? Absolutely not. But it would have been so much worse if we didn’t trust that our partners were capable and would put our clients first.

Photos courtesy of MOHAMMED ABED/AFP/Getty Images

Share this with a friend!