Posts by Travel Messiah | theBrideScoop

Best Long-Distance Love Story

February 14, 2012 By Travel Messiah 1 Comment

In summer 1996, there was an AOL user named MyQDPi who was lurking in an AOL chat room one evening. Just as she was about to log off, an instant message popped up from a user named IMAFLIRT. “Uh oh,” thought MyQDPi. They chatted briefly that evening. That evening turned into four months of chats and e-mails until November 11, 1996, when IMAFLIRT (real name: John) called MyQDPi (real name: Beth) at her job and they heard each other’s voices for the first time. That led to another four months of phone calls, chats, and e-mails until they were brave enough to meet face-to-face on March 15, 1997.

John & Beth. Photo courtesy of Beth Smith.

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Travel Messiah: California Wine Country Honeymoon ~ Part 1

January 20, 2012 By Travel Messiah 6 Comments

Yes, a Caribbean or tropical honeymoon is often the norm, but how about a California wine country honeymoon in Napa and Sonoma, where the wines are to die for, the food is fabulous, the scenery breathtaking, and the climate mild? If this sounds like a fun and relaxing way to spend your honeymoon, then I have some suggestions for you in Part 1 of this series: California Wine Country Honeymoon.

Whitehall Lane (Photo by Beth Smith)

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Travel Messiah: The Angel Tree Project

December 26, 2011 By Travel Messiah Leave a Comment

In addition to managing travel, I also teach at a rural community college in mountains of southwest Virginia, about 42 miles from where I live. The primary sources of jobs in the area are coal mining and farming. It’s tough area in which to teach because many of those who reside in the college’s service area live at or below poverty level.

Gift Tree (Photo from www.calvinboy.blogspot.com)

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Travel Messiah: Stay Sane for Holiday Travels

December 1, 2011 By Travel Messiah Leave a Comment

There’s not a more stressful time of year to travel than during the holidays.

Traveling During the Holidays (Photo by Tim Boyle for Bloomberg News)

These tips below will help you minimize stress and maximize enjoyment:

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IN THEORY: Travel Should Be Seamless

October 27, 2011 By Travel Messiah Leave a Comment

When people book travel, they often make the assumption that all will go as planned. However, nothing could be further from the truth, especially when it relates to air travel. Airlines have cut capacity and flights which means fewer flight options and very full planes. All it takes is one travel glitch – such as bad weather in a certain location – to cause a ripple effect of delays and cancellations across the entire system.

Stranded at Airport (Photo from www.danielafurini.it)

To minimize travel inconvenience both in the air and on the ground, I recommend the following:

1) If this is a trip of a lifetime, like a honeymoon or an expensive trip, use a travel professional to book and coordinate your air, lodging, ground transportation and tours. He or she should be a person who not only plans and books your trip but someone who is in your corner, ready to reach out to travel providers on your behalf should something go wrong. Above all, remember it’s the company and the destination that are most important, not the logistics. Leave the logistics in the hands of a travel professional. It’s money well-spent and the peace of mind will be priceless, should travel plans go awry.

2) Plan at least one full day at the beginning and at the end of the trip to arrive and return.

3) Select an airline that has multiple options to and from your destination.

4) Travel all flights on the same airline, if at all possible. If not possible, select airlines that are partners in the same alliance and allow plenty of time to get from one airline to the next, as they may not be in the same airport terminals.

5) Don’t prepay lodging, ground transportation or tours, if at all possible, as those expenses are usually nonrefundable and non-changeable, even if there is a travel delay or cancellation that prevents you from arriving on time.

6) Consider travel insurance, if your trip is a trip of a lifetime, an expensive trip or a trip to a questionable destination with regard to political unrest or medical care.

In theory, travel should be seamless. In reality, the odds are stacked against having a perfectly executed trip.

Our Travel Messiah, Beth Smith, will introduce you to places you have only dreamed about. Please follow Beth on facebook and twitter or visit her website or read more of her travel musings on her blog.

Travel Messiah: Is Boyfriend Really A Husband?

September 28, 2011 By Travel Messiah Leave a Comment

My boyfriend and I have been together for 14 and a half years but we haven’t lived together. He lives in New York and I live in Virginia – over 600 miles apart. We both debated which test we should do because we have been together so long. We decided to take Husbands and Wives due to the length of our relationship.

John & Beth

Amazingly, our results were just as we both thought they would be. His highest categories were Quality Time (10), Physical Touch (9) and Acts of Service (5), while mine were Acts of Service (9), Quality Time (8) and Words of Affirmation (6). Because we live apart, it’s not surprising that Quality Time would be high for both of us and we try to savor our weekends together. It also wasn’t surprising for me that Physical Touch was high for him, because well, he’s a guy!

But for me, Physical Touch was a score of five so don’t think I don’t want to get physical! But because we are apart more than we are together, Words of Affirmation by phone, e-mail and text make me feel loved. He knows that and often shows his encouragement and support. As to Acts of Service, we often spend our weekends doing chores together and running errands for each other, so we both are appreciative of that demonstration of love. When we travel to see each other, he cooks for me and I do the dishes and clean up. We do each other’s laundry, he repairs and fixes things at my apartment and I help him organize and clean his apartment.

As I read this, I am thinking, “Yep, we sound married!”

That being said, we aren’t married and we haven’t lived together, so we both took the singles quiz, too. Our top three were the same as the other quizzes except we had the same number one, Quality Time, with the same score of 11. I think that bodes well for us, don’t you?

Where were you on September 11, 2001?

September 11, 2011 By Travel Messiah 2 Comments

I remember exactly where I was that day, teaching a Spanish class via compressed video to another community college. My tech support guy ran in and switched the channel of the broadcast monitor to the Today Show. My classes locally and remotely just sat and stared in shock at the monitors and I had to dismiss class early. After class, I kept trying to call my boyfriend in New York on my cell, but I couldn’t get through. Finally, he called me and said, “I don’t want to tie up the lines, but I am OK”. I was never so relieved in my life.

Beacon of Light & Hope from Ground Zero (Photo from www.maggiesnotebook.com)

September 11 changed many lives forever - in the most cruel and horrible ways. It also dramatically changed air travel. I was scheduled to fly to Washington, DC the week or two after for a doctoral degree meeting at George Mason University and to meet my boyfriend. I still had to attend the meeting, but my airport, Washington National, was closed. US Airways rerouted me to and from Washington-Dulles instead. I have to say that was the most quiet air travel itinerary of my life. The planes were eerily quiet with very few passengers and I could feel the fear around me. Once I arrived at Dulles, no one was in the terminals. You could have heard a pin drop it was so deathly quiet. On the return, I remember seeing guard-like police with guns everywhere and the beginning of the invasive searches and patdowns that have become commonplace today.

For a short time, my flights to and from New York to connect with my boyfriend were also different. For what seemed like forever, I could still see the dust and smoke at Ground Zero when I flew into LaGuardia. But gradually, over time, the area became dark. There was always a moment of silence and a sense of togetherness among the passengers on my New York flights. People were more quiet, sensitive, kind and polite to each other. The tragedy brought us together in a way that no other event has.

There are so many feeling stirred up inside of me as I write this, 10 years later. I am still brokenhearted for the families who lost loved ones. I long for the freedom I once felt when I flew. I wish people were still as kind to each other now as we were in the months following September 11, instead of so politically divisive. Indeed, September 11 changed this nation and we see and feel the effects in our lives every, single day.

Beth Smith
C’est Beth Personal Travel Assistant

TIP TUESDAY: Book Airfare Like a Pro

August 30, 2011 By Travel Messiah Leave a Comment

If there is anything I have learned over the last few weeks and during this Hurricane Irene weekend, it’s that many of us are guilty of this: we assume our flight itinerary will operate as scheduled. However, the odds against a perfect flight itinerary are very slim.

Frustrated Traveller (Photo from www.theaustralian.com.au)

Case in Point #1: A friend of mine and her family planned and booked a group cruise vacation themselves. I followed the saga on facebook. Apparently, they booked the cheapest possible option, a once-per-day non-stop flight on low-cost carrier the day of the cruise. Two mistakes were made: booking on an airline that only flies to your destination once per day and booking their travel on the day of the cruise. What ended up happening was that the flight was so delayed due to a mechanical problem that they missed their cruise with the rest of the group. The airline didn’t try to assist them at all because they fulfilled their part of the travel, they got them there the day they were scheduled to arrive, albeit late. The cruise company tried to accommodate them on another cruise the following day and the day after but they were overbooked, so my friend and her parents ended up spending the week at a hotel in Fort Lauderdale until the rest of their cruise group returned the following weekend. Luckily, the parents had purchased cruise insurance but their kids had not, so they also lost their cruise money.

Case in Point #2: A friend of mine contacted me last night about advice regarding a complicated, multi-airline flight itinerary his friend had booked on a third-party travel website. Due to Hurricane Irene, his first flight had been canceled and was going to jeopardize the entire remainder of the itinerary. He tried calling the various airlines that flew the flights in his itinerary and none of them would help because, when you purchase from a third-party travel website, they become your travel agent. Therefore, the customer had to call the third-party website’s outsourced telephone support and wait hours on hold to speak to someone.

Travel Tip #1: When booking an airline ticket to an event (like your honeymoon, a cruise, a show, etc.) that can’t be missed, book the flight to arrive at least one day in advance, select an airline that has multiple options to your destination and don’t take the last flight there.

Travel Tip #2: When booking an airline ticket for a trip that is complicated and/or involves multiple airlines and connections, either book directly with the airline(s) or with a reputable travel agent.

Travel Tip #3: If you are booking a trip of a lifetime or an expensive trip, consider travel insurance.

TIP TUESDAY: Planning a vacation? Don’t!

August 23, 2011 By Travel Messiah Leave a Comment

If you are planning a vacation - just stop it! I don’t mean don’t go, I mean stop planning it. Book your transportation and a place to sleep but let everything else just happen.

Believe me, I am the world champion when it comes to organization and planning. It’s why I am a good travel manager - I make your flights, transportation, hotel and car rental all come together effortlessly. However, a vacation is supposed to be a time to relax and unwind. It’s taken my boyfriend of 14 years to teach me that planning a vacation is an oxymoron.

Cruising Around Palm Beach (Photo by Beth Smith)

Case in point. Last weekend, we took one of our quickie weekend trips to the Palm Beach, Florida area. On Saturday morning, I said, “So what are we doing today?” and he said, “We’re getting in the car and exploring.” So we did and we had one of the best days ever - all unplanned!

We ate a late buffet breakfast at our hotel, the Hilton Singer Island (gotta love a hotel that serves breakfast until noon!), then explored the Palm Beach area in our Alamo-provided 2011 Chevrolet HHR. We stumbled upon MacArthur Beach State Park on Singer Island and shared a café mocha at Paris in Town Le Café in North Palm Beach. We drove from North Palm Beach to West Palm Beach by way of Dixie Highway (U.S. Highway 1), not the interstate, then turned east (can’t tell you the route!) and ended up in the ritzy Palm Beach resort area, where we took a walk on the beach and admired the perfectly pruned lawns and bushes that give those huge mansions some privacy from the road traffic. We made our way west and somehow found ourselves on Clematis Street in West Palm Beach where we enjoyed an early dinner at Don Ramón Cuban Cuisine and sampled four beers each at World of Beer.

So for your next vacation or even your next weekend at home, try this: Don’t set an alarm, get up when you feel like it, get in your car and just drive (preferably on a side road), eat when you’re hungry, drink when you’re thirsty and just stop and explore whatever piques your interest.

Take a break, let go, breathe, live.

Travel Messiah: Spice up your sex life with travel!

August 19, 2011 By Travel Messiah Leave a Comment

Does your sex life need a little pick-me-up? If so, there’s nothing like a new and exciting destination to get you in the mood. It doesn’t have to be a big, well-planned vacation. In fact, it should be the opposite. A quickie weekend (pun intended!) to a different locale is all you need. Let your mind wander. What is your fantasy destination? An exotic beach, a mountain retreat, dining and dancing with your sweetie in a big city?

Sexy Travel Togetherness (Photo from www.news.travel.aol.com by Getty Images)

The good news is that many online travel booking sites offer deeply-discounted, last-minute travel options. For example, at Kayak Buzz, just enter your airport and your max price, and you can generate a list of the top 25 cities or the cities with the lowest fares from your airport. Other sites to check out are Fare Compare and airfarewatchdog. Also check out last-minute packages at websites such as Expedia, Hotwire and Travel Ticker.

Once you’ve booked your getaway, keep it low stress and high romance. Don’t plan anything but your arrival and departure. A little spontaneity goes a long way! Pack light (really, how much clothing will you really need?) and plan to leave your electronic devices at home (or at least turn them off!) so nothing will interrupt your us time. Focus on each other and live in the moment because that’s really all we have!