Revisiting the blog

It has been a while since I have written on my blog. Since my last visit to this site, I have traveled to Louisana and Lake Tahoe and been on 3 cruises. I know what you're thinking, I must have money. Not true, just guts! My husband and I decided to do the one thing we like to do -TRAVEL. I don' t know how we expect to make a profit, because we are always going somewhere.

I know it is hard to believe that in this economic downturn, we are hitting the road. However, despite the economic challenge, we have had a grand old time. It has been an adventure. My most memorable experience was in Lake Tahoe. The natural beauty of Lake Tahoe is indescrible. As we drove up, around, and down the hot, dry, dusty mountain, the lake seems to appear out of nowhere. It truly is an oasis in the desert 6000 feet above sea level. We stayed at the Ridge Tahoe in Stateline NV. This resort was 7000 feet above sea level. But the most exciting part of this vacation was riding the gondola 9000 feet above sea level. I can't believe I did it. You know my family talked me into it. What an incredible view! Anyone who likes to travel, should go to Lake Tahoe.

Two of the 3 cruises were business related. The first cruise was the culminating event of the TPOC convention that was held in New Orleans in April. Besides the convention, we were about to get a comprehensive tour of the devasted areas that Hurricane Katrina flooded and attend one of the events at the New Orleans Heritage Jazz Festival. The weekend we were there, Al Green was the featured performer. We decided to attend The Travel Professionals of Color Convention to expose our business, Brooks C Cruises and network with other travel professionals of color. After the convention, we took a cruise on the Carnival Fantasy and cruised to the Yucatan Penisula. On sailing days, we were attending business workshops.

On our second cruise, we sailed on the Carnival Victory out of NYC to St John Island, Newfoundland Canada, the last week in August - Labor Day weekend. Beautiful itinerary, friendly people, but too cold for me. However, the price was so reasonable, we could not resist going with our friends.

During the latter part of October and the beginning of November, we scheduled 3 events that is bound help our business, if we market correctly. Before we went on our third cruise, we attended the World Religious Travel Expo in Orlando, FL. This was an exciting and informative conference. We had the opportunity to network with companies that promoted religious travel to various religious sites throughout the world. We will begin to promote travel to the Holyland and Africa. Once we left that conference, we drove to Ft Lauderdale, to board Holland America's Westerdam. We were taking the 7-night Dave Koz Jazz Cruise. This trip was fabulous. We had the opportunity to meet and mingle with Dave Koz, Jonathan Butler, Najee, Richard Eliott, Denyce Williams, George Duke, Eric Benet, and many more musicians. These artist were so cordial and accessible to the guests throught out the cruise. It felt like a family reunion with high quality entertainment for 7 nights. What a way to spend a week! On the days that we were at sea, we had to attend travel agent workshops to help us promote the upcoming jazz cruises.

Finally, now that we are back in Fl, we are resting for a few days, before we drive down to Miami to attend the Travel Trade Show. This will be another learning experience to assists us in building and promoting our travel buisness. Even though we are tired, this is a great job!