New York City

Hello!

It's Raegan and earlier this month I visited New York City. We drove to Newark and, as an experiment, stayed at The Wyndham Garden Newark Airport. We took the train into the city each day. I was hoping to save a bit of money by doing this but the expense of the train and the inconvenience of not being IN the city were, in my opinion, not worth the savings. We took the hotel shuttle to Newark Airport. Then the airport tram to the train station. Then the New Jersey Transit Train into New York Penn Station ($12.50 each way per person) and then the subway to wherever we wanted to be so it was inconvenient, to say the least. It took about 90 minutes each way from hotel to final destination. Other than that hassle, though, the trip was fantastic. The weather was cool but clear and beautiful! We visited the 9/11 Memorial, Times Square and Rockefeller Plaza, Fifth Avenue, South Street Seaport, Brooklyn Bridge, Greenwich Village, etc. We ate yummy New York style pizza and cheesecake and shopped til we dropped (almost literally) we walked miles! I love New York and will continue to visit every chance I get!!

Disney Earmarked Conference and Disney Fantasy

Hi it's Brandi and I just returned from visiting Mickey again! I spent 2 nights at Disney's Coronado Springs Resort. This property is a moderate property that has a Southwest theme. This is the only moderate hotel with convention facilities. It is also the only moderate with a table service restaurant however I chose the quick service option and had great spicy fish tacos. I visited Magic Kingdom in the evening after my meetings and rode Pirates of the Caribbean and saw the light parade. Between the parade and fireworks they do a "Let the Memories Begin" slide/ laser show of photos submitted by this year's guests at Disney projected onto Cinderellas Castle. Next I went on the inaugural 3 night sailing of the Disney Fantasy. We had 1 day at sea and visited Disney's Castaway Cay, their private island. The Fantasy has all of the magical experiences of the rest of the Disney Cruise Line fleet such as rotational dining, fireworks at sea, amazing Disney deck parties and dedicated family night clubs as well as the fantastic children's programs. However The Fantasy has some different highlights from the other Disney ships like The Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, Draw Your Own Character in the Animator's Palate Dining Room and the show Aladdin. As always, Disney has exciting new activities at every turn. Like Mickey would say, "See ya real soon!"

Freeport, Bahamas

Hello! Jerry here!
I recently traveled on the new Vision Airlines from Richmond, VA nonstop to Freeport, Bahamas. I stayed for 2 nights at the Grand Lucayan Resort. I participated in the Dolphin Experience where you interact with the dolphins in the water. I toured several other resorts on the island and saw a wonderful dinner show. This is a great inexpensive option for a quick get-away.

Enchantment of the Seas Bermuda Cruise

In May, I, Raegan, sailed to Bermuda aboard Royal Caribbean's Enchantment of the Seas. This is one of their smaller ships but it is very pretty. The food and shows were great. This was my second time in Bermuda. We took the trolley bus around the island to Elbow Beach. This beach is spectacularly beautiful! We ate lunch in Hamilton at a neat little restaurant called Lobster Pot. We took the ferry back to the ship and then took a sunset cruise - very beautiful. The next morning we went deep sea fishing. This was my first time fishing ever and I caught the largest fish on the boat! I am hooked! Bermuda is a beautiful island and I can't wait to go back.

Catching up

2011 has been a busy year for Travel Leaders. We haven't traveled as much as usual and have unfortunately gotten behind on our blog. To catch you up, in January Brandi went to the Disney "Earmarked" Conference aboard Disney's newest cruise ship, the Disney Dream. This was an amazing ship, everything you'd expect from Disney and more, including AquaDuck, water coaster at sea and virtual protholes in interior staterooms and Crush the Sea Turtle joins you for dinner.
Next, in February Brandi went to St. Lucia, the Hawaii of the Caribbean, for her anniversary and stayed at the Windjammer Landing Resort for 2 nights and Sandals LaToc for 3 nights in a Water's Edge Butler Suite. Both resorts were great. The Windjammer caters to families while Sandals is couples only.
Finally, in April Brandi visited Daytona Beach, Florida for the first time. She stayed at The Wyndham on the beach. Daytona is a beach town. The beach is very wide and you can drive on certain sections of it. They went to the boardwalk and rode the ferris wheel and bumper cars.

Seattle, Washington

Hi! It's Raegan and in January we went to Seattle to visit friends. We flew on Airtran Airways from Washington Dulles to Seattle. We visited Pike Place Market and looked through litttle shops, crafts booths, flower markets and the famous fish markets. We had lunch at a restaurant called Crab Pot. They covered our table with brown butcher paper, put bibs on us and dumped two huge pots of shrimp, crab legs and other shell fish, potatoes and small ears of corn on the cob right on the table! We stuffed ourselves! This was a really neat restaurant not to be missed if you're ever in Seattle. The next day we took the Argosy Locks Cruise through Lake Union and saw the boat house from "Sleepless in Seattle". Then we went through the locks and into Puget Sound. We saw huge icebreaker boats from Alaska in drydock so you could see the blades that break up the ice. That was very interesting. We also saw sea lions. Our cruise ended at Pier 56 with amazing views of the Seattle skyline. Next we went to the top of the Space Needle. We went in late afternoon and stayed until dusk. The views were magnificent! That night we ate at a very beautiful restaurant called Ray's. The food was great and the ambiance was unmatched. We had a wonderful time with our friends enjoying this beautiful city. We plan to go back soon.

Princess Southern Caribbean Cruise

Hello Everyone! It's Jerry back from my Christmas Southern Caribbean Cruise! We flew from Washington Dulles to San Juan, Puerto Rico, picked up our cruise transfer and were on the Caribbean Princess by 1 o'clock! The ship didn't depart until 10pm so we had the rest of the day to use the pool, eat and relax and enjoy the almost 90 degree day. The first day of the cruise was a day at sea on our way to Barbados so most of the day was spent relaxing around the pool and watching movies on the large outdoor movie screen. The next day in Barbados we went on an island tour including a tour of the Mount Gay Rum and the Banks Beer Factories for half of the day and the rest was spent shopping. The third day we were in St. Lucia where we went on a catamaran ride along the coast the see the famous Pitons Mountains. The water was crystal clear and the Pitons were beautiful. Day four had us in Antigua and our excursion was a 12 station zip line through the rain forest, in the rain, but it was alot of fun and I would do it again. The next day in Tortola we took another island tour and I have to say that it is a very beautiful little island. We were in St. Thomas on our last day and I think St. Thomas and St. Lucia were my favorite stops on the trip. In St. Thomas we went on a jet boat ride and the driver of the boat said they were having a cold snap. It was 80 degrees! The last time I was on a Princess cruise was to Alaska and it was a lot quieter than this one was. This was Christmas break for the children in San Juan so there were a lot of large family groups but there were adults only areas and pools so the children were not really an issue. The food was great, the weather was great and I had a wonderful time! See you next time!