New Blog!

Remember how I said we would be establishing a new Legacy Travel Blog and moving this blog into more just me personally and not having to do with travel? (I know, I know...I already blog about personal stuff most of the time..but I mean it won't be linked from the Legacy Travel site.)

Well, Voila! Here is the new Legacy Travel Blog..entitled "Ramblings" (Get it? You can ramble while traveling or while writing....see? cute, right?)

Stay tuned for it to get alot cuter and have alot more posts on it..but fun!

Sticky Notes

EepyBird's Sticky Note experiment from Eepybird on Vimeo.

This video will be especially funny to my staff who know that I only grudgingly allow occasional use of sticky notes in our office.

Magic Salad

Recently I was richly blessed to be bestowed with a multitude of wonderful home grown tomatoes from my father in law's garden. Comparing Grandpop's tomatoes to store bought tomatoes is like comparing that 13 inch black and white TV you watched as a kid with the Plasma HDTV with surround sound you have now.

One of my favorite ways to eat them is what I call "Magic Salad". Start by peeling a couple of the tomatoes. Next, cut up avocado purchased at a Mexican grocer. Combine the two then squeeze a couple of limes (again, from a Mexican grocer) over the top and stir it up.

It is so yummy that when I'm done eating it I drink the juice out of the bottom of the bowl.

It is important that the avocados and limes be purchased at a Mexican grocer rather than a normal American grocery store. No comparison.

YUM!

Ch Ch Ch Ch Changes

One of my clients offered to do some free consulting in exchange for a testimonial to put on the website for his new business. (THANKS MARK!!) Anyway, I just got his 26 page report and it has certainly given me food for thought. One of the thoughts I had while reading his report is that I should move this blog off of the Legacy Travel website and have it focus more on being a personal blog.

Recently we started a new blog about our Destination Wedding business. It will feature stories of our brides and their weddings, what went well and what they wish they had done differently.

I'm thinking I will also have one for Legacy Travel where people can share their trip stores and pictures. My mind is still forming this idea.

Fun fun! Always something new!

My Bro

One of the coolest dudes I know. He is the one on the far left at the beginning.

The Parable of the Bicycle - my response.

Yesterday someone told me about "The Parable of the Bicycle". Apparently a little boy wanted a bicycle. His dad told him that if he did all of the extra jobs he could and earned all of the money he could that Dad would make up the difference and the boy would get the bike. This parable is supposed to be an illustration of Jesus and the grace of God. I suppose in this illustration the bike represents our eternal salvation and Dad represents Jesus.

I don't believe this is an accurate picture.

What if the little boy decides to stay in and play Wii one day instead of mowing the neighbors yard to earn more money for the bike? Does he then lose hope of ever getting the bike? I can just see the torment of this boy. Not that I believe that doing chores for money is a bad thing at all, but if the boy is very driven for this bike he is going to forever be tormenting himself. "Why am I sleeping at night? Couldn't I be listing things on Ebay to earn money toward the bike?" "No, I can't come and play. I have to shovel the sidewalk because I need to earn all the money I can for my bike."

Let's rework the parable.

A little boy wanted a bicycle. This bicycle was the mac daddy of all bicycles. It had flames painted on it, it had a gazillion gears, it had every cool doodad on it you could imagine. This bicycle cost several trillion dollars. Seriously. The little boy told his dad, "I really want one of those bicycles, what could I ever do to earn enough money to get one of those bicycles? I could mow the lawn ever week the rest of my life, I could babysit every kid in the neighborhood every Friday and Saturday night. I could sell everything else I have." Even with all of these jobs, it was obvious that a small boy was never ever going to earn enough to even scratch the surface of the purchase price of this bike. (Isaiah 64:6 "all our righteous acts are like filthy rags")

So, the dad actually died so that, in exchange, not only that boy could have that bike, but any kid anywhere for all time who wanted a bike could have one, simply by accepting it.

So then what happens to the boy? Does he become a sluggard because he got this bike without working for it? I doubt it. The boy understands that although the bike was a free gift to him, it was not free. It was bought at a great price. The boy spends his life living his life in such a way that makes other people want a bike too. He tells everyone he sees about the bike and how to get one.


"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." Ephesians 2:8

Me - Public Speaking. :-)

Planning a Group Getaway

On Monday night I'll be giving a presentation to a group of ladies about planning a girlfriend getaway. This is what I've come up with. I'd love your feedback.

1. Choose a chief. As a group, decide who will be the main point person for planning matters. Many groups informally just leave it to every member to "see what they can find". This results in each person falling in love with whatever they've found and becoming invested in the work they've done on behalf of the group. The group members then commence quarreling and advocating for the trip they've investigated. Dissention rears its ugly head and the group falls apart.

The better choice is for the group to decide on one trip planner. That trip planner should be the one to do all of the initial investigation after the group decides on some initial guidelines.

2. Establish clear parameters. During the initial conversation there are more topics that need to be discussed and decided. For instance, each group member needs to be very clear and frank regarding budget limitations. Find out from each member what their maximum budget is.

One difficulty you may encounter is when one or a few of the group members have a budget that is way out of line with the other members. It is important to resolve this before the planning goes any further because it will certainly become an issue as time goes on.

Another thing you must discuss are dates. Every group member needs to pull out calendars and establish a clear set of dates during which everyone is available. Nothing is more frustrating then finding a great trip that suits everyone's budget, only to find out that half the group isn't available on the same dates as the other half.

Does everyone have (or is everyone willing to get) passports? This is another issue that will dictate the possibilities for the trip. What type of trip does each group member have in mind? How long of a trip is everyone looking for?

Once you discuss all of these things (preferably in person - maybe at a Starbucks) then the planner is ready to get to work.

3. Be willing to compromise. If you want to go on the exact trip you want and only the exact trip you want, go by yourself or take only your dog.

4. Don't wait for 100% consensus, because it will probably never come.

Mental Clarity

"I saw a bank that said "24 Hour Banking," but I don't have that much time." - Steven Wright

Over the past several months I have been really paying attention to steps I take that allow me to be more focused and attendant. While I realize that some of these results may be anecdotal at best, I thought I would share them and try to get some feedback from things others have tried and had success with.

1) Sleep: Obviously, getting enough sleep is a pretty basic step towards mental focus. If you're sleepy, you're not operating at your peak.

2) Caffeine: Back when I was still having hot flashes I found that caffeine made them much worse. I got off all caffeine at that time and noticed that I was much more focused long term without it then I ever was with it. No caffeine will also help with getting more and better sleep.

3) Water: I have found that keeping ice water with me and drinking throughout the day helps me feel more focused.

4) Carbs: I went on the South Beach Diet a few months ago (and I've lost 13 pounds!). I noticed that without the sugar highs and lows I could work much longer and without being bothered by hunger.

5) Fish Oil and/or Vitamins: On my doctor's suggestion I went on a variety of supplements several months ago. I take a multi vitamin, an extra calcium and a fish oil twice every day. Honestly, I can't be 100% sure if it's the fish oil or if it's the vitamins, but I notice a marked difference if I run out of my supplements for several days. I'm wondering if it might be the fish oil simply because I've read so much about ADHD and omega 3 deficiency.

6) Gum Chewing: Some studies have shown that gum chewing can enhance concentration. My son has an accommodation at school that allows him to chew gum in class for this very reason. I have found it tends to help me as well.

So, what about you? What do you do that you find helps you to focus?

Yep, it's Summer in Texas!

This Weekend

As I've mentioned, I'm have big plans this weekend to get caught up on so many things that have been hanging over my head. I am to the stage of life where I know myself well enough to know that when I get to Monday evening when my family returns no matter how much I get done I will feel like it wasn't enough.

So, I am going to continually edit this post throughout the weekend adding things I want to get done, and marking off the list things that I've already accomplished. Every single task may not make sense to you.

So here goes.
Thursday Evening:
Unload Dishwasher
Start Dryer
Fold 2 loads of Laundry
Clean out car (identified funny smell!)
Took forgotten vitamins from this morning as well as the ones for this evening
General pickup downstairs
Empty Webmail
Dump Camera Memory Stick and recharge camera battery
Bought new backup harddrive (1 TB) along with legal pads and two really cool purple markers.
90 Minute Massage


Friday:
Take Lacy for a walk and to dog park
Water Everything
Miracle Grow the Flowers
Furminate Lacy
File everything in inbox
Bring all data entry up to dateThis took HOURS
Fine tune home budget
2pm Facial Appointment...YAY!

Saturday:
Walk Lacy
Hose off the air conditioner units
Grocery Shopping
Prepare many future dinners and freeze them Got 23 family sized entrees done and in the freezer. YAY!
Complete all pending wedding sites


Sunday:
Go to Church
Clean out closet
Complete all laundry
Clean shutters downstairs, vacuum behind
Go to movies with neighbor
Walk Lacy and take to dog park
Create landing page for super secret marketing campaign

We're down to the last few hours of freedom. Will I sleep tonight? Will I be caught up in a frenzy of last minute productivity? Stay Tuned.

Stay tuned for updates in this post.

Issues

As you can imagine, moving thousands of people a year across this wonderful planet we call home, sometimes issues arise. The best situation for everyone is when we find out about the issue as soon as it happens, when we are able to still make a difference. Sometimes that doesn't happen though. For whatever reason, people don't always calls us when they run into an issue.

We have three objectives when we attempt to resolve a during travel issue:

1) Salvage the Trip - If we become aware of a problem as soon as it happens we can usually make a correction immediately, especially in the case of one of our partner hotels. For instance, the other day I had a honeymoon couple check in at a resort and the roomtype they were given did not match what they thought they had booked. I was able to identify the problem and get it corrected the first day of the trip.

2) Salvage the Customer - What can we do to restore the faith of the customer in Legacy Travel? This isn't always possible either. In our business there are so many things that must go correctly to result in a great trip. Not only do we have to do our jobs correctly, but the tour operator has to do all of their transmittals properly, the hotel has to translate the reservations properly into their system. The airline not only has to record the reservation correctly, but they also need to operate the flight in a timely fashion. So much of what happens on a trip we don't directly control, but all of it reflects on us.

3) Learn for the Future - Finally, even if the other objectives are not attainable in a given situation we at least try to learn what we can in order to avoid it in the future. Do we need to stop selling a certain hotel? Do we need to be advising customer more clearly about something? Do we need to be keeping documentation surrounding a certain situation?

When it all comes down to it, we can do everything absolutely correctly and a customer can still have a miserable time. Every day, though, we try to do what we do better and better.

Mega Productivity

Tomorrow Philip is leaving with the kids to go to Alabama and then onto Georgia to drop daughter off at Duke TIP. I will be enjoying five glorious days of no interruptions to the things I will get done. The house will be neat. I won't have to stop and feed anyone or referee fights. I will get caught up on many things I have been behind on.

I will also miss them desperately and be glad to see them when they get home.