Off on a weeks’ vacation with extended family this week. We have a nephew who is graduating High School and it was a perfect excuse to get everyone together at one of our favorite vacation spots – in Williamsburg, Virginia. He’s the youngest of my sister’s kids and as you can see below, we won’t have another High School graduation in the family for at least another decade.

I practically grew up around this area as a kid. My Grandparents lived in the surrounding area during my childhood and we loved to spend weeks at a time with them just south of here, in Newport News and Norfolk, Virginia. I have many very fond memories of Colonial Williamsburg and Jamestown which we looked forward to every year. When we got older, Busch Gardens opened up at just the right time. (We were just too cool for Williamsburg and Jamestown at the time.)

Our own kids have only been to the area a handful of times since they were born. While we do spend at least one week with both sides of the family for vacation, we spend the time at different locations for the week. I have to admit however; Williamsburg is one of the more comfortable and relaxing vacation spots because I know the area so well. There’s plenty to do, and it’s fun seeing the area again through a child’s eyes. (Although some of the better attractions are still ahead of us later in the week.)

Some of the best family memories have also been here. One of the reasons is due to a video I filmed and edited more than 10 years ago. (Summer of 2000) While the week long events were edited down to just 15 minutes, the entire video was still too long to post on the internet. The clip below however, is an all-time favorite, especially for my sister’s boys who enjoyed playing golf with the adults at the time. Ten years later, they’re adults in their own right.

We’ll be back to our regular posting here on Just Picture It Now next week. This week is reserved for family time, although the computer, as always is with me during vacation time. (Wherever I go, the computer goes.)

Hope your week will be as fulfilling and enjoyable as ours.

Until next time, enjoy the video.

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I’m guessing I’m showing my age here – but you can’t bring up Princess Cruises without “The Love Boat” Theme running through my head. Truth is, the show was partly responsible for me wanting to work in the travel industry. The show certainly portrayed a very glamorous lifestyle that I wanted to be part of.

Little did I know at the time what the future had in store for me with an opportunity like YTB.

Several years ago YTB came up with this idea of hosting a “Sail-a-thon” on the Internet to promote both key partners and destinations for our customers. The field loves it because it gives many an opportunity to host a party at the house. Partners love it because it costs them nothing. They simply piggy back on the technology and infrastructure YTB has invested in – giving them an opportunity to promote from a single location to thousands. YTB has been hosting these “Sail-A-Thons” for years with several companies and since they keep on popping up every couple of months – everyone involved sees value in the events.

Cruise nights aren’t new however. CLIA (Cruise Line Industry Association) actually came up with the concept five years ago with the “World’s Largest Cruise Night“. Hundreds of Agencies still get together in a collective effort each year in October to promote the joy of cruising to clients.

All YTB did was modernize the concept, making it easier for clients to become informed and educated, while at the same time saving Cruise Lines some serious money by reaching the same number of clients (if not more) from one centralized location over the internet. Most recently, YTB partnered the webcast with Facebook to make it even easier for YTB Agents to send a simple link to friends and clients to enjoy specials and promotions on the worlds most popular social networking site.

Adding Facebook into the equation makes it interactive, an element that was missing with a simple webcast. When YTB tried it for the first time with Carnival back in November, we had no idea the power it possessed and how much fun it could be. Thousands of people posted their favorite cruise pictures and some even won prizes! (Like yours truly. ;-P)

Thursday night, Princess Cruises gets into the act with a new twist called Trivia Night. The hour long broadcast will ask six Trivia Gold questions about Princess and/or Alaska to give viewers a chance to win prizes by answering the questions. In the meantime viewers also become educated on the value of cruising – and more specifically why Princess Cruises is the premier cruise line when it comes to an Alaska destination.

For example, a 7-night Voyage of the Glaciers cruise is followed by 5-nights on land featuring 1 night at McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge, 2 nights at Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge and 2 nights at Fairbanks Princess Riverside Lodge. It’s the only cruise of it’s kind. Princess has invested millions into these lodges and you won’t find these type of amenities from any other cruise line.

This cruisetour offers the ultimate vacation for the entire family, ensuring you see all the best of Alaska by land and by sea. You just can’t get that with any other line. 

As an added incentive to “come aboard”, Cruise customers will see some great prices for all destinations with the following benefits:

• Up to $100 onboard credit per stateroom
• Reduced deposit of just $100 per person
• Coupons worth up to $325 in onboard savings

The entire savings package can be found right here, and you can pull up a direct link to Princess Cruise Lines here to investigate and price out your next Princess Cruise.

The Sail-a-Thon should be a lot fun. From what I saw, Facebook fans enjoyed interacting with each other during the Carnival Sail-a-Thon a few months ago.

Technology – aint it grand?

Hope to see you there and of course some of you will be singing it with me until then…

Love, exciting and new
Come Aboard. We’re expecting you.
Love, life’s sweetest reward.
Let it flow, it floats back to you.

If you’re too young to remember the song that’s okay. Just remember to join us tomorrow night!

Hope to see you then!

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I lost count how many times I’ve said this…but I’m gonna say it again.

A cruise is the best vacation money could buy.

It was nice to have family (including extended family) together for another cruise. Our daughter called it “The best birthday EVER!” and our son has caught the same bug we did some 12 years ago when Ronda and I took our first cruise.

I did hit the internet for a grand total of 25 minutes, but didn’t even open the laptop until almost the very end of the cruise to download a couple gigs worth of pictures that I took. (Some 400 shots all together on a Fuji S9000 camera I just love.) I uploaded about 60 of them on my Facebook page and will get around to putting more up on Webshots at some point. (Then again – I still have pictures from our last cruise I haven’t uploaded.)

The kids have really gotten the hang of cruise thing. Brittany thoroughly enjoyed dressing up for formal night. (So much so, that she had to get all dressed up for her birthday night.) Brian found the ice cream machines and the 24 hour pizzeria and hardly ate anything else the entire week. Camp Carnival was FABULOUS for both kids. When they ask if they can go, you just know it’s a hit. (Which impressed both Ronda and I.) They really had a great time and our hats are off to all the counselors who took great care of our kids.

Our daughters birthday was an exceptional day in Gran Cayman. The entire family got involved on the Cayman Pirate Adventure as the kids and I were recruited to swab the deck (I was given a tooth brush) and “Mommy Spank Bottom” was tied up and forced to promise to never spank the bottoms of our kids again. Afterward, everyone walked the plank and enjoyed the warm tropical water.

Later that evening we celebrated Brittany’s birthday with the family and wait staff of the Universe Dinning room. Brittany loves to be the center of attention any other time, and handled her birthday no differently. The entire ship was told it was her birthday and she ate up all the attention. (As she always does.)

It’s still amazes me how many first time cruisers I continue to run into. We talked with a number of first time cruisers on this trip who raved about the service, the food, and the size of this floating resort. Non of them had any idea what they were missing, and have all been transformed into cruise-a-holics like we are.

While it’s nice being back, I miss the romance and relaxation of the sea. I bit warmer down in the Caribbean as well. We’re already planning our next cruise and may turn it into a neighborhood event. With another Carnival Sail-A-Thon coming up next week, it would be a perfect time to get the neighbors together to discuss the option of going. (More on the Sail-A-Thon here later, and in this weekends newsletter.)

A trip like this one is part of my “why” I stick with YTB.

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By the time you read this, our family will be in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. I’ve come equiped with my  “What part of NO do you not understand?” T-shirt which I purchased the last time we were in port here. (For those of you who have been here, you know why we need a shirt like this.) We’ll spend a relaxing day at Bamboo Beach Club since the kids wanted some beach time. (And still too young for Dunn’s River Falls)

Tomorrow is a big day in Grand Cayman. We’ll do a couple of excursions including swashbuckling on a Cayman Pirate Adventure in the morning and then spend the afternoon at Dolphin Discovery and the Cayman Turtle Farm.

Later that evening, we will dine and celebrate my daughters 8th (going on 18) birthday aboard Carnival Destiny.

This particular ship has been the top pick for a number of our clients since it was refurbished and started sailing it’s 4 and 5 day itineraries to the Caribbean from Miami. When Ronda and I were awarded Team MVP by our Directors at Convention and given a Carnival Gift Certificate as a way to say thanks for all we do, I pretty much immediately knew when and were we wanted to go.

Of course, you can’t have a proper birthday party without family involved. So we invited extended family to come along for the party on the World’s Most Popular Cruise Line. (They know a really good Travel Agent who got them one heck of a deal.)

So while you enjoy RPM and Red Carpet Day, we’ll be stuck down here in the Caribbean – thousands of miles away. (And lovin’ every minute of it.)

I’ll probably hit the internet cafe a time or two, but don’t be looking for any posts during the week. Like our newsletter that went out yesterday, this was written and scheduled last week before we left.

To keep you entertained – check out our favorite cruise tune this trip. I’m a classic rock and roller, but Michael Franti and Spearhead’s new tune “Say Hey (I love you)” gave me happy feet the first time I heard it. It’s got a create Caribbean beat and will certainly give you the itch.

So until I get back around the way – Enjoy!

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About a week ago, I had three people tell me that I needed to look into expanding my writing. They all gave me the same suggestion on where I needed to go. When I took a look at the opportunity, it had all the right features, I could remain independent, I could write when ever and where ever I wanted. I could also write about what I truly love, and that’s travel. (As if you didn’t already know.)

So I went on-line and filled out a brief application that took a few minutes to fill out and I sent it off. I left it that if it was meant to be, it would be. Within a few hours, I had my answer and a short guide of next steps came with the answer to become Atlanta’s new Family Travel Examiner. With so many people telling me about this, I just couldn’t pass such strong messages like that up. I’m confident that part of the reason it was so easy is because so many people told me about it all at once.

Here’s your sign…times three.

So here I am, with a very cool new gig that sends my message out to even more readers and another opportunity to sell more of what I love.

I bought Mike Dillard’s Magnetic Sponsoring some years ago and there were two very important lessons in his videos and books that have always stuck with me. First, when someone goes to the store to purchase a drill, what they need is a solution on how to make a hole. Too many people focus their time and energy with how something works instead of just showing the benefits of what the product produces to resolve a need. Second, he tells a story of how one of the largest jewelry stores in Florida does more business than anyone else simply by doing a show of how to buy jewelry. Because they’re helpful and perceived as experts in cut and clarity for example, they’re the one store that people think of most when it comes to jewelry.

This blog and my newsletter is a perfect example of being an expert when it comes to helping others in YTB. Exact same principles at work. Because I focus on the need and not the product, I’ve got people from all over the country who subscribe and read each and every week. They trust me and respect my input and recommendation. When I put Mike Dillard’s book out there to the masses, simply as a recommendation to help them market more effectively, they clicked the link and started to buy. I’m still getting paid from that one little segment and comment I made about how much I liked his book. (Which by the way was MONTHS ago.) Sure I got some calls and questions simply to help clarify for a few people, but I didn’t have to twist any arms or convince anyone that this was a product they needed.

My new home on the Examiner is much the same. For those that are looking for a good quality trip or vacation for the entire family I can be their new expert when it comes to places to go and things to see. Done the right way, there’s absolutely no need to tell anyone that I can service them with some of the travel I’ll write about. As a matter of fact, doing so will actually turn some of them off because they perceive that as being pushy. But by focusing first on the need by promoting the benefit of the product (for them) I magnetically attract the right people which can and will produce more travel sales.

So I’m off on a new adventure. Not to worry about regular updates here or the weekly newsletters going out as it’s always been. The four articles a week for the Examiner will be in addition to what I already have going on. The new gig should only take a few hours a week to fullfil. It’s just another example of following your bliss, and finding ways to get paid for doing it.

And they call this work. ;-P

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