Dear Travel Agents/Advisors,

I was just on a beautiful cruise from Venice, Italy through the Adriatic Sea. The cruise line was Azamara, one of my favorites; superb service, food and attention to detail make people feel cared for, all with a great price tag.

I enjoy reading a book while on the treadmill. Azamara Pursuit has only 4 treadmills, and when I noticed this I was a bit concerned. I started thinking of other ways to walk fast on the ship, but knew I wouldn’t be able to read at the same time.  To my surprise, every time I went to the gym I found at least 2 treadmills available. I was happy.

When visiting the buffet restaurant I met people who told me that they ate until their clothes got tight because the food was so delicious. Then, I thought to myself, some people use food as a reward, and exercise as a punishment (this being the reason the gym was empty most of the time).

Actually, exercise is supposed to be rewarding and food used as nourishment.

So what do people consider TRAVEL? They probably think of it as an expensive but rewarding present that only few can enjoy.

Well, I believe that travel provides a re-energizing opportunity that helps people feel better, and ready to move ahead.

What about you? How do you prioritize food, exercise and travel?

The way that you live your life is the way you sell yourself and your ideas. Reconsider your body and mind as machines that needs to function correctly for many, many years. Use food as nourishment, use fun exercises as your rewards, and travel as often as possible so your mind can re-energize. You will feel positive, calm, and be able to keep smiling.

Cheers to life!

Follow me at:
Facebook @travelwithrosana
Instagram @travelwithrosana
Blogs @www.travelwithrosana.com

Dear Travel Agent/Advisors,

As you know, I am an advocate for traveling and will continue to be one for the rest of my life. In my humble opinion, nothing educates people better than visiting other countries and cultures. It teaches people from first world countries to be centered, humble and understanding of how much we take for granted.

While many people around the world are contemplating IF they will have a roof over their heads, or if they can afford meals until the end of the month, many travelers from the US, Canada, UK and other affluent countries are deciding which businesses class service is best for travel (it really is a tough decision if you ask my opinion, LOL!)

Let me focus on OUR tough decisions for a while, since as travel agents/advisors we need to advise our clients, and NOT educate about how people should prioritize their morals and thoughts (I let political views from both sides of the aisle do their job).

For those who don’t know me, my middle name is “Miles” and I take advantage of traveling business class using miles. I have tried MOST of the airlines and have my favorites. I can tell you that one I don’t like for business class is British Airlines. No matter where you sit, you need to climb over, or have someone climb over you.

I love KLM and Delta even though they are not fancy, but I like the service and the way the seats face each other. Now if you want to splurge, fly Emirates or Etihad where you really get spoiled. Last year we went to Japan on China Eastern, and I didn’t expect such good service and now I highly recommended them.

I don’t get any sponsorship for writing this blog, these are my honest and true opinions.  Some of you might not agree with my thoughts. As a disclaimer, food is not important to me since I am gluten and lactose intolerant and most of the time I bring my own food. To me, service is important as well as space, since I am tall and have long legs.

As I mentioned before, I am glad this is a first world problem, but as a travel agent/advisor we need to address these points to make sure your clients are happy.

Feel free to pick my brain. I have more information about other airlines’ business class service based on my personal experience.

Follow me at:
Facebook @travelwithrosana
Instagram @travelwithrosana
Blogs @ http://www.travelwithrosana.com

Dear Travel Agents/ Advisors,

For those of you who follow my blogs, you know I collect countries. So far, I have been to 84 different countries, and am still counting. I enjoy visiting each one, and having my country count increase is my pleasure in life. I live for travel, and cheer for all of you when I see the pictures of your smiling faces discovering new countries.

This year, my goal and plan was to reach a count of 91 countries, and I was dreaming about each new country I would discover. In March 2019, I was going to go to Uganda but unfortunately that didn’t happen. I prefer not to discuss the reasons, but I learned from it, and I am glad it happened the way it did.

By the time you read this blog, I will be visiting Montenegro and Malta for the first time from a cruise starting in Venice, Italy, traveling through the Adriatic Coast and ending in Rome. This will bring my country count up to 86!

We had another cruise scheduled for Christmas and New Year’s to the Caribbean and 4 more new countries were on the horizon. I was counting on my list having 91 countries by January 2nd. Then, my two sons and their girlfriend and fiancé decided to spend Christmas and New Year’s with us in Napa Valley. We were thrilled, and there were no second thoughts about it – we canceled our cruise and embraced the idea of spending time with them.

Life is a gift! I always insist on waking up and smelling the coffee. I take every chance I get to see the world, but when other opportunities happen, I just smile and slow down to smell the roses – take what comes, forget what-ifs and enjoy the beautiful gift that life is.

Wishing you plenty of coffee and roses!

Follow me at:
Facebook @travelwithrosana
Instagram @travelwithrosana
Blogs @www.travelwithrosana.com

Dear Travel Agents/Advisors,

We all seem to know the meaning of the word “procrastination.” Procrastination is the avoidance of doing a task that needs to be accomplished by a certain deadline. It could be further stated as: a habitual or intentional delay of starting or finishing a task despite knowing it might have negative consequences.

Raise your hand if you ever done this. A diet that will start after a holiday, exercise that will start after a vacation, a list of new behaviors as a New Year’s resolution, starting your new business after you have a beautiful new website, etc.

Something many people don’t know about me – I do have flaws, but procrastination is not one of them. Actually, I take pride in fighting the urge to procrastinate, and that is why I enjoy guiding people to be their best. I was a size 16 until 2004 (I was a big girl), and then I decided to cut out bread, pasta, basically all gluten and dairy from my diet. I did it cold turkey! I lost weight and kept it off , and I am currently a size 4. I lost over 80lbs.

I did the same 31 years ago with cigarettes. I started smoking at age 14 in Brazil, where it was cool to smoke. One January 1^st, I gave it up. Honestly, now just the smell of a person who smoked hours before makes me nauseous.

I exercise daily, even on an airplane, in an airport, on vacation and anytime. I need the endorphins, and I need to burn my stress through exercise (not strenuous exercise – I walk fast, and do Pilates).

I believe in setting goals and having accomplishments, and the best way to do that is to fight procrastination. For those of you who still procrastinate, can you try it? Feel free to reach out to me. I am not a guru, but I love helping you!

Wishing you all success in all your endeavors!

Follow me at:
Facebook @travelwithrosana
Instagram @travelwithrosana

Dear Travel Agents/Advisors,

How often do you feel that the phrase, “no good deed goes unpunished,” is a true statement? I honestly feel this way sometimes, especially when I deal with “friends” and family. Notice that I wrote friends in quotation marks, because I don’t believe that true friends behave that way!

But truly, how many times do we go out of our way to be nice, to do good, only to be blamed later or to be misunderstood. I have been at the point where I almost threw in the towel – becoming numb, and losing my interest in being “a nice guy.” I can tell you some stories that have made me feel like that lately, but I am sure that you have a story too – so we would just be commiserating together.

But, allow me to tell you what happened today. I live on a street that shares the same name as another street in the same town. The difference that my street is South and the other address, a large company, is North. I came home, and on my porch there was a package from FEDEX with my address (South) but the company’s name from North.

I didn’t think twice, and called the company on North and explained that I had their package. Since they are a big company, and I left it on my porch and someone came to pick it up. I completely forgot about it!

Later on, I got a phone call from a number I didn’t recognize it, so I ignored it, but the person called 4 times. Finally the person left me a message. I checked the message. It was the important guy from the North, telling me there was something outside my door for me, and thanking me for calling them and making sure his package got delivered to the right address. I opened the door and a huge flower arrangement was there for me with a nice thank you note. I called him back and thanked him for the beautiful flowers, it was very kind of him.

So, good deeds often go just the way they are supposed to. The result is not a reflection of who you are, but shows who the other person is.

My mom, who is in heaven now, used to say that we shouldn’t change because of others; some people are able to see the good and beauty, others see the bad and ugly. Always be your best self. Unfortunately, sometimes people will misunderstand your goodness – but the right ones will surprise you with kindness.

Follow me at:
Facebook @travelwithrosana
Twitter @travelwithrosana
Blogs @www.travelwithrosana.com