Giving Back

The Travel Agent Next Door head office and agents along with Travelbrands and Am Resorts had the awesome experience of giving back to a school in La Romana, Dominican Republic. Many agents brought along with them backpacks filled with school supplies. On the Tuesday which was our free day many of us loaded on to buses for the drive to the school. The school is made up of 4 complexes and has 1800 students. Complex 1 is a preschool, Complex 2 is an elementary school and complex 3 and 4 are the high schools divided between boys and girls.
We were divided into two buses, one going to the boys school and one going to the girls school. We were further divided into four groups from there. One group painted the newly refinished basketball courts, a second group painted newly refinished benches and tables. The third group did crafts and the fourth group did board games.
The painting groups brought paint brushes with them. The craft groups brought craft supplies and the board game group brought board games. When we got to the school we were taken on a tour of the school

welcome to the school photo courtesy of Dan Galbraith

They are very dependent on teaching trades such as hotel, restaurant as they rely heavily on tourism revenue in the country. They also have health care as well.

 Sewing room

 health classroom

 computer lab

 Industrial Kitchen

Service classroom

Once the tour was done we broke up into groups. I met a bunch of girls my daughters ages and we played many rounds of Connect four and we got to know each other. Some girls had more English than others. Unfortunately my Spanish is not good at all.

photo courtesy of Dan Galbraith

After games we had a break and we more time to interact with the girls. They were very much like my daughters. They were teasing each other playing around and very excited to do selfies.

We then boarded a bus back to the boys school and the girls loaded into school buses. We then were treated to dancing and musical performances by some of the boys and girls. 

 photo courtesy of Dan Galbraith

 a group photo of agents and students photo courtesy of Dan Galbraith

A gift I received from one of the students

It was such a great time being able to give back. There is a waiting list to getting into the school. It costs $10 a month and some families have trouble paying that amount. The school website is www.fundacionmire.org

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Email: slough@exclusivetoyoutravel.com

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Freedom of the Seas - Villefranche (Monaco)

So I left my last blog off with we were taking the bus from Nice to Monaco for the second half of our excursion from the Villefranche port. Honestly our tour guide was great out of all the tours we took there was only one I did not care for. Now the driver was scary but all the drivers were scary. Driving in Europe on very narrow roads with big huge buses is an eye opening experience for sure. He was not a bad driver it is just the nature of where we were.
It took less than a half hour to get to Monaco and we had to backtrack through Villefranche where we started. We actually went through the small town/village of Boileau which is actually my maiden name. I meant to research more about this but to be perfectly honest I had forgotten completely about this until I was sitting here writing this blog.
So again we did a quick bus tour around Monaco to see some of the sites and then we were dropped off at a parking garage under the Aquarium. When we got to the top it was very cold out and my mom was still in a lot of pain and walking was going to be an issue and unfortunately most of the attractions/sites were a good distance to walk to. Some people took a bus to go and check out the Monte Carlo Casino. We were going to find something out of the cold and close by when we noticed a "train"tour of Monaco and Monte Carlo so we decided to do that first.

 Here is the train

 The price was reasonable 9 Euros per adult

The train provides you with headsets that will give you a guided tour throughout the ride and it is available in about 14 languages. It starts off in front of the Jacques Cousteau Oceanography museum and aquarium. It goes through Monaco along the path of the Grand Prix up in front of the Monte Carlo Casino back through the shopping/hotel district, to the castle and parliament and back to where you started. A good 30 minutes give or take.

One of the shops along the grand prix course. 

 The casino. You most obey the dress code to enter as well as surrender your passport

The shopping district

Parliament

When we finished this tour we still had quite of bit of time to kill and it was still quite cold out so we decided to pay to get into the Oceanography. I think we paid 30 Euros for both of us but I am not sure. They also had combo tickets for parliament and a few other places as well. A few pictures I took outside before we made our way inside

Inside the Museum the first place you head is down to check out the Aquarium. It is actually spread out over two floors. There are some hugs tanks with some huge specimens in them and then smaller one's separated out by species etc.. I am including a few of my favorite pictures.

 This huge tank was quite amazing it housed so many different species and at the very top was this giant sea turtle. We decided to sit and watch for a bit and all of a sudden the turtle finally came down lower almost as if he was performing for the audience and then snap he grabbed the fish in front of him and ate it. If you could have heard the gasps among the audience. It was just so unexpected and yet it captures how things really work out in the ocean!!

 There were a few smaller tanks with these camouflaged fish. It was very interesting picking them out of the sand and not always seeing them right away

I just had to get a close up of the Seahorses (Interesting fact it is the male of the species who carry the babies)

Once we finished in the Aquarium area we moved upstairs to check out a few exhibits up top.

 Cool Shark mouth with a mirror on the inside

 Jacques Cousteau

A back view of the Museum it over looks the Sea

Once we were done and met up with the bus we were headed back to the ship. The last tender was supposed to leave at 6:15 pm but we were late getting back to the port as were several other bus tours. Keep in mind these bus tours were all booked through Royal excursions so we were very lucky that the ship waited for us. It took time to load each of the buses on the ferry's to get back to the shop.

 A view of the ship on our drive back to the port

One of the biggest problems encountered in Europe is traffic and so it makes getting back from excursions harder sometimes but with the guarantee from Royal they will either wait for you or get you to the next port.

I truly enjoyed our day if the weather had been a bit warmer and my mom in better condition I would have braved a walk down to the beach to add to my sand collection from around the world. Stay tuned for the next port La Spezia.

Want to get in touch here is where you can find me

www.facebook.com/stephaniethetravelagentnextdoor

www.exclusivetoyoutravel.ca or www.exclusivetoyoutravel.com

slough@exclusivetoyoutravel.com

Freedom of the Sea - Villefranche (Nice)

So in the last blog I gave you the different tours that were available in Villefranche and a bit about how a tender port works. So the tour that my mother and I chose to do was Nice & Monaco on Your Own. We boarded a bus just outside the Citadel with an awesome tour guide. She started the tour right away while we drove to Nice so we learned about all the little towns. Once we arrived in Nice we also took a quick tour around on the bus showing us some of the major sites that we may want to look closer at. We were then dropped off and given two hours to tour on our own.
My mother suffers from sciatica and her pain has been kept at bay for quite some time but with the long flight to Europe it decided to flare back up. Of course there was no down time between our arrival and first port day so she was suffering, but we decided to try and make the most of it and see as much as we could. Thankfully this tour is mostly on your own so we did not have to worry about holding up anyone else.

View of Villefranche from the ferry boat

 Fontaine du soliel

 Place Massena Heart of Nice

This is where the bus tour let us off. If you went down the streets behind the famous Apollo fountain you could tour the market. If you tour in front of the statue you will find all the high end stores such as Rolex etc.. But you will also find hotels and a natural park/fountain not quite sure how to describe it.

 There are two of these on each side of the square. All of sudden the water will start jumping and flowing it is awesome to watch

 One of the hotels

Modern art piece

So because mom just could not walk we sat and enjoyed watching the traffic and people going by. There was a lot to do and watching the fountains go off was relaxing as well.

You can see the fountains going off behind us

We shared this awesome baguette sandwich for lunch

Fresh made bread, fresh goat cheese, tomato and lettuce

 Transportation through the shopping district and some of the art

 close up of the art

 Taxi's

You can also rent electric bikes and tour around as well

Once the tour hours was up we met up with the square and we were headed off to our next detisnation which was Monaco

.I took this picture from the bus and wish I had been able to get a better shot. This is the library. The base is a head and this is where the library itself. A box sits on the head and this is where the offices of the Library administration are. Apparently it is even more fascinating at night when the box windows are lit up.

Somewhere at the top of this cliff is Elton Jon's house it is yellow. The tour guide pointed it out several times both as we drove into and out of Nice but to be honest I could not make it out. Apparently Bono and his family also have a home in Nice along with many other celebrities.

I definitely wish my mother had been in better shape for a walking tour because there was so much that we did miss out in Nice. We did see the Promenade des Anglais which is a nice beachfront property and unfortunately the place that suffered a terror attack in the summer of 2016. We weer shown the new barriers and palm trees that have been added to the promenade to prevent attacks in the future. We did also see some of the Casinos and Famous Hotels via the bus but it would have been nice to explore them. I am definitely thinking another trip to Nice may be required in my future.

However a day would probably be sufficient for a visit so it would be an add on to another vacation.

Military is everywhere and they are carrying assault riffles

Shortly before our trip there was a terror attack in Barcelona so most of the countries were on heightened alert. My mother talked of cancelling but I felt safer travelling because of the heightened security and I am glad that we did not let fear rule us.

I will move on to Monaco and Monte Carlo in my next blog.

Want to contact me here is where you can find me:

www.facebook.com/stephaniethetravelagentnextdoor

www.exclusivetoyoutravel.com  or www.exclusivetoyoutravel.ca

slough@exclusivetoyoutravel.com

Freedom of the Seas - Villefranche

 Sunday was our first day in a port and it was Villefranche, France. This port is a tender and so you must get into a small boat to the Pier. I must say they are very efficient at getting everyone off and back on the cruise ship. On my other cruise we played everything by ear and had nothing booked through the cruise line. This time I decided to book everything directly through Royal. I had suppliers I could use and contacts in Europe but figured I would give this a try. I was not disappointed in this method at all.
So let's start with the Cruise Compass every evening you will receive a pamphlet in your room and it will tell you everything that will be happening on the ship for the following day. On the first evening you will also receive a booklet with a list of all the excursions available in the ports that can be booked. In our case we pre-booked all of our excursions for the week online from our account for each port. We did save some money by doing this as the weekend I booked everything there were discounts on most excursions.

 Page 1 of Day 2 of the Cruise Compass

 Page 2

 Page 3

Page 4

The ship arrived at 9:00 am and the first tenders started at 9:45 am give or take. Getting off the ship always depends on clearance by customs of the country you are in. When you get off the ship you must always take your seapass card as well as photo identification or proof of citizenship. The only place I have every been asked for my passport/proof of citizenship to get back on a ship has been Bahamas but all countries have the right to ask.

Villefranche is a very small town there is a Chapel to see as well as the Citadel and shops. Most of the excursions took you out of the town to explore what the Cote D'Azur/French Riviera have to offer. Some of the agents I was travelling with chose to do just that.

So I forgot to mention in my earlier posts that this cruise was special as it was the 2017 2nd Annual President's Cruise. What this means is that Michael Bayley the President of Royal Caribbean was on board this cruise along with a lot of senior members of Royal's Leadership. So there were special excursions offered that included time with him.
I am going to list a few of the excursion that were available so you can get an idea. Cote D'Azure Wine & Dine with Michael Bayley, Best of the French Riviera, Discovering Monaco & Monte Carlo, Nice, Eze & Monaco Discovery, Monaco & Monte Carlo, Easy going old Monaco & Eze Perfume Factory, Nice & Cannes on your own and many more...The excursions were as low as $59.75 USD per person to as high as $319.00 per person.
Most of these tours require walking of at least a mile and over cobblestone paths. This of course is a common theme in Europe. My mother has knee problems and suffers from sciatica and so we had to be careful with what excursions we chose.
My next blog post will discuss the tour we took and what we thought of it.

Want to connect here is where you can find me:

www.facebook.com/stephaniethetravelagentnextdoor

www.exclusivetoyoutravel.ca or www.exclsuivetoyoutravel.com

slough@exclusivetoyoutravel.com