SMC 3/27/10

Well I can tell you that unless the ole brain really gets to thumping there won't be much here today! I have been up since 330 for unknown reasons. The only good part of that is , also for unknown reasons, it seems to be when I do my best work. I am a down hill person as the day wears on. I bet this is the complete opposite for most of you. I know Linds will not be up until 9 and then prefers not to spoken to for at least an hour after that.
Since this is the last blog for the month of March I will go ahead and give my state of the agency on the business. I know that most of you do not care nor do I need to share this with you but I told you in the beginning that I would be honest with you and share the ups and downs of Wiregrass Travel along with personal and travel related issues, hopefully making this more interesting to read. I have this crazy idea that if clients and potential clients learn more about me they will feel a closer connection, therefore resulting in more loyalty, new business, and referrals. There I go, I just gave away a secret! Do you think it is a good or bad idea to share info like this and how business in general is going? Just curious. Anyway the state of the agency for the month of March is good! Not as good as Feb. but overall a success. I really love what I do and do hope to continue to see the growth in the months and years to come like I have had over the last year. Don't read too far into what I am saying...I am not by any stretch of the imagination getting rich or near it for that matter, just making progress. I would dare say, and I bet you will think this is a lie, that 98% of you are making more income than me right now, but I sure do hope over time that changes :).
An example of one of the best things I enjoy about my job took place about 830 last night. I had a couple just get in from Sandals Royal Bahamian call to tell me how wonderful the experience was and how much they appreciated what all I had done. Talk about a satisfying reward of the job, they actually called me before they called their parents to let them know they were home! Any who, I told you my think tank was kind of dry this morning so I will let you go, as always thank you so much for reading, Jeremy.

Passport Questions SMC 03/20/10

Good Morning bloggers,sorry I missed you last week, I was in Birmingham with Linds for a conference she attended. For all of my old Roly Poly customers that read you will appreciate the fact that just for fun(and no pay) I went to visit my old friends at their downtown store and worked for two days through lunch! I had a blast and actually hadn't forgotten a thing...almost. These were the guys, father and son, that were my regional developers so they trained me, babysat me, and listened to my griping when things didn't go the way I thought they should. Long story short, I will probably never be able to pay them back for all they did for me over those two years. They are truly one of the greatest families you would ever want to work with and I will do anything for them to this day that I am capable of. It was great to see and spend some time with them.
I told you all a few weeks ago that I would tell you about my nephew Tanner boy on his birthday. Well tomorrow he turns 4! I know I said it then but I have to say again that time flies. It really drives me nuts, I need to freeze all of them now before I wake up one day to go to their weddings. Tanner boy is far and away the entertainer/comedian of the family. I can't even begin to tell you some of the pure crap he comes up with that is hilarious. I tell Linds all the time that I really believe he is the next Chris Farley. He will do practically anything to get a laugh or a smile. The cool thing about him is he doesn't have to try..it comes naturally. I would bet a large amount of money that if you were around him for at least 5 minutes you would be smiling and want to take him home with you. He also knows exactly how to play up to anyone, especially his Aunt Lindsey, to get just what he wants. He can play her like a piano. He is so far the most loving to all people of the three kids. He freely gives out those "I love yous" at the most random times that will just make you want to eat him up! I also should mention that it helps his case that he is honestly one of the cutest kids you will meet to go along with that personality. His party isn't until tomorrow and my sister is worried about rain ruining it because he is going to have an inflatable outside. But what makes Tanner so special is it doesn't matter the time, place, or circumstance he is going to have a good time and be happy...he is very literally the happiest kid I have ever been around and I bet if you met him he would make you happy too.
I do want to touch on one thing travel related today before I let you go, passports. As you know when it comes to the government, making decisions, and then us being able to interpret them, well I just won't go there right now. I am going to try to give this to you in the shortest way I can. In the end you need to go to http://travel.state.gov/ and interpret it for yourself but here is my best stab at it. If you travel anywhere outside the U.S. by any other means than a closed loop cruise, you have to have a passport. According to the law, as of June 1st 2009 that was going to be changed to effect even cruising....it ain't being enforced. As of today, and only God knows when they will start enforcing it, you can get on a closed loop cruise with an original birth certificate and valid drivers license. I highly recommend not going this route however. Reason being, if anything were to happen to you on the trip or a family member back home and you needed to be flown back to the States, you are screwed...plain and simple. Knock on wood I haven't had this come up yet, but it most likely will one day, I would hate to be in the shoes of a client that has unexpectedly lost a loved one or had a child get hospitalized while on a cruise and have to sit on a ship for 4-5 days because they couldn't catch a flight and get home immediately! To define closed loop cruise that is what 90% of you are going on. It just means it starts and ends at the same port of call. Like I said above go to the government web site and read thoroughly for yourself, don't take my word on it. Have a great weekend, Jeremy

I Have No Idea! SMC 3/6/10

Hello wide world of bloggers, I hope everyone is having a great start to their weekend. All is going good here at Wiregrass Travel. I actually made my last booking for the month of February on Saturday(27th) night at about 9:30PM to cap off the best month by far I have had since being in business. God is good! Of course, in true "owning your own business" fashion, this week has been pretty slow. I am very glad that before jumping into my own endeavors that I sold vehicles for several years on a commission only basis. It taught me a lot about money management and how not to get to high or low when the times change, because they will change. I still feel like this will be a good month too because I have a lot of things in the works and we are still in the prime booking season for summer vacations.
This afternoon will be bitter sweet for me personally. My little Jaybug(niece) is having her 6th birthday party at her house. I am glad she has grown up happy and healthy but it makes me so sad to know she is not a baby any more and it will not be many more years before uncle Germy isn't allowed to hug and kiss her because it will not be cool. I remember the day she was born like yesterday and now she is six! I can't hardly stand it. Her mother and I were talking yesterday about how she came into the world with a bang and hasn't stopped since. I know everyone thinks their kids are the smartest in the world and rightfully so but I can guarantee this child is exceptional but in a way you have to be around her to get. She interacts so normally within her friend groups and plays normally, aka not a weird smart, but will blow your mind with what all she can do for a kindergartner. She is reading on a 4th-5th grade level(her mother tested her because she is a counselor), teaches herself to play the piano(no one in the family is musically inclined), and can solve any addition problem in her head so long as both numbers are below 100! I picked her and her brother up from school a couple weeks ago and brought them to my house for a little while while their mother ran some errands. On the way home she had asked me if she could play on a web site at my house she had found at school. I said sure because Tanner had already asked to play on the Wii "fifth" and this would cut out the arguing about whose turn it was. So I pretty much left her alone in my office while tanner and I played Wii. I went in to check on her after a while only to find that she had selected 5th grade math from the site(can't remember the site). She was playing a game about counting money, you basically are given a figure and you click and drag the money into the box until you think you have it right and click done to check your answer. I noticed she had done 6-7 already but also noticed that it has $867.14 as the problem...I am thinking OK Jay I know you are smart, but I think this may be more than you can chew, so I just watched. Did it perfectly, without hesitation, and didn't use the one hundred dollar bills, used twenties for the most part! Told you, amazing! Well I guess you get the idea about how I feel about this little girl and yes I have very much gloated about her this morning, I don't care. We rarely share outside of our family any of this because we don't want to be "those people" and frankly most people would not believe it anyway but this is my blog and I can say anything I want :).
I will tell you all about Tanner boy in a couple weeks when it is his birthday. Trust me it will be worth reading too. That kid is not right at all! I would put him in a funniest kid contest. I bet you are wondering what all this has to do with travel? Nothing, hence the title. I had nothing travel related to talk about this morning so you got to learn a little about my family. I will list a few specials worth noting below, just to keep it relevant. Thank you all for reading, Jeremy

Royal Caribbean just announced "family of four" pricing on select sailings with a great discounted rate for families of four.

Sandals adults only all-inclusive resorts are offering two free nights plus $250 spa credit with certain accommodations this month.

Travel just about anywhere in the Bahamas through the end of the year and you only pay for one of the air tickets! Yep, it's buy one get one with relatively no restrictions.