Highlight Travel and Cruises - A Celebration!

Oh Blog..how I have neglected you over the summer months! Well, a lot has happened since I last posted! I have joined a new agency, Highlight Travel and Cruises, joining two lovely ladies with an amazing amount of experience, Leslie Coates and Mona Schuller! I am so happy to be now consider myself a part of this lovely trio! :)

October 24th, Highlight Travel & Cruises celebrated its one year anniversary by featuring a Regent Cruises representative to feature cruise groups being led by Leslie Coates, as well as TourCan representative featuring "Pearls of Africa" a tour group to South Africa, being led my Mona Schuller in October 2012. These tours are not yet sold out, so if you are interested, act fast! :)

Please enjoy the following video of our Highlight Night!

Do you know what a "Shoulder" season is?

If you are looking to save a few dollars, you might want to consider travelling between high season and low season, what is often referred to as the "shoulder" season! Check out the video for more info! Happy Travels! :)

So you want to go on a cruise..now what??

There are many things to consider when thinking about going on a cruise!
Which itinerary?
Which cruiseline?
Which ship?
River cruise?

Overwhelmed? Call me! :)

Victoria Day weekend is coming - where are you going??

Just thought i'd share some ideas on long weekend trip ideas! Chicago, Vegas, Miami..where would you like to go?? If you haven't already planned yourself a long weekend getaway - e-mail, call or facebook me - you deserve a break!!

Happy Travels! ;)

Who needs a Travel Agent these days?? YOU DO!!

Produced by :Reno Video Productions

Check out my first ever video blog - ie. VLOG! :) Hope you enjoy!
A good agent (ie. ME! lol) will develop a long-term relationship with you in order to:
a) save you time
b) save you money
c) provide expertise
and
d) ensure that you not only have a good vacation, but one of those vacations that you just can't stop talking about and will remember forever!!

Mamma Agata's Cooking School, Ravello, Italy!

I thought I’d kick off my blog with one of the yummiest and most beautiful experiences I’ve had in my lifetime so far – taking my mom (who is now a cook at a restaurant) to a cooking class at Mamma Agata’s in the town of Ravello.  Ravello was such a beautiful town, high above the Amalfi Coast, with the most amazing views. 

Mamma Agata is a cute lady who doesn’t speak any English (or maybe she does but doesn’t let on haha) and her daughter Chiara was our wonderful hostess.  Just hearing her speak was so cute and her story about how they began the cooking school was truly inspiring and is part of what led me to follow my passion and begin a career in travel!

We started off the morning with some famous lemon cake in the most beautiful outdoor dining room EVER, a walk through of the gardens (which do not look at all like gardens you would find here..amazingly built on the side of a cliff!!  We spent some time in the kitchen with Mamma, making a variety of different recipes, chopping veggies, making eggplant rolls, eggplant parmisiana, lemon chicken etc…and Mamma says to use your “ugly frying pan” everything tastes better in it! 

After cooking up a storm, we were served by Chiara’s husband Genarro, and got to eat it all while listening to Andrea Bocelli! There was SO much food, and trust me I love to eat, and even I couldn’t finish everything!  My favourite for sure though, was the Farmer’s Spaghetti!

Spaghetti del contadino — Farmer’s Spaghetti

Ingredients (Serves 4)

400 grams or 1 lb Spaghetti Pasta

1 kg or 1 ¼ lb Cherry Tomatoes (the riper the better)

1 Spoon or 1 Tablespoon Fresh Parsley (finely chopped)

4 Large Spoons or 6 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil

4 Cloves of Garlic

20 Green Olives (with or without pits)

20 Black Olives (with or without pits)

1 Large Spoon or 1 Tablespoon Capers

1 Small Spoon or 1 teaspoon dried Oregano

1 Cup Fresh Arugula Leaves (20 Leaves)

2 Pinches of Salt

Heat the olive oil and cloves of garlic over low

heat in a frying pan

Add the chopped cherry tomatoes and parsley

to the pan with the oregano, green and

black olives and the capers (rinse the salt brine

from the capers) - Cook for 5 minutes

Boil the pasta until it is cooked al dente, drain

and add the pasta to the frying pan with the

farmer’s sauce; stir the ingredients together,

adding the arugula leaves at the very end as

a garnish

Serve hot with a drizzle of olive oil to further

enhance the flavors in the dish!

Mamma Agata’s Secrets

The riper the cherry tomatoes, the sweeter and

more delicious they are in this recipe

Chop the cherry tomatoes into a bowl and

add the finely chopped parsley

Parsley is added to the tomatoes before

heating the tomatoes in the oil to enhance the

flavor of the tomatoes, as once the parsley

sautés in the hot oil, it will lose its flavor

*************************************

This and other great recipes can be found in their new cookbook – I bought it for my mom before going on our trip to get her excited about it, and even had it personally autographed and a message put in by Chiara herself welcoming my mom, it was great. 

If you would like to visit Mamma Agata’s – I can get you there! If you can’t travel to Ravello but want to learn how to cook like Mamma, check out her cookbook – you can buy clicking on the image below to get to their website, using code 001, and they’ll know I referred you!

 

Introducing Cindy Almond, Your Personal Travel Consultant

Hello everyone, and welcome to my first ever blog post! What a busy year 2010 was! My sister and I (mostly I) planned the most excellent trip to Europe (Greek Islands cruise, Amalfi coast, and Paris!) for my mom's 50th birthday.  Upon returning from this trip, I just knew I had to change something in my life.  Turning 30 also seemed like a pretty big milestone which led to questions such as, Who am I? and what is my purpose?? Very deep. :)

On a flight home from a business trip to Vancouver I read a book that suggested turning your passion into a career.  Which led me to ask myself, what are my passions? The two things that distinctively came to mind - FOOD and TRAVEL.

I started doing some research into the travel industry to see what my options might be.  I am pleased with my government career and the benefits and flexibility it provides so I wasn't going to just up and quit my job!  I noticed a posting for an Air Transat Vacationer video blogger/destination reviewer position and applied, since I could take a year off work and see if this might be something i'd like to pursue.  There are no coincidences in life, and alas Air Transat was not meant to be my employer. However it did lead to my video application being found on youtube by Dennis Woodworth, TPI Travel Consultant and Program Development Team Lead for CanTravelClub.com. 

Through a number of conversations over the Christmas holidays, I have decided to join Dennis in becoming an Independant Personal Travel Consultant with TPI, a home-based travel agency with reps all over Canada.

I am SO EXCITED about this home-based opportunity because it is really the perfect opportunity for me.  I get to keep all of my jobs, including my federal government job and my Sensually Active Ottawa business!

I will be using this blog space to post about my food and travel related adventures in support of my new travel agency business and hope that you check back often to read about my experiences!

To conclude, I think I'm getting much closer to knowing who I am and what my purpose here is.. I've decided to sum it up in the following bio that will also soon be available on my new website: www.AuthenticFoodieTravels.com

________________________________________________________________

I am a pleasure-seeker. My friends and family would probably describe me using two words, Food and Travel.  Travel satisfies my insatiable need for the exciting and the exotic.  I like to be fully immersed when I travel and enjoy using all of my senses when I explore to really get to know the places I visit.   Each place that I visit changes me a little, and I feel I become a better, more authentic person.  No words or pictures can fully describe what it is like to watch the sunset over the Costa Rican beaches and mountains, or watch a lion cub nuzzle his mom on a hazy sunny afternoon in the Serengeti National Park..or partying in a Las Vegas club, for that matter. :)

I’ve decided to combine my passion for food and travel to become Your Personal Travel Consultant.  I have had the opportunity to personally travel to (and eat in!) many destinations: Costa Rica, Tanzania, Zanzibar, Greek Islands, Venice, Amalfi, Paris, Cuba, Dominican and other Caribbean destinations.

I would love the opportunity to share my stories and experiences with you while helping you plan for your next dream vacation.  Let’s do it together!