Friday, April 23, 2010
Friday, April 2, 2010
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Cuba Vacation
A very good friend recently traveled from Russia to Cuba for vacation. Attached is the review she sent me upon her return. I am leaving this in her words so to not loose her personal enthusiasm. She granted me permission to repost.
Dear Debbie,
My boyfriend is a member of Aeroflot program, he has a credit card which gives him bonus miles for the amount of spent money (1 mile for a spent dollar). he managed to get enough miles for 2 free tickets!i mean he was spending money using his card and accumulated the amount of miles which were enough for 2 tickets. he was saving up those miles for 2 years! That's why we didn't have to pay for the tickets and this is probably the main expensive thing in going to Cuba. the only thing we had to pay for is tax.
Russian citizens don't have to get visa to go to Cuba, so we just got tickets, packed our bags, found some information about hotels and were ready to go))
the flight took us 14 hours! we were happy when we finally arrived in Havana!it was early in morning.
we took a taxi and went to a hotel we were reading about in the Internet, it was a cheap hotel, we spent just one night there because there were no hot water. we left the bags, took a COLD! shower and went sightseeing! The architecture is outstanding but everything looks very old and shabby, some buildings need very good and urgent reconstruction measures, people earn 20-30 $ a month and care about their family first of all and don't have anything left for the place where they live. when you go out and local people notice a tourist, they start talking to you with "where are you from" question, offering cigars or alcohol or smth else hoping to get money from you, first it seems funny but time after time when like 50 people during a couple of hours come to you, it starts getting frustrating!
There are two types of currency in Cuba - local peso and convertible peso for tourists which is called CUC by tourists, one convertible peso equals to 22-28 local peso, that's why local people are interested in dealing with tourists and at the same time it means you need to be very careful. when you get change, you need to recount it, when you want to buy smth, you need to ask about the price first. and it' s so sad that people have to do that because of the situation in the country.
Well, after the first night we started looking for a so called casa particular. this is a house of a local citizen who can rent you a room for stay. Casas are much cheaper than hotels, approximately 25-35 peso (one peso is almost equal to a dollar). people offer you a very clean and cozy room with a bathroom, if you want you can order breakfast or dinner but for extra money. so we spend three more days staying in such a casa and exploring Havana. we tried different food in different places, cocktails, and a dinner in a restaurant cost us most of the time 10-15 peso.
After spending 5 days in Havana we decided to move to a resort town called Varadero where we hoped to enjoy the sun at the beach. Unfortunately, the weather was windy, cloudy and not very suitable for sunbathing. were were able to spend maybe 2 or 3 days at the beach in comparison with 7 days!
Varadero is a small town for tourists, it differs from Havana a lot, it is full of hotels and restaurants and tourism is the main source of living for local people. We booked 2 hotels in Varadero while we were in Havana. Casa particulars are prohibited in Varadero. That's how the government supports tourist business. Most of the hotels are all-inclusive and we didn't want that, we wanted to eat in different places, try different things so booked an all-inclusive hotel just for 3 nights and then moved to bed and breakfast hotel. So we were enjoying the sun when we could, were walking, talking to the locals, watching their street shaw the rest of the days. Cuban people who live in Varadero are different from those who live in the capital as well, they are more sure about the future, they have better life conditions, so they don't bother you a lot while you are out of the hotel.
I liked the trip very much, i was enjoying every minute, Cuba is a very domestic and unique country, people are very friendly and hospitable in general, it was nice to get a chance to explore life of such a colorful country.
i hope this wasn't boring for you Debbie, i will download some more pictures today. if you have any questions, i will be happy to answer all of them))))
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Monday, December 7, 2009
Space Tourism Specialist
Ambassador Travel Can Literally Send You to the Edge of Space
New travel itinerary priced at less than 50% of current market price
New travel itinerary priced at less than 50% of current market price
(Seaford, DE 2009) – Looking for something that’s literally an out-of-the-world experience? Look no further than Deborah Mitchell of Ambassador Travel who is now accepting deposits for your very own private suborbital space flight set to take off in a Lynx rocket ship beginning in 2011.
Mitchell recently completed an in-depth Space Tourism Specialist training program. She is one of only about 30 travel agents in the world currently certified to book the space experience developed by RocketShip Tours, headed by travel pioneer and entrepreneur Jules Klar, and XCOR Aerospace, an industry leader in reusable rocketry known for building safe rocket-powered vehicles.
This comprehensive space experience includes a four-day participant qualification program at the luxurious Sanctuary at Camelback Mountain Resort and Spa in Phoenix, Ariz. with extensive medical evaluation and screening, G-force training, and exclusive mementos. Guests will travel to the edge of space in the revolutionary Lynx rocket ship, powered by environmentally friendly rocket engines. Cost of the complete package is $95,000 – less than 50 percent of other products currently in the marketplace.
Unlike other space tourism programs, the RocketShip Tours adventure is truly intimate, pairing just a single passenger on each flight – who sits in the co-pilot’s seat – next to the astronaut-pilot who is flying the Lynx suborbital vehicle. Early participants aboard Lynx will have the rare opportunity to reach the edge of space seated beside NASA Space Shuttle Pilot and Commander Col. Rick Searfoss, one of only seven people in the world that has flown more than 50 flights in rocket-powered vehicles. As Lynx flight frequency increases, similarly qualified pilots will command the rocket ship.
Roughly the size of a twin-engine propeller aircraft, Lynx will accelerate to twice the speed of sound on the way to an altitude of 200,000 feet. Participants will experience weightlessness while traveling through the inky blackness of space and have expansive views of the earth’s curvature and its thin blue mantle. Throughout the flight, participants will have continuous interaction with the pilot. Guests will rehearse their entire mission before takeoff.
The Lynx rocket ship is being built in Mojave, Calif. by XCOR Aerospace, headed up by Jeff Greason, who holds 18 patents and was recently named to a White House panel to review NASA space flight programs. Once completed as early as next year, the Lynx vehicle will undergo a series of more than 50 tests of the suborbital flight profile in preparation for public flights anticipated in 2011. RocketShip Tours is the exclusive global provider of passenger services for the Lynx.
Due to the unique nature of the experience, travel agents are required to complete RocketShip Tours’ online university study program to become a Space Tourism Specialist before selling the space flights. The training prerequisite speaks to the extreme professionalism of how this program is managed, according to Mitchell.
“We are so privileged to be in partnership with Rocketship Tours for this extraordinary experience for our clients,” says Mitchell of Ambassador Travel. “Rocket powered flight is a life-long dream for those who are passionate about science and research and space. In fact, for them it may not even be viewed as a luxury but a life-altering, personal fulfillment.
“I’m always looking for travel adventures that are unique and different – experiences that truly create a ‘wow factor’. What’s more unique and different than traveling to the edge of space?” asks Deborah.
A fully refundable initial deposit of $20,000 is required prior to the four-day training in Phoenix. Cancellation insurance, which covers certain medical and business situations, is in effect for seven years.
Ambassador Travel is able to offer this unique experience through its affiliation with Ensemble Travel Group, an international organization of nearly 900 travel agencies in the U.S. and Canada. Headquartered in New York, Ensemble Travel Group creates special travel adventures exclusively for its member agencies to offer their clients. Details can be found on www.totheedgeofspace.com or by calling Ambassador Travel at 302 629 9604.
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