Overwater Bungalo, Bora Bora

Our trip to the Bora Bora Nui Resort began with a shuttle to the airport where we boarded a small plane to the island. We had to either PAY extra to take an extra piece of luggage, or check the extra luggage to pick up after our stay. ..

Perhaps the couple that opened their suitcase to sort out what they were taking and what they were leaving behind should have hidden their stolen Princess Cruise Lines' towels better!

We chose to take everything, so had to pay the extra fee. (no we didn't have any towels in OUR suitcases!)

Entrance way to our Bungalow

When we arrived in Bora Bora...we were taken to the resort by private yacht...what a nice touch! The bungalos themselves looked very rustic from the outside, but were anything but inside. the most comfortable bed I have ever slept in!








View from under Bungalow through coffee table

This was such a relaxing stay...the perfect way to end a holiday. Snorkeling beside and under the bungalow was quite the experience, and again, the fish were so vibrant.










Great Views to sit on the deck and have a drink!

 

 

Food was very expensive, so we usually went for brunch and then dinner. They did seem to have an all inclusive rate if we had booked it directly...and that would probably have been a little less in the long run.

 

Our final dinner was on the deck of the restaurant.

 

 



Any comments or questions?

please address to our general mailbox crowfoot@cruiseshipcenters.com

my e-mail llaustsen@cruiseshipcenters.com

or your own consultant at either Aspen Landing or Dalhousie Station





The Polynesian Islands



Once we arrived in the Polynesian Islands...we cruised to Bora Bora, French Polynesia, Raiatea, French Polynesia,  Moorea, Polynesia and Papeete, Tahiti. The scenery was breathtaking, colors of the fish more vibrant than any place we had been to date...and the water was so warm!

 

By far, the best experience we have had was by "Drift Snorkeling." We really didn't know what that was before we went...but what a good choice! We were taken to a beach on the island of Moorea. People could either stay and snorkel just off the beach or follow a guide up a path and "drift" down an area that had a slight current...back to the beach. The guide showed us where to go to keep us away from dangerous plants. We did have life jackets on...so was very easy for anyone to do!

 

 

In the evenings, we would have the pleasure of some local entertainment right on the ship.

 

 

 

 

Everything about these islands was wonderful!

 

 

Taking a cruise in any area of the world  gives you a chance to plan to go back to a place that you like. We had booked a water bungalow in Bora Bora for after the cruise, but as we toured the islands there were  number of water bungalos on all the islands...and some would have been a little more economically priced. 

Incorrect format!                                                                                               Incorrect format!

 

Any comments or questions?

please address to our general mailbox crowfoot@cruiseshipcenters.com

my e-mail llaustsen@cruiseshipcenters.com

or your own consultant at either Aspen Landing or Dalhousie Station

Hawaii to Tahiti

Our trip from Hawaii to Tahiti ended up to be a 5 day "At Sea" trip. Originally, it was supposed to be 2 days at sea, then a stop at Christmas Island, and 2 more sea days. Just after we set sail from Hawaii, we were informed that the tide levels would be too low to let us get into the port. of Christmas Island. This was one of the reasons we were excited to do this itinerary! In doing research of previous sailings, it turned out that it was more than likely that the ship was NOT able to get in due to low tide levels. (Probably the reason they discontinued this particular itinerary.


On the day we were "supposed" to stop at Christmas Island...they slowed the ship down and a naturalist explained the habitat and layout of the island. At the time, there was no tourism per say, just native settlements. Looking at the internet now...there is either 2 Christmas Islands, or there has been some development since we went in 2008...I will look into this some more!




The 5 days were more sea days than we had initially wanted,  but there was a lot to do and a lot of fun activities planned by the staff aboard the Tahitian  Princess. One of the events was the "King Neptune" ceremony which was conducted as we crossed the equator.

 

 

Any comments or questions?

please address to our general mailbox crowfoot@cruiseshipcenters.com

my e-mail llaustsen@cruiseshipcenters.com

or your own consultant at either Aspen Landing or Dalhousie Station

 

Trip to Tahiti...Hawain Islands

For this trip, we sailed aboard the "Tahitian Princess"

(later, the name was changed to the "Ocean Princess")

Our Trip to Tahiti started as we flew directly to Honalulu Hawaii.

It was nice to have the ship there to take us throughout Honalulu, Hilo Kona and Maui.

Currently, there are no ships offering this itinerary...you would have to do them as two separate trips...The Hawaiin Islands and then Tahiti.

The Hawaiin Islands are so beautiful, and one of our favorite excursions was to visit a historical garden estate. There are several on the islands, and if you get the chance, do it! We learned about the native species, how they are grown and tended to.

Any comments or questions?

please address to our general mailbox crowfoot@cruiseshipcenters.com

my e-mail llaustsen@cruiseshipcenters.com

or your own consultant at either Aspen Landing or Dalhousie Station

Update from Crowfoot since the Calgary flood

This last week has been pretty unreal....who would even have thought that two rivers can cause as much damage as they did! We are resilient though, and WILL be putting on the Calgary Stampede!

Downtown Calgary looking toward the "Bow" building

Here are 2 pictures of the Stampede Grounds

shortly after the flood.

A lot of work

ahead of us to

put this show on!

 

(Thanks to the internet for the pictures!)

Tomorrow I will start a 4 day blog on our 2008 trip to Tahiti.

We started in Honolulu Hawaii, spent 3 nights in Hilo, Kona and Maui before heading towards Tahiti. We passed Christmas Island on our way to the Tahitian Islands. We toured Bora Bora, Raiatea, Moorea, and Papeete before disembarking to spend a few days in an overwater bungalow in Bora Bora.

Starting Friday July 5th, my husband Ken and I will be on a STAYcation as we volunteer for the Calgary Stampede. I will be including pictures of the progress we have made since the flood as well as ideas on places to go during Stampede!

Rocky Mountaineer- Loraine Laustsen

Calgary to Vancouver with a stopover in Kamloops.



I am a native Calgarian, and as such, have travelled by car or plane from Calgary to Vancouver on many an occasion. When we travelled on the Rocky Mountaineer, we were amazed at the scenery we had been missing!

Our "Information" guide

Ken looking out of Observation Car

Dining Car

My husband, Ken and I chose to book the "Gold" category of the train, This is a two tiered observation car, with a dining room below. All drinks are complimentary and the dining menus are wonderful. Yes, this IS an expensive alternative, but most on the car agreed they had weighed the options and decided they would always regret not going in this observation car. It WAS a trip of a lifetime and something everyone should have on their bucket list!

The Rocky Mountaineer mainly follows the riverbed, and most of the time, we couldn't even SEE the highway...just amazing scenery as we were wined an dined in an exquisite train car with high "Ceiling" windows.

Passengers have a choice to board in either Calgary or Banff for the trip west. As we live in Calgary, that was our choice. From Calgary, the car we were in was about half full, and we were able to have our breakfast in the dining car before we picked the rest of the passengers up in Banff.

I have travelled by Via Rail when it had a passenger train stopping in Calgary, and was always disappointed when we travelled through the best part of the scenery in the dark! With the Rocky Mountaineer...they put you up in a hotel in Kamloops so you don't miss the wonderful scenery in between!

We were happy with all of our choices, except maybe deciding to go to the dinner theatre in Kamloops. All of the fresh air, food and drinks made for a LONG day. I might have preferred just going to the hotel restaurant and relaxing. We had left Calgary at around 6:30. When the train stopped in Kamloops they had to take us to the hotel to get settled and then pick us up to go to the theatre. We didn't get there until around 9, and it was quite late when we got back.

I would go on this trip again in a flash, and hope to try some of their other itineraries to Whistler, Jasper or Seattle!

Any comments or questions?

please address to our general mailbox crowfoot@cruiseshipcenters.com

my e-mail llaustsen@cruiseshipcenters.com

or your own consultant at either Aspen Landing or Dalhousie Station

Marseille and Paris France, Loraine Laustsen

A couple of the "Highlights of France" were our two stops after our rivercruise...

• Marseille, France
• This is where we were introduced to the "Hop on, Hop Off" bus
• Many cities around the world have them....you can buy a pass for 24 hours and get on and off as much as you want.
• Great way to see all the sites!

 

• Speed train to Paris France
• Trains leave very fast...so you have to be ready!

• Paris
• On our bucket list was
• To go up the Eiffel Tower
• To have dinner at an outdoor Café where we could see the lights of the Eiffel Tower
• To have dinner at the Grand Colbert Restaurant where they filmed "Something's Gotta Give" with Diane Keaton, Jack Nicholson and Keanu Reeves

Check those off the list!

 

Any comments or questions?

please address to our general mailbox crowfoot@cruiseshipcenters.com

my e-mail llaustsen@cruiseshipcenters.com

or your own consultant at either Aspen Landing or Dalhousie Station

 

Chalon to Arles, Loraine Laustsen

This trip was on the back end of a European tour that started in Istanbul

After leaving Athens, we flew to Lyon

where we were transported to Chalon to start a 7 night river cruise on Uniworld

• from Chalon to Arles 
• This is where we fell in love with River Cruising!
• Highlights were..

• Wine tasting tours!

The "Truffle" and Wine Tasting one....not so much

When they started talking about the dogs that were going to dig up the truffles,

I finally realized we wouldn't be getting any chocolates!
 

• Sitting on the top deck of the riverboat
• Watching the Scenery
• drinking a glass of wine as we sailed down the river.



   River Cruises
include at least one tour,

sometimes more at no cost

They also "Offer" extra tours at a price

....like going to the opera or a special location

 

....sometimes though, it is nice just to sit

and watch the scenery go by!

(of course, with a glass of wine!)

• the "Celebration of the Harvest

This was a good way to end it all

Local farmers all came together for a parade

 

 

 

Afterwards, when we thought
the parade was finished...

We went to a little outdoor café

for a glass of Champagne

(can you see a theme here!)

The parade came back the other way

...so we watched it twice!
 

(They had to get back to their cars someway,

so they just continued the parade in the other direction!)

After we left Arles, we travelled by train to Marseille and then to Pais...check out the next post!

 

Any comments or questions?

please address to our general mailbox crowfoot@cruiseshipcenters.com

my e-mail llaustsen@cruiseshipcenters.com

or your own consultant at either Aspen Landing or Dalhousie Station

 

Istanbul to Athens, Loraine Laustsen

As I am waiting for information from my consultants, I will be talking about the reason I got into the travel business AND about some of the highlights as a Travel consultant and Franchise Owner

This, is our trip on Windstar going from Istanbul to Athens!

• 2 nights in Istanbul, Turkey
• very surprised at the beauty
• expecting more unrest which we didn't see
• also surprised to see a Starbucks on the corner!
• Lots of "Carpet Sellers" on the street corner as well!

Staircase in the Hotel Lobby

We stayed

at a Best Western Hotel 

close to 

the middle of Istanbul.

 It was only a 3 star
but quite nice.

There WAS a rabbit hutch

in the lobby

that I was told was not just to raise pets!

We did see a person in the building beside the hotel throw dishwater?

                                              out the window!

Not a tourist hotel to keep you away from regular society, but quite interesting for us!

 

 

 

148 passenger, "Windstar"

• 7 night cruise aboard
• the Windstar Cruiselines on the "Windstar"    Istanbul to Athens

Several Highlights of this trip

• Setting sail to the sound of the 1812 overture!

• having a five course dinner under the stars in the library of the ruins of  Ephesus, Kusadasi

It was more than we would usually spend,

but when we thought about it,

we would always wished we had done it.

VERY glad we did...some things you just have to do!

This excursion was not available on every itinerary, we lucked out!

 

• Kayaking off the back of the ship in the Aegean Sea

We paddled right up to what they called "Little Venice" in Mykonos

• Santorini Greece
• We  even had a BBQ under the lights of Santorini!

 

 

Any comments or questions?

please address to our general mailbox crowfoot@cruiseshipcenters.com

my e-mail llaustsen@cruiseshipcenters.com

or your own consultant at either Aspen Landing or Dalhousie Station

Loraine Laustsen, Why I got into the travel business

Hi Everyone

As I am waiting for information from my consultants, I will be talking about the reason I got into the travel business AND about some of the highlights as a Travel consultant and Franchise Owner

(I will be adding pictures to THIS page as I search through my old photo albums...stay tuned!

Originally, I started in the travel business for two reasons

1. get my husband to use his holidays instead of being paid out for them
2. plan holidays for friends and family

As we get older and are no longer involved in particular organizations, you leave behind some wonderful people you enjoyed being with. When we are ON holidays, I think of how much fun it would have been to have so and so with us! I would like to plan the same holidays again, except doing it as a group with people I used to know from...

• My Pre University School Years (maiden name "Caffelle")
• Junior Achievement
• Ernest Manning High School
• Life around Wildwood
• the University of Calgary
• AIESEC
• Commerce Undergraduate Society
• the Calgary Stampede
• Downtown Attractions
• Square Dance Committee

AND friends and family as well as people I have worked with in the past!

The first year I was in this business, I was a consultant and I organized a trip to Europe. We wanted to be away for 2-3 weeks, as it was such a long flight. At first, I thought this trip would be on a large cruiseship in the Med...but after going to a presentation on Europe by our travel suppliers...I started thinking about a smaller sailing cruise ship and a river cruise.

I settled on a Windstar Cruiselines and a river cruise on Uniworld. The owners of our center said they didn't think people would like to do these two together as they were different demographics and quite far apart. I thought people would, and everyone else I talked to agreed!

We found that transportation in Europe is easy...and you don't need to always do all of your holiday in one location when you can go by air, train or car to another destination. (Not to mention taking a cruise from one port to the other!)

As a travel agent, I find I do a better job if I have an understanding of the area my clients are wanting to go to. What better way to do that than to "research" various options!

Any comments or questions?

please address to our general mailbox crowfoot@cruiseshipcenters.com

my e-mail llaustsen@cruiseshipcenters.com

or your own consultant at either Aspen Landing or Dalhousie Station

 

Norwegian Breakaway Inaugural and NEW YORK

This is our first "Travel information" Blog...composed by Loraine Laustsen, Franchise owner

Expedia Cruiseshipcenters, Aspen Landing and Dalhousie Station

It was exciting to be included in the inaugural sailing of the Norwegian Breakaway AND get to go to New York! Who could pass that up!


Norwegian Breakaway



Ken and I love the Norwegian Epic

the Breakaway has a lot of things
we LOVE about the Epic,

and some extra things thrown in!

 

The Plank off the Obstacle course
(You just go to the end...
You don't jump off!)

           (check out
      the obstacle course
        on the top deck!)







Obstacle Course

          

Italian Restaurant

The main restaurant still has entertainment...and it is all included. There are a lot of places to eat that don't cost extra.

We really liked the location of the specialty restaurants.

They are situated on the outside of a deck

so that people can sit on the patio or indoors

with a view to outside. What a nice feeling!

Here you can see a picture

from the inside of the Italian Restaurant...Nice View!

Fat Cat's blues and Jazz club was a must for us

and just made the evenings!

We ran into "Slamin Sam" When we were

taking a tour of the restaurant Deck

in the afternoon

(Yes, it has a patio too

and you can hear the entertainment from outside!)

...and then there was New York. On our bucket list, was

•  a baseball game
• We Saw the Mets

• A Jazz club
• lots of those to choose from...check out who is playing the night you go
• My Neice, Jennifer saw Kurt Elling at the Birdland Jazz Club (http://www.birdlandjazz.com/). He's a grammy award winning jazz vocalist and was fantastic. The club itself was nice and well located, close to Times Square.   
• Broadway Show
• we saw The Lion King
• There seems to be lots of half price tickets on show day for some shows, and hotels have a booking screen in their lobby.  For very popular plays, you might want to book tickets ahead of time. (Tom Hank's show had was booked into July, and we were there in May)
• Ground Zero. You need to get a "ticket" to go to the memorial. You can do this one of three ways 

1. Go to the location a few blocks away where they have a number of artifacts and stand in line for a free ticket (they will ask for a donation) You then have to walk a few blocks to the memorial.
2. Go directly to the memorial and stand in a long line there to get your free ticket. (again, they will ask you for a donation)
3. or...go on line and print a ticket off. Then go directly to the memorial and stand in a shorter line.

Two Pictures

taken at Ground Zero
 

The first is looking into the windows
of the memorial museum
 

The second is one of the memorial ponds 

 

• Empire State Building

This was not the romantic tour
I thought it was going to be as I remembered

"Sleepless in Seattle"
(apparently, that was filmed on set
in the back lot of the movie studio!)



Worth going up, but it IS crowded

Rent an audio system

(available as you wind yourself around in the line)

...that really gives you a lot of
information about where you are looking.
I bought the DVD if you want to borrow it!

• Don't get caught like we did by buying a package from a street busker to do the Empire State Building AND the Hop on Hop off bus...it may be too cold for an open air bus ride!
• DO buy a pass that gives you faster access to the observation deck (you can get these tickets from your hotel) LOTS of standing in line, and it would pay to cut that a little shorter 
• DO buy the pass that takes you beyond the observation deck.
• (We didn't and I wish I had)

• Bay Tour (There are a number of companies offering harbour tours, we took the "Circle Line tour. This kind of tour gives you a good idea of the lay of the land and where you might like to go!)

• Next on our bucket list was to "Ride the subway" Quite easy, but probably best done in the daytime and with someone!  You can buy two way passes from your hotel for 10 bucks
• (I found it a little scary and was glad to have Ken beside me!)

We also did the hop on hop off bus...which is great in most cities around the world...and would be wonderful on a warm sunny day. This was not....it was rather cold this May (the coldest May New York has had in a long time)...and not the greatest to be on the top of an open bus with the cold air blasting by! Brrrrr

• Statue of Liberty
• Due to Hurricane Sandy, the statue was under renovation and the island was not open. We did manage to sail by her both on our circle tour and on our way out to sea on the Norwegian Breakaway (That was the best weather and best sights!)

I will leave you with these sights...

We will go back, and perhaps do a week on the Breakaway with a pre or post stay in New York. I don't think you can ever see everything!

Any comments or questions?

please address to our general mailbox crowfoot@cruiseshipcenters.com

my e-mail llaustsen@cruiseshipcenters.com

or your own consultant at either Aspen Landing or Dalhousie Station