With all the crazy 'stuff' happening in the world today, I thought we should revisit this topic! 

Do I recommend Travel Insurance?

Short answer...YES!!

Another year has come and gone.  Every year people make tons of resolutions.  

Exercise more. Eat better.  Be a better (fill in the blank).  Spend more time with my family.  And on and on.

Everyone gets busy and things you meant to do get lost in the endless ‘work’, and suddenly you forget that trip you had meant to plan with your family until it was too late to get what you really wanted or you end up spending way more money than your budget liked.  I can relate!

This year, how about you make some resolutions that are more fun.  Ones that you can easily keep for a longer period of time.  And, maybe include some of those other resolutions that often get pushed to the background.

TRAVEL!

That’s right.  It is as simple as TRAVEL.   Want to spend more time with your family?  Travel with them.  Want to Exercise more?  Travel to a beautiful location that will scream “get out and enjoy!”  Want to save money?  Book your travel EARLY!  Want to be pampered?  Cruise!  Want to catch up on some reading?  Travel to a nice beach resort.  

Yes, it really IS that easy, and I’m here to help. I plan amazingly stress free family vacations for busy families who want a magical getaway before the kids are too old to enjoy it!

Yes, I do Disney and Universal, but I do so much more!  Are you looking to cruise?  How about a Caribbean All Inclusive?  Yes, I can do that and so much more!

Ready to get started?

Give me a call at 770-207-0135 or email at Jeanne@JMorrisTravel.com.

​So it’s great to encourage kids to be involved in the planning and to participate in family activities — but what are some ways that you can really get your child curious about your travel destinations without adding yet another list of to-dos to a parent’s already-long list?
 
Here are some ideas for sparking the love of travel in your child on your next vacation.
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​I know. Not the most exciting part of your trip, but quite possibly may be the most important thing to remember about your trip. Most people completely ignore this. 
Even the most seasoned travelers sometimes feel confused about travel insurance — what’s out there, what it covers, whether or not they need it. While coverage and policies vary from state to state, of course, here are some basics of travel insurance to get you started: 

​1. There are five main types of travel insurance. What you might need depends largely on what kind of trip you’re taking, what kind of traveler you are, and how frequently you travel. The five main types are:
~trip cancellation and interruption (full or partial reimbursement for a trip you need to cancel prior to departure, a trip that gets cancelled because a tour company or resort goes out of business, or a trip that gets cut short for a wide variety of reasons)
~medical (for health issues that occur outside of your normal coverage area)
~evacuation (due to disaster, dangerous weather, political emergency, or medical emergency)
~baggage (reimbursement for lost, stolen, or damaged baggage)
~flight insurance (also called “crash coverage,” this is basically a life insurance policy that covers you while you’re on the plane, in the event of a statistically-rare crash) 

The World is Now More Accessible Than Ever - Explore and Enjoy It!
 
The world is now more accessible than ever before. Twenty percent (62 million) of the U.S. population has some form of disability, and the number of these individuals is increasing daily. These people need to, want to, and can travel. If you’re part of that twenty percent, a world of travel awaits you.
 
Travel professionals such as myself who are accessible travel advocates certified by Special Needs Group www.specialneedsgroup.com, the leading global provider of special needs equipment for the travel industry, have unique, specialized knowledge about how to help individuals with disabilities enjoy a wonderful, hassle-free and memorable trip.
 
Here are a few tips from Special Needs Group to ensure that when your next travel opportunity arises, you are ready to go.

Just a quick note to say I am so happy to announce that I am a CERTIFIED Accessible Travel Advocate!

Stay tuned to more information!

​Packing is one thing all travelers have in common, and it is probably the one thing everyone dreads (if not actually hate).  I know some people who are still packing minutes before the leave.  Others are packed days (if not weeks) in advance.  So, how do I pack?

Today we are in for a treat.  We have a guest blogger.  I asked my daughter to give me some thoughts about cruising with a toddler (while being pregnant!)  Enjoy!

Don't forget to click on her Face Book page and tell her how much you enjoyed it!
​https://www.facebook.com/SurvivingMomma/

​Cruising with Toddlers while Pregnant!
 
When I got the invitation to go on a cruise I was very excited. My husband and I had never been on a cruise and the thought of traveling to some Caribbean island sounded fantastic. Then I panicked… what about the babies?! You see, at this point I was 4 months pregnant and I had an 18 month old. All I knew about a cruise ship was that everything was small. Narrow hall ways, tiny bathrooms, and very little room and storage in the bedroom. How was I going to make the work? Going to visit my in laws 5 hours away meant packing a minivan full of baby gear and we almost always had to go to a store and get something that we forgot or ran out of. How am I going to do this? The rooms are tiny!
 
Once I got my head around the idea of the small space, I started researching what was available online. They sold diapers and wipes. Great, now I don’t have to worry about running out. What about the size of the room. A square footage number means nothing to me so I went to YouTube and looked for videos of room tours. I was amazed at how many people have done this. It gave me the best understanding of the space I had to work with. Can you tell I am a little bit of a control freak?
​
Fast forward to the day of the cruise. We got really mixed up. My husband went to park the car while my mom and I took the toddler and went to check in. We had several bags and my husband’s documents that he needed to get through security. The staff told us to go ahead and go in. We waited for a long time because the parking garage was a mad house and we had to be on constant look out so we could give my husband his papers all while entertaining the toddler and keeping our luggage out of the way. It made for a stressful 30+ minutes.
We boarded the ship and headed to lunch with a lot of luggage in tow. We went the wrong way and had to drag it all across the boat again. Why do we have all of this stuff? Everyone said that you should take a bag on with you so you would have your swim suit, extra clothes, medications and anything you might need for the rest of the evening in case your room in not ready. Well, we took that advice and carried a lot of stuff. Don’t do that. Seriously. One bag that consisted of regular diaper bag stuff would have been just fine. Wear clothes that are comfortable and are approved for the dining you plan to eat in that night. I only used diapers, wipes and my daughter’s sippy cup.

​As a family, we love cruising!  So far we have sailed on three different cruise lines, and we found pros and cons on each.  Somehow, no matter what, we have always had a blast.  And that includes the sailing in late September of 2015 where we shared the Bahamas with Hurricane Joaquin. 
So, let’s start a game of pros and cons, best and worst of our sailing experiences.

​Pros of cruising in general :  
Once you get on the ship, you unpack once and visit many destinations!  Your room magically transports you to various locations and experiences!  A land vacation that includes all these destinations, would also include airfare to each destination as well as hotel or resort.  Plus you would be packing and unpacking every day!
Food is included!  With the exception of a few specialty dining rooms, all your meals are included in the cruise fare!  It is sort of like an all you can eat restaurant, where you are treated like royalty!  I know you can have a weeklong beach vacation for a lot less money, but when you include the price of meals, the cruise comes out as a bargain!
The steward comes twice a day to tidy up your room and turns down your bed at night.  Most cruise lines also include a chocolate on your pillow.  They leave the ship’s itinerary for the next day on your bed.  A land based vacation gets you one housekeeping visit per day (if you’re lucky).  If you need something during the day, you can call for someone to help you, but it might be hours before you have that item…but the steward is always close by.  You see them in the hallway and they will ask if you need anything, and you can be assured if you need something it will be waiting in your rooms when you get back…and there were lots of towel animals involved with all our sailings!
Wake up each morning with a new place to explore!  Yes, I know I listed that one twice…because it is that special!

And unfortunately, here is our last post from our first Family Disney Cruise back in 2014...

​I can tell you from this point on the details will be a bit more sketchy...as I sit down to start writing the details, I can tell you the thing I remember most is that it went all too fast! While it has only been six short months since we had this adventure, it is sometimes hard to separate one day from the other.   Luckily I saved the Navigators from each day.

A thing about the Navigators.  While it was wonderful to have them each night on the bed waiting for us when we came back from dinner, and we did pass them around to see what we wanted to do the next day, we actually used the ones on our phone app.  There is a lot of information on these things, so you would have to carry around this big piece of paper...and if you lost it, your whole itinerary was gone!  Having it on the phone was so much cooler, and it fit in your back pocket.  You could even set a reminder within the app and it would let you know that 'such and such' was about to start on deck whatever.  Each person could set their own reminders and I could keep up with where everyone was.

Another thing to keep in mind...the shopping onboard!  If you like visiting the gift shops in the Disney resorts, you will love the shopping onboard!  The one thing to keep in mind...they are CLOSED when you are in port!  It was really cute listening to people complain about that.  (although there were numerous signs and announcements reminding you).  So, plan accordingly!

Monday morning was announced with a beautiful sunrise!  I love sunrises.  Always have.  Unfortunately no one else in my family appreciates the beauty of a good sunrise.