Merecedes Benz showcase event

PRESS RELEASE

July 9, 2009

Post Haste Travel was invited to attend the unveiling of 2 new Mercedes Benz
automobiles at a Mercedes Benz of Fort Lauderdale extravaganza event,

from 6-9 PM, on June 25th, 2009.

Along with Saks Fifth Avenue, The Ritz Carlton, Fort Lauderdale, Harley-Davidson,

Merrill Lynch and other local upscale businesses, Post Haste Travel was given

display space to offer services to the more than 750 attendees at the gala event.

As part of our Africa travel themed presentation, Sylvia Berman, President, Grace DeVita, marketing manager, Arlene Feen, consultant, Regent Seven Seas Cruises local business development representative Phil Devillier, Mark Conroy, Regent President, (offering Regents African cruises), and James Currie, from &Beyond, (showcasing safari camps and expedition services), were all at our table.

The event was a huge success both for vendors and Mercedes Benz. All attending vendors supplied gifts for a raffle, and we received a mailing list of attendees that registered for the raffle. After running the list through the Virtuoso database, Post Haste Travel will be able to market to this very elite list of prospective clients.

Mercedes Benz general manager Tony Giordano sent his thanks:
“On behalf of myself and our Team, we would like to thank you for being a part of a very exiting evening at Mercedes-Benz of Fort Lauderdale. We could not have been able to pull this off without the attentiveness of your staff that allowed us the opportunity to provide our Customers with "A World Class Experience".

We look forward to a continued partnership with Mercedes Benz of Fort Lauderdale, which started in October 2008 when Post Haste Travel hosted an Africa themed event at the dealership. Plans are in the works for another presentation from Post Haste Travel to the clients of Mercedes Benz.

Wednesday-last day of vacation

I think everyone should make sure to take a day or two at home to rest and regroup after your vacation. It gives you time to clean everything that needs cleaning, get your house back in order along with your mind. I was lucky enough to have a wonderful, stormy day yesterday, and made a big pot of bean soup with cornbread. In my pajamas! All day! I'll finish all my errands today, pay my bills, and I'll be really ready to go back to work tomorrow. Then just 2 days and it's the weekend again. I finally got my cat back home this morning, (he went missing from my mothers for 2 days). This is the perfect end to some real rest.

Make sure to use your vacation time to separate yourself from your day to day life. The memories I have of the mountains in N GA will get me through the worst part of this FL summer. I do miss hearing the songbirds already though.

My next trip will be business, in Las Vegas, in August. More heat. Uh.

I'll be back to writing my regular blog by the beginning of next week. Until then.....

Photos from road trip

A few photos from our road trip....I haven't figured out how to maximize the space in the blog yet....

Monday back at home

It's Monday morning, and we are back at home. We had to cut the road trip short, due to an electrical problem with the old Mercedes, but I am still on vacation. We did get a chance to visit with Jamie's dad, and it was a wonderful few hours. On our way to North Florida, we decided to get a hotel room instead of trying to get to our campsite late in the day. Also, it was 100 degrees out. We got to Ichitucknee Springs at 8 AM Sunday morning, and it was packed with Fathers Day crowds. People with inner tubes and canoes were all over the place. A little too crowded for us. So we took a few minutes and swam in the springs, and decided to head home. Lou wasn't allowed near the water, (new rules to protect the springs are actually good, considering how many people use them) so we really didn't have a good reason to spend the night camping. The drive home took longer than I remembered, and although the car had been running fine, for some reason when we stopped at a rest area, she didn't start, again, and we needed a jump.
This morning we are going to Fort Lauderdale beach. It's going to be hot, but hey, a beach day is just the way to end this vacation. I'll be back at work Wednesday or Thursday...I haven't decided yet. Photos will follow soon. Until next time....

Saturday morning Woodlands Inn

Dinner last night was a marvel. We opted not to eat from the prix fixe menu, but to order a la carte. We receive an "amuse" (sp?) as an opener...a spoonful of some fizzy powder with a piece of strawberry and cream as a palate freshener. What a surprise taste in your mouth! Then beautiful plates of shrimp, for Jamie, and asparagus with morels for me. The bread was served with 2 types of butter and 2 types of salt, and was delicious and fresh. I had a bowl of fragrant pasta, and we were already full. Then off to the most luscious, cozy 4 poster bed. soft pillows, perfect comforters, chocolates on the bed in a crystal bowl. Lou was given an organic dog bone, and loved it. We slept like babies.
I was up at 6 AM, and since this is a non smoking property, went out for a smoke and a walk for Lou. The temperature was warm, the humidity not too bad, yet. Coffee is served with 2 types of cubed sugar, brown and white, and was rich and fragrant. I just had a peaceful swim in the pool surrounded by crepe myrtles and magnolias. We're going to read a little this morning, then hit the road again around noon. Tonight,perhaps, we'll be in our tent at Ichitucknee Springs. If there is wi-fi, I'll report again.

Friday night 4th night of road trip

We are in Summerville, SC, at the 5 star resort, Woodlands Inn, finally. I haven't been able to write in my blog the past 4 nights, since up in the mountains of North Georgia, we didn't have a wi-fi signal. Or any access to the Internet. Which was actually, wonderful. Let me back up some, and start with the beginning of the road trip.
We left Fort Lauderdale Monday night, 6 PM, and made it to Ocala by 10 PM. got a room at a Days Inn for the night, and were up early Tuesday morning, and on the road by 5:30 AM. We stopped in a rest area about 80 miles into Georgia, and the car wouldn't start. Got a jump from a friendly traveler, and were on our way again. When we got into North Georgia, the battery went again, and we called AAA, and found out we needed a new battery, so we went to a local Wal-Mart, bought a battery, and finally made it into Dahlonega, and Forrest Hills Resort, by 4 PM.
What a beautiful, secluded, rustic place! There are about 30 individual cabins, all in the woods, with kitchenettes, wrap around porches with swings, fireplaces, and ours had a full sized hot tub with a deck inside. There is horseback riding, a pool, and plenty of walking trails. It was so quiet. The birds were all we could hear. No car traffic, no electrical hum in the background, no noise whatsoever, except nature.
Breakfast was in a quaint restaurant called the Secret Garden. Dark and cozy, with picture windows overlooking a real secret garden, with classical music in the background. The buffet breakfast food was fabulous. Real country cooking with a very light touch. Outside the restaurant are formal rose gardens, with a couple of cats having a very loud argument. I took Lou for a wonderful walk through the woods, along groomed, paved, walking trails, with wildflowers growing everywhere.. I actually did this walk numerous times. I will post photos on my Facebook page, and in our newsletter. We spent the afternoon and evening with close friends, at Amicalola Falls, and went to bed early. The hot tub was a wonderful perk to have before bedtime. I saw my horse, and cried a bit when I had to leave him. Lou was having a wonderful time walking through the undergrowth around the cabin, looking for rabbits and smelling for deer. I walked alot. My unused calf muscles remembered how hills worked. We could have stayed there 2 or 3 more days. Forrest Hills, is remote, and secluded, and quiet and peaceful, and I recommend it for couples and families who want some real together time.
It's our first few hours here at Woodlands Inn, and I have to say, this is a real, elegant , Old South inn. European elegance. Gravel trails, beautiful, manicured grounds, and free wi-fi! It's a real comfort after our 7 hour drive down from the mountains. Oh, by the way, we stayed off the interstates, and traveled through all the small towns on Highway 78 from Georgia through South Carolina. It was the most direct route, and although we never drove faster than 65 mph, it was an easy drive. I'll have more to tell tomorrow, after dinner and swimming tonight.
Give yourself the chance to take a road trip. Even thought we've had to cut off the Maryland portion of the trip due to car trouble, this has been fantastic! Sweet dreams!

Top 10 reasons to use a travel agent

From Travel Agent Central......
1. You've Googled "Mexico vacation," and come up with 17.8 million responses. Need a little help editing those choices?
2. Remember when you used that obscure website to book your hotel, and when you got there you spent your beach vacation overlooking a parking lot?
3. How many hours were you on hold with the airline when your flight was canceled because of a snowstorm?
4. Did you really mean to spend your honeymoon at that resort whose one tiny pool was filled all day with 12 screaming children?
5. Who knew that when you booked that "villa" in Tuscany, it would be a small room with a kitchenette and no air conditioning? Funny, it looked much better on your computer screen.
6. No one explained to you that in July, it's winter time in Rio, and so you showed up there with nothing but five Hawaiian shirts and three pairs of swimming trunks.
7. How about the time you really needed a restful vacation, and you ended up in New Orleans during Mardi Gras and someone threw up on your shoes?
8. Yes, I guess that hotel must have used a telephoto lens when they took a picture of those guest rooms that you saw on their website.
9. I suppose contacting the Attorney General to resolve the fact that that Internet site has billed your credit card three times instead of once is the only route to take at this point.
10. It was definitely odd that there were no cab drivers at the airport at 3 o'clock in the morning when you finally landed in Costa Rica, but booking a transfer to your very remote hotel would have been a good thing to remember when you purchased your airline ticket and hotel online.
Now give us a call and let us take away all the confusion and information overload!
800-881-7690