Celebrity Millennium embarkation day & Pro Tips

Dateline:  2015-05-22, Friday
Location:  aboard Celebrity Millennium in Vancouver


Arriving at Canada Place
If you take a taxi from your hotel to Canada Place on embarkation day, you don't have to worry about directions and where to drive into the facility once you arrive...

The complete entry for this post has been moved to my primary Blog site!  Please go here to read about the embarkation day and to pick up lots of pro tips for ensuring the start of your cruise is problem-free!

http://travelagentphoenix.com/2015/09/22/celebrity-millennium-embarkation-pro-tips/

Accompanying Pictures and Video
The accompanying short Flickr photo album and YouTube video playlist can be found here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/CPGetaways/albums/
https://www.youtube.com/user/CPGetaways/playlists

Celebrity Millennium loading

Dateline:  2015-05-22, Friday

Location:  aboard Celebrity Millennium at Vancouver's Canada Place pier

Behind the Scenes

For this particular post, I just happened to look out from my balcony during passenger and cargo loading on the day of departure...

The full text of this post has been moved to my primary Blog site!  Please go here to read about the loading process of an ocean cruise ship:

http://travelagentphoenix.com/2015/09/22/celebrity-millennium-loading-behind-the-scenes/

Accompanying Pictures and Video
The accompanying short Flickr photo album and YouTube videos can be found here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/CPGetaways/sets/
https://www.youtube.com/user/CPGetaways/playlists

Vancouver, BC, Canada

Dateline:  2015-05-21, Thursday
Location:  PHX airport, YVR airport, and Vancouver

See this picture below?  That's two mechanics (there were a total of four just a few minutes earlier) with part of a jet engine casing lifted up...

This blog entry (including the jet engine picture!) has been relocated to my primary Blog site.  To read all about our adventure getting to Vancouver along with some professional, insider tips about how to navigate Vancouver (especially as a cruise passenger), please give the following pages a read:

http://travelagentphoenix.com/2015/09/21/vancouver-bc-canada-getting-there/

http://travelagentphoenix.com/2015/09/21/vancouver-bc-canada-review-expert-tips/

Accompanying Pictures and Video
The accompanying full Flickr photo album and one YouTube video (the seaplane taking off) can be found here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/CPGetaways/sets/
https://www.youtube.com/user/CPGetaways/playlists

www.ImaginativeGetaways.com

Why use a travel advisor?

Probably a reasonable question, eh?  Especially considering most people are pretty comfortable jumping online and searching for what they need.  And actually, if all you're doing is flying from Atlanta to Chicago, booking a flight and a hotel is straightforward these days.

But what about when it gets more complicated, or more important to get right because it involves your family's big annual vacation?  Is it worth all your time doing research?  Can you really trust that online review from someone you don't know?  Can you possibly know all the options that may be available to you, and what the best match is for you and your family?

Below are some of the most important reasons why using a travel advisor is still beneficial to you.  Do any of these resonate with you?  Let me know!


PERSONALIZED SERVICES
We offer expert travel advice and personal service that you can't get from the Internet.  We take the time to ask the right questions and learn about your interests and preferences.  Whether you are looking for a romantic getaway, a family cruise, or a European adventure, we will match your needs to the perfect travel experience just for you.

TIME SAVINGS
With so many travel choices available, you can spend hours, days, or even weeks in front of a computer searching for the best vacation and reading anonymous reviews... or you can quickly talk to someone you can trust who puts your interests first.  We take the hassle out of travel planning and guide you through the entire process.

VALUE-ADDED BENEFITS AND AMENITIES
We don't charge any fees or increase prices to cover our commission.  The tour vendors, resorts, and cruise lines pay this out of THEIR bottom line because of the volume of business we bring them.  In addition, because we are top producers with the best suppliers in the industry, we can offer you competitive prices, exclusive vacation packages, low fares, and special amenities.

AMERICAN EXPRESS BENEFITS
As an American Express Travel Representative, we are able to offer American Express cardmember benefits such as Pay with Points and Mariner Club sailings.

EXPERT KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE
We are certified specialists who have completed extensive training on select destinations, cruise lines, resorts, tour operators and more.  As experienced travelers we can give you insider tips based on our knowledge and connections.

FULL-SERVICE ASSISTANCE
Like a personal shopper, we can provide one-stop travel shopping for you.  We can handle land tours, river cruises, ocean cruises and shore excursions, all-inclusive resorts, air arrangements, rental cars, hotel stays, weddings and events, honeymoon and celebration registries, travel insurance, passport and visa services, and so much more.

PEACE OF MIND
Our service doesn't end after you've made the booking.  We are here to help and advise if something should go wrong before or during your trip such as canceled flights or revised itineraries.  You can't call "the Internet" if you have an issue, but you can call us.

www.ImaginativeGetaways.com

Super Bowl Sunday

Dateline:  2015-02-01, Sunday
Location:  University of Phoenix Stadium, Glendale, AZ


Super Bowl 49 was held in the University of Phoenix Stadium, just a short drive south from us.  We joined 80,000 of our closest friends by heading to Glendale to experience the game's festivities, entry lines, vehicle congestion, concession stand lines, inebriated screamers, parking fun, and bathroom lines.

Okay, no way did that happen.  We tried to stay as far away from 80,000 people as we could, in fact.  To that end, we actually drove north (not south) to a nearby park for an early afternoon hike.  So actually, let's just go ahead and re-title this Blog post correctly at this point...


Pinnacle Peak hike
(Dateline:  2015-02-01, Sunday)
(Location:  Pinnacle Peak, AZ)

Pinnacle Peak Park has a hiking trail that winds through the mountains that is one of the most popular in the area.  There was something less than 80,000 people on the trail today, probably in the 150-200 range.  Even though it's about 2 miles long, that makes for a pretty busy trail area — definitely more heavily trafficked than some of our other recent hikes.  The route goes up and down in elevation several times and provides great vistas from different perspectives, which is nice.

This first picture is a good example of the scenery and surroundings.  The massive saguaro in the center is likely 200+ years old.

Ever wonder what the inside of a saguaro is actually like?  This is a picture of a fallen saguaro, where you can see the individual stalk-like branches that make up the "skeleton".

I wasn't lying about the name of the "teddy bear cholla" in my previous post, see?

These next two are red barrel cacti.  I like the trio of siblings all bunched up together in the first picture.  And the second picture is astounding — that's definitely the coolest red barrel on the entire hike.  It's a pretty good-sized cactus growing straight on top of a massive flat section of rock jutting out from the cliff side.

This is looking up one of the mountainsides that we were about to climb.  The trail is invisible from this perspective, but it winds back and forth up in elevation until you're just below the massive rock cluster at the top.  I like how this picture captured the clearness of the sky and the brightness of the sunshine.

The full Flickr album of all photos taken during the hike can be found here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/CPGetaways/sets/

Cave Creek hike

Dateline:  2015-01-17, Saturday
Location:  Cave Creek Regional Park, Arizona


It was another horrible winter day in the middle of January, but despite the harsh conditions of overcast skies, bitter wind chill temperatures, and sleeting rain coming in sidew—

Haha.  I can't keep going with that and keep a straight face.  No, the weather was like this:

Skies were a beautiful clear blue with bright sunshine and interesting wispy cloud formations, the temperature was 70°F (21°C), and as for precipitation, well, it was only around 22% humidity.

Actually, before we even got to the Cave Creek Regional Park we made a few other stops.  The first was at REI to pick up a few things.  These are for sale in the shoe department:

I can't imagine a more uncomfortable thing to have on one's foot than something like those things.  Do people actually like these things?

Anyway, the second stop was a couple hours spent wandering through the Cave Creek Indian Market.  A big section of the central strip of shops was partitioned off to allow artists' booths to line the streets and parking lots.  There was some seriously impressive artwork and talent on display — everything from woodwork, carving, painting, jewelry, metalwork and sculpture, furniture, and heaps of other things, almost all with a southwest or Native American theme.  But of course, it's really impolite to take pictures of artists' displayed works so I can't share any pictures of the event.

What I can do is show just a glimpse of the great work that the groundskeepers do in the market area.  We noticed that all sorts of cacti were on display in the planters, including non-natives from faraway places like South Africa.  Here's just one example that includes a century plant (far left), yellow barrel, purple prickly pears, and some succulents.

After the preliminaries, we actually did make it to the Cave Creek Regional Park and set out on a circular loop.  We started rather late in the afternoon, and so as we made the track between and behind different mountains, we had different lighting and views the whole way due to the lowering sun.  This was one of our first views of saguaro-covered hills.

Take a look at this small palo verde's root structure showing through the crumbly rock wall in a few places.  The roots actually caused large portions of the rock to separate and break away.

The trails in the park are all mixed use, so we had mountain bikers pass by a few times, and there were a number of horseback riders, as well.

I love how the cholla ("teddy bear cholla", specifically) always seem to glow yellow when the sunlight is hitting them.

And we noticed this with a lot of the cholla:  Lower portions of the cactus fall away as it grows taller, leaving lot of little cuddly-looking "powder puffs" on the ground.  (They're not cuddly.)

Part of the trail loop we took was on Quartz Trail, aptly named as you can see below.  That rock is actually massive — (compare it to the 30 foot tall (9+ meters) saguaro to the left).  There were lots of boulder-sized rocks that had broken off from it and rolled downhill, and the ground was generally covered by quartz.

This was towards the end of our hike; this area was absolutely covered with saguaro.  The really tall saguaro in the foreground was especially interesting.  Look at the central column just where the left arm is growing...

There's actually a hole that goes all the way through; you can see straight through it.


The full Flickr album of all photos taken during the hike can be found here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/CPGetaways/sets/

Two panoramic videos are in the accompanying Youtube playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/user/CPGetaways/playlists
(It seems amazing how completely remote it all seems, when really we're only about 20 minutes away from four million people here.)

Crown Princess, Baja Mexico

Dateline:  2015-01-03 to 06, Saturday to Tuesday
Location:  Pacific Ocean and Ensenada, Mexico


We recently took a long weekend and went on a getaway cruise aboard the Crown Princess, sailing from the World Cruise Center (Los Angeles) to Ensenada, Mexico, and back...

This entry has been moved to my primary Blog site!  To read the full review of the Princess experience, the Crown Princess ship, and to get a handful of behind the scenes (or insider) bits of information, please go here:

http://travelagentphoenix.com/2015/09/21/crown-princess-baja-mexico-review/




Accompanying Pictures and Videos
The full Flickr albums for all pictures taken during the cruise along with the specialty album focusing on food, wine, and menus can be found here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/CPGetaways/sets/

The accompanying YouTube playlist with all the videos from the trip can be found here:
https://www.youtube.com/user/CPGetaways/playlists
If you look at nothing else, at least look at the clip of the blues riff that Doug Tann and his musicians played especially for me!