It’s different for everyone, but at some point there comes a time in your life when you really start to understand the holidays. I’m not talking about the surprising and many times disappointing Christmas discovery when ‘you know the thing’ (shhh!) about ‘him’. What I’m referring to here are all the other truths you discover about holidays in general – big, small and everything in between – fumbling through them one year at a time.
For instance, I’ll never forget how surprised I was when I had my first Thanksgiving meal away from home and realized that the delicious homemade stuffing my mother had been laboriously creating all those years from scraps of bread saved and held frozen for months actually wasn’t the best one out there. Mon Dieu!
Some stories just have to be told. This is one of them.
Not so many years ago… okay, that’s kind of a lie. It was many years ago, ahem, when I was a flight attendant. So many years in fact that the correct terminology back then was stewardess, and I still have an engraved charm on a bracelet to remind me of that. It was given to me by some stewardess friends to mark the occasion of my first flight as a stew and it says, appropriately, “I’m a Stew!”, and it’s dated Aruba-June 16, 1977 since that was my inaugural flight. And, while the job is basically still the same, I’m guessing that flight attendant is a little more politically correct/all inclusive these days. Regardless of the title, I was one, and as a result have some great stories from those days. This is that, and more.
So here’s the truth. I’m writing this from my cabin on a luxury cruise – an outside cabin with a deck, mind you – while we’re cruising somewhere in the Asian waters. Let’s just say we’re somewhere between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur and leave it at that, OK? Why am I being vague? Well, here’s the thing. I signed a confidentiality agreement with this client. In fact, I’ve signed a whole lot of them during my lengthy and successful career in this industry. What does that mean?
Basically, I need to be quiet about my clients, and since I’m a talker, well, that’s not easy. But you know what? I’ve been doing this a very long time and so far, so good. Me keepy mouth shut – me keepy happy clients. And that’s how it goes for me.
What’s that you say? Why is this necessary? Why can’t you just tell all?
Do you answer? I know that sounds crazy, but it seems like answering an actual phone call has almost become a lost art these days. With so many people relying only on texting, chatting, IM and voice mail to get their messages across, that leaves so few of us left that really do enjoy a conversation. And yes, I […]
I know it’s been a while since we spent Mother’s Day together, in fact, I honestly can’t even remember what we did on that last one back in 2000, but I sure hope we had some fun and shared some laughs because, well, back then I didn’t realize it would be our last one. I’m […]
Yes, that’s the response I was greeted with when I told daughter about being invited to the grand opening of Club 39, a chic new “Las-Vegas style” hotel nightclub that can be found at the Rosen Plaza Hotel on IDrive. Not the response I expected when I was proudly boasting to her about the fact that […]
Sometimes the words flow, and sometimes the pictures just speak for themselves. Recently I was flipping through my phone-photos (it’s what you do when waiting in line, right?) and realized I had collected quite a few interesting ones of flowers. Same goes for some fabulous desserts I’ve enjoyed, too, but today I’m going to share some of […]
Want to know what’s wrong with this scene? Just about everything! Too many people chaotically all trying to check in simultaneously. Notice there are no bellmen or hotel staff trying to assist anyone? Yeah, we did, too! I’ve just returned from a working trip to Las Vegas, and sometimes when I say that to people […]
It’s February, so I’ve decided to share a short list of things I’m currently loving on. Why? Because it’s February and, you know, the month of looove, right? So here goes: 1] Luscious green, ripe, and ready to eat Florida grown avocados that I cut in large chunks and add to a yummy salad of mixed greens, always including […]
I was. First there was this: Challenger exhibiting a normal, beautiful and breathtaking launch from the Kennedy Space Center. Then, seconds later, there was this: Disaster in the sky above my house. Now do you remember? Whether you were ‘there’ or not, most everyone remembers where they were or what they were doing when […]
And the above picture is proof positive! In case you can’t tell by the huge smile on my face, that was A-OK with me even though I had to travel about three hours in air time to find the fluffy white stuff. You see I live in sunny Florida so any chance I can get […]
This one’s for you, pops. Just a quick post from my heart on a special day of remembrance. Wanted you to know that today, just like every other Veteran’s Day, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, and Flag Day, I made sure to stop and chat with Harry, the wheelchair-bound disabled vet that parks himself outside my grocery store […]
Starting tomorrow I’ve got a big client in town this week whose schedule is actually requiring that I rise at 4AM each morning (pause while I mentally try to figure out what time I should be going to bed tonight, then give up when I realize that even if I went to bed now I would most […]
Observing and analyzing life for your amusement and my entertainment, from my perch on a bar stool, one hotel lobby at a time. So here’s the naked truth about writing a blog. You have to be willing to put yourself out there, I mean really way far out there. Especially when you’re primarily writing about […]
Terry's World Travels 