Since this post is about retirement job #4 it may seem like I can't keep a job! But after serving students, staff, and families for 33 years, I think my employment record still holds true. And, retirement is a great time to discover other gifts, passions, pleasures, and interests.
An interest of mine for years has been travel. I can vaguely recall my first airplane trip as a youngster of 4 with my Uncle John to New Jersey to visit cousins. It involved a helicopter ride, too, if memory serves. Throughout the years, there were car trips with family within a 5-6 hour radius to see the sights and spend 1 or more nights in a hotel. There were two longer road trips to Pennsylvania and Florida, including a visit to the Magic Kingdom and Daytona Beach in the mid 1970's. By the time I graduated high school I had flown to Colorado with other students for a leadership conference in Estes Park and Florida, again, with a friend. I had also spent multiple years as a Student Council travel planner.
As a young educator, I traveled by plane to conferences in New Orleans, which included a plantation tour, swamp tour, and trolley ride during free time, and Phoenix, where an evening dining experience on Camel Back Mountain provided an incredible sunset view. I'll note that I had more professional opportunities for travel as a teacher in Ankeny, Iowa, than I ever did as a Principal.
Cancun was a Winter Break destination with a friend my first year as a Principal. It was my first taste of an all-inclusive resort.
Life trajectory fast forwarded with the meeting and marriage of my husband and the arrival of our son in short succession. For our honeymoon, we traveled by train to Chicago and stayed at the Palmer House enjoying Italian, Greek, and Russian food along with theater productions. And, our son had his first airplane trip when he was three weeks old! He has been traveling ever since.
Decades later, we now have over 25 trips to Walt Disney World under our belts, long week-ends to Minneapolis, Kansas City, Omaha, an all-inclusive stay in Cancun, trips to Houston and Galveston, Universal Studios vacations, Disneyland and Legoland in California, an Adventures by Disney Tour to Arizona, Utah, and Colorado, Spring Break stays in Destin along the Emerald Coast, and enough Disney Cruises to the Bahamas, Caribbean, and Mexican Riviera as a family to earn us Platinum Castaway Club status. The husband and I have sailed from Vancouver to Honolulu to Sydney, Australia, with stops in between. And, our son has been fortunate enough to visit the East Coast including Washington D.C. and traveled throughout Wyoming, Montana, and the Dakotas. We have experienced more travel than some and less travel than others, although there does seem to be a theme.
Which brings me to retirement job #4: Travel Advisor for Memories & Moments Travel and licensed seller of travel in the state of Florida for travel worldwide. Memories & Moments Travel is a company based in Northeast Ohio with a great reputation and long-time operation. I was fortunate enough to meet the second person hired for the company during a Disney Cruise and was introduced to the owner, who after two virtual meetings, offered me a position with the company.
What about the world of sales? That's in my background, too: sporting goods, women's clothing, even furniture. I did a stint at This End Up Furniture in the Lansing Mall one summer and was proficient enough the company sent me to management training in Ann Arbor. And, there is an element of "sales" in education for students to buy in to what they are learning and coming to school, as well as staff, family, and community buy in.
Training for this new role over the last two months has been a combination of weekly sessions with Laura, the owner of Memories & Moments Travel, along with content modules, quizzes, and final exams from various travel providers. Memories and Moments Travel is an Authorized Disney Vacation Planner. Here are more companies we work with: Univeral, Royal Caribbean, Sandals, Beaches, Globus, Avalon, Cosmos, Funjet, Apple Vacations, and more! I can find you parking at a port, a stroller or scooter for theme parks, transfers from an airport, rental car, admission tickets to theme parks and beyond, tours ranging from group to private, excursions, all-inclusive vacations packages, and vacation rentals in private homes, villas, and novelty stays worldwide. We are a Full Service-No Fee Agency.
The cost of a seller of travel license that must be renewed annually is more expensive than a multi-year teaching/administrator license.
Love of the world, curiosity, and service are behind this new endeavor. Before technology was portable, an Atlas was on my bedside table providing end of day soothing. As a back-seat rider, I was often given the map to get us to our destination. Geography was an elective for my AA degree and I enrolled in the evening class for more competition from non-traditional students and better discussion, only to be dismissed after the first class and instructed to return for the final exam and assigned the final project. Yes, I do know what two rivers join to form the Ohio River and the location of where they join. Great sports team come from that location and play along the shores!
I have clients; it was too hard to keep this a secret. I hope you become a client, too! You can find me on social media and listed as a travel advisor on the Memories & Moments Travel website.
“Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.”
― A Hat Full of Sky
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This is awesome!
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