This is an exciting year for Amazing Journeys.  We are celebrating our 20^th anniversary!   We’re excited that all year long, we will be having celebrations on land and on sea, as well as here in the office.

Here’s a bit of historical background about our company and the people who make it all happen:

Do you remember back in 1999 when everyone was worrying about Y2K and wondering if the world was going to end?  Well, Amazing Journeys couldn’t be bothered with that because we were creating a company who was going to be born on January 1, 2000, one that would show people the world.

I began working in the travel industry when I was still in high school when my parents, who instilled their love of travel, had taken me to Europe twice during those years.  Once on an organized tour with my family and the second time with my mom and her girlfriend where we navigated planes, trains, subways and ferries. I learned to navigate nearly any form of transportation and with ease.  During those high school years I was excited and eager to know all I could about the travel industry so I enrolled at Los Angeles City College where I attended classes on nights and weekends, learning all the in’s and out’s of the business of travel.  During my college years, I had worked on and off at travel agencies.  Two years after graduating college, I decided to make travel my full-time career and never looked back.  I worked at several travel companies, both large and small, gaining lots and lots of experience in the world!  I have devoted most of my career working with groups.  The largest group I was a part of was moving 15,000 teachers to the city of Atlanta for a convention and the largest cruise I planned was an corporate incentive with 850 travelers!

Soon after I opened for business in 2000, Michele came to work for Amazing Journeys.  She and I had already worked together for 17 years where we were both Vice Presidents of a 70 person travel company. We knew we worked well together and I knew she had the necessary demeanor and experience to be part of the AJ team.

Erin and Stacey, my daughters, had what we call a “life-long internship.”  Participating in discussions around the dinner table about their parents businesses from a young age, they eventually both moved into careers in travel rather than in their Dad’s business of medicine.  They worked in the office doing marketing and speaking on the phone to clients, led shore excursions and then cruises along with me from the time they were in high school.  Once in college, they would each come back to lead trips during the summer and our New Year’s cruises. In 2014, they left Chicago and Boston with their husband and soon-to-be-husband and headed to Pittsburgh when they came to work full time for Amazing Journeys.

Amazing Journeys has planned and led 185 trips (wow!) to destinations all over the world, to all seven continents and visiting many destinations that some people could only dream of.

We have had amazing experiences, built lasting friendships, checked countries off our bucket list and learned so much about ourselves and the world.  And although we never sell the “love quotient,” we are proud to say that over 70 people (perhaps more we don’t know about) have found their bashertes on our cruises and tours.

None of this would be possible without you, so as we have been saying for 20 years and as we will continue to say, thank you for choosing Amazing Journeys when you want to indulge your wanderlust!

We look forward to celebrating with you throughout the year.  We’ll be showing our appreciation to you on each and every trip.  We hope you come and celebrate with us this year!

Amazingly,
Malori

by Malori

Sometimes we have the opportunity to touch lives in ways we had never imagined.

One day, while on a trip in Yosemite National Park, one of my travelers offered me a gift she had brought for me. She presented me with a pin and called it “The Bluebird of Happiness,” and said, “you are like this bird, flying from place to place, spreading your wings…soaring across the universe.  I hope wherever you go in the world, this brings you the happiness you deserve.”  It was a special moment, and one I will never forget.  I put the Bluebird of Happiness in my travel bag that accompanies me around the world.

Several years later, we were traveling to the Greek Islands on a cruise.  One of my travelers had been having a rough couple of years.  Her beloved father had recently passed away.  Her job as a nurse was challenging and because of her line of work, often brought sadness.  She didn’t have that “special someone” in her life.  Leading up to our departure for our trip to Greece, she decided to contact one of her cancer patients, a little girl who was from Greece who once healthy, returned from the US where care was given, to her homeland.  This traveler decided to contact her and try to reconnect for a visit.  It wasn’t easy.  The patient was from another island, had to be brought to where the ship was docked, the language was a barrier, we got the Captain involved to translate and with lots of logistics to arrange and hurdles to jump, the nurse, the patient and her family were reunited.  As you can imagine, there were tears of joy and happiness for all.  It was the cruise of a lifetime with memories far beyond the typical travel experiences.  This was a life-changing journey.

At the end of our cruise, during our Amazing Journeys award ceremony, I presented our traveler with The Bluebird of Happiness award, and gave her my special pin I had carried for several years.  I said, “You realized a dream on this trip, seeing Alexandra once again.  She was thriving. You did a mitzvah in moving mountains to visit with her.  I hope this brings you the happiness you deserve in your life.”  She, along with many from our group were moved to tears.

This week, I received an envelope and in it, the Bluebird of Happiness, along with a letter of thanks.  Here is a paraphrased excerpt:

Dear Malori,

I hope you are doing well.  Now that I am engaged I suppose I won’t be traveling with you anymore.  I really never thought this would all happen for me. 

 I want to tell you that the happiest years of my life were traveling with you.  You showed me the world and I loved each trip. And of course, going to Greece and setting to see Alexandra again was just incredible.  On that trip, you gave me your bluebird pin.  I was so touched by that.  I have kept it safe.  You told me to give it to someone but I never found someone worthy of its special meaning. I wanted to hold on to it forever but I believe it is meant for someone who travels and finds their own amazing journey as I did with Alexandra… someone extra special, with a special story. My heart told me the right thing to do was to send it back to you so that you could do just that.

 I will miss traveling with you.  It was the number one joy in my life.  But now I have a new road to travel.  I don’t know how to thank you for the gift of travel and the gift of your friendship. And I will never forget that you were there for me when my dad died.  You are one in a million.  I thank you for all of this.

 From the bottom of my heart,

Your Amazing Traveler

So pay it forward.  Be grateful.  Count your blessings.  Cherish your family and friends.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Love,
Malori

by Erin

You’ve been planning your exciting vacation months and today’s the day! You arrive at the airport, check your luggage and snap a quick picture of your boarding pass to upload onto social media to let everyone in your network know that you’re on your way

But keep this in mind: the thrill of making your friend jealous isn’t worth the risk.

Yes, you know to keep your credit card info, Social Security number, driver license and passport off of social media. But did you know the same rules should apply for your boarding pass?

A seemingly innocent picture of your boarding pass online could turn into a slew of issues if it goes into the wrong hands. This is because the bar code on your boarding pass contains information that you don’t want to share.

In addition information like your name and seat number, the bar code can also link to details like your itinerary, future travel information, frequent flier number and more. Once the picture of your bar code is out there, it is actually pretty easy for someone to get their hands on that information.

The same is true, actually, if you leave your boarding pass in the seat back in front of you or lose it in the terminal on your way to your next flight. That being said, the best thing you can do is hold onto your boarding passes until you have the opportunity to shred them.

Keep all of this in mind with other sport or concert tickets with a bar code.  It might rack up the ‘likes’ and comments, but it also may turn into something much less pleasant to deal with.

by Malori

It’s a delicate balance. When does experiential travel change into exploitation? We want to explore our world, yet we want to be fair to nature and to those with whom we share the planet.

Swimming with the dolphins in Cozumel, riding an elephant in Thailand, dog sledding in Alaska, whale watching in Hawaii, shark diving in South Africa are but a few experiential opportunities travelers are seeking.  Year over year, animal encounters for passengers on cruises and tours are growing by leaps and bounds.  But with more opportunities comes responsibility.  Tour companies worldwide are taking a stand against the commercial exploitation of animals and have limited their participation in such events. Amazing Journeys has made the change too.  We have dropped our elephant rides in destinations like South Africa and India with jeep rides or visits to an elephant sanctuary where they rehabilitate these magnificent animals.  Sure, we still offer safaris, but it is visiting animals in their own habitat and not interfering with them or disturbing their way of life.  Collette Vacations, G Adventures, Costco Travel, Mayflower Tours and Intrepid Travel are but a few who have stopped offering elephant rides and other exploitative tour options.  Trip Advisor has stopped selling hundreds of animal attractions, becoming the largest travel brand to take a stand.  It’s hard to explain why your company doesn’t offer these options when other travel companies do.  But with a growing concern from individuals and tour providers worldwide, along with organizations like World Animal Protection and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) are tipping the scale in favor or a greater understanding which is influencing the travel sector.

But when is an animal experience considered exploitation?  Is horseback riding abusive to the animal or was it breed for this purpose?  What about dog sledding in Alaska?  The dogs love running and actually get very excited to be outside in the snow.  Whale watching out in the open waters, if a whale is not being lured to the tourist boat with food and if the boat isn’t approaching the whale is observing nature. There’s the balance.

Collette, one of our favorite travel partners, has recently come out with the following statement, “Whether striped and spotted or furry and fluffy, animals are a major draw for travelers. We’ve always encouraged our guests to engage with the environment around them – including animals – as long as it’s positive. Our animal interactions are based on the five freedoms of animal welfare:
– Freedom from hunger and thirst
– Freedom from discomfort
– Freedom from pain, injury or disease
– Freedom to express normal behavior
– Freedom from fear and distress

With growing demand for experiential travel opportunities, it’s a hard choice.  Companies who were profiting from selling these options see dropping these experiences as a money-losing endeavor. But the hope is that animal experiences will be replaced with visits to animal rehabilitation centers, learning opportunities and other educational programs.  Although tour companies and travelers in North America are being educated and have a greater awareness, there are emerging markets, especially in Asia where the demand for “tiger selfies” and the like are growing at alarming rates.

We at Amazing Journeys love this planet.  We want to show it to you the way it should be seen.  We want it to be here for future generations. We work hard to make the right decisions, so that you can have the best travel experiences possible.