Hank Schrader

March 21, 2024

Best Value Travel

The Benefits of Group and Family Travel

Hank Schrader

March 21, 2024

Best Value Travel

The Benefit of Group & Family Travel

Hank Schrader, USMA '71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

Anne Schrader, Certified Travel Counselor & Certified Luxury Cruise Specialist

www.dreamdestinations.com

We have a guest blogger today—our fearless leader of Visit Dream Destinations, LLC—my lovely wife Anne! So here are Anne’s thoughts:

I know this week’s blog is starting a bit differently and hope you’ll bear with me before I turn it over to the usual, intellectual, and proficient author (this is a bold overstatement of my writing skills—Hank). But I had an idea and wanted to steal a moment of your time.

Anne’s Inspiration for this Blog

Hello!

One thing captured my thoughts today, for a lot of different reasons. Maybe because it’s the first day of Spring; maybe it’s because we’re planning so many wonderful trips for clients who have become friends through the years (they usually start contact over the phone and through e-mails and have grown into close relationships); and thankfully, so many new people who have taken their desires to travel and have chosen us to assist them when their planning and letting us make their trips to Dream Destinations a reality!

(See what I did there? I like to think I am the clever one – hahaha!)

Traveling With Clients

Sorry, back to why I’m sharing my thoughts . . .

It has not only been our business, and a tremendous amount of pleasure working with people, but one of the biggest highlights throughout our years, especially since 2009 when we started river cruising, has been traveling with clients. We’ve gone on numerous trips: ocean cruises, river cruises, land tours with people we already knew and some who joined us are no longer strangers. They have become amazing friends, and we continue to have the opportunity of spending time together, exploring Europe.

The Benefits of Europe Group Travel

I’m going to tie this thought of Spring and a new beginning with a look at the past and hope it will encourage you to try something a little different.

How about getting a group of your friends and/or family together to take a trip together in Europe?

I know how difficult it is to arrange schedules, believe me, my sister has been trying to get the 4 of us brothers and sisters, along with our spouses together for years, just for lunch! Not to mention she’s hoping grandchildren could get time to join us.

But when you make a trip decision that has so much to offer for everyone (perhaps a river or ocean cruise) and no one would have to worry about the headaches that often accompany a group getting-together, like the host finding enough beds for sleeping arrangements, grocery shopping, cooking, and cleaning for a group for multiple days, definitely makes the agreement to meet and travel somewhere “neutral” with most obstacles eliminated look pretty enticing!

The additional fact that there is no worry about what to serve for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, doing the dishes, making the beds, making sure there’s plenty of snacks, having enough towels (not to mention keeping bathroom products in stock), the advantage of having options that would provide individual interests and entertainment during the trip removes the thorns and leaves just the rose on the bush!

We’re here to assist you in planning and booking your group trip. As always, we have photos to prove how much fun traveling with others has enhanced our lives and hope you’ll consider it for your travels.

Please enjoy these photos of some of our past groups:

Part of the 33 Folks on our 2019 75th Anniversary of D Day Group

Our Final Thoughts

Thanks to all of you for letting me sneak in this week and to all of you who have shared your time with us. A big thank you to those in the photos with whom we have made memories.

We’d love to do it again, just give us a call!

Great job Anne—I think we should invite back as a guest blogger soon!

We are travel experts, ocean and river cruise specialists, and Europe destination experts. We have first-hand knowledge of almost anywhere you want to visit in Europe. We know our products and the vendors who sell them to you. We have designed special tours for dozens of clients, led several and will continue to find just the right vacation that will exceed your expectations.

When you are spending your hard-earned money for a vacation, you want an advisor who can match you with the right trip. You want someone who will understand your expectations and fuel your anticipation (or excitement) to get you the best possible trip experience. And, you want someone who can help you with the decision making process. We think we have all these qualities.

Whatever your Dream Destinations are, we are here to help you get the best possible vacation based on what is important to you! We will provide you high quality, expertly planned travel. Please give me a call 713-397-0188 (Hank) or email me at hschrader@visitdd.com . We want to help you: Savor life…make memories…Visit Dream Destinations! Your journey begins here!

ANNE has earned a degree from the University of Houston in Hotel and Restaurant Management. Serving as the President of Visit Dream Destinations, LLC, since 2016, she is uniquely experienced professional travel advisor with over 26 years’ experience in the travel industry. Among her numerous certifications, she is a Certified Travel Counselor (CTC) by the Travel Institute, considered the gold standard in travel agent certification and she is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC) by the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), as well Luxury Cruise Specialist also from CLIA. Having traveled often to Europe since 1989, she has expanded on her certification as a Destination Specialist in Western Europe (DS) with extensive first-hand experience in luxury vacations. She holds numerous other specialty designations from individual vendors. An expert photographer, she delights in capturing the true essence of destinations to share with all.

HANK is a certified Western European Destination Specialist (DS) who has been traveling to Europe for 52 years. He is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC), conferred by the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA). This recognized expert in cruise and leisure travel is a retired Army Officer, and taught World Geography for 8 years. He is a `71 graduate of West Point and has earned 2 master’s degrees. His other Certifications:

AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist
Viking River Cruise Specialist
Scenic River Cruise Specialist
Emerald Waterways Specialist
Avalon Waterways Specialist
Brit Agent

Hank Schrader

March 7, 2024

Best Value Travel

Relationships Matter

Hank Schrader

March 7, 2024

Best Value Travel

Relationships Matter

Hank Schrader, USMA '71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

Anne Schrader, Certified Travel Counselor & Certified Luxury Cruise Specialist

www.dreamdestinations.com

Relationships matter. It is the foundation of our business. In simple terms, we try to create a partnership that benefits us both.

We are fortunate to help over 100 folks this year on curated trips that we have planned to help our clients have great vacations. This is very important to us that we get them the best possible trip that they desire along with their budget and time constraints.

So, let’s explore what relationships we desire to make with the folks we are lucky enough to help in the past, this year and on to the future.

Our Core Principles

We want to be your trusted travel advisor. For me, a trusted travel advisor puts the client first.

We spent a lot of time thinking about who we wanted to be in the business world. It first started with our mission statement.

Our mission is: Anne & Hank Schrader, of Visit Dream Destinations LLC, are certified travel professionals who will provide you with the highest quality, expertly planned domestic and foreign leisure travel with a focus on cruises, European river cruises and European vacations for discriminating travelers.

Our Tag Line—Savor life . . . make memories . . . Visit Dream Destinations! Your journey starts here!

I think it really sums us up—we are all about creating trips that are exceptional; that will help you enjoy life better; make unforgettable memories by traveling to great places; and it all starts with us.

But what does this mean for you?

I think it means we have to develop a way to work with you to achieve our mutual goals of a great trip.

For us, it boils down to the core values of trust, knowledge, and care.

Our Services

It is no secret that our primary business is European River Cruises. We believe that for many of our clients, this is a great opportunity to see a lot of Europe in an efficient and luxury style. It is also a style of travel where we can add significant value to our clients.

We are really educators to teach our clients about what is possible and how they can enjoy these travel opportunities. I like to call them educated travelers.

I think there are 4 characteristics of an educated traveler. They are: 1) They look for engaging travel experiences; 2) They look for enriching travel experiences; 3) They look for transforming experiences and 4) They like to collaborate with locals at their destinations. Maybe not on every aspect of their trip, but on at least part of their trip.

Here some picture examples of what an educated travel can learn and experience:

Anne and I in front of the famous step pyramid in Egypt. This structure is over 4,700 years old and is among the oldest remaining intact structure in the world.

The entrance to the great Temple of Karnak. The sheer size of the Temple with 134 columns is overwhelming. I could only imagine an ancient peasant coming to worship and feeling the awe and power of their gods and the pharaoh Ramses II.

A model of the ship from the Red Star line that brought immigrants from Europe to the New World. This museum documents the entire journey from Europe, what the folks who bought tickets went through, and how difficult the who process was for them. This museum in in Antwerp Belgium.

The Pont du Gard Aqueduct crosses the Gardon River in France. The Roman aqueducts were amazing feats on engineering, figuring out a small gradient drop to bring fresh water from a source to another place. The precision required to get the flow just right is stunning—in the 31 miles the change in gradient is only 12 meters (a little over 36 feet). This aqueduct was part of a system that brought fresh water 31 miles to the city of Nimes.

Sometimes just trying different foods, or traditional dress helps you learn about new cultures. We have learned a lot about our Scottish roots by attending festivals and wearing traditional dress

When you look at travel in this manner, it becomes clear that the reason for your travel to a new destination or an old destination, is that you are looking for experiences.

To get those experiences for you, we rely on our core values of care, knowledge, and trust.

So, do we care about you, have enough knowledge to help you and do you trust us?

I don’t think a good educator can be effective without excellent knowledge (I would also add experience) and being able to match you to the right trip for your travel style. The last part is the care and trust part—is it right for you?

I honestly don’t think you will find many who are in our industry as advisors, who know as much about Europe River cruises and travel to Europe as we do. We have taken 24 river cruise, traveled to Europe between the two of us for 52 years and we love developing excellent relationships to enhance our value to you.

On our website, we have about 115 day-by-day cruise itineraries for 7 different cruise lines we follow. There is no other resource like this I can find on the web that includes personal pictures of the port stops. We speak from firsthand knowledge.

The next part of this blog addresses the care and trust portion of our relationship.

Why Bother to Use us—What are the Benefits to You?

We strive to make your travel experience better by helping you make wise choices, eliminate hassles, and help you get the best value for your money.

We treat each of our clients as friends, because we don’t sell travel to clients—we sell travel to friends. There is a big difference—how your trip goes makes a world of difference to us.

Our 2019 Cruise group in the Chef’s Table on a AmaWaterways cruise—they are friends, not clients

We often say we are small enough to deliver personalized service but big and experience enough to get you just the right trip. With almost 30 years of experience as travel advisors, it is always a pleasure to help folks.

We try to match you to just the right experience and make it logical, realistic, and affordable in your price range. We do not sell on price—we sell on value.

We are excited to help but know the boundaries—the truth is we want to form a partnership with you—not sell you something.

It is as simple as this—we inform, you decide.

We also realize you are busy, and we respect your time by trying to contact you in the form (phone, text, email or written) that works the best for you at the time that is the best for you.

In short, we respect you!

Care and trust develop by how we treat you, so we can earn your trust to help you get a better trip.

We hope that knowing how we operate, you will choose us as your trusted travel advisors.

Industry Relationships

Our vendors and travel advisors like us need each other—the more we know about their products and travel services they offer, the better we can help you get a great vacation. Then we have to make judgements about their products and how they will treat you during the trip.

As with any business relationship, some vendors are more eager to work with us than others. Business relationships sometimes are about production (how much we sell) but the best relationships are how well they deliver to our guests and treat us in conjunction with our sales.

Do they nurture us, help us grow our business, or are we so small we are seen as just a transaction. Do they really care about our clients, or have inflexible policies that preclude them going to the top of our preferred list?

Just like you, if they earn our trust, we sing their praises within reason. It is a constantly changing dynamic all small business must navigate. The fortunate thing for us is that most of the vacations we help clients with fall in the luxury category, and most vendors do a great job for our clients.

It is a narrow path we navigate—we don’t deliver any travel services as advisors, yet the experience of the clients is also our responsibility—did they get the trip they desired or was our advice wrong?

St. Patrick’s Day 2023 in Budapest with some of the members of AmaWaterways who particiapated in the River Cruise Expo.

Our Final Thoughts

Relationships matter. We hope we reach out to you often enough to keep good relationships intact. We also want to know how we can improve. Don’t be shy about reaching out to us—we want to hear from you.

After thinking about this topic, I’m sure we will try to be more proactive and try to reach out respectfully. Only good things can happen while we work on our business relationship—Relationships do Matter!

When you are spending your hard-earned money for a vacation, you want an advisor who can match you with the right trip. You want someone who will understand your expectations and fuel your anticipation (or excitement) to get you the best possible trip experience. And you want someone who can help you with the decision-making process. We think we have all these qualities.

Whatever your Dream Destinations are, we are here to help you get the best possible vacation based on what is important to you! We will provide you with high quality, expertly planned travel. Please give me a call 713-397-0188 (Hank) or email me at hschrader@dreamdestinations.com. We want to help you: Savor life…make memories…Visit Dream Destinations! Your journey begins here!

HANK is a certified Western European Destination Specialist (DS) who has been traveling to Europe for 50 years. He is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC), conferred by the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA). This recognized expert in cruise and leisure travel is a retired Army Officer, and taught World Geography for 8 years. He is a `71 graduate of West Point and has earned 2 master’s degrees. His other Certifications:

AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist
Viking River Cruise Specialist
Scenic River Cruise Specialist
Emerald Waterways Specialist
Avalon Waterways Specialist
Brit Agent

Hank Schrader

January 4, 2024

Best Value Travel

How We Protect Your Trip When You Choose to Use Us as Your Agents

Hank Schrader

January 4, 2024

Best Value Travel

How We Protect Your Trip When You Choose to Use Us as Your Agents

Hank Schrader, USMA '71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

Anne Schrader, Certified Travel Counselor & Certified Luxury Cruise Specialist

www.dreamdestinations.com

Sometimes in our role helping you get the best possible trip; it is often not apparent about the way we handle your requests in a professional manner to protect you.

There are really 8 ways we add a layer of protection to help ensure your trip is an excellent experience and to help avoid the pitfalls that can happen during travel.

So, let’s learn together about our best practices and it should help you realize why our policies and practices help protect you when you decide to use us,

1. We Emphasize Terms and Conditions so there is no Confusion about our Policies and the Suppliers’ Policies.

No one really likes to read the fine print, but it is essential to know what you agree to when you make a deposit to a travel vendor.

In a typical offer we provide you, we explain the included invoice, to emphasize the dates of travel, the trip booked, the deposit amount (including any non-refundable portion of that amount), and final money due dates. It is a double check for both of us to avoid any possible mistakes or misunderstandings.

We also emphasize the key points of the contract and clearly advise you to read these carefully. Here is an example of this in an offer email we send to clients:

“Please also understand this is a binding contract and once you make the deposit, you agree to accept the terms and conditions listed in the 8 pages of this offer. Please read them carefully. This is really no different than any other travel company, but we want to point this out, so there are no surprises, and you understand what terms you are agreeing to, if you accept the offer.”

We also clearly explain our roles and responsibilities as your agent. Here is a typical example that we use in most offers:

“One last point--we are not providing any travel services; we are acting as your agents to help you make the best possible decisions for your wonderful trip, but we accept no liability if the services are not properly delivered. Please rest assured this is a great company and we expect they will exceed your expectations. Again, this is to point out the scope of our services.”

While you might think this is legalese for us to avoid liability, it is just the opposite—we are providing you an objective criteria to determine if our services are proper for you to use. We offer many benefits to you based on our expertise and vast experiences, but the vendor delivers the travel services, sets the prices and is the responsible party. We often need to remind you that they control your travel experience, not us. It also put the onus on us to only use the best suppliers, which benefits us both—there is no way the average consumer can determine which company can best fit their desired travel style. We can and vdo ett them and help increase the chances your trip will happen without major problems.

2. We Inform and Update You to Changes in Your Trip,

Our expertise benefits you to the changing conditions that could affect your travel experience if we have been notified by the vendor or from other sources. As travel industry experts, we can help you learn about changes in the trip, both minor and major, that will affect the quality of your travel experience.

Most conditions are minor—maybe a switch in hotel due to renovations that have only a minor effect on your travel experience, but sometimes it is quite a change, such as a last-minute change of a sailing vessel with less stateroom space than the original ship. Sometimes, these details are not properly reported to you the traveler, and that is where we spring into action.

No one likes surprises that change the quality of the trip, but we can help you be informed and help you gain a refund for lesser services if possible. We recently just had that happen to a client and we successful in resolving the refund issue quickly, despite our previous experience with a much slower process from the same company.

3. We Vett Our Suppliers and Explain the Key Points of Their Contract During the Offer Stage

It is amazing that many do not understand contracts of carriage (the legal term for the binding contract you are entering into with the supplier) and we work to help understand these finer points that are most likely to affect your travel experience.

Some areas are penalties based when a traveler decides to cancel their trip, responsibility to have proper travel documents, and the right of the company to change itineraries due to weather or circumstances beyond their control such as low/high water on rivers, damaged locks, restrictions by port authorities and other factors. These can really change the quality of the trip and we look for companies that have plans to minimize these travel situations.

We can’t prevent these problems, but we can tell you which suppliers handle these problems better than others. Quality comes in here—does the company recklessly schedule a trip in a known problem area on a river cruise at the most likely problem time, or do they modify their schedule to avoid these possible problem areas? Are their tour/cruise managers skilled enough and empowered to make wise decisions to keep the promised quality of the trip or do they accept the problem or are not empowered to make changes?

4. We always offer travel insurance and explain vendor provided insurance.

Travel Insurance is a confusing subject. Some think it is too expensive and a waste of money, but we feel it is essential protection. I often ask folks if they can roll down their car window and throw out $10,000 to $15,000 dollars then it may not be necessary for them, but we can’t! No one wants to lose money, but the point we make crystal clear is that we offer you trip insurance, and you must decide what risk you want to take or cover or not to cover for your trip. Also, we advise of the possibility of current coverage with a credit card.

Another confusing part of this is exactly what is covered by the companies. While we are both licensed to represent travel insurance companies, we cannot and will not try to tell you what is covered or not covered—only the insurance company can explain this based on your specific questions. It is another safeguard for you and part of our responsibility to you. For example, many are surprised to learn that Medicare usually can’t be used outside of the United States to cover health care issues and they might need additional coverage for accidents or health problems that might arise.

Also, in the past, we have helped some who have run into difficulties and had to end their trip early. We can help facilitate contact with the insurance company, perhaps find out what actions are best for the client to follow and perhaps help make sure the required documents are secured during hospital appointments or other evidence to help support a claim.

This may not ensure a favorable result, but it does increase the chances a claim will be supported.

5. We Help You Avoid Transportation Risks

Part of our due diligence is to recommend you use common carriers with good safety records and practices to help avoid transportation risks. Accidents involving buses, planes or sailing vessels can be quite serious or even life-threatening, so we avoid companies without a good safety record, or who we cannot learn enough about to help keep you safe during your travels.

There are those who want to use locals, who we can’t vett. This is why we recommend using cruise managers for transportation transfers and hotel staff. These folks know who is reliable and safe, and they won’t allow these vendors overcharge you.

Kris, an AmaWaterways cruise manager, is an excellent source to help with transfers during a river cruise.

6. We Only Use Companies that have Good Safety Practices for Activities that Have Higher Risks

This is more than just signing a waiver form. We investigate how companies conduct higher risk activities, so we can be sure their practices provide a reasonable level of safety during higher risk situations during your travels.

While we do not book high risk adventure travel, even something as simple as using bikes on a river cruise requires us to look at the procedures and determine if they are generally safe or not. Do they let you use a bike without first ensuring it is safe for you based on your physical condition and experience? Do they use bike helmets? Do they provide you with a waiver to sign, explaining the risks? How do they conduct the bike excursions—is there a safety plan for accidents or folks exceeding their capabilities? These are reasonable procedures that good companies follow.

7. We Protect Your Privacy

You never need to worry about us providing any personal information to anyone except as required by vendors. On or website, we indicate that we only collect necessary information, never provide that information to 3rd parties with the only goal of improving our service to you and to allow us to aid in the performance of the contract for the travel services you desire. It is on the bottom of every page of our website, in the footer section of each page.

We also respect your right to ask us to delete any personal information or unsubscribe from any of our electronic communications with you. While we can’t delete any past trip information in our data base (we are required by law and our insurance policies to keep records of past travel arrangements we have made on your behalf), we can make you an inactive member, so you will not receive any more offers from us.

In short, we respect you and your privacy.

8. How We Handle Credit Cards

We follow very strict practices about your credit cards to protect you from possible identity theft and unauthorized uses. Here is an example of how we inform you of some of our credit card practices:

“Once you make this decision, we will handle this purchase on your behalf with your credit card for any services you request. We always take credit card information over the phone for your safety and protection.”

We also never make any credit card charges without your permission. After trips are completed, we shred any credit card written records. We do not store any credit card information electronically.

Our Final Thoughts

You may not have understood our role as professional travel advisors and just how much responsibility we have besides providing great trips—we have important legal responsibilities to protect you and provide you with better service. We hope this blog helps you better understand how we approach this important part of our business relationship.

AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist
Viking River Cruise Specialist
Scenic River Cruise Specialist
Emerald Waterways Specialist
Avalon Waterways Specialist
Brit Agent

Hank Schrader

December 14, 2023

Best Value Travel

Come Sail with Us in 2025!

Hank Schrader

December 14, 2023

Best Value Travel

Come Sail with Us in 2025

Hank Schrader, USMA '71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

Anne Schrader, Certified Travel Counselor & Certified Luxury Cruise Specialist

www.dreamdestinations.com

In 2025, we will have been in business for 30 years, and to help celebrate this milestone, we are planning a river cruise on the Danube on the best ship sailing on Europe’s rivers—the AmaMagna.

We would like to invite you to join us for an awesome celebration cruise of unparalleled excellence on the AmaMagna, much fun and laughter, and we will be adding an optional post cruise Christmas Markets land package guided by us in Regensburg to visit the Thurn & Taxis Christmas Markets and other sites in this unique German city..

Anne, Cesario (the cruise manager) and Hank celebrate Octoberfest in Vilshofen during our cruise trip on the AmaMagna in 2023..

The AmaMagna ported in Budapest in 2023.

The sailing dates are 30 November 2025 to 7 December 2025 from Budapest to Vilshofen.

Here is a picture of the Thurn & Taxis Christmas Market in Regensburg, where we will be offering a post trip guided by us.

The AmaMagna

The AmaMagna has 4 restaurants, great facilities and is a double wide ship,

We were fortunate to sail on the AmaMagna in March of 2023. It was our 24th river cruise. For those of you who have never sailed on this ship, you are in for a rare treat if you join us..

There is so much to see and learn about this cruise we have provided you with two pdf slide shows about the day-to-day route and the facilities on the AmaMagna.

Magna on the Danube

Amamagna Ship Tour

Here is the current offer for this sailing which expires on 31 December 2023, however the cruise can still be booked with us after that date. We think the Triple Saving Offer will probably expire, so if you are really interested, please don’t wait and miss these savings.

Christmas Market Cruises onboard the AMA Magna

November 30, 2025 (cruise) Budapest to Vilshofen.

Celebrate Dream Destinations 30th Anniversary with Hank and Anne Schrader of Visit Dream Destinations, LLC

Embody the spirit of the holidays while experiencing the beauty of Europe in winter.

Participate in festive traditions and meals with all the trimmings onboard, (plus browse enchanting markets filled with handicrafts from late November through December 22.

Earn Triple Savings on your holiday cruise when you book categories BB and above*.

· $2,000 savings per stateroom

· $100 per stateroom onboard credit

· Complimentary category upgrade

You can add 2 nights in Budapest pre-cruise and/or 3 nights in Prague post-cruise with AmaWaterways or take advantage of our post cruise guided trip in Regensburg.

*Terms & Conditions:

All rates are per person in USD for cruise only, based on double occupancy in a BB category stateroom (AB category for AmaMagna) unless stated otherwise. Holiday Triple Savings is applicable to cruise only; valid on select 2025 Europe sailings for new FIT and Group reservations only made between July 1 -December 31, 2023; and is based on double occupancy. Onboard credit of $100 per stateroom for 7-night cruises and $200 per stateroom for 14-night cruises is based on double occupancy in USD and can be applied towards all onboard purchases; Solo occupants receive half of the stated Onboard Credit. Complimentary upgrades applicable to categories BB – AB (AB – SB for AmaMagna); applies to one category upgrade, based on availability; not applicable to Suites, AA+, A+, CA/C, CB, D, and E categories. Offer varies for Solo occupants; ask for details. Offers are combinable with AmaWaterways’ Loyalty Benefits Program and Future Cruise Benefit Program. Offers are limited to availability, capacity controlled and subject to change/termination without notice. Port charges, optional land packages, airfares, transfers, and gratuities are additional. AmaWaterways reserves the right to correct any errors or omissions at any time. Other restrictions apply. Registration as a seller of travel does not constitute approval by the state of California. CST#2065452-20.

Our Final Thoughts

We really hope you can join us—we promise a lot of laughter and fun exploring the Christmas Markets with us. With the additional Europe Thurn & Taxis and the glowing open-air fires creates experiences you will long remember—a great cruise on an awesome ship and celebrating Christmas in Europe that is unmatched for festive spirit and fun.

AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist
Viking River Cruise Specialist
Scenic River Cruise Specialist
Emerald Waterways Specialist
Avalon Waterways Specialist
Brit Agent

Hank Schrader

October 19, 2023

Best Value Travel

Quality Counts

Hank Schrader

October 19, 2023

Best Value Travel

Quality Counts

Hank Schrader, USMA '71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

Anne Schrader, Certified Travel Counselor & Certified Luxury Cruise Specialist

www.dreamdestinations.com

We just returned from a 2-week working vacation in Canada and the US. Our trip started on 30 September 2023 and ended on 13 October 2023.

We took the trip for 2 reasons—first to celebrate my 74th birthday and our 36th Wedding Anniversary, but also to learn about the vendor travel company, Uncommon Journeys.

The first week was a train trip and land package starting in NY City and visiting 4 cities in Canada.

On the second week, we boarded the Cunard Ocean Liner Queen Mary 2 in Quebec.

The entire tour was fully escorted by a professional tour manager, and Teresa, our tour manager, did an excellent job but was challenged by many last-minute changes by the tour operator.

My hope in writing this blog is to evaluate the trip in detail and see if we would recommend this company to our clients.

This blog will cover the land portion of the trip and the next blog, the cruise.

Overview

First a little background—we had originally consider a shorter train trip to see some of the National Parks out west, but on closer inspection, learned it was primarily a bus tour, which did not have as much appeal to us.

After placing a deposit on the park trip, we were able to switch to this 2-week adventure. This was handled reasonably well. The brochure of the Royal Canadian Holiday offered us a journey that “combines four of our most popular Canadian destinations—Niagara Falls, Toronto, Montreal, and Quebec City—into one stylish trip complimented by a fifth stellar setting, Cunard’s Queen Mary 2, on a 7-night passage from Quebec City down the St. Lawerence River and East Coast to New York City.” We liked the idea of train travel combined with the cruise and a lot of free time to explore on our own, so it sounded like a good fit for our travel style.

Our autumn adventure was called the Royal Canadian Holiday.

The First Week

We joined the trip in progress in Albany, NY instead of starting in NY City. Our first adventure was on an Amtrak train from Rensselaer. NY, where we took a 6-hour train ride in up-state NY on the Maple Leaf over the Water Level Route of the former New York Central Railroads and crossed the US-Canada border by train. I should point out that originally, we were to start in Albany, NY but it was changed to start in New York City. It was the first on many changes to the itinerary that were not provided to us in a timely manner. Our documents were late before we started the trip and we felt incomplete as compared to other vendors we have used for clients. Start and ending times were not listed on the information we received and seemed to change, so we often had to check and worry if we would be on time to leave or what time we would arrive at our new destination.

The Maple Leaf train on Amtrak was a comfortable ride, with some good fall colors but the peak colors had not arrived yet. As we had hoped for, the train ride did offer excellent views and scenery along the Mohawk River. There is one major difference between train travel in the US and Europe—Amtrak prohibits drinking your own alcoholic beverages onboard, so unlike Europe, where we often share a bottle of wine as the scenery rolls past, we had to rely on the snack car for beers, as the wine selection was less than stellar. Here are some pictures:

Anne in her seat on the Maple Leaf train

Rolling down the tracks with the Mohawk River outside

Fall is slowly change to brilliant colors

An old engine from the New York Central Train Line

Crossing the Niagara River—our first glimpse of this powerful river

After clearing Canadian customs, our group of 12 was transported by taxi to our hotel. The transfer was difficult since the taxi cars were small and there was a lot of luggage—a 2-week cruise with 2 formal nights always requires a lot of extra luggage.

In fairness to Uncommon Journeys, they did suggest we limit the amount of luggage for the train potion but allowed up to 4 pieces per person for the cruise (Cunard’s allowance). There was no sound plan to allow for these differences, which added to the chaos during transfers.

Our original itinerary stated we were going to get off in Buffalo, NY, and drive to Niagara Falls—the constant theme was changes and slight deviations during the land portion of the trip.

Niagara Falls, Canada

Upon arriving at our hotel, we found a new hotel that was substituted for the Doubletree by Hilton at the Falls. We stayed at the Crown Plaza Niagara and the rooms were adequate but not the upscale experience we were expecting. In one of the most scenic places on earth, with dramatic falls, the view from our room was a parking lot. Here are 3 pictures:

Anne couldn’t resist placing this brochure on our view window—not much of a view!

The tour the next day, after one of the poorest buffet breakfasts meals we have ever eaten, for most of our group was on the Maid of the Mist boat tour to see the falls up close and personal. This is a similar boat or may be the boat our group took.

We avoided this wet adventure and made some reservations for our clients. You might be surprised by this—we often have deadlines, new reservation requests we need to book, and clients that need help during our travels and we try to keep fully operational but sometimes are a little slow responding.

Arriving on a Saturday, with very warm temperatures and lots of tourists, made this a less than an ideal start of our tour.

The next day (Sunday) we skipped breakfast and enjoyed a day exploring the falls on our own and we had an excellent lunch at the Secret Gardens. Here is the view we had during our lunch, as we were on the outside terrace.

Somehow, maple ice cream makes everything better and a couple of local tap beers helped improve our mood. With less people, the trip improved and the powerful falls were spectacular, yet there was not much else to see or do after about an hour of walking along the river. Here are some pictures:

The American Niagara Falls and the small Bridal Veil Falls

Niagara Falls—from left to right American Falls, Bridal Falls, and Horseshoe Falls

At 1000 AM on Monday, we took a comfortable coach (bus) to Niagara-on-the-Lake, where the Niagara River meets Lake Ontario. Prior to the visit to Niagara-on-the-Lake, we stopped twice. The first stop was to see the whirlpool on the Niagara River and the second stop was a winery.

The whirlpool is caused by the huge volume of water rushing over Horseshoe Falls as it crashes into the narrow Niagara the narrow Niagara Gorge.

The winery stop was confusing—it was supposed to be a bathroom break but also a wine tasting, but since the winery didn’t know we were coming, they decided it was too much trouble to pull together a quick tasting for us. Here are some pictures:

Peller Estates Winery near Niagara-on-the-Lake

Niagara-on-the-Lake was my favorite stop on the land portion of the trip. The nickname of the town is “The Loveliest Town in Canada”. For me, it lived up to this claim. It is a charming, quaint place that has a George Bernard Shaw Festival, great restaurants, and pubs. Small boutique shops are the norm here and wineries dot most of the landscape. At a local hat shop, I bought a replica hat of the famous Indiana Jones hat—a little cheesy, but most think I looked pretty good in it. After our short visit, a good lunch at a pub, we were off to Toronto. Here are some pictures.

George Bernard Shaw statue in Niagara-on-the-Lake

While not in this stop, here is my new hat:

Toronto

We got into Toronto in the evening and stayed at the Radison Blu, right on Lake Ontario. The room was a nice upgrade from our previous poor accommodations, and the included breakfast excellent.

We also had an included dinner at the Amsterdam Brewery, food only and no drinks included. Great place, but since we didn’t know in advance our dining location, we had just grabbed a quick pizza at the brewery before the meal for a late lunch snack. Fortunately, the food was great, the beer excellent, so we didn’t feel upset about our second meal, but we really didn’t need it as much as others in the group. It does bring up a minor problem—the lack of a clear itinerary and last-minute changes, caused confusion that could have been totally avoided.

Again, we didn’t take the tour here as we worked on reservations and both of us had visited Toronto, Canada’s largest city before—I took our daughter up to the soaring CN tower on a previous trip and we all saw The Phantom of the Opera play—Toronto is often the opening for plays in North America that eventually get to Boardway in NY City.

We enjoyed the Amsterdam Brewery so much; we ate al fresco the next night with great views of Lake Ontario. Here are some pictures:

Lake Ontario viewed from the Amsterdam Terrace

Hank with his traditional beer picture in the Amsterdam Terrace

plane flying out of Toronto Airport over Lake Ontario

Montreal

We went to Montreal by train aboard Via Rail Canada. The transfer to the train station was by some large Uber sedans, and as seemed the norm, the transfer was chaotic. Because there was no central drop off point at the large train station, we had to scramble to get the group together, and find our train car. We found out later, the tickets were bought only the day of the departure instead of buying them earlier, as Uncommon Journey’s should have done.

The train was a good experience, comfortable and still great patches of color, but still not peak conditions. A good point of reference here—the peak fall colors seem to be later and later recently but as we often say, Mother Nature decides the weather and climate conditions, not us.

In Montreal, we stayed at the Omni, and it was a nice hotel and easy walking distance to great restaurants, bistros, and Brasseries. The Omni Mount Royal Hotel is located on Sherbrooke Street—this is the most exclusive and wealthiest area in all of Canada before WW II, and it was fun exploring this part of the city.

I really enjoyed the stay here—Montreal is very walkable as we stayed near McGill University, and it was fun and lively. We love wandering and finding great eating places. There was an included meal on the second night of our stay, but we skipped it and ate on our own, as we just enjoyed wandering so much and had a late lunch at a great Brasserie with a brew pub.

Quebec City

Our transfer from Montreal to Quebec could not have gotten any more confusing, as two groups joined our band of 12—4 in one group and 13 in another, all set to cruise on the Queen Mary 2 with luggage everywhere. Anne bravely jumped in to help load the luggage compartment of the coach. Ultimately, we got it all in and took a 4-hour ride into Quebec. Apparently, another tour group guide from Uncommon Journey’s had a personal emergency, so Teresa now had 2 extra groups to deal with for our final day of the land tour. The first part of the coach ride was colorful, as you can see by this picture.

There we did a bus tour of Quebec City and arrived at the port on 6 October, my birthday. The coach tour included seeing the old town, the Plains of Abraham (a large outdoor park), and the Citadel. We were supposed to have lunch, but that didn’t happen as most of us just wanted to board the Queen Mary 2 and eat onboard.

A good picture of Quebec City port area. In the far right is the Citadel and the large hotel on the left is the Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac. Quebec is the only fortified city in North America

Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac is the most famous landmark in Quebec City. This luxury hotel was designed to fit in with the old town Quebec surroundings as a prestigious place to stay during a visit to Quebec City.

A panoramic view of the Port of Quebec City

Boarding the Queen Mary 2 was very efficient, but that may be because many were on a 14-day cruise that started in NY City, so less folks had to board in Quebec City.

Our Final Thoughts

Uncommon Journeys had a great trip planned for us, but it just wasn’t executed properly. There were just too many last-minute changes and a lack of timely information. That being said, it still was a good trip. Having seen how other luxury tour operators handle their trips, we found them lacking—quality counts! This tour may be right for some, but I think most of our clients were prefer a smoother operation.

You can make your own judgments, but at $15,418 for both of us for the two weeks’ vacation, it just did not deliver the quality and attention to detail we expect from a luxury trip.

Whatever your Dream Destinations are, we are here to help you get the best possible vacation based on what is important to you! We will provide you high quality, expertly planned travel. Please give me a call 713-397-0188 (Hank) or email me at hschrader@dreamdestinations.com. We want to help you: Savor life…make memories…Visit Dream Destinations! Your journey begins here!

AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist
Viking River Cruise Specialist
Scenic River Cruise Specialist
Emerald Waterways Specialist
Avalon Waterways Specialist
Brit Agent

Hank Schrader

August 17, 2023

Best Value Travel

Come Sail with Us!

Hank Schrader

August 17, 2023

Best Value Travel

Come Sail with Us!

Hank Schrader, USMA '71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

Anne Schrader, Certified Travel Counselor & Certified Luxury Cruise Specialist

www.dreamdestinations.com

Today’s Blog is about an excellent opportunity for you to sail with Anne and Hank on the Seine River in May of 2024. But before I explain this option, here are 2 important announcements:

Important Announcements

First, we are having some technical issues with our emails from hschrader@dreamdestinations.com. Although you may be getting error messages about not being sent or received, we are getting all messages and it appears that you are also getting them. For now, while we sort this out, we also will text you and include an alternate email address of hschrader@visitdd.com. Sorry for the inconvenience!

Second, almost all river cruise lines have opened up their 2025 schedules and they are ready for booking. There are some strong incentives for early bookings, so if a river cruise is in your plans for 2025, please reach out to us.

Our Seine River Cruise and a Possible 2 Day D Day Tour in Bayeux.

Our cruise is on AmaWaterways, sailing from Paris on 11 May 2024 and returning to Paris on 18 May 2024. The route is the Paris & Normandy itinerary on the AmaDante. The AmaDante has a max of 144 guests, has 73 staterooms and is perfect for the Seine River as a 110 m ship.

Sailing in May is an ideal time—the weather traditionally has been mild, not too hot, or too cold. While we have not sailed this route yet, most of you know we have led 2 anniversary tours to the D Day sites in 2014 and 2019, so we are quite familiar with this region of France.

Long time readers of our blog will also know the awesome way AmaWaterways takes care of its guests—we should know it will be our 23 AmaWaterways sailing and you can anticipate being treated the same way..

To help you learn more about the itinerary, please use this link to read the day-by-day experiences you can enjoy on this wonderful cruise (although the power point PDF uses the AmaLyra , the AmaDante has an almost identical deck plan and staterooms)..

2024 Paris & Normandy

To reserve your space on the cruise, please fill out a Travel Request. We will then explain the stateroom options and provide you an exact quote, which you will have 7 days to consider if this is the right trip for you—we hope so! You should also tell us if you desire to join the optional pre-tour of D Day. Here is the link:

Travel Request

The Optional D Day Pre Tour

Since it is very difficult to obtain hotel space near the key D Day Sites during the anniversary time of 6 June, we have developed a possible 2-day pre tour in Bayeux to see the D Day sites in depth prior to the cruise on 9 and 10 May. This possible tour has room for only 10 couples. We are planning to stay in the Churchill Hotel, provided we can get enough folks to book and deposit the pre-tour by 30 September 2023.

This was a history changing day, so let’s learn together about this massive invasion, why it was so important and why you should see the key sights in the Normandy battlefield beaches with our pre-tour.

We would recommend that you arrive on 8 May 2024 in Bayeux (we can help with train reservations to Bayeux from Paris).

On the morning of 9 May, we will visit Utah Beach and the museum, Pointe du Hoc, Iron Mike Statue, and the Airborne Museum in Ste. Mere Eglise. Here are some pictures:

Point du Hoc Observation Bunker With the Bayonet Memorial on top

Iron Mike—the tribute to the 82nd Airborne Soldiers

On 10 May will visit the American Cemetery, Omaha Beach, the costal gun battery, Arromanches 360 theater and the landing museum at Arromanches. Here are some pictures:

On 11 May, we will take the train back to Paris and join the AmaDante for our 7-day cruise.

By taking this tour, you will get a much better look at the actions during the D Day operation in 1944 and can also expand your knowledge by taking the British D Day tour during the river cruise.

This is a condensed version of the weeklong tour we led in 2014 and 2019 prior to the 80th Anniversary of D Day.

Our Final Thoughts

Wow—what an offer!

We hope you will consider joining us—it will be fun and educational. Anne and I will work hard to make this the trip of a lifetime. You will have our travel experience, the wonderful AmaWaterways ship experience with great meals and wine, luxury staterooms, exciting ports, cultural emersion, and a somber look at what the cost of freedom was in 1944. We also think that sharing the experience with like-minded folks will enhance the trip.

Please come join us!

Whatever your Dream Destinations are, we are here to help you get the best possible vacation based on what is important to you! We will provide you high quality, expertly planned travel. Please give me a call 713-397-0188 (Hank) or email me at hschrader@dreamdestinations.com. We want to help you: Savor life…make memories…Visit Dream Destinations! Your journey begins here!

AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist
Viking River Cruise Specialist
Scenic River Cruise Specialist
Emerald Waterways Specialist
Avalon Waterways Specialist
Brit Agent

Hank Schrader

August 10, 2023

Best Value Travel

The Benefits of Travel--Especially to Europe

Hank Schrader

August 10, 2023

Best Value Travel

The Benefits of Travel—Especially to Europe

Hank Schrader, USMA '71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

Anne Schrader, Certified Travel Counselor & Certified Luxury Cruise Specialist

www.dreamdestinations.com

Travel is good. Not only is it good, but there are also many studies that prove it has significant health benefits. For me, however, the biggest benefit is personal growth and learning. After reading this blog, I hope it stirs your passion for travel!

So, let’s examine the benefits of travel together.

One of the most iconic sites in Europe—the Roman Coliseum

Some Facts about Americans and Travel Overseas

According to a study conducted by Hostelworld Global Traveler Report, Americans are about 50% less likely to travel abroad than Europeans. The report states that 29% of Americans have never left America. The average American has visited 3 countries; UK residents average 10 countries; Germans 8 countries; and Frenchmen 5 countries.

While it is true it is easy and cheaper to travel if you live in Europe to other countries, it saddens me to know so many Americans are missing learning and experiencing most of our wonderful world.

Far too often, Americans chose Canada, Mexico and somewhere in the Caribbean for their only international visits. We hope they will expand to other worldwide locations.

We are here to help you if you are ready to explore other areas of the world, especially Europe. At least now, this trend may be slowly changing as Europe travel seems to be more interesting to Americans, especially after the pandemic travel restrictions.

I Learned at a Young Age the Benefits of Travel

My parents started my lifelong love of travel at an early age. My Dad loved the outdoors, and we often went camping as a family. As most of you know, my dad was a career Army officer. When he was reassigned to Okinawa (I was 12 years old), we visited most of our nation’s national parks on the way to the West Coast of America. We drove across America to get to a ship that took us to our new home—it sure was a great learning experience to see a lot of America.

Here I am landing on Okinawa in 1962 with my parents in the background

But the real lesson was living and traveling in the Far East. You can read about a rice paddy, but until you see a small plot of land worked by hand by folks living so differently than you do, you begin to understand how complex our world really is.

Yet, you also quickly learn people all over the world are basically the same. They may look different in their outward appearances, but they have the same wants and needs as you and I do. Experiencing different ways of life, and connecting with locals, is a far better way to learn about the world than reading about different cultures in a textbook. I was lucky, I was exposed to our unique world at an early age, and it quickly changed my life for the better.

To this day, my wanderlust is still strong—thanks Mom & Dad for exposing me to the benefits of travel at an early age!

The Health Benefits of Traveling

There are several health benefits of traveling. Here are 4:

It is good for your heart health. A study of overseas travelers reported that there was a reduced risk of heart attacks in men and women.

Travel enhances your cognitive abilities—it sharpens your mind. New challenges in a different environment will stimulate your brain. It is especially true of folks who engage with the local people and their culture. Just experiencing different languages will improve your communication skills. Most travelers at least learn a few new words or phrases in a different language and are exposed to new foods, so it is easy to see how travel can sharpen your mind.

You get to relax and disconnect. Wandering old medieval towns of Europe, sharing an al fresco meal in Rome or Paris—that is my idea of relaxing—a good glass of wine and locally grown, seasonal food! Most of all, I want to slow down a little and savor life and my surroundings. I always seem renewed after travel and there is evidence that many folks upon returning from a vacation are in a better mood and more creative. I know I am.

Your Travel Experiences Will Make You a Better Person

You will become more confident. Change is difficult sometimes, but it will help you grow. When you travel, you become different. You leave your comfortable, known world and venture into the unknown. The best part is that the unknown soon becomes familiar and usually awesome.

Good or bad experiences still leave you changed, but I will tell you, most travel is great. The best part of venturing out is that you gain confidence in yourself. It is very empowering to know you can handle new experiences.

You can read about a place but until you experience it, you do not really understand it. Battlefields, Biblical sites, ancient towns, stunning structures, different food markets, and jaw dropping scenery are all different when you visit in person. Pictures and words are never the same as being there. It is amazing how many times I have visited a new place and the visit completely changed what I thought the place was like.

Omaha Beach 2019—it is hard to understand how open it was for these soldiers until you see and walk this battlefield area.

Travel will also quickly teach you how little you know about the world. Even as a former teacher of World Geography, who thinks he knows a lot about the world, I still have a lot to learn. Always after every trip I take, it just reinforces that there is so much more to learn and experience. It always makes me eager for the next adventure!

Travel will make you appreciate your life and the world we live in. You see some of the wonderful things that humans have created.

They have created amazing buildings and structures.

The Pont du Gard in Provence built by the Romans over 2000 years ago

The Sphinx and the Pyramids of Giza are about 4,500 years old—photo by Anne Schrader in 2022

They have found many ways to create good, tasty meals and great beverages and when you try some of them, you will wonder why you hadn’t tried them sooner. Here are 2 photos of one of the many awesome meals we have enjoyed in Europe:

You will be amazed at how they have adapted their lives to their surroundings and environment. You will see beauty. These experiences are life changing and you will have been given a true gift—a better understanding of our world and the people who live on our planet. Travel broadens your horizons.

An amazing example of adapting to the environment—the tidal island fortress abbey of Mont St. Michel

Travel will provide you experiences that you will never forget. We have been lucky to have experienced so many, it is hard to select just a few, but I will try.

Imagine the joy of seeing our Granddaughter’s eyes light up on a Disney cruise, dressed up as Elsa—she really was a princess. Wish you could have joined us savoring excellent wine and food floating on the rivers of Europe in a river cruise boat as castles peer down on us from the cliffs.

Celebrating the holiday seasons in the many Christmas markets of Europe is always a highlight.

Watching a play in London is fun and was made even better riding the Tube (subway) with many folks dressed up as characters from The Rocky Mountain Horror Show.

Drinking beer at a pub in Dublin, Ireland with rugby fans from Ireland and Scotland just prior to their international test match later that day, is really getting down with the locals.

Gazing on some of the world’s great art in Paris, London and St. Petersburg helps you understand how creative humans can be.

Learning to cook a great meal from a celebrity chef in Wales was a bucket list for Anne on her 60th birthday.

Anne celebrates her 60th birthday in Wales at the cooking school

People watching in the many outdoor cafes of Europe can be so entertaining you will sit for hours enjoying the street life of Europe.

Walking in ancient ruins, imaging that we were famous ancients of an era long past, allowed us to bring history to life.

Anne and Hank in Ephesus—Cleopatra and Marc Anthony walked those very streets

Visiting Normandy during the 70th and 75th Anniversary of D Day during the festivals and somber remembrances.

2014 festival in Ste. Mare Eglise on 6 June 2014

Doesn’t this make you want to go—just writing my blog has stirred my desire to get back to Europe soon!

Our Final Thoughts

Travel is good! There are so many benefits of travel that outweigh the minor disadvantages of making travel arrangements (most of which we can easily solve for you), so now is the time to act!

I think you can see why we are in the business—it just is awesome to help folks have a great vacation.

Whatever your Dream Destinations are, we are here to help you get the best possible vacation based on what is important to you! We will provide you high quality, expertly planned travel. Please give me a call 713-397-0188 (Hank) or email me at hschrader@dreamdestinations.com. We want to help you: Savor life…make memories…Visit Dream Destinations! Your journey begins here!

AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist
Viking River Cruise Specialist
Scenic River Cruise Specialist
Emerald Waterways Specialist
Avalon Waterways Specialist
Brit Agent

Hank Schrader

August 3, 2023

Best Value Travel

Champagne

Hank Schrader

August 3, 2023

Best Value Travel

Champagne

Hank Schrader, USMA '71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

Anne Schrader, Certified Travel Counselor & Certified Luxury Cruise Specialist

www.dreamdestinations.com

Anne’s favorite drink is champagne. When we think about champagne, our thoughts go to the good life—it is elegant, sexy, cool, celebratory, and a luxury for most.

Champagne is in a class of its own—there are few alcoholic drinks you can start on early in the morning and not be classified as an alcoholic. Even better, when out, folks think you are special. We toast our successes, christen ships with it, and generally celebrate life. So, on the supposed birthday of champagne (August 4, 1693), I thought I’d write about champagne, the good life and travel, in honor of Anne’s favorite drink.

Birthday Celebration the Chef’s table for Denise’s birthday

Champagne

I’m no expert on champagne, or sparkling wine, but like most wine, I really enjoy drinking it. Wine is produced from grapes and the terroir or characteristics of the area (soil and climate are the most important items influencing terroir) in which the grapes are cultivated and that shapes the taste of the wine.

However, wine and champagne differ in how they are made by the wine makers. Without getting too technical, sparking wine is created when the CO2 gas remains in the bottled wine due to a second or third fermentation. When a wine is fermented in a sealed container during this second fermentation, the CO2 bubbles remain with the wine and are not released until you pop the cork.

We prefer dry wines—brut and extra brut in the lingo of champagne. This term refers to the sweetness of the wine due to the amount of sugar added during the fermentation process. There are 3 main types of champagne. They are 1) Prestige Cuvee, 2) Blanc de Noirs and 3) Blanc de Blanc. Prestige Cuvee is a blend wine and the best wine produced by a winery. Blanc de Noirs is white wine produced by black or red grapes. Blanc de Blanc is a white wine produced by white grapes.

Now to the important part—what glass do we drink from? There are two types of champagne glasses—the flute and the coupe. The legend of the creation of the coupe glass is that it was modeled after a mold of the left breast of Marie Antoinette’s—great story, but probably not true. One of the benefits of a coupe style glass is the wider surface area of the bulb, which allows the wine to breathe better and is recommended for older vintages of champagne. It was also the rage during the roaring 20’s and Old Hollywood

Our wine Expert Mark offer us wine with both style glasses

The classic coupe glass which has style and elegance.

Experts favor a flute (retains more of the bubbles) but who can argue with the elegant, sophisticated coupe glass? The narrow opening of the flute prevents the champagne bubbles from escaping too quickly, allowing you to savor the bubbles of the wine.

Flute glasses at the ready for an AmaWaterways welcome celebration at the start of our cruise in 2013

Both use stems, which is important as champagne should be served at cold temperatures (one article I read recommended between 49 and 54 degrees Fahrenheit, while others recommend cooler), with small amounts in the glass and the bottle kept on ice. By holding the wine glass by the stem, it keeps the wine cooler longer. Also, unlike most wines, you should not swirl champagne, as it causes the bubbles to release faster.

My advice—use both and drink more champagne and sparkling wine!

There are two other fun facts about champagne.

Legend says champagne was invented by a Benedictine Monk, Dom Perignon. There is no doubt he made significant contributions to the production and quality of champagne, but he probably did not invent champagne. Most folks know about him, since the best known of all Champagnes, Dom Perignon, the prestige cuvee from Moet & Chandon, is named in his honor. He supposedly said upon tasting champagne “Come quickly, I am drinking the Stars” but it possibly appeared in a print ad in the late 1800s (thanks Wikipedia).

The world’s best known fictional spy, James Bond, is an avid champagne drinker. Do you know his favorite champagne? The answer is both Bollinger’s and Dom Perignon (we learned this on the trivia quiz on an AmaWaterways Wine cruise).

James Bond would approve of our selection of the Bollinger Champagne

The Good Life

Life is too short not to enjoy champagne. We all work hard and need to recognize there is a need for balance in our lives. Everybody’s definition of the good life is different, but there are some common threads for most of us. These include sharing time with loved ones, family, and friends, acquiring nice clothes, homes, cars and other cool stuff, enjoying good food and drinks, and especially for us, travel to dream destinations to experience other cultures.

Most importantly, I think we need to celebrate life to the fullest—slow down a little and smell the roses, as the saying goes. One way to have a good life, in my humble opinion, —drink more champagne!

Champagne and Travel

There are many ways to enjoy champagne when traveling. Number one for champagne lovers has to be the champagne region of northeastern France. The area of chalk plains and gentle hills between Paris and Lorraine is the home to the most famous sparkling wines in the world. In fact, by European Union (EU) and most countries of the world, the term champagne to identify a sparkling wine is exclusively reserved to wines produced in the champagne region of France.

Although champagne technically only from the champagne region of France, the term is used to describe its cousin, sparking wine worldwide. According to the website About France.com, it is possible to visit 51 champagne cellars around the towns of Reims and Epernay. Besides great wine tours and tastings around Reims, another good site to visit is the medieval gothic cathedral, with its exquisite rose window. It is the location where the former kings of France were crowned, and a site not to be missed.

In Epernay, along with the wine tours, there is a champagne museum and the Abbey of Hautvilliers, where Dom Perignon created his version of champagne.

Another great way is on an ocean cruise or Europe River cruise. On our 23 Europe River cruises, all involve a champagne welcome and farewell. It is truly a great way to start and end your trip. Several river cruise companies offer either pre or post land option that include going to Reims.

A welcome reception for the start of our AmaWaterways cruise in 2013

4 champagne wines we got to sample in 2016 during an AmaWaterways Wine Cruise

Let’s all celebrate with champagne! You can be sure Anne and I will drink some today. We also hope this will inspire you to try to visit France’s wine region or go on a wine cruise and enjoy the good life--we will be glad to help!

Our Final Thoughts

We hope you enjoyed this report. So, to all who read this week, a toast to you—Thanks for Your Trust in Us! Be well and sip a little champagne tomorrow.

Whatever your Dream Destinations are, we are here to help you get the best possible vacation based on what is important to you! We will provide you high quality, expertly planned travel. Please give me a call 713-397-0188 (Hank) or email me at hschrader@dreamdestinations.com. We want to help you: Savor life…make memories…Visit Dream Destinations! Your journey begins here!

AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist
Viking River Cruise Specialist
Scenic River Cruise Specialist
Emerald Waterways Specialist
Avalon Waterways Specialist
Brit Agent

Hank Schrader

July 6, 2023

Best Value Travel

How Do You Value Time on Your Vacation?

Hank Schrader

July 6, 2023

Best Value Travel

How Do You Value Time on Your Vacation?

Hank Schrader, USMA '71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

Anne Schrader, Certified Travel Counselor & Certified Luxury Cruise Specialist

www.dreamdestinations.com

Throughout our careers as professional travel consultants, I believe the real value of using us to plan your vacation is saving you time and hassle. You have a fixed amount of time for your trip and using your time wisely will enhance your experiences during the trip. Getting it right usually turns a good trip into a great trip.

So, let’s explore the value of time in travel and try to answer the question—How Do You Value Time on a Trip?

A Starting Point—Opportunity Time Costs of Travel

Most travelers have a set amount of vacation time for a trip. As a result, we make decisions about travel that are time and comfort related. Some will want to spend more to arrive faster or travel more comfortably during the trip (for example, a direct flight with no layover or taking first class versus a different level of service); or some will accept a delay for a lower cost (for example, accept a layover flight); or even delay parts of their trip for compensation (for example, the airlines pays you money to take a later flight).

Another way of saying this is how much would you be willing to pay to save time and how much would you want as compensation for your lost time?

While this may seem fairly simple, there are other factors involved. Saving time may increase your ability to see more, or it could just make your travel less stressful or safer. In short, there are always tradeoffs we need to manage, as few of us have unlimited time or money to travel.

Let me give you a really good example to make this point more clearly—my travel to Europe throughout the years. My first trip to Europe was right after graduation from West Point, 52 years ago in June and July 1971. I went with a friend (a fellow West Point graduate), we each had backpacks, a Euro Rail Pass and sort of followed the guidebook Europe on 5 Dollars a Day. It was a great trip, low budget, lots of hassles (no reservations), very flexible, more a wander than a planned trip. The key was we had 6 weeks and not a lot of money. Saving time was not as key as saving money.

*A postcard from my 1971 trip to Europe*

As you can imagine, with age and more resources, Europe travel became more about saving time while traveling, reducing stress, and making it more fun, more comfortable, and elegant. However, we seldom get 6 weeks to go to Europe—it usually is for 2 or 3 weeks nowadays. Saving time is often more important than saving money.

Opportunistic Time Costs

In travel, I believe there are things you can do that will increase the value of your time. Some may cost more money; some may just involve careful planning, and some may just be a special opportunity that suddenly comes up. While planning a great trip, I think you need to balance all three of these factors to get the best results.

So, how do you make the perfect balanced trip? I think the first step is to identify your core values of travel—why are you going and what do you want to experience?

My Core Values for Travel

Here are my core values when I travel or think about planning a trip—perhaps these will help you understand why you travel and what you want to experience on your future trips.

When I travel I do so for several key reasons. They are:

To add balance to my life, to look for beauty, to satisfy my curiosity about a place,
to help me grow as a person with new experiences and cultures,
to help me to gain knowledge and learning,
to help me seek pleasure, happiness, and wisdom.

These values, for me, answer the question of why I travel.

But they do not answer what I want to experience. To answer that question, I need to research the destination and then evaluate what I will get to see and experience and how this destination will match my core values. So now, travel outcomes become more complicated.

To add to this problem, I also have to evaluate the services that vendors offer—will their products and services match my expectations?

My Core Values for Vendors

When I travel, I want to be treated with fairness, honesty, and respect. These core values are a must. Once I am confident of the level of services and manner I will be treated, now I look for the most important item—what value does the vendor add to my travel? What is their level of service, how will they enhance my comfort when I am away from home and what will they let me experience?

*A vendor we trust—AmaWaterways will give you a great vacation and save you time and provide unmatched experiences. This is a GS category stateroom on the AmaMagna during our trip in 2023.*

*Hotel Manager Miguel, toasting us during an AmaWaterways cruise in 2022.*

I hope it goes without saying, this is exactly how we treat you when you use our services—with honesty, fairness, and respect. It is all about trust—will you trust us to deliver what we say we will, and will we deliver on time?

Time Stressors for Travelers

There are many time stresses when you travel. Moving from one place to another in an uncomfortable or rushed manner is often a big stress factor and can make the trip really horrible.

Let me share a story about traveling way back in 1990—we were in Europe during the World Cup soccer tournament. To save money, we decided to take an overnight train from Paris to Amsterdam. Seemed like a great idea—we would save one night’s hotel cost. The only problem was that our sleeping compartment was not for us alone—when we got on the train, we found we were sharing the compartment with 2 strangers from Argentina. It was a very uncomfortable situation to say the least, but luckily since I am fluent in Spanish, we were able to communicate our discomfort and work out who would sleep where.

The train was not air conditioned or it was not working, so our options were a very hot night of little or no sleep or constant screeching noise with the windows open as other trains roared past us. When we finally arrived the next morning and found a hotel in a smaller town outside of Amsterdam, we sleep for a whole day. And to add to our discomfort, we both had heat rashes on our legs.

So, we saved some bucks but lost almost 2 days of our trip. This is poor travel. Now we use overnight trains on occasions but have learned to carefully research all the details and levels of service—a great lesson learned!

*A much better train compartment in 2021 on the night train from Munich to Budapest—it had air conditioning that worked and a compartment to ourselves!*

Another time stressor is searching for the right hotel. If you are winging it, this can be another problem. If you expect a certain level of accommodations, you could be aced out. Another stress factor is spending too much or being located in an unsafe part of town—trust me we had also made this mistake.

*The elegant Hotel Eden Palace in Montreux, Switzerland*

*Anne on our balcony with the beauty of Sienna as our view!*

Even if you get the moving from place to place right, and find the right place to stay, perhaps the biggest stress factor is missing a chance to see what you came to see or waiting in long lines to see or experience the sights. Most key sights are closed on certain days or holidays and can require advance reservations.

For example, few people want to stand in line to see the Vatican Museum for 4 or more hours in the blazing sun during July in Italy—we have witnessed many who have made this travel mistake—if they had the proper reservations, they would have skipped the line altogether. Again, a trade-off—more cost to save time.

Another stress factor is making your own plans. Will your selections match your expectations? Will you miss out on a key experience you did not know about? Did you forget the transfer from the airport to your hotel? Did you allow enough time to make a train connection? Are you in the right place on the right day of your cruise to see the sight you just spent thousands of dollars to see? The list goes on and on.

Addressing the Stress Factors

To me, this all boils down to two factors—trip satisfaction and convenience. Every time we plan our own travel, and I see how complex it is to get the trip right, I just can’t understand why some folks believe they can achieve trip satisfaction by doing their own planning. Maybe they get satisfaction from extensive research, or fear losing control of trip decisions, or really don’t know exactly what they want and have difficulty expressing it to us—I’m just not sure.

Time value experts often ask this question when evaluating convenience and satisfaction—what would you be willing to pay someone to do the work for you? This is a great question in my mind when trying to decide if you should use us to help you, and my answer is even better—it usually costs you nothing extra, as the vendors pay us—the price of our services is already factored into the vacation price and we seldom charge extra fees.

The reason is simple—travel vendors alone can’t reach enough folks to sell their products by themselves, so they use travel professionals like us, to find customers for them. It is a huge win-win—you are hiring us as your travel expert for free in most cases.

As Anne likes to say, “Free is good!”

Why not just buy my trip online?

I am amazed at the number of folks who think they can plan travel better than we can. “Oh, I’ll save money and everything I need to make a decision is on the internet”—this is some variation of the responses I have heard. This must be a really strong belief—only about 31% of travel is booked by travel agents, according to many industry sources I have read.

My response is you just can’t match us for several reasons. Here is my reply—there are 4 reasons you should use us instead of doing it yourself. They are

It will be less stressful,
We will get you a good value for your money (often matching or even less than you found) and avoid pitfalls of products that look good but aren’t quite like that in reality,
We will make it an enjoyable buying experience
We will make your lives better through our knowledge of the right travel products for your trip.

Perhaps, most importantly, you will have a real human being to help you—we can answer your questions and understand your needs. If things go wrong, you have an advocate in us to help solve the problem.

Our Final Thoughts

Time during travel is precious. Trip planning is not easy. Time and money issues are complex—we all want the best at the least possible price. We help you solve those complex issues, saving you hassles, time and worry.

We hope this blog will make you think about how you value time during your travels. Don’t hesitate to use us to help you save time on your future trips.

Whatever your Dream Destinations are, we are here to help you get the best possible vacation based on what is important to you! We will provide you high quality, expertly planned travel. Please give me a call 713-397-0188 (Hank) or email me at hschrader@dreamdestinations.com. We want to help you: Savor life…make memories…Visit Dream Destinations! Your journey begins here!

AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist
Viking River Cruise Specialist
Scenic River Cruise Specialist
Emerald Waterways Specialist
Avalon Waterways Specialist
Brit Agent

Hank Schrader

September 29, 2022

Best Value Travel

Why Do We Travel?

Hank Schrader

September 29, 2022

Best Value Travel

Why Do We Travel?

Hank Schrader, USMA '71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

Anne Schrader, Certified Travel Counselor & Certified Luxury Cruise Specialist

www.dreamdestinations.com

This is a topic I have wanted to write about for a long time. I’m not sure I’m really qualified to list all the reasons we travel but our interactions with dozens of clients does give us a little insight on why we travel.

I wrote about travel opportunities a few weeks ago, but this a more in-depth look at why we travel and a little bit about 5 travel styles.

So, let’s explore together and learn about why we travel.

Experiences

In some form or another, when we travel, we seek experiences. Experiences change us.

It could be as simple as doing nothing, clearing our minds, relaxing.

It could be active—hiking biking running or other physical activity.

It could be seeing new places, learning about the culture.

It could be achievement—visiting a high number of countries, continents, or polar explorations, or even visiting space.

It could be a combination of any or all of these.

It could be celebrating a milestone, or a bucket list item.

The means of transportation could be the experience—a luxury train, a river or cruise ship or a pilgrimage.

The only thing all these have in common is that they change us in some form—it is personal development. Some folks like to call this transformational travel.

Since we all experience travel differently, let’s explore this idea a little further and see how travel can provide us some personal development.

I’m going to take 5 ideas about travel styles and travel attitudes to examine how you can use these ideas to enhance your travel experiences and help you get more out of your travel. By using some of our travel styles and travel attitudes as a method, I hope it will help us to probe why we travel.

Perhaps, one of these styles is your preferred way to travel, but my guess is most of you will see yourself in several of these travel styles. We have experienced all 5 styles.

Can you imagine a more relaxing place like this garden in Vienne, France?

Idea #1 We Take the Same Trip Every Year—It’s Our Travel Style

All travel experiences are different, even if we take the same trip every year.

For example, my West Point Classmates (we graduated in 1971—yes, we are old!) get together once a year for a 4-day golf shoot out. In truth, although some are very competitive golfers, most go to see the old friends and classmates, retell old stories and the format doesn’t change much, but each trip is different since we change the location of the event and not all can attend every year.

So. what does this example accomplish for most of us—we get to see the folks who are important to us.

Even the same trip every year leads to personal development, much the same taking the same river cruise over the same route does—every trip is different and so are your experiences,

Every year, we try to explore our Scottish heritage during a Highland clan gathering in the Estes Park Scottish festival. We have now been there 5 times and plan to continue this wonderful festival. Here are two pictures of us there:

Idea # 2 Our Travel Style Will Require an Attitude Adjustment

Travel always broadens our prospectives. It can be fun, stressful, freeing, relaxing, or demanding.

Some love the planning process; others want nothing to do with it. We always ask how our clients feel about the travel planning process versus the actual travel. We usually find the best attitude adjustments happen when we both get involved in the planning process.

But it is out client’s attitude towards these 2 facets of travel determine how much we get involved to do it all for you or get help and collaborate with you.

One attitude adjustment is control and for some the hardest factor in personal development when traveling. We often must give up control of our routines and are forced out of our comfort zone but gain a new understanding of a new place.

Attitudes are about feelings—what did you love about your last vacation? What did you hate or dislike? Many of our feelings may not be that strong but if we want personal development, we must express our feelings about travel.

Perhaps we can help you make several attitude adjustments and provide you growth by assisting you with new experiences during your travels.

One of our most memorable trips was attending a cooking school in Wales, for Anne’s 60th birthday celebration.

Idea # 3 Your Travel Style Requires You to Dream Big if You Want Great Experiences.

One of my favorite questions to clients is where do you want to go? Followed by where do you need to go?

Why is this important? We all have travel dreams, but it is what we want to accomplish by our travels that is the need question.

Do you want to follow your ancestral family in a new location?

How about a luxury train ride?

Maybe mysterious, ancient Egypt?

Perhaps, the Vienna New Year Balls, dressed in elegant gowns and tuxedos?

We don’t always know your big dreams but are ready to help you get there someday—you must dream big if you want significant personal development.

I’m not sure either us really ever believed we would visit Egypt one day—we did dream big and made it happen!

Idea # 4 This Travel Style Requires Most of Our Clients to be Resilient—they can overcome travel barriers.

The 2020 and 2021 were some of the most challenging times we have faced in our travel business. Somehow, a few traveled, many rescheduled and we all emerged better.

Maybe the problem is not enough time, travel costs, feeling we aren’t up to the physical demands of travel, family and/or health concerns—the list could go on and on if you let it.

Barriers can be overcome in most cases—sometimes we must delay our plans a little but to give in is just wrong, in my opinion.

We can usually find a solution and the result will benefit both of us.

What are the obstacles to achieving your big dream—money, time, fear? Let us know—we understand and usually can help you overcome these barriers.

You may wonder why I would choose the picture of this iconic castle in Switzerland as an example of a barrier. The story is we had a flight from Amsterdam to Geneva cancelled and we had to take 4 different trains to get to our hotel after our overnight flight from the US. We finally arrived at 0200 to our hotel—even seasoned travels like us have to overcome barriers!

Idea 5 Your Travel Style Requires You to Adapt and Grow

Travel really does change us, especially if we embrace the opportunity. I will never forget my first trip to Europe—I fell in instant love with the Old World and have been returning for 51 years.

Another good example is—I never knew about how good a vacation a river cruise is for most of our clients until my first in 2009 and now 95% of our sales are river cruises.

Just as we have adapted to the changing environment of travel, we can help you adapt and grow in your travels.

We have the knowledge and experience to help you grow, you just must want to change.

Maybe you need a nudge or two to take that first step—we can help you overcome your inhibitions and help you grow.

Here is a post card I sent my parents in 1971 after my first visit to Paris. As you can see, I went to the top of the Eiffel Tower on 26 July 1971.

Our Final Thoughts

So, what is our role in why you travel?

For us, it is simple—we like to help you get better vacations by providing you trips that 1) will exceed your expectations; 2) help you make wise choices; 3) eliminate hassles and 4) help you get the best value for your money. All of these are personal development from your travel experiences or transitional travel.

I think you can see why we are in the business—it just is awesome to help folks have a great vacation. Regardless of your travel style, we can make it a better experience.

Whatever your Dream Destinations are, we are here to help you get the best possible vacation based on what is important to you! We will provide you high quality, expertly planned travel. Please give me a call 713-397-0188 (Hank) or email me at hschrader@dreamdestinations.com. We want to help you: Savor life…make memories…Visit Dream Destinations! Your journey begins here!

AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist
Viking River Cruise Specialist
Scenic River Cruise Specialist
Emerald Waterways Specialist
Avalon Waterways Specialist
Brit Agent

Hank Schrader

September 15, 2022

Best Value Travel

Why Read Our Blog--What's in it for Me?

Hank Schrader

September 15, 2022

Best Value Travel

Why Read Our Blog—What’s in It for Me?

Hank Schrader, USMA '71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

Anne Schrader, Certified Travel Counselor & Certified Luxury Cruise Specialist

www.dreamdestinations.com

After writing our blog for over five and half years, I started to reflect on why we write about travel. I think it is a fair question to ask—why should you read our blog? Most of you are very busy and often are overwhelmed by emails and online information about travel.

So, why should you take the time to read our blog? Let’s explore this thought together and decide if you should or should not read our blog!

Some Stunning Statistics

A lot of folks this year so far have visited our website. Here are the totals from our Squarespace Analytics Report for 2022 so far:

· Visits 32,579
· Unique Visitors 28,429
· Pageviews 39,742

So, a lot of folks have visited our website and most come from search engines. Why are they coming to our website? The answer is our blogs and content on our website.

The Starting Point—What is the Purpose of Our Blog?

For me this is a simple answer—our purpose is to make you a better-informed traveler who may need our services. Sounds simple but it really is much more complex in my mind.

I think there are 4 parts of making you a better-informed traveler.

First, we want to teach about what good value travel is.

Second, we want to inspire you and help you visualize your next trip.

Third, we want to provide objective advice, so you can make wise travel choices.

Forth, we want to help you decide if you should trust Visit Dream Destinations, LLC to plan your trip?

So, let’s evaluate our blog and see if it is worthwhile for you to read our blog and if we deliver on the 4 parts of making you a better-informed traveler.

Our Role as Teachers About Good Value Travel

Good value travel is making the most of your travel dollars. It is about memorable experiences. It is about reduced hassles on the trip. We write often about these topics. The blog has 7 subtopics. We write about Ocean Cruising, Europe River cruising, Europe Travel, Europe Destinations, Best Value Travel, Travel Planning and Our Travel Philosophy.

The River Cruise Blog Archives on our website is excellent place to learn if river cruising is the right trip for your vacation. The topics in this section are Our River Cruise Services, River Cruise Line Comparisons, River Cruise Routes, River Cruise Advice and River Cruise Reviews. Our comparisons of river cruise companies and Europe River Cruise route Guides are especially strong—we are number 1 on Google for both topics.

On our website we have all our blogs under these categories, so you can find travel or destination advice easily. We try and write about the advantages and disadvantages of travel to help understand about the suppliers and their benefits to help you achieve your travel goals and how we can guide you to make wise choices.

There is one common theme in each topic –We try to write with the viewpoint of:

Do they care about me and what I need as a traveler?

In our blogs, we try and establish what we consider as a good relationship with our readers. We want our readers to think of us as friends who may become clients and help them decide if they need our services.

If we take the next step in our relationship to client and travel consultant, we still maintain the friend’s mantra. We treat each of our clients as friends, because we don’t sell travel to clients—we sell travel to friends. There is a big difference—how your trip goes makes a world of difference to us.

We like to say we are small enough to deliver personalize service but big and experience enough to get you just the right trip. We try to match you to just the right experience and make it logical, realistic, and affordable in your price range.

Don’t get us wrong—we do not sell on price—we sell on value. We try to demonstrate how valuable you are to us in many ways but how many other travel professionals have a Traveler Hall of Fame? We are proud we could help you travel, and we want to share with others your joy and satisfaction.

Learn more About our hall of Fame

Inspiration

We try in our blogs to help you visualize your next trip. We often talk about our experiences during our travels so you can see if that trip would fit into a trip you might like to take. There are many pictures in our blogs, most taken by us, to help you visualize the trip in your mind. Many of you recognize the great pictures Anne takes to document our travels and that is perhaps the best feature of our blogs. She really makes the places come alive! Here are some of my favorites:

Burg Eltz in Germany near the Mosel River

Sailing the Rhine River in the famous Rhine River Gorge area—two of the 40 castles on this section of the Rhine.

If you want to see more of our travel pictures, please visit our Pinterest page—it has over 4,500 pictures (www.pinterest.com/visitdd).

Our emphasis is always the best possible experience within your price range, and we hope these pictures help inspire you to visit a new place or experience a new culture, help celebrate a milestone in your life, or have a bucket list trip you have always dreamed about.

Objective Advice

I recently read that 62% of business bloggers outsource their blog! I was stunned—their blog may have good content but what that tells me they are too busy to provide first-hand information. How reliable and objective is that? Trust me, we write our own blog and the only guest writers are our clients. It’s funny to me that we get requests and offers from others to write about subjects that have nothing to do with travel to post on our blog—it is crazy that we would even consider this, but the pitches will continue.

With over 25+ years of experience selling travel to many satisfied clients, we know both what you need to make your travel experience better and the knowledge of what is available to match you with just the right vacation.

We have extensive first-hand knowledge and do comprehensive research on trips. We have planned hundreds of successful trips to delighted clients and we are eager to plan yours. Would you like a little proof?

A wine tasting on a Rhone River Cruise in 2016 on AmaWaterways—this is one of Anne’s favorite pictures of us. We have taken 22 river cruises and 2 more planned for this year.

Ask for one of our 50 Europe City travel guides—we wrote them, not some other person or company—just go to our website, click on the region of Europe you want to visit and then click on the city, and we will send you the guide (if you are not a current client there is a limit of 2 guides). We have visited 44 of 50 cities we write about and have awesome pictures to go with these guides.

Or click on one of our many PowerPoint presentations on our web site or visit our Resource Section of our website to get travel tips (www.dreamdestinations.com).

We also have 51 river cruise port guides available on our website—they are also free by request but again there is a limit of 2 if you are not a current client.

There is one common thread here—almost 98% is our own pictures or written by us—in truth, it would be hard to find many travel professionals who have been to so many of the places we sell. If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know we know our stuff. As I used to say as a coach, when evaluating good football players, “he is the real deal!” Well folks, we are the real deal!

Should I trust Dream Destinations LLC to Plan My trip?

Trust and integrity are valuable traits and, in my judgement, in short supply in our country. Too many make promises they can’t or won’t keep.

My whole life has been devoted to service after graduating from West Point—20 years as a US Army Officer, 20 years as a coach and teacher and 25 years helping others travel to the right location.

My graduation at West Point in June 1971.

This picture was taken at Ft. Ord when Anne and I were first dating in 1986.

Anne is equally dedicated to trust and integrity—she always thinks about what is best for our clients, every single time. We think trust is the cornerstone of our relationship with you.

We try to under promise and over deliver a great travel experience for you. We strive to make your travel experience better by helping you make wise choices, eliminate hassles, and help you get the best value for your money. You are never on your own when you trust us to help you and ever year, we solve complex problems in the planning phase and during the trip. I like to say we are just an email, text, or phone call away.

In short, while working with us, we want to provide a trip that will exceed your expectations. I guess the best thing we can provide you is some comments by some of our clients. All over the website is testimonials from our friends who we have helped travel through the years.

We are proud to have helped them and look forward to helping as many as possible in the future.

Our Final Thoughts

We hope our blog is worth your time to read. As you can see, there is much more than these brief thoughts to describe the value of our blogs.

I think we help you become a more informed traveler by being good teachers, providing inspiration, providing objective information, and developing trust. If our blog has helped get more knowledge about travel, then we have done our job and the blog is worth your time to read.

Thanks to the many who take time out of their busy lives to read the blog—we love you folks!

When you are spending your hard-earned money for a vacation, you want an advisor who can match you with the right trip. You want someone who will understand your expectations and fuel your anticipation (or excitement) to get you the best possible trip experience. And you want someone who can help you with the decision-making process. We think we have all these qualities.

Whatever your Dream Destinations are, we are here to help you get the best possible vacation based on what is important to you! We will provide you high quality, expertly planned travel. Please give me a call 713-397-0188 (Hank) or email me at hschrader@dreamdestinations.com. We want to help you: Savor life…make memories…Visit Dream Destinations! Your journey begins here!

HANK is a certified Western European Destination Specialist (DS) who has been traveling to Europe for 51 years. He is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC), conferred by the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA). This recognized expert in cruise and leisure travel is a retired Army Officer, and taught World Geography for 8 years. He is a `71 graduate of West Point and has earned 2 master’s degrees. His other Certifications:

AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist
Viking River Cruise Specialist
Scenic River Cruise Specialist
Emerald Waterways Specialist
Avalon Waterways Specialist
Brit Agent

Hank Schrader

July 21, 2022

Best Value Travel

Opportunity

Hank Schrader

July 21, 2022

Best Value Travel

Opportunity

Hank Schrader, USMA '71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

Anne Schrader, Certified Travel Counselor & Certified Luxury Cruise Specialist

www.dreamdestinations.com

Sometimes where words come from is an interesting thing to learn about. I recently came across where the word “opportunity” came from.

According to the website etymonline.com (the site has explanations of what words mean), opportunity comes from a Latin phrase “ob portun veniens” which means coming towards a port.

Since I speak Spanish, I instantly recognized “veniens” as very similar to the Spanish verb “venir” which means most commonly to come or to arrive in English.

So, let’s explore together travel opportunities and let our imagination run wild and think about opportunity, or coming or arriving towards a port.

Opportunity to Travel

In my humble opinion, folks just don’t travel as much as they should. Research has found 5 scientific benefits of travel. They are:

Travel makes you Healthier
Travel relieves Stress
Travel enhances your Creativity
Travel boosts Happiness and Satisfaction
Travel lowers the risk of Depression

Travel broadens your horizons and exposes you to new things. Travel also helps you learn about yourself—what you like, dislike, your interests and reflect upon who you really are.

Why does this happen? I think it is a break in our routine life, part excitement of neat things and experiences you will have and the challenge of a little fear of the unknown.

I also think we all need to reset occasionally. There also is a great opportunity to learn—perhaps, a few new phrases of a foreign language, or new foods, or to marvel at how cultures adapt to the region folks live in.

I also think there is a huge benefit to travel we sometimes just forget—how lucky we are to have the means and ability to travel. Trust me, perspective is a great thing to learn and relearn and travel always provides that to us.

Maybe the best opportunity to travel is that it is fun! Positive experiences are so important—we all need to laugh more and stress less.

Please take the opportunity to travel!

Opportunity to Visit Europe

Post Card I sent my parents in July 1971.

Since one of our specialties is Europe travel, you will always hear us promoting travel to this region. We are not alone in our beliefs. Of the 7 continents, based on the number of visitors, Europe always ranks number one, usually by a large margin.

So why do most travelers pick Europe as their travel destination? I can think of many reasons for choosing Europe as your travel destination. Here are just a few:

It is quite possible to explore a single country in depth or visit many countries easily.
Europe has quite varied landscapes, cultures and uniquely varied cities and villages.
Europe is easy to visit, generally has very relaxed visa and entry requirements, is safe and has a well-developed transportation systems.
It has a rich history, iconic sites, and distinct cultures all in a relatively compact area.
Since it is a continent of peninsulas and has many navigable rivers, it is easily accessible by land, sea, rivers, and air.

Since we have been traveling to Europe for over 51 years, we would be delighted to help plan a trip there. We have over 50 guides to the most important European Cities ready for you when you are ready to go.

Opportunity to River Cruise

It is no secret to us, that for many of you, the best way to see a lot in a little time in Europe, is to take a river cruise.

There are many reasons why we like to river cruise so much, but one key reason is there is so much value in the trip that it makes it a great vacation for most folks. So here are 3 great reasons you should consider taking a river cruise in Europe:

1. You will see so much in so little time.

River cruising is all about the destinations. Even though I have been traveling to Europe for over 51 years and we have led several group tours, I could not do what the river cruise companies do in one week—these folks are experts in showing you the best sights in the least amount of time. It is truly a unique way to see the interior of a country.

It is different from a land-based tour and different from an ocean cruise. One of the best advantages is that most often your riverboat will dock near or in the center of the city, town, or village you are about to explore. In five minutes, all guests are off the boat and seeing the sights.

Most lines also offer different groups during the tours—regular, active walkers or gentle walkers, so your desired way to see the destination is matched with your tour pace. Even while onboard, there is always something to see on the riverbanks, as you cruise along to the next destination.

2. Almost all is included in your trip.

On river cruise lines, your food, meals with wine or beer at lunch and dinner, your cabin stateroom, the tours, and even occasional entertainment are included in the fare. The clear, upfront pricing helps make it easier to budget for your vacation. River boats are small (only 100 to 190 passengers), friendly, and comfortable.

Food is generally good, but some lines are better than others. Some cruise lines (Scenic, Uniworld, and Tauck) are completely inclusive (all liquor, gratuities, and even optional tours) but cost more than other companies.

Viking, Emerald, and Avalon offer more optional choices, but usually have lower starting prices.

Our favorite river cruise company, AmaWaterways, is almost all inclusive. It does not include gratuities, has added a free cocktail hour called “sip and sail with included drinks”, but some liquor outside of meals may result in extra charges. There may be an extra charge for some optional tours although there is at least two tours included at every port at no charge (many times there are 3 or more at no charge).

We know the advantages and disadvantages of each river cruise line, have written over 51 port guides to Europe’s rivers and are ideally suited to help you have a great river cruise experience.

Our Stateroom on an AmaWaterways cruise in 2013

Chef’s Table food on an AmaWaterways cruise

Themed cruises, like this wine cruise on AmaWaterways, make the trip even better.

3. There are so many great routes and even repeating the same itinerary again is fun.

We have seen a lot of Europe (11 countries) while on river cruises. Your floating luxury hotel is an awesome way to see some of the great sights of Europe.

There are many themed cruises that could add to your trip and make the cruise even better for you. Most lines offer 2 tours at each port stop, so even taking the same route twice or more is not boring—it is fun, and each trip is different.

We have been 7 times on the Danube and 7 times on the Rhine and its tributaries, 4 times on the Rhone, 1 time sailing on the Bordeaux area and would not hesitate to go on any of these routes again. There is so much to see in Europe on or near the rivers that repeat trips are not a waste of time or money.

Our advice—go on a European River Cruise—don’t miss this great opportunity!

Opportunity to Ocean Cruise

As certified Ocean Cruise specialists, we know the many benefits of ocean cruising. While economic factors and coming out of a pandemic have been a real obstacle to the ocean cruise industry in the past 2 years, many well-respected industry observers, say this is the ideal time to cruise on the oceans.

Why? They cite 3 factors that make ocean cruising very attractive now. It is a combination of falling fares, extra perks, and plenty of space.

They cite the remainder of the 2022 season and early 2023 as times to get some real deals and upgrades—a rare opportunity for you.

Lost Opportunity

Perhaps this should really be called opportunity cost. Opportunity cost is defined as the loss of potential gain from other alternatives by choosing one alternative over other alternatives.

So how does this apply to travel? You could simply choose not to travel. You could opt for short trip instead of a longer trip. You could choose a less expensive option over a luxury option.

We all must make decisions about our travel desires—some are real life due to budget and job situations. But many are due to poor decisions and really a fear of the unknown, as many of us are afraid to stretch our comfort zones a little bit, or expand our budget a little to get a better experience.

I can’t tell you the right answer, but I do know 2 things that many people regret when reflecting on their lives. First most say they should have told more people they love them. Second, they regret not spending more time together with friends and family and sharing those wonderful times together.

This, my friends, is the opportunity cost of not traveling together before it becomes too late—we never know what is around the bend. Travel enriches our lives and despite how much you might desire that nothing will change in our lives, change is one of the only constants we can expect to experience.

We can embrace it or remain static and miss a whole new world.

It is not hard to see where I stand--get out there, share good times with your friends and loved ones.

Go ahead--travel when you can to savor life and make memories—we give you absolute permission to do so!

Our Final Thoughts

You can read about place but until you experience it, you do not really understand it. Battlefields, Biblical sites, ancient towns, stunning structures, different food markets, and jaw dropping scenery are all different when you visit in person. Pictures and words are never the same as being there. It is amazing how many times I have visited a new place and the visit completely changed what I thought the place was like.

The opportunity is there--we hope you enjoyed this report and will take advantage of our advice to travel soon. Please recognize that there are great travel opportunities for you—you just must ask and act. Don’t wait and let travel opportunities pass you by.

Whatever your Dream Destinations are, we are here to help you get the best possible vacation based on what is important to you! We will provide you high quality, expertly planned travel. Please give me a call 713-397-0188 (Hank) or email me at hschrader@dreamdestinations.com. We want to help you: Savor life…make memories…Visit Dream Destinations! Your journey begins here!

AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist
Viking River Cruise Specialist
Scenic River Cruise Specialist
Emerald Waterways Specialist
Avalon Waterways Specialist
Brit Agent

Hank Schrader

June 16, 2022

Best Value Travel

Are You a Luxury Wanderlust Traveler?

Hank Schrader

June 16, 2022

Best Value Travel

Are You a Luxury Wanderlust Traveler?

Hank Schrader, USMA '71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

Anne Schrader, Certified Travel Counselor & Certified Luxury Cruise Specialist

www.dreamdestinations.com

There are a lot of reasons to travel and for me it has always been that I am curious about so many places.

I have always had a strong desire to wander and explore the world, which is the definition of wanderlust.

Have you ever returned home from a trip and immediately started to plan another one? Do you daydream about being in Europe often?

You are not alone—many of us face the same dilemma—why can’t I travel more?

You are suffering from wanderlust!

So, let’s explore together and learn about luxury wanderlust— a common aliment among many of our travel clients and friends.

Growing Up

I have been traveling all my life. My late father was a career Army Officer (thanks for serving our country for 33 years Dad!), so I started at a very young age to travel and learned to love it. My Dad also loved to travel, and US National Parks were very special to him, so our family had camped in and visited most of the 59 major parks by my early teen years.

My Mom and Dad on a hike in Shenandaoh National Park

I can also say I have spent at least one night in all 50 States in my lifetime and lived in 14 different states. Along with living on Okinawa and in Panama for several years, I have spent about 6 months total in Germany, so I have also experienced several different cultures for extended periods of my life.

West Point Founder’s Day in Panama with 2 of my 1971 classmates. From left to right Hank, Rich and Larry.

The breakdown of different countries is something like this-- all North America, all Central America (I drove down Highway 1 from the US to Panama in 1976), all but one in South America, 35 of 50 in Europe, 13 Caribbean Islands, 2 Middle East, 2 Africa and 6 Asia—maybe 82 or so countries in total.

The shaded countries that Anne and I have visited in Europe.

But this is not about where I have been, it is about what I have experienced. Unlike some travelers who want to see every country and brag about how many they have seen and even set criteria to make sure it “qualifies” as a new country or territory, I just want to experience how other folks live, work, play and the culture they have created for their lives, especially in Europe.

But this only is helpful to you if we can use our (mine and Anne’s) past travel experiences to help you have better trips. Let’s explore that further together.

Are Our Travel Experiences Important to Get You Better Trips?

I always seem to answer these questions by breaking them down into parts. Here goes:

1) Do we help you learn to love travel as much as we do?

The obvious answer is, yes of course, we have these 4 characteristics—a lot of it comes from our past travel experiences. I always say we travel to Europe until we run out of money, which we manage to do each year. Our passion is to help you—we just can’t stop talking about Europe and its benefits to you for travel. Who else would write 50 Europe City Guides and 51 River Port Guides—which are as good or better than most guidebooks!

2) Are we good at helping you get great trips?

We are great at helping you get the best value for your dollars. It is a combination of experience, knowledge of the vendors and matching you to the right trip at the right time. We have knowledge and relationships in place that you do not have—there is just too much to know and no real way for a consumer to get all that knowledge without hours and hours of study. The other problem is how reliable is the information you find—is it fact, sales hype or opinion? The point is why bother—we do it gladly for you and it is 100% reliable.

3) Do you need our help?

You need our help—you may not just know it. First, we spend your money like it was our own, looking for the best value and experience you deserve. Second, few travelers know what is possible, available and in your price range. We must be pretty good if we have so many of our written blogs and pages from our website as the top search features on Google. Unlike others, we earned this by our readers looking at our works and reaching out to us as clients. We have never paid a penny to advertise in search engines. Some of our works have been read by over 20,000 folks and we are # 1 in some river cruise searches.

4) Does it cost you more to use our services?

The best part is we do not charge any fees—we believe we are fairly compensated by our vendors. In a way, it is our complete trust in you that you trust us and use our ideas and advice and let us book the trip. You get us for free. Sometimes, folks take advantage of us, but it seldom happens. We like to say we are a high touch but low volume agency. What that means for you is we have all the time necessary to help you without rushing to the next client.

So, how did this all come about? It started with my first real travel on my own in Europe.

First Travel Experiences After Graduation from West Point

There is no doubt that my first transformative experience was a 6-week trip to Europe after graduating from West Point in June and July of 1971. True to nomads of that age, armed with my backpack, a EuroRail Train Pass, and a bunch of American Express travelers’ checks; with a classmate, we did a poor person’s version of the Grand Tour of Europe.

We managed to visit Hamburg, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Munich, Vienna, Venice, Rome, Nice and Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Madrid, Paris, and London.

Post card of Vienna I sent my parents from my 1971 trip

Post card from Spain I sent my parents from the 1971 trip

All was on a budget, bathrooms down the hall, many long train rides, lots of short stays but fun. Not much luxury but I was hooked on Europe and started to look for value over price in my travels.

My Evolution to a Luxury Wanderer

Meeting and marrying Anne (the best decision of my life) opened my eyes to better travel. I helped her see the places; she taught me how to up my game with better rooms, better food experiences and travel with reservations to avoid searching for a new room and wasting precious travel time.

Hank before beard at the Tower of London holding Travel Bug in 1990. Anne took this picture

Soon this became the norm—there was no going back. Every trip got better without a whole lot more cost and we both learned together how important planning the trip was for us personally. By the time we started the business in 1996, we were already ahead of most in the industry experience wise, but Anne also quickly absorbed the constant need for professional education and certification, and she earn the gold standard of certifications, the Certified Travel Counselor. She now has over 20 professional certifications.

We have been always fans of the mantra to do what is best for the clients, not us. This might mean finding a promotion or sale which saves our clients some money but cuts our commission. To achieve this requires fair and honest treatment of our clients, with full disclosure—as it is said during the cadet prayer at West Point to “never be content with the half-truth when the whole truth can be won.” Not always easy but the right thing to do.

We slowly became experts in complex ocean cruise trips, tours and increasingly luxury experiences for our clients.

The next key step was in 2009 when we went on our first river cruise. We realized it was just the right experience for our many of our clients. This has grown to our best-selling product because it offers so much value to our clients. 21 river cruises later, we are among the best in our nation to guide you for a better travel experience.

Sailing on the Main River on our first river cruise in 2009.

Wine tasting on our Provence River cruise with Anne wearing her beret

The final step was leading tours on river cruises and tours as guides in key European cities, and our signature tours—the 2014 and 2019 D Day Anniversaries.

In 2018 we were presented a TravelAge West WAVE Runner Up Award for Best Travel Marketing Idea for our 2019 75th Anniversary of D Day tour we led for 33 clients.

Now Our Clients

I know many of our clients value our services for many reasons, but I’d like to highlight 3 reasons why they trust us and use us. We are humbled many use us for a good deal of their trips in the past and continue to use us in 2022 and 2023.

First, we can envision our client’s desired experience, so we can then properly prepare and plan their trip.

Second, we have excellent communication skills, and this helps us inspire and influence our clients—they trust our judgments and advice. We make travel easy by clearly giving out the next step in the planning process.

Third, we are natural luxury wanderlust people—our firsthand knowledge adds authenticity and value to their trips. It means better experiences and fewer mistakes or poor decisions.

Our Final Thoughts

I think you can see why we are in the business—it just is awesome to help folks have a great vacation. We are luxury explorers that have an unstoppable case of luxury wanderlust. Perhaps you might want to use our services to join our wonderful travel world—we will welcome you with open arms.

We hope you enjoyed this report—it was fun writing it.

Whatever your Dream Destinations are, we are here to help you get the best possible vacation based on what is important to you! We will provide you high quality, expertly planned travel. Please give me a call 713-397-0188 (Hank) or email me at hschrader@dreamdestinations.com. We want to help you: Savor life…make memories…Visit Dream Destinations! Your journey begins here!

AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist
Viking River Cruise Specialist
Scenic River Cruise Specialist
Emerald Waterways Specialist
Avalon Waterways Specialist
Brit Agent

Hank Schrader

May 19, 2022

Best Value Travel

Luxury Travel is Value Travel

Hank Schrader

May 19, 2022

Best Value Travel

Luxury Travel is Value Travel

Hank Schrader, USMA '71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

Anne Schrader, Certified Travel Counselor & Certified Luxury Cruise Specialist

www.dreamdestinations.com

Luxury travel means different things to different people. I think most folks would opt for more luxury in their vacations but worry about the costs. While being able to afford a trip is important, it should not be your only consideration.

According to the L.E.K. 2017 Luxury Travel Study, only 10% of the respondents considered themselves luxury travelers, but 85% reported they indulge in travel luxuries sometimes in their travels.

We think the key is value, not an abstract term like luxury.

To me, this raises a couple of questions.

How do you know what luxury features you would like to add to your trip to enhance your experience?

How can you enhance your travels without blowing your budget?

So, let’s explore these topics together.

Life Enhancing Experiences

We are in the life enhancing business. To help you get your life enhancing trip experiences, there are 4 items necessary for us to help you plan your travel.

There are:

Some idea of a trip you would like to take,
a realistic budget,
dates when you want to go, and
your trip is a good fit to the services we offer

Perhaps these 4 items need a little clarification.

First, where do you want to go—Europe, Alaska, or another city in the US? How do you want to travel—air, car, ship, or train? What do you want to experience or see? What are your must visit places?

Second, you can’t expect to take some types of trips on an unrealistic budget. For example, a trip like a European river cruise for $1,000 a person for a week trip is not possible—the product and services require a bigger budget. One of the items we always ask is the budget. It really helps us both understand what is possible based on the financial resources you are willing to commit to the vacation you desire.

Fortunately, most who contact us do have some idea of the cost of a typical 7-day river cruise, but sometimes, sticker shock happens. I do want to make point here—the internet can tell you the price, but it can’t tell you the value of the trip you desire—that’s where we come in. We can explain the value which helps you understand why the price might be higher than you anticipated.

The date often makes a difference—do you have flexibility or is this a trip to see a precise event at a precise time. Are you arranging your trip around other events? Do the travelers have only certain days off for school or vacation?

You might be surprised by the last point—is your desired trip a good fit for our services? While we plan trips to many destinations, our best value to you is our extensive knowledge of cruising, especially river cruising and Europe travel.

We like to say we are a low volume, high touch travel advisors and this has many benefits to you—we really can spend a lot of time learning exactly what you want for your trip and the desired outcomes, so it enhances every aspect of the travel experience.

So, let’s see how we accomplish these tasks.

We Make It Easy to Start Once You Find Us

Many of our clients find us by researching the internet. We are proud to rank first in Google searches for both Europe River Cruise Comparisons 2022-2023 (as of 19 May 2022, 5,296 have visited this page on our website this year) and Best European River Cruise Routes Guide (2,674 visits this year to this page).

We also have many referrals by happy clients, who share their great experiences with their friends. Most our clients also are repeat travelers.

Based on this, some decide we are the folks to help them get a luxury vacation on a river cruise, or another trip, and take the next step by sending us a Trip Request.

We are humbled so many trust us and grateful they found us and we welcome them with open arms—we are delighted to help them. It doesn’t really matter how they found us, but now it is action time—so, here is the next step, should you decide to use us.

To get started on your trip, we make it easy for you to communicate your desire to start thinking about a trip. Please visit www.dreamdestinations.com, select Send Us Your Travel Request and contact us. This short form will start you on the road to a great travel location.

After this start, we ask a lot of questions, and start to look for ways we can make the trip exceed your expectations.

How Do You Know What Luxury Features You Would Like to Add to Your Trip to Enhance Your Experience?

Chances are you really do not know all the options available for your trip. Everyone wants to get the most for their money but if you are fixated on price alone, chances are you will get a subpar experience.

How do I know this? In my 50+ years of traveling to Europe, every time I cut a corner to save a buck or two, the results were usually wasted time and a poor experience.

Would you like an example? —I once refused to pay 5 Marks in 1989 to go see a fabulous 500 year old wood carved church alter in Rothenburg, Germany (the Jacobskirke altarpiece carved by Riemenschneider0—something I really wanted to see. I had spent well over $6000 for this trip and balked at 5 Marks—it just doesn’t make sense!

Rothenburg au Taber from our visit in 1989. This is the best intact walled city in Germany.

Someday I will get to visit the church again (hopefully this summer during an AmaWaterways cruise we plan to take in July—33 years later to correct this mistake)—it was a poor decision. What is the reason for this story? —we are here to save you from yourself. I learned the hard way and regret my decision back then.

It is very hard for us to keep up with all that is happening in Europe, or on river cruises or on ocean cruises, so how can you be expected to know what features you need to add to get that special feature or luxury experience? Let us help guide you through the process and the outcome will be a better trip.

They key to adding luxury features is to know what your desired outcome of the trip is for you. The most important thing for us to understand is why you are going on the trip.

What do you want to experience and what type of treatment do you expect? Do you want down time in a luxurious spa? How about a skip the line entrance to the Vatican Museum?

What is the right mix of seeing the sights at the right pace? What level of comfort are do you expect on your trip? What type of hotel do you want to stay in? Those are just a few of the questions we will ask to get you the trip you desire.

How Can You Enhance Your Trip without Blowing Your Budget?

There are many ways that expensive trips can become a better value and may cost less but still deliver the experience you desire.

For example, traveling when less people travel is a good way to get a luxury trip at a better price. Spring, fall and Christmas Market trips are excellent values on Europe River Cruises. Most of the group river cruises we plan are during these non-peak times.

Part of a group we led on an AmaWaterways river cruise in 2015.

A Christmas Market Wine Bar in Basel, Switzerland

Advent House in Lucerne, Switzerland during one of our trips

Not only is the price better, but there are also less crowds. Sometimes the weather is not the best, but overall, it is our favorite time to travel to Europe—a great trip at a better price. You really can enhance your traveling experience many times by just letting us search your desired time for travel to let us seek the best travel value for you.

Another way to enhance your trip, is to pick the right vendor who offers the services and level of care you want. We carefully vet our preferred suppliers—we know who will deliver the experience you expect and will exceed your expectations—our ultimate goal.

Anne, Kristin Karst (co-owner of AmaWaterways) and Hank on board of an AmaWaterways ship in Amsterdam in 2011.

We also look for upgrades. We always try and make personal connections with hotels, for example, letting them know our valued clients are coming and asking for the best treatment they can offer. Maybe a better stateroom on a river cruise that cost just a little extra but really enhances your trip.

We Can Inspire You to add some Luxury Features to your next trip!

With our extensive experience and knowledge about travel, we will match you to the right trip and help get exactly what you expect from your trip. We will get you the best value for your money on a trip, if you will spend some time us.

The more we can learn about you, the better we can serve you. We also help you decide if a slight increase in your budget might result in an enhanced experience.

Our Final Thoughts

We are looking to provide you the right trip, at the right time, to the right person—YOU!

Whatever your Dream Destinations are, we are here to help you get the best possible vacation based on what is important to you! We will provide you high quality, expertly planned travel. Please give me a call 713-397-0188 (Hank) or email me at hschrader@dreamdestinations.com. We want to help you: Savor life…make memories…Visit Dream Destinations! Your journey begins here!

AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist
Viking River Cruise Specialist
Scenic River Cruise Specialist
Emerald Waterways Specialist
Avalon Waterways Specialist
Brit Agent

Hank Schrader

March 17, 2022

Best Value Travel

Marketing Can Make Any Trip Look Good

Hank Schrader

March 17, 2022

Best Value Travel

Marketing Can Make Any Trip Look Good

Hank Schrader, USMA '71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

Anne Schrader, Certified Travel Counselor & Certified Luxury Cruise Specialist

www.dreamdestinations.com

Ever wonder why all the advertising you receive by mail or emails about a trip always looks so good?

Travel Companies pay big bucks to get their message across to you but it isn’t always correct.

So, let’s explore together and learn about why you need an advocate in today’s travel scene—not slick ads but reliable info--you won’t be disappointed!

Ads—Is there Truth in Advertising?

Good marketing can make even the poorest trip seem great. Why?—they always accentuate the positive, never mention the negative. To me, it is amazing how easily people can be fooled. Even smart, discriminating folks, can be fooled by fancy brochures and glossy pictures.

Most of us want to believe the best and trips are so emotional, and emotions often defy logic. The other real problem is how can you really differentiate between various vendors or offers? Only highly skilled and professionals know the subtle differences.

So, contrary to many pundits, a travel agent or advisor might help you evaluate and make better choices. We are not a dying breed, as some have written.

If anything drives this point home more about the value of a good travel advisor, the last two years of COVID restrictions, and defaults of suppliers, has turned the travel industry on its head.

In a environment of uncertainty, clear facts and guidance is more important than ever.

Aren’t Travel Agents or Advisors Basically All the Same?

Just like any professional services, some are a lot better than others. Again, that poses a problem—how do you know how to get the right advisor or agent?

Maybe we should now examine the differences between an agent and a true travel advisor.

What does a Travel Advisor do that is different than a travel agent?

To me a travel agent is an order taker—think online agencies or high-volume sales operations. Time is money to these folks, and they want a trip booking as fast as possible. Some agencies even limit the time they can spend with you before they move on to the next potential booking.

To say the least, this is not in your best interests.

A Travel Advisor has a different role. They add value to your trip by:

Having resources, connections, and the expertise to enhance your desired trip and take it from good to great.
They work with you in partnerships to provide experiences tailored to your desires, unique wishes, and within budget (if possible).
They are not afraid to advise you of the downfalls or potential problems of a trip or vendor—not forcing you to change but advising you if something might be better and why it is better.
They always have your best interests at heart.
They often have specialties that can even enhance their value to you

We were runner-up winners at the 2018 TravelAge West Gala awards for the Best Targeted Marketing Idea

Maybe the best way I can address this difference is to use a good way to evaluate us as travel advisors instead of travel agents. Most folks ask themselves 3 questions during the trip planning process about the person helping them, so let’s examine these questions from our point of view

3 Questions Most Folks Ask Themselves When Presented a Travel Offer

We are all overwhelmed with ads and offers daily. We also meet many folks who are selling to us. I’ll bet that most of us are thinking about 3 questions when they met a salesperson and are listening to their pitch.

They are: 1) Can I trust this person? 2) Do they know what they are talking about? 3) Do they care about me and what I need?

So, we want to enter the conversation you already having with yourself about these 3 questions—isn’t the mind a wonderful thing?. These 3 topics deserve a more detailed approach so you can decide if we should be your travel professionals.

Can I trust this Person?

Trust and integrity are valuable traits and, in my judgement, in short supply in our country. Too many make promises they can’t or won’t keep.

My whole life has been devoted to service after graduating from West Point—20 years as a US Army Officer, 20 years as a coach and teacher and 25+ years helping others travel to the right location.

My graduation from West Point 9 June 1971—wasn’t real sure I’d ever make it to that day!

Anne is equally dedicated to trust and integrity—she always thinks about what is best for our clients, every single time. She will always go the extra mile to exhaust all possibilities.

It would be impossible to tell all the good she does for our clients in this blog without veering off too far, but she does deserve more attention, so to learn more about her incredible achievements, here is a blog I wrote in 2019 about how really great a travel advisor she is—very appropriate and well deserved in the Women’s Month Recognition Celebration going on at present.

You Need Our Tenacity—Especially From Anne

We think trust is the cornerstone of our relationship with you. We try to under promise and over deliver a great travel experience for you. We strive to make your travel experience better by helping you make wise choices, eliminate hassles, and help you get the best value for your money.

In short, while working with us, we want to provide a trip that will exceed your expectations.

Do they know what they are talking about?

We have extensive first-hand knowledge and do comprehensive research on trips. We have planned hundreds of successful trips to delighted clients and we are eager to plan yours.

Like a little proof? Ask for one of our 50 Europe City travel guides by selecting them on our Europe Travel Web pages at www.dreamdestinations.com , or click on one of our many PowerPoint presentations on our website or visit our Resources Section of our website to get travel tips (www.dreamdestinations.com).

or visit our Pinterest page—over 5,000 pictures (www.pinterest.com/visitdd) .

Maybe one of our 51 European river cruise port guides—you can order them from our website on the river cruise section of our website (there is a limit if you haven’t booked with us yet to 2 free resources—booked clients have access to unlimited guides).

There is one common thread here—almost 98% is our own pictures or written by us—in truth, it would be hard to find many travel professionals who have been to so many of the places we sell.

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know we know our stuff. As I used to say as a coach, when evaluating good football players, “he is the real deal!”

Well folks, we are the real deal!

Do they care about me and what I need?

We treat each of our clients as friends, because we don’t sell travel to clients—we sell travel to friends. There is a big difference—how your trip goes makes a world of difference to us. We like to say we are small enough to deliver personalize service but big and experience enough to get you just the right trip.

Christmas on the Rhine on an AmaWaterways cruise in our kilts for the Captain’s Dinner with our travel chums Denise and Mark.

Jeff (my West Point Classmate) and Hank on a Danube Cruise in the summer of 2018

We try to match you to just the right experience and make it logical, realistic, and affordable in your price range. Don’t get us wrong—we do not sell on price—we sell on value. You will never have a trip we plan without us asking why you are going and what you expect from going. Travel agents only care about the booking not the experience or quality of the trip.

Maybe you would like to know the differences between river cruise vendors. Since it is one of our specialties, why not read our European River Cruise Comparisons?—it is always on page one of Google.

Our 2022 European River Cruise Comparisons

We try to demonstrate how valuable you are to us in many ways but how many other travel professionals have a Traveler Hall of Fame?

We are proud we could help you and want to share with others your joy and satisfaction. Again, they are on our website—www.dreamdestinations.com and you will find it on the menu bar. Here are just a few—enjoy:

Mike and Barb on a Windstar cruise in 2021 at a candlelight dinner in Ephesus, Turkey

What we do not do

Our goal is to provide you with information but not bombard you with offers you do not want. We really try to get to know you and match your desires to opportunities when they arise.

We are low-key and strive to provide the right info in a relaxed, no pressure situation. In my opinion, there is a big difference about being eager to be your travel professional and being an obnoxious salesperson.

We are eager to help but know the boundaries—the truth is we want to form a partnership with you—not sell you something.

It is as simple as this—we inform, you decide. We also realize you are busy, and we respect your time by trying to contact you in the form (phone, email or written) that works the best for you at the time that is the best for you. In short, we respect you!

Our Final Thoughts

We hope these words inspire you to become or continue our travel relationship.

Whatever your Dream Destinations are, we are here to help you get the best possible vacation based on what is important to you! We will provide you high quality, expertly planned travel. Please give me a call 713-397-0188 (Hank) or email me at hschrader@dreamdestinations.com. We want to help you: Savor life…make memories…Visit Dream Destinations! Your journey begins here!

ANNE has earned a degree from the University of Houston in Hotel and Restaurant Management. Serving as the President of Visit Dream Destinations, LLC, since 2016, she is uniquely experienced professional travel advisor with over 26 years’ experience in the travel industry. Among her numerous certifications, she is a Certified Travel Counselor (CTC) by the Travel Institute, considered the gold standard in travel agent certification and she is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC) by the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), as well Luxury Cruise Specialist also from CLIA. Having traveled often to Europe since 1989, she has expanded on her certification as a Destination Specialist in Western Europe (DS) with extensive first-hand experience in luxury vacations. She holds numerous other specialty designations from individual vendors. An expert photographer, she delights in capturing the true essence of destinations to share with all.

HANK is a certified Western European Destination Specialist (DS) who has been traveling to Europe for 50+ years. He is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC), conferred by the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA). This recognized expert in cruise and leisure travel is a retired Army Officer, and taught World Geography for 8 years. He is a `71 graduate of West Point and has earned 2 master’s degrees. His other Certifications:

AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist
Viking River Cruise Specialist
Scenic River Cruise Specialist
Emerald Waterways Specialist
Avalon Waterways Specialist
Brit Agent

Hank Schrader

February 16, 2022

Best Value Travel

The Valley of the Kings

Hank Schrader

February 16, 2022

Best Value Travel

The Valley of the Kings

Hank Schrader, USMA '71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

Anne Schrader, Certified Travel Counselor & Certified Luxury Cruise Specialist

www.dreamdestinations.com

I just learned that Tutankhamun’s tomb was opened on 16 February 1923. I knew about the discovery, but I didn’t really know the exact date.

It did get me thinking about our recent trip to Egypt and all the wonderful sites we visited and I decided to write about our visit to the Valley of the Kings.

So, let’s explore together and learn about some of the most famous tombs in the world at the Valley of the Kings—you won’t be disappointed!

The Valley of the Kings Overview

On day 5 of our cruise, we visited 3 sites. The first was the Valley of the Queens. The second was a large temple complex. The last stop of a busy 5 hours tour day was the Valley of the Kings. We visited 3 tombs. Here is a model of the Valley of the Kings in the visitor center and the second picture shows how the tombs were carved into the hillsides.

Walking on the grounds in the stark hills and valleys is what you will see in these next two pictures.

Most of the 63 tombs are marked with signs like this:

The Tomb Wall Decorations

The whole purpose of the wall paintings were to help the pharaohs in their journey to the afterlife. The burials scenes and offerings to their gods insured the pharaohs were also recognized as gods and live pleasantly in the afterlife. Many symbols of the gods adorn the walls and the cartouche of each pharaoh in a circle oblong knot identify exactly who the pharaoh was, preserves his place in history. While the tomb robbers wanted the gold and valuables left in the tomb, we of the modern world get to marvel at the art to learn about an ancient society—perhaps the best treasure of all.

King Tut’s Tomb

The story of the discovery of most famous tomb in Egypt is fascinating. Archaeologist and Egyptologist Howard Carter was a man obsessed with finding an intact tomb. His studies revealed the existence of a little known or remembered Pharaoh, Tutankhamun, reigning in 1333–1324 BCE.

He was determined to be the man to find Tutankhamun’s tomb.

But the evidence was scant, and the location of the Pharaoh's tomb, unknown. The only financing for excavations came from wealthy patrons and Carter could not finance his explorations alone—he needed financial help.

Carter found his patron-- George Edward Stanhope Molyneux Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon, an amateur Egyptologist. Carter was soon heading up all of Lord Carnarvon's digs in Egypt and he convinced Lord Carnarvon to allow him to look for Tutankhamun's tomb. Carnarvon agreed, but Carter's searches resulted no new findings for several years.

In 1922, Carnarvon agreed to allow Carter one more season of searching. On November 4, 1922, Carter found the steps to Tutankhamun's tomb, buried beneath rubble from houses built on top of the tomb. On February 16, 1923, Carter and Carnarvon opened the burial chamber for the first time, even though they had already been in the outer chambers..

They were astounded--Tutankhamun's tomb was the most intact tomb of a Pharaoh ever uncovered. Over 5,000 artifacts were eventually removed and provided to the Egyptian government. This find and the treasures became a worldwide sensation, as newspapers all over the world reported this amazing find.

The story doesn’t end there, as Lord Carnarvon died only a few months later, lending credence to the legend of the "curse of Tutankhamun's tomb”. Other members also died who entered the tomb, furthering the cruse’s legend.

Today, many have had the chance to view the amazing treasures recovered from the tomb on display in the Egypt Museum and in traveling shows worldwide. We also got the rare chance to visit the tomb. Here are the entrance signs prior to going into the tomb:

After descending some very step stairs, here is the wonderful wall paintings we got to see:

Finally, here is the mummy of King Tut:

Tomb of Ramses III

Ramses III is often referred to as the last great warrior pharaoh. He protected the borders, did a lot of public building (especially to the most important temples) and even planted trees to improve the kingdom. He ruled from 1186 to 1155 (31 years). This was entrance marker for the tomb of Ramses III.

Here is what the inside of the tomb walls look like:

Ramses IX Tomb.

The last tomb was the last of the Ramses, King Ramses IX, who ruled from 1129 to 1111 BCE. It was my favorite, as I could see the actual story of the King and his burial in the hieroglyphics.

Our Final Thoughts

Wow—what a report! We hope you enjoyed this report and our pictures.

Whatever your Dream Destinations are, we are here to help you get the best possible vacation based on what is important to you! We will provide you high quality, expertly planned travel. Please give me a call 713-397-0188 (Hank) or email me at hschrader@dreamdestinations.com. We want to help you: Savor life…make memories…Visit Dream Destinations! Your journey begins here!

AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist
Viking River Cruise Specialist
Scenic River Cruise Specialist
Emerald Waterways Specialist
Avalon Waterways Specialist
Brit Agent

Hank Schrader

January 13, 2022

Best Value Travel

Knowledge and Trust

Hank Schrader

January 13, 2022

Best Value Travel

Knowledge and Trust

Hank Schrader, USMA '71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

www.dreamdestinations.com

Knowledge and Trust are the cornerstones of our business.

Without these we will be out of business quickly.

So, let’s explore together and learn about how important these two items are to us and how they apply to the current travel situation since the pandemic has changed travel for the last 2 years.

Overview

We believe that if we have excellent knowledge about vacations you might want to take, and our clients can trust us, then we all benefit.

Knowledge of the vacations we sell, requires us to constantly keep updated about travel products, and the vendors who sell them. We must be able to match our clients to the best product for them.

Trust is the other cornerstone of our business—are we who we say we are, do we tell the truth, can you trust your hard earned dollars for a vacation we recommend?

Knowledge

There is a lot to learn about vacations offered by the various vendors. There are so many, I doubt that anyone could know it all. While we have planned a large range of trips in our 25+ years in business, where we really shine is European vacations and European River Cruises.

Maybe some facts about our company might help prove this point that we know what we are talking about. Here goes:

83 % of our clients do not live in the Houston area—they found us by search engines on the internet. We have to build confidence that our knowledge and advice will get them on the right trip that matches their travel style. We have been successful with those who reach out to us—most become lifetime clients.
Part of the reason we had over 18,000 visit our website in 2021—we have 2 articles on page 1 of Google (European River Cruise Line Comparisons and Best European River Route Guide). Last year over 12,000 folks read one of these two articles. The other major reason—this blog. In just December of 2021, 86 of our blogs were viewed by various individuals. This is pretty typical of our monthly total viewership.
I have given 2 webinar presentations to other agents about best practices to teach travel agents how to help their clients learn the benefits of taking a river cruise vacation.
Today (12 Jan 2022), we have an article about how to best match clients to a European river cruise line published in the online version of Travel Weekly. This is a pretty big achievement for a Mom and Pop agency like ours to be published in a well respected publication for travel professionals.
We have helped many dozens of folks take great vacations for 25 years.
We have written 50 European City guides for our clients.
We have written 51 port guides for most of the European Rivers used by the river cruise companies.
We can tell you the advantages and disadvantages of most vacations we sell, usually from first-hand knowledge,
We have sailed on 21 river cruises since 2009—we have first hand knowledge of the trips we recommend.

Trust

Actions speak louder than words—this is exactly how we expect to earn and keep your trust.

On our home page of our website we, provide you 6 reasons why you should use us. Here, word for word, is what we have written about trust:

“Trust — We will do what is best for you! We are honest, hard-working with one goal—to serve you—we will do what is best for you, not us. We help you avoid hassles & get the best value for your dollar–saves you time & money and we will help you protect your travel investment.”

There is a lot of information in this short statement. It means we must make choices that favor you and are in your best interests. It could mean saving you money, or protecting your investment or getting a vacation that meets your expectations, or usually all of these when we help you.

I like to say “we do what’s right when nobody is looking”. It just means we are more concerned about your vacation than making a huge profit—we put your interests first..

Now the Pandemic—How Does our Knowledge and Trust Benefit You in this Unique Travel Environment?

It goes without saying everyone is a little or a lot nervous about travel right now.

It is a time of candor, facts and our judgement to tell you when it is safe to travel.

We have to tell you exactly what to expect, when you will have to wear a mask, what the constantly changing government requirements are and help you reach the decision that is right for you.

In the old Capital of Egypt Memphis in December of 2021—we are having a great time seeing wonderful sites while wearing our masks for safety.

We need to inform you especially about vendor terms and conditions and our terms and conditions if we plan special trips we escort. Too many have lost money and gone through emotionally difficult situations by not knowing the rules they have agreed to with our vendors or us.

Some of our best clients also don’t want to travel with these restrictions.

We have advised some to cancel their plans, usually just moving them into a future trip, and we have told some it is okay to go.

Some have agreed with us; others chose to avoid the risks and hassles.

We have traveled twice since August 2021—once in Europe on a river cruise and once in Egypt on a combination land and river cruise. In both cases, it was a little frustrating but safe and worthwhile, in our opinion.

In Brugge outside a great restaurant where locals eat—we wore our masks until our meal and drinks were served. Great not to miss a fun trip for a few minor inconveniences. It was a wonderful meal.

Here is the bottom line—you need to be vaccinated and have the booster, you will have to wear a mask at some places and you probably will have to have a negative test to get back into the US for quite some time.

You could just avoid it all and stay home; some of our clients have decided to do just that.

Others have decided to travel and had wonderful times—we are in this category.

Another interesting picture—I felt comfortable without a mask but Anne was more cautious..

My Final Thoughts

Maybe you can see how important our knowledge and your trust in us are in these unusual times. While we respect differences of our clients, we also realize that at some point, if you want to continue to travel, you will have to accept some bumps in the road.

Travel has changed, but in the long run, many of the changes will make it safer for all of us—the common sense cleaning and protection ideas will remain not to limit you enjoyment but to keep you safer.

Chose to travel soon, just prepare yourselves. We believe the rewards far exceed the risk.

We will help you face the unknown; your fears; by providing you facts and reliable information. You can trust our knowledge to help you make the right decision for your vacation.

A final word—Thanks for your trust in us!—this is how we end each email or phone call with you. We really mean it—it may be the most sincere sentiment we have about our relationship with you.

I think you can see why we are in the business—it just is awesome to help folks have a great vacation, especially in troubled times.

We hope you enjoyed this candid report.

Whatever your Dream Destinations are, we are here to help you get the best possible vacation based on what is important to you! We will provide you high quality, expertly planned travel. Please give me a call 713-397-0188 (Hank) or email me at hschrader@dreamdestinations.com. We want to help you: Savor life…make memories…Visit Dream Destinations! Your journey begins here!

HANK is a certified Western European Destination Specialist (DS) who has been traveling to Europe for 50+ years. He is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC), conferred by the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA). This recognized expert in cruise and leisure travel is a retired Army Officer, and taught World Geography for 8 years. He is a `71 graduate of West Point and has earned 2 master’s degrees. His other Certifications:

AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist
Viking River Cruise Specialist
Scenic River Cruise Specialist
Emerald Waterways Specialist
Avalon Waterways Specialist
Brit Agent

Hank Schrader

January 6, 2022

Best Value Travel

Become an Educated Traveler--My Wish for You in 2022

Hank Schrader

January 6, 2022

Best Value Travel

Become an Educated Traveler—My Wish for You in 2022

Hank Schrader, USMA '71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

www.dreamdestinations.com

We love inspiring people to Visit Dream Destinations.

Our best clients are always well educated. Not necessarily formal school education but travel educated.

I think there are 4 characteristics of an educated traveler. They are: 1) They look for engaging travel experiences; 2) They look for enriching travel experiences; 3) They look for transforming experiences and 4) They collaborate with locals at their destinations. Maybe not on every aspect of their trip, but at least part of their trip.

So, let’s explore together and learn about my thoughts about becoming an educated traveler—you won’t be disappointed!

Overview

While I believe it is important to become an educated traveler, many of the 4 characteristics overlap into another category.

Why? It is your feelings about the experience and it differs greatly from person to person. Perhaps then, you should feel free to place your travel experience into the preferred category and not worry about whether it truly qualifies into the exact category or not.

Educated travel is about changes you experiences and my attempts to place them into 4 categories is just a way to think about what the travel experiences mean to you.

To help make the point of this blog, we are going to share with you our experiences in our photos—maybe it will inspire you to think about your past travels and make you want to visit some new places to become a more educated traveler.

I am also sure you will notice the differences Anne and I have of the same experiences. This just reinforces my point about it is the personal effect the experience has on you and this is one of the great wonders of travel—it will change you, usually for the better, and you will become an educated traveler.

Engaging Travel Experiences

Engaging travel may be hard to exactly define, but to me, it is making an emotional connection to a place, its people and its structures. I recently wrote a whole blog about the emotions of travel but it is more than anticipation and expectations during travel—it is also the connections you make at a destinations.

Examples for me—1) a place that brings you peace, relaxation or 2) a structure so grand it is awe inspiring, or 3) learning about traditions or expanding your knowledge of a culture.

Here are some peace and relaxation pictures:

Anne walking in the countryside on the Cotswald Way in England

A line of patrons buying the best Pomme Frites in the World in Brugge, Belgium. One of the best bargain foods that tastes so good you will want to come back to this gem over and over again as we do.

There is nothing more European than the markets in each town squares. The flowers, produce and cheeses are fresh, wonderful and all locals come to buy these wonderful items. Anne often spends hours exploring all the vendors and people watching. This market is in Dom Square, Frieberg, Germany.

Structures that inspire:

Maybe it is wearing traditional clothes, as we have wearing our kilts at various functions. Cultural traditions at its best:

Enriching Travel Experiences

Enriching travel is much easier to define in my mind—did you become a more educated person by visiting the destination? I believe you need to learn about the world and you do that best by traveling to most locations.

I think ancestry travel is a perfect example of enriching travel—learn about your roots.

A grave stone marker on the grounds of Mt. Falcon, Ireland. Anne is descended from the Knox’s and likes visiting graveyards in search of her ancestors.

Another great example is going to a new place that might seem scary at first—overcome your fears or hesitations.

The castle walls of Conwy Wales. Anne overcame her fears of heights and walked the entire walls on the narrow walkways—awesome experience for her!

Maybe it is simple as learning a few words or phrases in a different language, or try a new food or trying a new skill.

In a great little gasthaus in Koblenz, Germany, Anne order our whole meal in German! Sehr gut!

Or as simple about gaining knowledge you didn’t know. This statue in Edinburgh commemorates the lives lost in the American Civil War caught Anne’s eye. It is the only monument outside the United States marking the lives lost in this conflict between the states.

Transforming Travel Experiences

Transforming experiences are also much easy to define—what changes did you experience by visiting a destination that changed you somehow.

Here are 3 reasons why I believe that travel can be transforming to someone (I’m sure there are more) 1) you gained a new perspective; 2) you learn something new and 3) you discovered a new passion.

So, what makes a transforming experience in your travel? Maybe it’s the people; it could be the food, the art, the culture or the entertainment; or it could be a spontaneous experience—you get the idea.

For it to reach the transforming level, I believe the change must be significant and should last for a long time, usually forever. Maslow would call it more than gaining esteem, it is self-actualization, his highest level in his hierarchy needs.

For me, a great example is the Normandy beaches of D Day. The first picture is the cliffs of Pont du Hoc, that the rangers seized in a dazzling display of bravery and what elite soldiers can achieve—being ranger qualified, I can only image how difficult it was to climb under fire the 90 degree cliffs—truly tranformational!

Perhaps in all of Europe, there is no place as moving as the American Cemetery, where over 9,000 US serviceman died liberating Europe.

The next place that had special meaning for me was the Acropolis. While it is an impressive structure, it was the cradle of ideas of democracy that I got to walk where this idea was born.

This is the harbor walk in Ephesus. It held special meaning for me, as this is where Mark Anthony and Cleopatra walk together and we got to do the same. It also helped me better understand some biblical stories.

The next picture is the Alhambra in Grenada, Spain. This was a turning point in Europe in 1492 when the Spanish finally defeated the Moors. The Alhambra is mainly a fort but has one of the most beautiful palaces in the world hidden inside these walls. I could really sense history happening here and is one of my favorite places in Europe.

The Grand Pyramid in Giza, Egypt. It is the only remaining structure of the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World. The sheer size and construction of the huge blocks, each weighing several tons is amazing—no one knows exactly how it was done but it took thousands to build this structure that still stands today.

The entrance to the great Temple of Karnak. The sheer size of the Temple with 134 columns is overwhelming. I could only imagine an ancient peasant coming to worship and feeling the awe and power of their gods and the pharaoh Ramses II.

Collaborating with Locals

It is amazing how much you can learn about others during travels. I’m not talking about exchanging skills for accommodations, I’m talking about interacting with locals.

Maybe spend a few hours in a pub, talking with locals. We met these two lads in Dublin prior to the 6 Nations Rugby Match between Ireland and Scotland.

Maybe take part in a wine festival. This is the entertainment old style 1940’s band in Bourg, France on our Taste of Bordeaux river cruise on AmaWaterways.

Or ,maybe visit a winery to learn the steps need in making a good or great wine. This is the winemaker on our Rhone River cruise in 2016.

Maybe it is visiting the Christmas Markets to share the festive season with the local citizens. This is one booth in Heidelberg, Germany.

Or best yet share it with friends. Here are a few we have been lucky enough to share our love of travel and become better educated by their wisdom!

My Final Thoughts

Wow—what a good wish for you—become an educated traveler or a more educated traveler! Maybe the key here is a change of perspective of the traveler. It doesn’t have to be as dramatic as life changing, maybe it’s more tolerance, maybe it’s new ideas, maybe just a new experience.

I think you can see why we are in the travel business—it just is awesome to help folks have a great vacation and reach new levels of experiences during their travels.

We hope you enjoyed this report since it was fun sharing it with you.

Whatever your Dream Destinations are, we are here to help you get the best possible vacation based on what is important to you! We will provide you high quality, expertly planned travel. Please give me a call 713-397-0188 (Hank) or email me at hschrader@dreamdestinations.com. We want to help you: Savor life…make memories…Visit Dream Destinations! Your journey begins here!

HANK is a certified Western European Destination Specialist (DS) who has been traveling to Europe for 49 years. He is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC), conferred by the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA). This recognized expert in cruise and leisure travel is a retired Army Officer, and taught World Geography for 8 years. He is a `71 graduate of West Point and has earned 2 master’s degrees. His other Certifications:

AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist
Viking River Cruise Specialist
Scenic River Cruise Specialist
Emerald Waterways Specialist
Avalon Waterways Specialist
Brit Agent

Hank Schrader

December 30, 2021

Best Value Travel

Happy New Year

Hank Schrader

December 30, 2021

Best Value Travel

Anne and I wish you a Happy New Year!

We look forward to a new year with hope and good travel times. We stand ready to help you get the best value for your upcoming trips and create memories of a lifetime

May your upcoming year be full of joy, may you be safe and well and all your dreams come true.

Thanks for your trust in us!

Savor Life . . .make memories . . .Visit Dream Destinations! Your journey begins here!

Anne and Hank

Anne in her favorite city in Europe—Brugge

At the Captain’s Table on a river cruise

Hank Schrader

December 2, 2021

Best Value Travel

The Emotions of Travel

Hank Schrader

December 2, 2021

Best Value Travel

The Emotions of Travel

Hank Schrader, USMA '71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

www.dreamdestinations.com

This has been a roller coaster year for travel. Sadly, many have faced great hope of fun travel, exciting experiences and a great trip, only to have their hopes and plans dashed by the pandemic.

From a personal perspective, in most years we help 40--60 or more couples travel. In 2021, our final count will be 8, yet many more were booked and had to cancel or delay their plans.

The emotional toll of this is hard to put into words—we like to make dreams come true, not ruin them. We feel this very deeply since there is little we can do but emphasize how sorry we are, try to move quickly to avert financial loss and provide the hope of a new trip experience to continue the dream.

Perhaps one of the hardest things we face is when circumstances beyond our control force us to make changes.

Even more devastating, besides the emotional loss, is when it also turns into a financial loss.

So, let’s explore together and learn about the emotions of travel and maybe some tips to limit financial loss in the uncertain travel environment we are faced with at present. The tips are from a previous blog I wrote earlier this year and updated but seem even more relevant now.

The Emotions of Travel

We all love to dream. Most of you can close your eyes and imagine a better place than you are presently experiencing (unless you currently are on a great vacation or at an awesome event).

Often it is travel you dream about—getting away, experiencing new places, the sights and sounds, the food and wine, the iconic buildings and spaces, and expanding your knowledge of the world.

Here is a radon sample of pictures showing some of the dreams listed above:

Inside the walled old town of Tallinn, Estonia, Anne captured in this photo a small tranquil alleyway. It is quite a contrast to the stark walls that surround the old town area.

How about a parade? Can you hear the music and drums pounding as costumed folks in the tiny country of San Marino march and play at noon?

The traditional way to make funnel cakes at a Christmas Markets stall in Budapest, Hungary. I’ll bet you can imagine how good this sweet treat is!

Even the nobility had to escape their duties of governing. This is the wonderful rose garden of Bamberg, Germany, located in northern Bavaria.

A spectacular picture of the city of lights, Paris France. Can you see yourself here?

Maybe you would like to visit the best palace ever built. This is the entrance to Versailles, France with the throngs of visitors who come here to see this opulent palace.

I think going to Europe, just makes you want to visit or see castles. Often they are located on impressive cliffs like Bled Castle overlooking Lake Bled in Bled, Slovenia.

The Acropolis of Athens built from 495-429 BC, is a symbol of Greek legacy and the foundations of democracy. Can you imagine walking the grounds that ancient civilizations utilized?

I think there are two emotions of travel—Anticipation and Expectations.

One of the best part of travel is your anticipation of going on a trip and the expectations of what you will experience. Even as I write this, my mind often drifts to going on a river cruise, or visiting Europe or our upcoming trip to Egypt. There is so much to see, do and experience, that 50 years’ worth of travel is just not enough—I want more!

Anticipation is excitement about something that is going to happen. The key word is excitement. Our curiosity is endless—will it be fun, boring, memorable, dull or just average? Our minds are such a powerful thing—mankind has created such amazing things and better ways to live because we used our brain power.

Anticipation for Anne is Brugge—her tranquil spot in Europe to enjoy this medieval gem.

Now you should go and see what has been created or preserved to witness the amazing achievements and places created on our planet.

Expectations are a strong belief that something is going to happen. The key word is belief. We believe that an upcoming event or experience is going to be fun, boring, memorable, dull or just average.

I always expect to eat well in Europe and this is visual proof I usually do! Here is a Christmas day feast in 2016 Anne and I shared with our travel chums, Denise and Mark Thomas.

Our goal as travel advisors is to help you get travel experiences that exceed your expectations. While this is usually possible, sometimes circumstances change so drastically, risk factors of travel exceed the anticipated benefit of a trip.

Travel Does Have Some Risks

In a perfect world, there never would be a problem when you travel—all would work seamlessly.

However, that is not the real world. First, let me say I am the guy for who the glass is always half full, not half empty. I accentuate the positive and minimize the negative.

Yet, this environment is different—currently in Europe, the risks at some locations outweigh the benefits of a visit but this should abate in 2022. We have advised 4 clients to cancel their Christmas Markets river cruise trips in December, as the quality of the trip is not worth the benefit of just going—most Christmas Markets have been canceled, there will be minimal port stops on the traditional Upper Danube route. It sure is a lot of money to pay to spend most of your time on a ship instead of enjoying the amazing destinations on this route.

At the very minimum, we all (our clients and us) will suffer an emotional loss and some financial loss. We also canceled our Europe River Cruise on the AmaMagna on the Danube but we are still planning to go on our Egyptian River Cruise.

10 Prudent Steps to Get Your Confidence Back to Travel Safely in the Future

We hope that some of these steps you were already doing as savvy travel folks, but if you haven’t, now is the time to implement these 10 steps.

1. Travel Suppliers are facing daunting challenges right now but those with enough money resources and are efficient operations will survive and do well. More than ever, your choice of the right vendor is essential. Some, even the best, will make poor decisions that will impact you. We will continue to vet them, and honestly let you know who to use and who to avoid. We will also advise when to cancel, even if it results in a financial loss of commissions for us.

2. Don’t go it alone or try to use on-line travel agencies or booking sites. Many have found a real live person can respond or will respond—the horror stories of the fall out of cancelled trips just has reaffirmed our profession. The main reason you will never see a booking engine on our website is exactly for this reason—we need to talk to you and really learn who you are and what you want in your travel plans. Again buyer beware—use the right person who matches your travel ideas and styles.

3. Always use a credit card unless you know exactly why another form of payment must be used. The only time we have resorted to wire transfers or check payments is with vendors who have a sterling reputation.

4. Buy travel insurance but know exactly what you are trying to protect. Look for exclusions that may render the policy useless to you. Supplier travel insurance that is offered by a third party supplier must be carefully examined.

5. Take a hard look at penalties, cancellation fees and supplier cancellation policies (often called contract of carriage). Recent events have made this once usually glossed over detail, really, really important now. Buying from online vendors with non-refundable rates to save money is just too risky right now, or anytime really. We can’t emphasize enough to carefully read the Terms and Conditions of the vendor. One of our ways to help you is to clearly point out some key items and make sure when you make a deposit or full payment, you understand you have accepted the supplier’s Terms and Conditions.

6. Review the safety measures all the vendors have added to their products. Realistically assess your risk. We will be glad to help here.

7. Review the risks of the places you want to see. Again, realistically asses your risk along with any travel advisories and warnings. Also look at the quality of the travel experience—is just going since you want to get away, worth a poor quality trip? I guess, it goes without saying, we can help here also.

8. Let’s recognize and thank the folks who clean our rooms, prepare and deliver our meals, help to protect us during our travels whether as a captain, pilot, cruise director, travel guide, housekeeper, waiter, and others—the front lines are the folks who will ultimately ensure our safety. Maybe give them better tips when it is appropriate. Also, don’t blame them for decisions beyond their control just because they are making the best of poor vendor decisions. Remember, you chose to go in these difficult times.

9. Don’t deny your dreams for fear—address the problems, assess the risk and then take a leap of faith when the time is right but realistically asses if it is the right time—don’t worry, we again have your back.

10. If you have cancelled plans, carefully consider a future travel credit versus a refund. There is no right answer here for all. We are available to advise you on the advantages and disadvantages of your options. Many vendors are providing increased benefits if you take the waiver. Any refunds will take time to process (if even available) and there are some disputes ongoing right now, to include legal action against some vendors.

My Final Thoughts

It is sad I had to write this, yet we are very hopeful this is the last time we will have to honestly report the downside of travel. Trust me, it will get better and pretty much get back normal.

Whatever your Dream Destinations are, we are here to help you get the best possible vacation based on what is important to you! We will provide you high quality, expertly planned travel. Please give me a call 713-397-0188 (Hank) or email me at hschrader@dreamdestinations.com. We want to help you: Savor life…make memories…Visit Dream Destinations! Your journey begins here!

AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist
Viking River Cruise Specialist
Scenic River Cruise Specialist
Emerald Waterways Specialist
Avalon Waterways Specialist
Brit Agent

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