[Travelandtourism] Discussion: Traveling during the holidays, where did you go and and what was your means of getting around.

[cheryl echevarria]

Good afternoon all and happy holidays:
I would love to start a discussion here and I am hoping it will continue to other forms of travel as well.
Since the Holiday Season is coming to an end with Kwanzaa and The Three Kings celebrations either going on or coming up, or in general of what do you do for the holidays.
This particular discussions has to do with not what you do once you get there, but how to decide what forms of mobility to choose and why.
Some of us just use a cane, some use cane and sighted guides, some use guide dogs.
This is not to blast someone on their decisions it is to find out how you get around traveling. I might sound like I am apologizing for what I do, I do this, it is me. Just like you are who you are.
Let's see where this goes.
For myself as a person who tries and travels as much as possible, with or without my dog or my husband, all depends on the traveling I am planning on doing.
Mind you this is my own reasoning, like everyone else has there own reasons for traveling and planning.
In November and December, I traveled in many forms such as Planes, Car and Cruise Ship.
November started out by me doing a cruise on the Norwegian Gem with Nelson and my guide dog Maxx.  Now this was a different situation than most of you will probably be doing, since I was doing this as a travel agent, and this was a graduation cruise, a little different planning then if I was going to start planning this cruise as travel agent for a regular cruise passenger.
This time I had decided to take my dog, Maxx, with us. Yes, Nelson was going with me, since the reduced rate for this cruise included one guest for me to travel with.
I found out about this cruise, in April of 2011, and there is limited time to reserve for this since I was not the only travel agent doing this. So I booked it as soon as I could.
Maxx had never cruised with us before, just my own reasons, which might not be the same as others and I will indicate below.  But this time since it was cruising out of NY, and I needed the experience of traveling with my dog on a cruise and know what to expect so I can educate others when bringing their dogs with them on a cruise, and also to see how well he would behalf, etc.
I had to plan with the vet prior to cruising a week prior, and also get a permit from the Island of the Bahamas, to bring Maxx into the Bahamas.
In the past, I had decided not to bring the dog was not that he couldn't do the job, it was more of a personal nature, that many who are guide dog users may not agree with, but we all do things differently than others.  Meaning, when we cruise, I go with my husband, and we  like alone time, Maxx works all the time with no problems, and there are times when I feel that Maxx would be better being boarded at his guide dog school. It also helps me with my other skills, such as my cane skills when I travel. The reasons of our forms of mobility shouldn't  be questioned, it just gives me the knowledge of what to expect when traveling with a guide dog, would I recommend someone not bringing there dogs, of course not, I would give them the knowledge I have.
Now in Walt Disney World, some might think that boarding a dog is easy if you don't want to take the dog with you all day, in that case they might be wrong, since I decided not to take my dog with me this time to Walt Disney World in December.
Planning again, this was another place that we went that I have taken the dog before, and thought before I go, let me find out about the Kennels should I decide to put Maxx in one.  First, they are not free to use, there is a fee.  Second, it is not easy to get to. If you are staying at the Walt Disney World Resort, the buses that take you to the theme parks, do not take you to the Kennel which is located near on of the resorts but you still have to get there, yes, you can ask for one of the porters to drive you over to the Kennel to drop of the dog, but, that can take all morning to do, and to pay for something like that is about $16 a day to start.
Just checking it out before I decided whether I wanted to bring the dog, and whether or not I would board him on any particular day if I had decided to.
Again, being there before, the dog is great, but there is a lot of walking, and getting into and out of rides that the dog can go, I decided since I was going with my daughter, that I would leave Maxx home with Nelson.
But that being said, it doesn't mean that I would never take him to these places again. It was my decision. 

The point is knowing you can do this and have the options to them.
Now



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