My Turn for Maternity Leave.. What?!

So it's been a year and a half since my last post, which is obviously way too long. But, what can I say.. I HAD A BABY!

I was covering for a maternity leave at work doing my Cruise Coordinator job, and I surprised everyone with my news of my unplanned pregnancy and that I was to leave August 2019 before my contract was up. However, everything worked out, and since the agent that I was covering didn't end up coming back I can have my beloved position back after my maternity leave is done. Well here's to hoping they will let me work from home. And by home I mean back in Sudbury. That's right travelbugg's I'm back up in the great white north!

So much news!

Well, by now your wondering about this baby I'm speaking of, well her name is Ravyn. She's 7 months old as of next week! How is that even possible! When your parents say don't blink... They mean it!

She is the sweetest little chicken nugget in the world.

She is my little Northern Babe. She was born here in Sudbury after a long 39.5 hours of labour. That's a story for a different blog though.

My sweet girl has such a great personality. She is more amazing than I could have ever imagined. Not going to say best bab.... Actually yes. Yes I am. She is the best baby ever😍

And with that I will sign off. 

Travel safe, 

Travelbugg.xx

Been WAY too Long..

Hi to all my travelbugg.xx followers!

It has honestly been WAY too long since I've wrote.. I'm sorry for not keeping up with my blog posts. Especially since I've been a few places since Panama which was my last travel that I've talked about.

Since then, Ive been to; Saint Maarten's, Mexico, and back to Cuba.

I have also started a new position covering a maternity leave within the same company last week. Therefore - I am still with Redtag.ca, but for now I am the Cruise Coordinator.

With this new position, I work closely with our cruise operator agents, and enter in promotions, update the website with new banners (photos with promotions for advertising purposes) and make sure all is up to date and I also deal with payments and invoicing.

The above banners are ones that I advised our media team to create and then I upload them onto our website after confirming that they are correct. 

It's honestly a great job and I am loving what I am doing so far. The people that I work closely with are amazing and they are a funny group, they keep me entertained. As one of them says "I'm just busting your chops Mellisa" which is the best line ever! 

Right now it is the World Cup 2018 and the one that says the line above, is Portuguese so she asked who I was cheering for, and I don't really have a favourite team because I don't usually watch soccer. However, I love Cristiano Ronaldo so I guess I'm going for Portugal! 

My position now as I mentioned is to cover a maternity leave, therefore I am on an 18 month contract. Which means after the 18 months is up. I am either going back to the Web Reservations Agent position (which I was at for 3.5 years) or I may look for something new, hopefully within the same company because I like working for the CEO's of our company. 

With that, I'm signing off. 

All the best,

travelbugg.xx

First step of my new Project

Hey travelbuggs!

Alright, so as I mentioned in one of my previous posts, that I was going to get a world map and pin point the destinations that I want to visit. 

Well:

Here it is! 

I'm really excited to start pin pointing! Just waiting to get a cork board instead of making thousands of holes in the wall. 

I really can't wait to start travelling and marking them off! 

On my next post I'll let you know how I plan on starting my check list! It's a secret until then! 

Sorry this post was a bit short, but hey, we gotta work before we can just up and leave for a vacation! 

Singing off, 

Travelbugg.xx

Start of something NEW

I haven't posted anything on here about my first actual Paid travel position because I wanted to make sure I liked it enough to stay.

Promised myself I wouldn't be the person to sit at a desk day in and day out.. let alone sitting at a desk AND be on the phone all day. Guess who was wrong! Yep, I was.  It's not a position I can see myself  staying at for life, but I have to start somewhere.

Redtag.ca -I bet you sang the jingle while reading that didn't you? I know I always want too when I answer the phone!

I started at Redtag Vacations back in January, I was shadowing for the first few weeks, let me tell you I WAS TERRIFIED of it being my turn for talking on the phone. I'm the type of person that has always been awkward on the phone... that changed REAL quick.. not that I'm a professional phone talker now or anything, but I'm a hell of alot better at it now.

Some of the hours suck.. there's different shifts that you can get scheduled..
•9-5:30pm
•11:30-8pm
•1:30-10pm
•3:30-12 am

One week you work  one shift, the next week you work a different shift.. it's hard switching from the 9 am shift to the 3:30 pm shift the next week. Takes a while to get used too. However I'm thinking about just asking for the midnight shift since no one wants to work it. For the most part it's quieter at night,  and some of the tour operators are closed after 9 pm so we have to tell the client to call back in the morning. I sigh every time I get to tell someone to call back ;)

Some things I do at work: Name Corrections, date changes, Cancelations,  New Bookings, Flights, and more..

What are some perks you may ask?
•% off for friends and family
•booking bonus' with certain Tour Operators
•Spiffs - Cash rewards for booking a certain Tour Operator
•points towards future travel
•during the summer I get paid 8 hours of work for taking possibly 3-8 calls throughout the whole day. 

Like I mentioned, I have to start somewhere, this is my somewhere. I can't wait to see what the rest has in store for me!

With that I'm signing off.
Take care,
Travelbugg.xx

Panama Leads to Expired Passport..

A Happy and Sad Story to tell..

Hello fellow Travelbuggs,

I haven't posted in the longest time! I feel so bad leaving you guys hanging. Not that anyone is actually reading this, haha am I right? ;)

I haven't been able to do any travelling as of lately, due to the fact that my passport is expired. The only travelling I have done is back to my hometown and back here to Mississauga.

I really miss being able to just head across the border to see me friends and family that live on the other side of the Falls on my days off.

In one of my previous posts I had mentioned, that if there is a will there's a way, and it is totally true! but then again I have just been so busy with work, and kind of stressed out with certain situations, that I haven't really thought of travelling.

Royal Decameron Resort, Panama

It's been one year and one month since I have had my last "big" trip to Panama, I miss it dearly! thinking about the gorgeous resort I stayed at, Royal Decamreon. I've read a lot of bad reviews about it lately, and I can agree with a few things people are saying on some of the review sites; however, everyone has their own opinions and different experiences.



My experience was great! I got to go with about 30 or so people from one of my classes in college, and let me tell you, NOT ONE of us had a terrible experience,  Yeah sure some of the experiences we could have gone without but then again something will always happen.

The weather wasn't the greatest on the first two days we were there, however we still made the best out of it. on the last 4 days of the trip it was gorgeous. We went in December, which was the end of their rainy season, hence the not so great weather on the first two days.

Food at the resort was about the same as Cuba,  however there were some good dishes. My group of friends some how got to go to all of the a-la-carte dinners that they had, even though your only allowed two.

I was surprised there was only one night club there, for how big the resort is, they should have a bigger one or at least one more the same size. Most of the music they play is Spanish, but then again who doesn't like to pretend they know how to Salsa? or have some Spanish guy try to teach you? ;)

Most, if not all of the staff members and bartenders, don't know  English. Good thing I had learnt  a bit of Spanish or else I would have been, in trouble, it didn't really help much but good thing I'm good at making friends, or else I wouldn't have been able to get the drinks that I wanted.

One excursion you should DEFINITELY do is the Panama Canal and Locks. If you like learning about history and how things are made, this is for you.

If you like jungle, water,  and animals take the boat ride on the canal to the jungle. We sure did, and we got to see some Capuchin Monkeys, Howler Monkeys, and the teeny tiny Mormon Monkeys.

Capuchin Monkey

Took a tour of Old Panama City, and it was the best walking tour I've ever taken. So much history, so much culture, and the street vendors were very talented. I would love to share ALL of the photo's I took while in the old city; however, I won't, But here are three:

Cathedral

Old Bulding

  

Fixed part of the Old City

We also went to a Smithsonian, where we got to see sloths, ignuana's and other wild life and aqua life, But unfortunately my camera died. I did ask my friend for some of her photo's, here's one of a sloth for all of you sloth lovers out there.

All in all it was an amazing trip and I would love to go back.

And with that, I'm out!

travelbugg.xx

First Travel Position!

I did it!!  Okay maybe not a full out career job.. But I need to express this position with you.

I got a Bus Captain position with Breakaway Tours! The company that I really want to work for! I couldn't be more excited! 

Ohhhhhh myyyyy Godddddddd!! 

Okay so now the excitement and screaming part is over, I can tell you what the position is.

Because I was so passionate about the company, talking to my friends about it in school telling them that Breakaway Tours was the company I wanted to do my internship with, one of the girls in my course that works there overheard me. She talked to the manager about me and I guess he remembered me, because one of the girls I went on the panama trip got the internship position there she was also talking about me. He remembers me from earlier on, and then continued to ask her for me to send him my resume for the bus captain position. I know you guys are probably wondering.. If there was a position available why didn't I apply for it before? Well I found out it wasn't a paid position, and me being in the situation I'm in, I said forget about it I need a job with a pay. But once the manager basically offered me a position there was no way I would turn it down. 

The position is being me being an out going person is going to be a Big Sister to all the student who are on the trip with me and making new friends with the students and the rest of my brothers and sisters that will be on the trip with me! 

As of right now, I just of invited to the official breakaway tours Facebook bus captain page. So I am really happy, and proud to say...

I AM A PART OF THE BREAKAWAY TOURA TEAM!

I want to say a HUGE thanks to Natasha, Caterina, for talking about me, and obviously Steve for hiring me! 

Take care,

travelbugg.xx

Past, Present and Future Travel ~ Toronto

As I had mentioned in my first post, I will be talking about my past, present, and future travel experiences.

I was born in raised in Sudbury, Ontario. I have never moved, until I moved out for college, and I am currently living in Mississauga, Ontario. As I was growing up, my parents would always take time off of their busy schedules during the summer to take us on an adventure, mostly it was to Toronto, or Niagara Falls, But it was always a different experience. Starting to travel when I was young, even if it was a short distance, making new memories, and learning new things about each and every place I've visited made me who I am today - an aspiring traveler.

The time between my first weekend trip to Toronto,  to my most recent one week stay in Panama, I have been to a couple of places as you already know. Most of the places that I've been too that are in Ontario was because I was playing in a Ringette tournament.The places in which I've been too on these tournaments, I haven't really had tome to go and explore the cities much, unless we went back and just to explore.

When I played hockey,  the only tournament that we went too was in Toronto, which I have already been too multiple times, so the only thing we really did was some shopping at the big malls, because as some of you know, there isn't many places to do much shopping in Sudbury. Most of the girls only want to go shopping, and don't want to do much of anything else while we're there.

This post is mostly going to be about my trips to Toronto, most of them with my family.

 As far back as I can remember, my family and I have been taking week, or weekend trips to Toronto during the summer on our time off from school and work.

We've done a lot of things and most of them I can't even remember. From Medieval Times, to African Lion Safari, to The CN Tower Tower Experience, to Hockey Hall of fame, and a little bit of shopping here and there. I've experienced a lot and learn from all of these trips.

I think the most memorable learning experience was Casa Loma. You learn a lot about the history of the location, the castle, the family that lived there. We got to walk through the tunnels under ground, walk through the gardens and we also dressed up as a family in the 1800's.  I'm not the biggest history fanatic in the world, but learning about the past is something I've always been interested in.

Obviously I've been to Canada's Wonderland, everybody's favorite one stop amusement park in all of Ontario! 

As of right now my favourite bugs, I'm leaving you with that. Haven't been able to add much, because I can't think of anything else to write about Toronto at the moment, but if I think of something else, I will definitely add it. 

Take care,

travelbugg.xx

 

Happy New Years!

Happy New Year! 

Tomorrow is the first blank page of a 365 page book. Write a good one.

Out with the old and in with the new! It's almost that time when we say goodbye to 2013 and hello to 2014. This year has been a good year, been a couple places around Ontario, once to Niagara Falls, NY and once to Panama. I am really excited to see what kind of travels 2014 brings me! I really hope that after everything is said and done I will be a successful employee in the tourism field.  

Just a short blog post to wish everyone a safe and a Happy New Year! 

PLEASE DON'T DRINK AND DRIVE, ARRIVE ALIVE!

Take care,

travelbugg.xx

If there's a will, there's a way

When it comes to Travel; if there's a will, there's a way.

When it comes to travelling, I've always went with my parents, so I always had all my expenses paid for, didn't have to worry about dropping a penny. I know for sure as I get older, my parent's won't be dropping pennies for me to travel the world. I just recently went on a trip to Panama, for the first time, I wasn't with my family, but my family still paid for me to take this trip of a life time with my school (only reason why they paid for it;) was because I was getting marked on it. It's a win win right?) 

One reason I'm writing this blog post is because I'm always hearing people say "Oh, I haven't been able to travel for six years - I guess that's what happens when you have kids." No, you're just stopping yourself from travelling, there are many places including resorts that children can go to! Don't dismiss something you love because you have kids, make the best of it. Sure when their young babies you wouldn't want to take them... But once their 4-5 years old go for it take them on a trip, you and your family will all have a blast. Even taking a weekend trip to some other city still counts as travelling. Visiting friends or family who don't live in the same city as you still counts as travelling. Get the kids to join sports, you'll be travelling to tournaments every once in a while. Just because you have kids, you're not limited to what you do, you just choose not to do it. 

Yes money becomes an issue sometimes, but like the title of this post states: If there's a will, there's a way. Money is most people's reason for not travelling, but there's ways to get around it, you just have to figure out what works best for you. Settings budgets, putting money aside every pay check,  and finding more people to join you, having a group to travel with will sometimes lower the total cost of the trip. 

And to the people who just say "I'm too scared to fly".. REALLY? Honestly, there's a lesser chance of an airplane crashing or going down due to technical difficulties compared to you driving and getting into a car accident. There's no such thing as being afraid of heights, yes being up off ground level might scared the living crap out of you, but its not the fear of heights, it the fear of falling.  Flying in a plane is not bad at all, try it, get it done and over with, you will never fulfill your dreams if you think negatively. 

Travelling is my passion, it is my favorite thing to do in the world, that is one reason why I am going to school for Tourism Management, so I can help people fulfill and satisfy their dreams. 

With that, I'm signing off.

travelbugg.xx out.

Introduction to my Blog

First Post

Introduction: 

I'm Mellisa Thompson, I am starting this blog at the age of 19. I am originally from Sudbury, ON. But I am currently living in Mississauga, ON. With no experience what so ever, I am trying to start my own blog. Most of what I blog about is either going to be travel experiences that I have had, or travel dreams that I wish to pursue. I haven't been to many places as of yet, but this is something I want to do for my entire life. I have a small bucket list, which one of the items on that list is (for now) to visit [at least] two countries in each continent.

Places I've been too:

These are some of the places I've been too including ones in Canada. 

• Toronto, ON
• Niagara Falls, ON
• Niagara Falls, NY
• Buffalo, NY
• Sault Ste. Marie, ON
• Sault Ste. Marie, MI
• Ottawa, ON
• Montreal, QB
• Fredericton, NB
• Saint John, NB
• Moncton, NB
• Yarmouth, NS
• Digby, NS
• Halifax, NS
• Sydney, NS
• Cape Breton, NS
• Veradero, CU
• Farallon, PA

Places I want to Visit:

Since there are many cities in the countries in which I want to visit, I will just name the countries.

• Ireland
• Italy
• France
• Germany
• Spain
• Portugal
• Greece
• Turkey
• Morocco
• Egypt
• Kenya
• Philippines
• Malaysia
• Vietnam
• Thailand
• Taiwan
• China
• Japan
• Australia
• New Zealand
• Fiji
• Costa Rica
• Jamaica
• Venezuela 
• Peru
• Brazil
• Chile

And many more State in USA.

I need to get a wall map and pin point with colored pins.

Red Pin: Been there

Green Pin: Want to go there

In my following posts, they will have descriptions, of the places I've been too, and what I've done; as well as, the places and things I want to go to/do. 

Take care,

travelbugg.xx