We’re opening up the mailbag this week and answering your burning questions about my favorite destinations, the rebranding of the podcast and what it entails, what those mysterious travel industry acronyms really mean, and just how I manage to organize my fantastic upcoming Sex in the City fan cruise. Tune in today and satisfy your curiosity!
Jet Setting with Michele on FB
@jetsettingwithmichele
Idiot's Guide to Imagineering
Episode 52: How to Work with A Travel Advisor
34. The 6 best dining experiences I had while traveling in 2023 & a visit from Cindy Chupack
Virgin Voyages Greek Island Glow Cruise with Molly Rogers
Cindy Chupack Books
This episode was produced by The Podcast Teacher.
We’re opening up the mailbag this week and answering your burning questions about my favorite destinations, the rebranding of the podcast and what it entails, what those mysterious travel industry acronyms really mean, and just how I manage to organize my fantastic upcoming Sex in the City fan cruise. Tune in today and satisfy your curiosity!
Jet Setting with Michele on FB
@jetsettingwithmichele
Idiot's Guide to Imagineering
Episode 52: How to Work with A Travel Advisor
34. The 6 best dining experiences I had while traveling in 2023 & a visit from Cindy Chupack
Virgin Voyages Greek Island Glow Cruise with Molly Rogers
Cindy Chupack Books
This episode was produced by The Podcast Teacher.
Hey there, jetsetters. It is Michelle, the OG memory maker of Makin' Memories Travel, and I am so honored by the positive feedback that jet setting with me is receiving. Thank you so much. Thank you to everyone who has downloaded, listened, shared the podcast. To those of you who have taken a moment to leave reviews, I am so indebted. But best of all are the questions and the comments that have come in since I relaunched the pod with this sexier title and format. So today, I am thrilled to answer as many questions as I can, but keep them rolling in for me to answer in a future episode. Now the number one question I am always asks, usually it is as soon as people meet me and find out what I do.
And I would bet that this is the same for all of my fellow travel adviser friends, but I'd really love to know what's your favorite place that you've ever gone. And I think this must be what people experience when asked who their favorite child is. It's an impossible question to answer because it's truly the experiences in a place that make those lifelong memories. For example, I think I may have mentioned this before, but I will never forget. And I hope everyone in his, her, or their lifetime also gets to see the sunrise over the Sydney Opera House. It truly left me speechless. My photos are fabulous, but the core memory is waking up and opening the shades of my cruise ship cabin and literally having my breath taken away. I also loved hiking up a waterfall in Dunns River Falls in Jamaica and hiking up Mount Arenal in Costa Rica.
Both of those experiences allowed me to cry, laugh, and stretch my abilities beyond what I thought I could do. The pictures of me when I reached the top of both really capture that feeling of accomplishment on my face that was by far one of the most exhilarating moments of my life. Visiting Copenhagen, where my grandmother immigrated from, was another heartfelt moment. And our visit to Denmark, Finland, Estonia, and Russia on our Baltics cruise are all places that I loved and would truly visit again. But most of all, I'm happy we took that cruise when we did because I'm really not sure that cruise lines, even after the war in Ukraine, gets settled, if it ever gets settled, I'm not sure that cruise lines will ever go into Russia again. And the moral of that story is take the trip and take it now. So those are some of my favorite foreign trips, but I can't forget all my domestic travel either. I'm lucky enough, like West and Summerhouse, to have visited all 50 states.
Yes. I am addicted to Summerhouse. Don't shame me. Although, I was in my forties when I did it, and he's like a mere child. So good for him. But I was listening to one of my favorite podcast, the idiot's guide to imagineering, and I will leave a link to them in the show notes. You should totally listen to them. They're so funny and awesome.
And on one of their recent shows, they all had to come up with a city in the US that they would go to over and over again. And I was completely stumped with that question too. I do go to Orlando over and over again, but that's because of Disney and Universal. I wouldn't choose to go to Orlando to actually see the city. Same with Fort Lauderdale, Miami. I go there a lot, but that's usually just because it's a cruise port. I have had my fill of Miami. Back in the day, I might have said Vegas, but I'm not in my 20s anymore.
And I don't have the same kind of stamina for that nightlife that Vegas requires. And now even though I only get to visit once every 3 to 5 years, I think I would say New York City that I would go to over and over again. And that's because in my episode about my upcoming trip, I realized that there's so much of the city that I haven't done, and I won't be able to accomplish it in my short four day trip. And, of course, if I could go to Sitka, Alaska every summer and get out of the Texas heat, I would. Everybody should get to go to Alaska. It is truly God's country undisturbed geography. It's amazing. Now in honor of National Park Week, which kicks off on April 20th with free admission to every US national park on that day, My favorite national park is the Great Smoky Mountains.
It was there that I had my first river rafting experience where I was terrified, and that is what caused my father to tell me that I was scared of my own shadow. And it was also where when I was very young, our campsite was attacked by a bear. That is for reals. I'm not making it up. I'll have to get my mom on here in a future episode to retell that story. Because, again, I was maybe 8, and I only remember the quote after, which I thought was really funny. So, apparently, I wasn't awake for the actual terror that ensued when this bear came upon our campsite. There are several places that I can't mention that I know other people would call their favorites because I've never experienced them.
And so high on my list of have to go soon would be Japan, Antarctica, especially Antarctica because I'm terrified that my knees are gonna give out before I get to go. And I'm gonna have to have knee replacement surgery, but that's another podcast. And I definitely wanna do a South African safari someday. So did I do that question justice? I really don't know if I did. Do any or all of those travel experiences sound like places you would wanna go? Do you have a favorite place that I haven't mentioned? I really do wanna know because this question was really hard to answer. So let me know by sending me a DM on jet setting with Michelle, or join my Facebook group, jet setting with Michelle. Both of those links are in the show notes. And let me know what your favorite trip is and why.
Better yet, post a photo and tag me so that I can come in and look at your pictures of your favorite places. Now the second question I got recently was about my rebranding. So I wanna clear up some of the confusion over the new name and direction of my podcast. So Disney trips to both coasts, Florida and California, Disney cruise line, and my newly found love affair with Universal Studios have not changed. A trip to Disney World is where I go to find my smile. As someone who suffers from depression and anxiety, the investment in my Walt Disney World annual pass is an investment in maintaining my mental health. These places will always have my heart. And not only do I love planning people's trips there and sharing my insider tips with them, but, also, I'm very, very good at it.
And none of that has changed, but I am also very excited to increase my visibility, share my expertise, knowledge, and experience in all of the areas of travel that I love, Cruising, river cruising, and set jetting. Plus, I aspire to be the sassy jet setter that I was born to be. You know, the one in the photo that is my new cover art. Yeah. I wanna be her when I grow up. Next, I got a few questions about the alphabet soup that is the acronyms in the travel industry that I mentioned in episode 52 on how to work with a travel advisor. Such a good question, and I'm so glad I get to explain it all to you. So the initials after my name, I have 2, VTA and CTA.
So a VTA is a verified travel advisor, and it's a credential that you study and test for through ASTA, the American Society of Travel Advisors. I do have to pay ASTA once a year to update that credential. And along with, quote, unquote, paying for it, I have to submit that I have maintained my knowledge by visiting places or going on fam trips or going to conferences and breakout sessions. And I just said another one that people question me about. What is a FAM trip? So a FAM, FAM stands for familiarization trip. It's how different suppliers bring travel advisors to experience the product. Really, it's a lot of hotels that they want us to see the rooms or cruise ships where they want us to experience the cruise, And it is a business trip. I don't want people to think that I get free travel.
That is not the case. In fact, I usually pay a lot. My case in point is my annual pass to Walt Disney World. Okay. That was my squirrel moment. So the VTA, again, I said is through ASTA. So ASTA stands for the American Society of Travel Advisors, and it is the Travel Agent's Professional Association based in DC, and it lobbies for the travel trade community. It raises the professionalism and reputation of our industry.
And as I said, in order to keep my VTA, I have to attend conferences and earned CEUs or continuing education units on an annual basis. Very similar to other professional associations that require their members to maintain a certain level of education to keep their status. Now I also have a CTA, which stands for certified travel adviser, and it is given out through the travel university. And for this credential, I also had to do online courses and take a proctored exam. And the coursework included in that certification was a lot more extensive than the VTA. I have to pass a test on things like liability, travel insurance, geography, and there were 9 other units included that I don't even remember them all. I also have to do CEUs each year to maintain that credential. And I have to submit those every year for them to proctor and see if I have done enough to maintain that credential.
I'm currently working on my CTIE, which is also from the travel university, and it stands for certified travel industry executive. That's typically seen as the highest level credential that you can earn other than cruising credentials. And it requires me to write a white paper, which is why I haven't finished it and completed it. I'm literally terrified of even figuring out what my topic is gonna be for this paper. And that also is proctored and graded and the whole bit. So neither of these certifications are required to be a travel adviser, which was one of the points I was trying to make in that previous episode. So it's something that those of us who have them do because we want to show ourselves as professionals. And so we invest the time and the money and the studying that it takes to earn those credentials.
And the last question for today's episode is a funny story, and I'll get to it in just a second. But I want to remind you to please keep those questions coming. I would love to answer your question on a future episode. In fact, next week, I have one question that's gonna be the whole episode about how to plan a trip to see Taylor Swift in Switzerland. So don't miss next week's episode for the answer to that. If you liked this mailbag episode, I would love for you to click the check mark to follow the podcast so the episodes show up automatically in your feed. You can listen to it, share it, and take just a few minutes to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It really helps me to know that my friend, Melissa, isn't the only one out there listening.
If you have been listening for 3 or 4 weeks, you know that I change that shout out every week. So if you want to be a shout out on a future episode, leave me a review. Also, I have swag. I have making memories swag that I can send to you if That is motivation. Okay. Now for the funny story. So this week while talking up the incredible once in a lifetime experience happening aboard the Virgin Voyages Resilient Lady on June 2nd, future sailors wanted to know how it was that I managed to put this cruise together. And it's a pretty good story.
So it started with reading about the travel age award winners. These are self nominated or you can nominate a friend awards, very high level awards for people who are really setting the standards in my industry. My friend Nikki. Hi, Nikki. Was nominated last year in the under 40 category. And the top 2 candidates in every category are invited to this beautiful black tie event, and Nikki was one of them. So I ended up reading the whole story about all the award winners because she was profiled in that article. 1 of the award winners won for her partnership with an all inclusive and working with an affinity group to sell out this entire all inclusive.
And I was amazed by this idea and the brilliance of this person. And I was like, how could I even do that? Like, where are my contacts? What is my affinity group? Like, how did she even come up with that? And literally, in the midst of the strike in Hollywood from the Writers Guild and the Actors Guild, I, like, woke up with this light bulb above my head and this idea long ago, more than 13 years ago because I wasn't married. I was still single and looking. That's a part of the story. I was lucky enough to meet Cindy Schupack. Now the reason I met Cindy and for those of you who don't even know who that is, she was from season 2 through the end of Sex and the City. She was an executive producer, a writer, and really a lot of the stories that she wrote and authored came from her life. And she's also written 2 very, very funny books.
She's a hilarious writer. And to me, she is truly the voice of Carrie Bradshaw. And if you didn't get to hear my interview with her, you should take a listen. And I'll leave that episode in the show notes because she is so funny. Anyway, she was coming to speak at an Austin Ballet Guild event, and I, at the time, was a member of the Austin Ballet Guild. And I was helping the night before the big event, which was our annual fundraiser for the guild. And I was stuffing bookmarks into her book for the people who had upgraded to the signed copies, which, of course, I had done. And a friend of mine from the guild sat down, and I was talking about how excited I was for the next day.
And she said, well, Cindy was my roommate in college, and that's how we got her to be our speaker tomorrow. And I'm having dinner with her tonight, and you should come. And I was like, oh my god. Are you serious? I can come? This was I remember exactly it was during the making of movie number 1 because Michael Patrick King, the granddaddy of all the canon of sex and city was doing the movie on his own. None of the writers from the actual television show were involved in the writing of the movie. So I remember distinctly because, of course, at dinner, conversation turned to how excited I was for the movie. And Cindy, of course, was, well, that's not part of this television series that's completely different. I was like, oh, I know I've read all the articles, but still I'm so excited because I get to spend more time with my friends.
And I was pretty much fangirling over Cindy and telling her how much I loved her book, and I think it's called The Longest Date, d a t e, and talks about her search for a husband and how I felt her pain because I too am a nice Jewish girl whose parents were putting pressure on me to get married. She's from Oklahoma. I'm from Texas. It just I felt like we had a lot in common, and we're about the same age too. And so she said, well, what have you tried? And we started trading stories about how we have been single and who we've tried to meet. And at the time I was on JDate and I was telling the story of how I paid money to have this professional dating coach write my JDate profile. And she said, oh my god. I would love to see it.
Remember, she's a professional writer. And I'm like, are you kidding me? Okay. So she's like, I'm not on JDate. Maybe I should try it. So I sent her my JDate profile, and she polished it up for me, and she sent it back to me. And then we traded emails for a while. Again, that was at least 2 decades ago whenever the movie came out. And you don't know this about me, but I am actually the kind of person who doesn't like I'm not a stalker.
Like, I meet these people, and I love them, and I fangirl on them when I meet them, but I don't stalk them. So, you know, I'd never emailed her again after that experience. We both went on to get married. I read her book about getting married. She adopted a child. I, you know, followed her, as any real fan would. And then the strike happened, and I was reading about this award, and I was like, oh my god. This is it.
I can do a Sex and the City affinity group. Instead of just having trivia by the pool, like the Taylor Swift cruise, I could actually get Cindy to come and give us, like, behind the scenes details on the episodes that she wrote that were part of her life. She's a great storyteller. Oh my god. This will be so much fun. And the moment I thought of it, Sex and the City was celebrating its 25th anniversary, and Anne Just Like That was starting season 2. And Anne Just Like That and Sex and City were really having a moment. And I was like, this is the perfect time.
I can capitalize on this moment. This is very exciting. And I was like, well, if I have Cindy from Sex and City and her storytelling, then I really need someone who can talk about the fashion. And Molly and Cindy are friends. And so Cindy texted Molly. I emailed Molly's agent. And before long, Molly Rogers was on board to come on and represent the costume design. She worked on the original series, but she's also the head costume designer on And Just Like That.
And she was featured in the documentary about the making of And Just Like That. And I got super excited, and all of a sudden, I had these 2 fabulous white women to come, and I was like, there's no other representation from any minority, sexual orientation, people of color, all the things that and just like that did non binary. I was like, I need some other representation. So then I emailed Richard Lawson. He is the chief television credit for Vanity Fair. And at the time that I emailed him, he was actually doing a podcast with his 2 colleagues from Vanity Fair, and they continue to do the podcast today. It's called, Always Listening, I think. I'll put that podcast link in the show notes as well.
Anyway, his podcast is hilarious, and he's a television critic. And he comes up with these questions, and I am befuddled. I'm like, wow. I never even thought of that. So I was like, how do you become a professional TV critic? Like, that is the job I was meant to have. I love pop culture. So I emailed him, and it took a couple days for him to email me back because and he told me, I thought it was a prank. I didn't think this was for real.
So now I had these 3 iconic creative storytellers who were gonna come on board and mix and mingle. This wasn't gonna be a, like, everyone on the cruise ship gets access to them. This was gonna be, like, you can have dinner and sit at their table, and there will be an intimate question and answer. No more than a 100 people were gonna talk to these people. And that, my friends, is how it came to be a set jetting experience because and Just Like That season 2 ended on a beach in Greece. But with an extra touch of storytelling and some sparkle and pixie dust and VIP with these three wonderful people. So now you've heard all about jDate and me emailing people and then thinking it was a prank and how I thought of this idea. And if you are excited by me telling that story and you are in awe of, like, how it all happened just like I am.
Like, I still can't believe it all came together like that. It is not too late to join us on this adventure. And in fact, the deals are outstanding. The second passenger in any cabin is 80% off. You can get an extra $100 on your onboard credit, and I have $300 off of your cruise fare. That's on top of that 80% off for the second sailor. So hit me up. It is not too late to come and watch Molly shot for costume pieces in Grease for season 3 of And Just Like That.
And, plus, she has promised to spill some tea. And Richard can talk about Sex and City and Just Like That and all the other shows that they watch and debrief on the Always Listening podcast. The link to learn more is in the show notes. And finally, if there is a movie or a television show that you want to experience through a location or a BTS creative, please tell me. I'm already looking forward to planning an experience with you and others for 2025. Happy jetsetting.