Feb 10
Dec 27
Guess what Santa brought us!
Great Getaways No Comments »
Meet Angela Di Feo, Great Getaways newest family member! Angie hails from Ohio (think Akron and Kent) and moved to the Kansas City area last month to be closer to her fiancé.
Angie, who is an active member of the Air Force National Guard, has garnered many awards, honors and degrees including Associates Degree in Hospitality Management, Fitness and Lodging (graduated with honors); National Collegiate Scholars for Academic Excellence; and Airman of the Year and Air Force Achievement Medal.
Her volunteer efforts include being a Founder of the Skye Jany Humanitarian Assistance Private Organization; participating in Homerun for the Homeless; Breast Cancer Awareness; and Harvest for Hunger.
Angie is well traveled and will be a wonderful addition to our staff. Please welcome Angie, angela@greatgetaways.travel, and let us know how we can assist you with your vacation plans.
Dec 14
Our Hearts Beat Together
Africa, Botswana, China, Great Getaways No Comments »
A couple of years ago we sent out a YouTube video of the song “Stand by me” from “Playing for Change”. The message is as valid today as it was in 2009, perhaps even more so.
Experiencing our world and making new friends wherever we go is our passion and our mission is to help you enjoy the same joy.
Our friends at Micato expressed our truth in their holiday wish to us and we happily pass it on to you: Wherever we are in the world or in life…our hearts beat together.
May your actions touch those around you with love and kindness and may peace embrace our souls…
Once again, enjoy the video of “Stand By Me”:
Nov 29
How about this for an Out of This World Holiday gift?
Great Getaways, Virgin Galactic No Comments »
Ready to see the world from a different perspective? Let me help you reserve a seat aboard a Virgin Galactic’s Suborbital Space flight! Talk about a gift that will be remembered!
Below is a video of the recent dedication ceremony at Spaceport America in New Mexico. Enjoy!
Oct 26
Gratitude is a verb…
Great Getaways No Comments »I used to live in a world of “Yes, but…”, of the half-empty glass, and all the sayings that scream “Barbara, you have a negative attitude!” Why I changed or how it occurred is not nearly as important as the fact that I have had a profound change of attitude. “And why,” you ask, “is this relevant here on your blog?”
I travel a lot, a whole lot. I am constantly learning about new destinations, new properties, experiencing places so I can create a magical vacation for you as well as fulfill my passion to explore our planet (and Space, too!). I have visited places of enormous material abundance and those of enormous emotional abundance. Sometimes they are one and the same, often they are not. And, for all of those experiences, I am grateful.
In the past several years of my life, gratitude has switched from a noun to a verb. Daily I review my actions to see whether I demonstrated gratitude or if I indulged in entitlement. Was I “giving” or only interested in “getting”?
Even here, while writing this blog, what is my motive behind my motive? Of course, I want you to remember Great Getaways Travel and call on us to help you plan your next vacation. Yet, there is more than profit motive at work. As we begin to celebrate our 20th year in business, I find my passion for travel has not ebbed; rather, it has increased. There is always a new place to experience, a new food to try, a new friend to make and I want to share my joy of discovery with you. My wish for you is that your life is filled with what we, at Great Getaways Travel, call the “luxury” of experience.
I invite you to celebrate our 20th year of business with us. We are truly grateful to those of you who have experienced our vacations, to those who have helped us created memorable moments for our clients, to those who are reading this blog, and to the many souls, known and unknown, who have made this journey so satisfying.
The video below by Louie Schwartzberg, award-winning cinematographer, from a TED Conference in San Francisco, is our gift to you:
Oct 09
NOW HIRING!
Great Getaways No Comments »
We are searching for a personable, energetic, detail-oriented individual to assist one of our top travel advisors. Experience in the travel industry would be great and LOVE of TRAVEL a must! You’d be working full-time and your benefits include health insurance.
Great Getaways Travel, celebrating our 20th anniversary in business, is a boutique vacation planning company headquartered in Leawood, KS, and we are proud members of Virtuoso, Specialists in the Art of Travel.
Learn more about us at www.greatgetaways.travel and send your resume to Barbara@greatgetaways.travel Please help us spread the word by sharing this post with your friends!
Enjoy this video of some of the places we’ve been:
Jan 08
Join Us for The Journey of A Lifetime!
Africa, Cruises, Great Getaways, India, Mauritius, South Africa, Travel No Comments »
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Cochin Nov, 16 2010 | Virtuoso's Voyager Club Shore Experience
DETAILS TO BE ANNOUNCED PLEASE NOTE: All Virtuoso shore events are capacity controlled and require a minimum number of participants to operate. Events are subject to change without notice. Virtuoso events are individually tailored for each date and arrival. Your event could be different than what’s noted here; but it will be designed to be memorable and to bring you a traveler’s view that you will treasure, and would otherwise miss entirely. Final details will be outlined in program letters provided by your Virtuoso host aboard ship. Please note that ground operators and other suppliers are independently owned and operated, and are not controlled by Virtuoso or Virtuoso Discoveries. Your participation in this event serves as your acknowledgment that neither Virtuoso nor Virtuoso Discoveries is responsible for the acts or omissions of these third parties. Onboard Hosts: Michael and Barbara King
Exclusives: One of the Following Options Must be Selected 45-days Prior to Sailing*: *Within 45-days the selected option may not be changed. Barbara King Great Getaways Travel
913.338.2244
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Jan 08
The Guide to Do-It-Yourself Cloning and other useful tips!
Great Getaways, Travel, Uncategorized No Comments »
Years ago I bought a book titled something close to the above lead line. It was hilarious and the desire to clone myself sometimes wanders through my brain! Trust me, the world does NOT need 2 of me – sometimes I just need another “me” to do all the activities I need and/or want to do. For example, I love to knit, get consumed with my computer, and could safari endlessly. Practically, I can’t do all 3 at one time (and no, I can’t take my laptop into the bush and maintain Internet connectivity yet) and also I have limited time for each activity. The solution? Voila—Do-It-Myself Cloning!
Well, I haven’t tried to clone myself (or anything else, for that matter!) so I am always on the lookout for reliable ways to do more, learn more, enjoy more in abbreviated amounts of time. How about you? Have you ever wished you could accomplish something in less time without sacrificing quality? Stay with me here - this all leads to my topic:
One of the areas that consumes a lot of time when planning a vacation is the planning, the logistics – where to go, when to go, what to do, what to pack, where to eat, yada, yada, yada. My career is dedicated to telling people where to go AND they look forward to the trip (is that the definition of a travel advisor or a diplomat or both?). At Great Getaways we’ve logged thousands of miles and many years collecting unique experiences and we use this knowledge when crafting your journeys…BUT…
We cannot be everywhere at all times experiencing everything about all destinations. What’s the solution, I hear you ask? For starters we have representatives of Great Getaways in over 90 countries around the world. I can call them, email them, and instantly get the latest, most accurate info for you. We also know many specialists who can dot the “i’s” and cross the “t’s” to insure you have the best experience at the best value. Of course, we also do research using the Internet and we encourage you, our clients, to do the same…BUT…
As is true for the buyer, let the reader beware! Just because you “saw it on the Internet” doesn’t mean it’s true. I’m amazed by how many people qualify their comments validity by adding “and I read it on the Internet”! You’re reading this on the Internet, aren’t you? How do you know what I say has merit. Of course, you can call me and I could fax you pages of my passport bearing stamps from many countries, and all you would know is that I’ve been to a lot of countries’ airports. Better yet, I’d send you to our Picasa web albums highlighting some of our trips! The point is that some websites are useful and some are not.
I just discovered a site that seems useful and I thought I’d share it with you: www.nextstop.com. I like the way it’s organized and intend to browse around there more thoroughly. Meanwhile, since I can’t be everywhere at one time, could you help me? Visit NextStop and try it out; then go to www.greatgetaways.travel and drop a comment on my blog. Please include any other sites you find helpful! Ciao!
Dec 21
Google and Great Getaways thanks you!
Great Getaways No Comments »
We just were notified that Great Getaways is a "Favorite Place" on Google maps! You found our business listing 1113 times and requested driving directions 54 times etween July 1 and 30 September 30, 2009! So whether you visit by phone, email, website, or in person, many thanks from all of us at Great Getaways! Welcome home!
The Great Getaways Family
Barbara, Michael, Judi, Becky, Ken & Shelly
Jun 09
Virgin Galactic Update!
Burt Rutan, Great Getaways, Space, Travel, Virgin Galactic No Comments »
The test program for WhiteKnight2, the VMS Eve, is escalating with approximately 2 test flights per week. Here are the key achievements:
Flown to 45,000ft
Flown 6.1 hours in a single flight
Pulling g’s at altitude up to 2.5g’s
Practiced putting the wheels up and down at various altitudes and speeds
Practiced a stall – meaning they shut down the engines and re-start them inflight.
Flown to a peak speed of 340 KTAS with the landing gear both up and down. This is approximately 630kph/390mph
For those interested KTAS stands for Knots True Air Speed and measures the speed of an aircraft relative to undisturbed air. You can find out more about this on Wikipedia.