I was attending a conference, however it was still vacation to me and I wanted to be treated as such. It is my perspective that I am on vacation every time I travel, and I do not want to compromise on things that are going to enhance my travel experiences.There are some things I simply have learned by experience that I will not compromise. I do not want to compromise on transportation. When I arrived at the Orlando Airport and after waiting for my bags, I was ready to get to my resort and relax before the conference started. I headed to the shuttle service that was booked for me and was told that it would be 30 minutes or less before my shuttle would arrive. I was handed a pager and I sat and waited for almost 30 minutes for my shuttle to arrive.
While waiting, I decided that waiting was unacceptable to me. It was cutting into my relaxation time. When my pager went off and I looked up and saw that my transportation had arrived, it all became clearer and that is when I had my AHA moment! When I saw the 12-seated passenger van pull up, as the transportation I was receiving, at this moment, I realized that this was not how I wanted to start my vacation and nor did I ever want to settle for “shared transportation” again. Shared transportation is exactly what I received–an unattractive van with too many strangers.
After waiting for my shared transportation and delaying my relaxation because I had to ride through every stop on the way to my destination to drop off other passengers that I was sharing the service with because none of us were staying at the same hotel. I finally arrived at the resort, got myself checked in and headed to the breakfast buffet to finally get something to eat. I arrived at the breakfast buffet at 11:15 am to be told the buffet closes at 11:30am. I was frazzled and this is not way to start off a vacation.
I arrived at the Orlando airport at 9:30 AM. It took me 2 hours to get from the airport to the my room because I spent the majority of my time waiting on the shared transportation and dropping other passengers off.
My AHA Moment was—I am tired of accepting less than I deserve. I no longer want to compromise on the things that are going to enhance my situation. I work hard and deserve a few luxuries in my life. I am going to start enjoying those luxuries.
Erica James
Erica James Travel www.ericajamestravel.com