Travel Dog Tags are a HIT!

"I love this dog tag idea. We've been thinking about a simple gift for AltaVia clients -- ideally, one that can be mailed in an envelope.

I just bookmarked their web site. Very cool ordering tool, by the way...

Thanks for the idea, S&P!! Have fun in Cairo!"

~Rob Gulick, AltaVia Travel

American Tribal Leader Touts TravelTalkMEDIA Video

Sandy;

Great video and it will sure be a good bridge to other Tribes for future summits. Thanks and have a safe and successful trip.

Deni Leonard (Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon)

Click HERE to see the video!

Congrats To Two Successful Parents

Hi Sandy,

Was going through your newsletter and noticed the news about Michaella and Eric J. I would like to send my heartiest CONGRATS to you as parents and send all the best wishes and lots of luck to Michaella and Eric and a very successful future.

My advice to them …………… “if you want to be successful, follow the steps of your parents” ………… keep well and take care.

Karmenu

Stanford University Professor Applauds TravelTalkMEDIA

Vincent Yip, a lecturer at Stanford University, recently sent Sandy, Executive Producer and Host of TravelTalkMEDIA, the comments below in reference to a recent interview she did with Lloyd Lofthouse, China expert and author of "My Splendid Concubine".

"We are thrilled that you are able to take on unusual topics and be fair/truthful and not just be politically correct to please the majority. America is in critical times; look at the gas prices (I am cutting down my driving even though I own a Prius!!), food prices, high unemployment, lack of corporate moral, etc. I have been here off-and-on since 1965 and have never seen it more critical. If we don't reverse the downward trend, America will lose its moral and socio-political leadership among nations and one day be relegated to a secondary position UK (once an empire) is occupying now."

Vincent Yip
Lecturer,
Stanford School of Continuing Studies

The children of the Good Hope Kiwawa Children's Home
in Arusha, Tanzania.

Meet Filex Jacob Msalu, Director of the Sunset Art
Studio of Arusha, Tanzania. Filex was contracted to
paint this and other murals at the Arusha International
Conference Centre. The Sunset Art Studio features
creative designers of traditional and contemporary
East Africa Art. For more information,
e-mail Filex at filexjacob@yahoo.com.

Ask Sandy: Question: Could online hotel deal that's too good to be true have repercussions in the end? Answer: Maybe so.

Hello Sandy,

In answer to your email - briefly:

If the price is so unrealistic, it may be unenforceable. The same room, plus the price during a non-Spring break, plus a bad weather season, might be a valid contract.

Just let me know when a good time for an interview/segment might be and I'll be sure to carve out the time.

Al Anolik

Travel Lawyer

Anolik Law Corporation

San Francisco, CA

http://www.travellaw.com/

Ask Sandy: Could hotel deal too good to be true have repercussions in the end?

Hi...

Tried to get into your archive regarding a situation. We booked 4 rooms at a 5 Star Hotel in the Miami area for next year's spring break. The price for the room was $112.50 a night but probably should have been $1125.00. I booked the rooms, printed a confirmation, gave them a credit card number for deposit.

Can the hotel come back and say, OOPS, we made a mistake and then charge us the price they want to or do they have to stick by their quoted price? I could pay for the stay completely up front before they catch on to this or should I do nothing? Help!

Karen K.
Dayton, Ohio

[Stayed tuned to Sandy's Travel Blog for an answer!]

A Mother's Day Thank you

Hi Sandy,

I want to thank you for playing my interview this morning on your show. I do appreciate your help and support. I am so impressed with your accompaniments and your interview skills.

I'm in the process of updating my online class and textbook. Each week I hear something else I want to include. I've also used your website and a number of your sponsors and listed websites as additional resources for my students.

Hope you're making time for fun on your journey. Happy Mother's Day!

Thank you again,

Cherie Anderson

Professional Tour Management Training

http://www.tourtraining.com/

tourtraining@aol.com

949-830-8603

Happy Mother's Day from Sandy

Hi there and Happy Mother's Day weekend! We are celebrating here at TravelTalkRADIO by offering a free book! All you have to do is e-mail me a book name that you found in our library. If we have it, we will send it to you and if we don't, we will find something that is close to it!

How's that! They don't call me Sandy Claus for nothing!

Have a great weekend and we are working on some great things coming up in China, Egypt, South Korea, Tanzania, and more! So stick around and let us know what you want to hear and were you want to go!

Safe travels and be sure to hug a Mom this weekend!

Sandy

Catch up with TravelTalkMEDIA Executive Producer and Host Sandy Dhuyvetter on Sandy's Travel Blog

(May 08, 2008 – San Diego, CA) – It’s hard to keep up with TravelTalkMEDIA Executive Producer and Host Sandy Dhuyvetter – until now.

Logging thousands of miles each month traveling around the world, you just never know what country she's going to turn up in next.

Listeners and viewers now have a new way to catch up with the international traveler and radio host – via Sandy’s travel blog.

Just visit http://travelwithsandy.blogspot.com, or click on the link that says "Sandy’s Blog” on the right side of TravelTalkMEDIA’s homepage at www.traveltalkmedia.com.

At Sandy’s travel blog, viewers can read TravelTalkMEDIA’s latest press releases, see listener and guest e-mails, find great travel pictures taken by the TravelTalkMEDIA staff, read the latest travel stories from TravelTalkMEDIA, take a viewer poll and find links to other great travel websites.

Sandy’s travel blog is a unique and fun way to see what’s going on and what’s new at TravelTalkMEDIA. Plus, you can read messages from Sandy as she’s on the go, traveling around the world to bring you the latest and greatest news in the travel industry.

“We're pleased to welcome Nick Gosling to our TravelTalkMEDIA team. Nick is a young and up-and-coming travel journalist and we're delighted that he'll be helping us upkeep this blog," said Ms. Dhuyvetter. "The travel blog is a more casual information tool that allows our audience a more personal look at what we are doing at TravelTalkMEDIA."

Have questions about the show, suggestions or just want to say “Hi”? Leave a message on Sandy’s travel blog at http://travelwithsandy.blogspot.com.

“I have pledged my time to communicate in this venue and invite our audiences to join me to discuss their passions, their questions and ideas for a better tomorrow. We invite you to use our resources and build your network. If your interest is anywhere near the vicinity of travel, lifestyle, peace, prosperity and bringing the world together for better understanding, then you’ll enjoy it yourself. We’re looking forward to hearing from you.”

Think you’ve got a great travel photo?

E-mail it to nick@traveltalkmedia.com and TravelTalkMEDIA staff will post it on Sandy’s travel blog. Just include your name, where you’re from and what the photograph is of.

Don’t delay – sign on to Sandy’s travel blog at http://travelwithsandy.blogspot.com today and see what she’s up to next.

A "Grand" View

A view of the Grand Canyon from the South Rim.

Staff Photo by Nick Gosling, TravelTalkMEDIA

TravelTalkMEDIA (TTM) Announces Coverage of Africa Travel Association’s 33rd Annual Congress in Arusha, Tanzania

May 6, 2008 – San Diego, California – Sandy Dhuyvetter, Executive Producer and Host of TravelTalkMEDIA, RADIO and TV, announced today that TTM will attend the Africa Travel Association’s (ATA) Annual Congress in Arusha, Tanzania, from May 19-23.

The ATA’s Annual Congress brings together tourism industry experts from many countries in Africa as well as North America, Europe and Asia. TravelTalkMEDIA provides visibility and event coverage for ATA through the company’s many distribution channels, including conventional and online radio and TV as well as online via the Internet.

“We’ve been a strategic media partner with the Africa Travel Association for the past five years and we really believe in their mission to bring Africa together and the valuable contribution ATA and its members make in bringing visibility to the tour and travel industry on the continent,” said Ms. Dhuyvetter.

“If you go to TravelTalkMEDIA.com and put ‘Africa’ into our internal search engine, you’re going to find many hours of programming that highlight the ATA and many of the countries that make up its membership. The ATA conference attracts tourism leaders from African nations and their ministries, and through educational forums, presentations and keynote speakers, each one of the nations is able to share their experiences and learn how to utilize their resources and build their economies through tourism.”

TTM will produce two back-to-back live radio programs while in Tanzania. The first show, which will be broadcast live from Arusha on Sunday, May 18th, will highlight the ATA, the Congress and its members, while the second show on Sunday, May 25th will focus on Tanzania as a destination and its many offerings to the traveler.
TTM has a long history of promoting tourism to Tanzania and in 2006, TravelTalkRADIO was honored with the 6th Annual Tanzania Tourism Board Media Award.

“This is our first time in Arusha and we are especially excited because Tanzania has been one of our long time destination favorites,” said Dhuyvetter. “Tanzania is one of the best countries to go to for your first experience of Africa – with a truly democratic government and conservancies that protect over 25 percent of its land, we believe Tanzania is a exemplary model for many African countries to follow.”

The five-day Congress program in Arusha will address topics such as new tourism growth markets, Asia outbound travel, and social responsibility in the travel industry. The event will include roundtables for ministers, tour operators and suppliers, networking events, a marketplace expo, host country days, gala dinners and award ceremonies, as well as pre- and post-country tours. The ATA’s Young Professionals Network and African Diaspora network, which were established at ATA’s 10th Annual Eco and Cultural Tourism Symposium in Nigeria in November of 2006, will also meet at the 33rd Congress.

In May of 1998, ATA held its first ever Congress in Arusha; and in December 2003, Zanzibar hosted ATA’s Eco and Cultural Tourism Symposium. Last year’s 32nd Annual Congress was held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from May 6-11.

About the Africa Travel Association (ATA): The Africa Travel Association is the premier global travel association promoting tourism to Africa and intra-Africa travel and partnership since 1975. ATA members include ministries of tourism and culture, national tourism boards, airlines, hoteliers, travel agents, tour operators, travel trade media, public relations firms, students, NGOs, individuals and SME's. Upcoming ATA events include ATA's 11th Annual Eco and Cultural Tourism Symposium in Djibouti City, Djibouti from January 19-23, 2008 ATA's first Africa Sports and Tourism Market from 27-28 February at the Jacob K. Javits Center in New York, and ATA's 33rd Annual Congress in Arusha, Tanzania from May 19-23, 2008. For more information, visit ATA online at www.africatravelassociaton.org or call 1-212-447-1357.

Editorial Contact:
Nick Gosling
TravelTalkMEDIA
+1 760 753 1114

To Sandy, From Louie (D'Amore, President of the International Institute of Peace Through Tourism)

Dear Sandy,

TravelTalkMEDIA has had a meteoric growth since your beginnings – so something is working.
I think more than patience, it's your dynamic, positive and always smiling personality!
You also have a great business and life partner in Patrick.
Had a look at the website – excellent design and content!
Look forward to seeing you somewhere soon – and not later than October.
By the way, this is again the “Week-end of Hope” here in Stowe, Vt., as I recall – we did an interview exactly a year ago today here.

All the best,
Lou

To Louie, From Sandy

Wow, we have such sweet memories Louie!
Thank you for the kind words. I am very grateful for Patrick; he makes my job so much fun, especially when we can travel together.
He will be with me in Tanzania and I am very happy about that too.
Wish you could join us. I wish you all could join us in this beautiful paradise.

warmest,
Sandy

Dear Sandy Dhuyvetter,

I train professional tour directors and guides online through over 1,500 colleges in the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Since the course is online, I have trained students throughout the world, including Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Nigeria, England, Italy, Russia, Bulgaria and more.

I’ve been training through the colleges since 1993, with my goal to increase the professionalism and opportunities for all tour directors and guides. You would be surprised how little most people know of our careers, especially in the U.S. I wrote my textbook, the "Tour Director Training Guide", to promote training in the community colleges. In most countries it takes between nine months and two years of training. The U.S. has very little training available for travel careers other than for travel agents.

If you think your listeners would be interested in knowing about the opportunities in local, domestic and international tours and programs, please let me know. I am available for interviews. Additional information and press releases are available on my website at http://www.tourtraining.com/. Thank you for your consideration.

Cherie Anderson
Professional Tour Management Training
http://www.tourtraining.com/

Sandy's smile is a charm says e-mailer

Hi Sandy,

It was a pleasure meeting you at the Airline Distribution conference. I must compliment you for a beautiful smile you have that makes one so relax and wanting to talk to you more. If ever I have a chance you will be my mentor and I must learn to smile like you.

I hope you have a good trip home and if you are in Kuala Lumpur please do give me a call.

Stewart Kwan
Mainstage Malaysia

Tanzania: Not A Bloody Hell

Dear All at Travel Talk Radio,

The world contains small pockets of paradise found on very few places on earth. I am in Tanzania, the Land of Kilimanjaro, in East Africa.

Some 140 kilometers south of Kilimanjaro there are a range of mountains millions of years older than Kilimnajaro [South Pare Mountains], scientifically referred to as part of the Eastern Arc chain of mountains.

This is where you can find plants and animal species found nowhere else on earth. My place is strategically located to overlook Tanzania's 15th newest national park, Mkomazi (Game Reserve), where one-third of plants classified as unique in the world can be found, as well as 90-percent of all botanical species in Tanzania.

I AM NOT IN BLOODY HELL. ON THE CONTRARY I AM IN a little known PARADISE in the South Pare mountains. My clarion call is "BEYOND WILDLIFE A COMMUNITY EXPERIENCE."

Please visit us at www.tonalodge.org. My very best wishes to you all and thanks for asking.

Elly Kimbwereza

Managing Director of the TONA Lodge

Mbaga Village, Tanzania

Crowds Throng the Streets of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, for the Olympic Torch

Malaysians celebrated the passing of the Olympic torch through Kuala Lumpur last Monday, April 21.

LIVE from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: The Olympic Torch Goes On

The Olympic torch made its appearance in Malaysia during a mid-afternoon run on Monday, April 21, in the capital city of Kuala Lumpur. The 16.5 kilometer long relay began from historic Independence Square, passing in front of several city landmarks before coming to an end at the Petronas Twin Towers at Kuala Lumpur City Center (KLCC).

Security was tight throughout the parade route and, as an additional precaution, the arrival of the ceremonial run at KLCC was pushed up an hour early. A team of 1,000 personnel from the Malaysian Police Special Action Squad guarded the event and escorted the torchbearers. As heavy rain fell throughout the late afternoon, the cheering crowds at the city center were undeterred, waiting cheerfully and patiently for the moment when the torch would arrive. During the final arrival of the run at the twin towers, umbrellas were in every hand and celebrators wearing yellow, blue and green rain gear and waving Chinese flags was the colorful backdrop that could be seen from every room at the adjoining luxury hotel, the Mandarin Oriental.

In conjunction with the Olympic torch run, music and food and celebration were the course of the day. As night fell, the party continued as the people of Malaysia proudly noted to the world that the torch had come and left their country safely.

The last time the torch came through Malaysia was during the 1964 Japanese Olympics.

The next stop for the 2008 torch run will be Jakarta on April 22, and then the flame heads onto Australia, Japan, South Korea, North Korea, Vietnam and finally Hong Kong at the end of April before reaching its final destination of Beijing.