It’s a Mighty Big World: My Why, My Way
Who am I ?
Hi everyone! My name is Laura Robertson and I’ve been a travel advisor since 2024.
I’ve been planning travel for myself, my husband, friends, and family for many years, solely for the joy of it. I love to research and to look at options.
I also am an obsessive planner and love to dive into the details. I love to plan trips throughout the U.S. with my friends, and am “Queen-of-the-Travel Planning-Spreadsheet”.
I have a comprehensive knowledge of World Geography and love to be a creative problem-solver.
I’ve been traveling outside Canada and the U.S. for 20 years, including many Caribbean cruises and adults-only all-inclusive resorts.
I’ve also traveled through France and Italy, and look forward to expanding my visits to other countries such as Germany, Austria, and Spain.
I can speak enough French, Spanish and Italian to get by, and know enough German to get myself into trouble!
Prior to my experience booking travel, I have worked in many facets of customer service, including insurance claims. I pride myself on being helpful and collaborative.
So this is my Travel Blog! It will help track my travels this year and in the future, and allow me to give special recognition to all the vendors who help make trips so special.
So, why Travel ?
Great question. "Why travel?" feels simple on the surface but gets deep fast. Here's a few ways to look at it:
1. Perspective Shift
Travel breaks your routine, challenges your assumptions, and opens your eyes to how others live. It can make your world both bigger and smaller at the same time—bigger in the sense of possibilities, smaller in the sense that you start to see shared humanity everywhere.
2. Growth
You learn a lot when you're out of your comfort zone—whether you're navigating a new city, trying to speak another language, or figuring out the public transportation system in a country where you can’t even read the signs.
3. Connection
Travel is a bridge—to people, history, nature, and culture. Even short interactions with strangers abroad can feel unexpectedly meaningful. And if you’re lucky, you meet new friends!
4. Appreciation
Leaving home often makes you appreciate it more—or at least see it with new eyes. It highlights the stuff you take for granted.
5. Joy & Wonder
Sometimes it’s just about standing in front of something beautiful or ancient or unexpected and thinking, “Whoa.” Those are the moments that stay with you.
How I like to Travel
Well, we’ve been told that we travel “like Diana Ross on Tour”. In other words, we don’t know how to pack light, and our other motto is that if the place we’re going isn’t as nice or as interesting as our home, then why leave the house? So you won’t see us going to 3rd world countries…..sorry. You also won’t see us flying Economy unless the flight is short (under 4 hours). We’re tall and we need the legroom, in addition to the ability to have extra baggage checked for our trip. (and a decent cocktail and glass of wine during the flight)
We also like a nice hotel room, so you won’t see us booking in a B and B. I get that many of you love them, it’s just not our thing. So now you know what you’ll be seeing (and what you won’t see) on my blog.
Where Should I go?
My email tagline is “It’s a mighty big world out there”.
And is IS ! this blog will cover some places we love to go to multiple times, and some places that have been on my bucket list for years, and that we’re finally going to see this year and in the next few years.
Here we are arriving in Honolulu in April of 2024 – a dream destination!
We’re coasting toward our late-60’s, and our agreement is to do the big trips prior to turning 70. Why? Well, we don’t have a huge comfort level with the unknown with respect to health, endurance, and willingness to tolerate some of the annoyances of travel. (you know, like those people in the airports who have never left the house, or surprise bad hotel rooms, cancelled flights, etc.)
So we’ve reserved our 70’s for road trips in Canada and the U.S. *(yes, we still love our American friends). The next few years are for long airline trips, unique cruises, and countries that are new to us.
Why use a Travel Advisor?
I hope you can open this article from a couple of months back…… it sums up why we travel advisors can be so helpful.
Here’s one caveat I will make in terms of what to expect – no, we don’t have “secret deals”. We are very good at researching and may be able to find unique pricing, but I think the days of cheap travel are over, at least for now. JMO
Do we work for free? More often than you could imagine. One of our goals is to cultivate a client base, and every hour of research for a new client can’t be invoiced if they don’t book a trip. Commissions are not large, and therefore, often fees are added for services. But we can always work with you on this, and so it never hurts to ask an advisor for help!
How do you get in touch with me for travel advice or blog questions?
Email works the best - either lrobertson@mywayholiday.com or lrobertson@travelonly.com
So let’s get to some fun stuff…………
Where have I been lately? Stay tuned for more of my blogs posted weekly!
