lyricallava's TravelStream™ — Recent TravelPod.com entries TravelStream™ news feed for member lyricallava on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/lyricallava en-us Copyright ©2012 TravelPod.com Sun, 30 Sep 2007 20:47:03 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com Full Circle — Philipsburg, St. Maarten, Netherlands Antilles http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lyricallava/st._maarten_07/1191193440/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lyricallava/st._maarten_07/1191193440/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lyricallava/st._maarten_07/1191193440/tpod.html Mon, 01 Oct 2007 00:47:03 +0000 Caribbean Tourism Organization Internet Marketing Certificate Program for Tourism Organizations and web content managers.
Philipsburg, St. Maarten, Netherlands Antilles

Well folks. I am back home in Barbados. First I must say thanks to Gillian (gill-ian), the conference planner, for the swift work in getting someone to collect my mobile from front desk. I will call her on Monday to find out when I will actually get it in my hand but sweet reassurance. Secondly I want to say thanks to all 120 person who have been reading my travel blog. I am truly honored you find my travel drivel entertaining (smile). Thirdly I want to thank all 45 of the delegates (including myself) who made this conference such a wonderful learning experience. Somehow when I think about how I will apply it all I can't think! However, I have used that as a hint to review my notes and the slides shows the presenters so kindly made avaiable to us and the entire internet community via the onecaribbean.org website. Fourthly I want to thank my office, the Barbados Tourism Authority for giving me such a sterling opportunity. I feel burdened nevertheless to share my newfound knowledge with my peers. I have actually started with a Ning community dubbed Barbados Tourism Marketers. I will upload all the PowerPoints, including my own, which will more than likely be a collaboration with my colleague, Charles, who also made the trip. Fifthly I must thank Charles for helping me by taking some of my overweight from my suitcase and bringing back for me in his St. Maarten/ Caribbean bag, lol. You know those cloth bags that only tourists and your grandmother carries? Lol (That reminds me I gotta wash mine free of massage gel.) Sixthly and finally, I want to thank God for continuing my work-in-progress life with such an empowering chapter. These last few days have made me feel like I am growing in every area of my life in a positive way. I obeyed my pastor, for example and read my Bible every day at least twice a day. The last chapter I read before coming back was Joshua 21. This for me was so prophetic (eye-opening, for those who are not into the God-speak). It said to me that I will be stronger professionally (in the spirit and the natural) because of this trip and I believe it! So yeah... I made lots of friends, (sold all of the clothes I brought back in one day!), found deeper purpose as a citizen of the Kingdom of God and after today's ministry I am rearing and ready to go! Is this my last travel blog? I'm afraid so. But those who want to keep up with me can bookmark my regular blog at www.lyricallava.blogspot.com or drop me an email at lyricallava@yahoo.com. It's been fun and I must say I still can't believe that so many people have been reading my blog. I'm so proud of us... we're Web 2.0!!!
]]> Web 2.0 is not the future but the here and now — Philipsburg, St. Maarten, Netherlands Antilles http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lyricallava/st._maarten_07/1190724060/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lyricallava/st._maarten_07/1190724060/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lyricallava/st._maarten_07/1190724060/tpod.html Tue, 25 Sep 2007 18:02:44 +0000 Caribbean Tourism Organization Internet Marketing Certificate Program for Tourism Organizations and web content managers.
Philipsburg, St. Maarten, Netherlands Antilles

I recently had an evaluation meeting with my supervisor and he made it clear that Web 2.0 and B2B and B2C thinking make me ahead of my time and that I should use layman terms. While that might have been true within the four walls of my office back in Barbados, here in St. Maarten in this Tourism Internet Conference it is clear that I am right on time with what is happening globally! Without boring those who care nothing about the nuances of Internet marketing or giving you the run down about how Microsoft is trying to buy one of the most popular Web 2.0 platforms (i.e. Facebook), I'll say this much: (for those who only want to read about my off-conference activity scroll down to the section OFF COURSE ACTIVITY) Web 2.0 belongs to you and me. It is turning the web into two-way communication friendly and making it easier for us to say how we feel, good or bad, about any business, service or product and share it with millions of online users. What does this mean? It means that while DrSpot.com might want to filter the negative comments about his medicines on his website. It is not possible to silence dissenters, pundits or detractors by just blocking them off of our domain because they will band together and do it on their own website anyway. A classic example is www.barbadosfreepress.wordpress.com. What can businesses do in cases like these? Recognize that all positive comments on your site about your product, service or business raises a red flag in the mind of the discerning consumer - nothing is that perfect! Do field negative comments by conveying to that customer that you understand their issue, that you have put x, y and z in place to rectify it and finally depending on how damaging it is, I agree you might want to leave it off. However leaving them all off is a recipe for disaster, hence the birth of super cool websites like www.barbadosfreepress.wordpress.com - a group of un-silenceable Barbados-lovers, who have found their voice on the indomitable World Wide Web. So who is engaging in Web 2.0 - the Digg.coms, the Reddit.com, the PRWeb.coms, the Facebook.coms, the Ning.coms??? In marketing we call them the influencers, perhaps in "layman" terms they are better known as the affluent who are the first to invest and interact with new devices. As far as I can see they are the same characters our tourism marketing tries to woo to visit barbados or visitbarbados.org. This means that our marketing committees need to be on the ball with this new trend or get left behind as countries like Dubai jump right into to these seemingly unknown waters and do the butterfly and the backstroke with our former customers in swimming pools shaped like the Firefox icon lol. I am blessed to be at this conference and I can't wait to walk through the many open doors it continues to present. OFF COURSE ACTIVITY I've met some really interesting people during my trip - Annette from St. Vincent has a suitcase full of shoes lol. Paolo was born in South Africa, spent six years in Texas and now lives on the outskirts of Washington D.C. (I'd love to see his passport!) Abdullah has made it clear he is the kind of man your mother warned you about lol and Edward is loaded with punchlines and sarcasm to keep the party alive. On another note I confess I am guilty of wasting water but it takes so long to get warm and my husband can tell you there is noting I abhor more than a cold shower. And my final entry on my manic Monday in St. Maarten is this "the last price". What does this mean? Well according to the natives (well, Errol the waiter from St. Kitts) it's the password to start bargaining process with a store owner/ clerk on the price of an item. Go shopaholic go!
]]> Here I Am! — Philipsburg, St. Maarten, Netherlands Antilles http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lyricallava/st._maarten_07/1190578980/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lyricallava/st._maarten_07/1190578980/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lyricallava/st._maarten_07/1190578980/tpod.html Sun, 23 Sep 2007 21:16:46 +0000 Caribbean Tourism Organization Internet Marketing Certificate Program for Tourism Organizations and web content managers.
Philipsburg, St. Maarten, Netherlands Antilles

PHOTOS HERE - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=5 292&l=eac6d&i d=676108012 It took a while but I'm here in St. Maarten at last. Yesterday morning as my husband and I prepared to go to the Crane for a night of R&S (smile) I couldn't find my passport. God is so good. It turned up as soon as I said the name that's high above all names. So then we went to the Crane (okay I'll skip that part)... but I must say the Zen was worth all US $150 we paid. I enjoyed it all! Hokkaido, Miso Soup, Ichiban and hot cheese cake in a chocolate crust... yummy tummy! Right so St. Maarten... well I left Barbados at about 7:45. Check in was smooth... so was the Philadelphia cream cheese on my bagel from Chefette. (sorry, I keep ranting about food lol). No food on American Eagle, only Special K flakes and water. Met a man named Kevin who mans the global IT network for the American Embassay. He gave me some homework when I get back to the office... wants a guided Bridgetown Tour. I promised to speak to the Barbados Tourism Authority's resident historian, sports tourism consultant, Morris Greenidge. Kevin parted in San Juan when his diplomatic passport kicked in. I took some nice shots in the San Juan Airport (name escapes me), including the folk group of singers, dancers and musicians that woke me up with their spanish riffs and lingo. Almost missed my connecting flight paying US $5 for 4 AA batteries. That flight was wicked. The AA plane took off so fast my belly started to quiver like I when I was infatuated lol. I managed to get out of the airport quickly... get this... no customs. St. Maarten is 100% duty free!!!!! Did somebody say shopaholics paradise?!!! My course starts tomorrow so I am going to get a shower, some dinner, call my husband and tell him how much I wish he could be here and get some ZZZs. Bless family. Until tomorrow, God willing. BTW - can anyone tell me why my bladder goes haywire whenever I travel??? Snarff! PHOTOS HERE - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=5 292&l=eac6d&i d=676108012
]]> Count Down Philipsburg — Philipsburg, St. Maarten, Netherlands Antilles http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lyricallava/st._maarten_07/1190396820/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lyricallava/st._maarten_07/1190396820/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lyricallava/st._maarten_07/1190396820/tpod.html Sun, 23 Sep 2007 21:16:08 +0000 Caribbean Tourism Organization Internet Marketing Certificate Program for Tourism Organizations and web content managers.
Philipsburg, St. Maarten, Netherlands Antilles

It is so hectic! I have a deadline to meet for 3:00 p.m. which I hardly ever meet and still have to pack. Last night my pastor said when I make it big from studying this Internet marketing course not to forget my friends and family who were with me through the rough times! I feel taller naturally and spiritually as I get ready to embark on this trip and plan to take lots of photos. Which reminds me I need to add AA batteries and a conference note pad (like the ones in the pleather cases) to my long list of to-dos!
]]> Business Traveler Checklist — Philipsburg, St. Maarten, Netherlands Antilles http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lyricallava/st._maarten_07/1190267160/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lyricallava/st._maarten_07/1190267160/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lyricallava/st._maarten_07/1190267160/tpod.html Thu, 20 Sep 2007 06:39:41 +0000 Caribbean Tourism Organization Internet Marketing Certificate Program for Tourism Organizations and web content managers.
Philipsburg, St. Maarten, Netherlands Antilles

You learn so much when you travel. I haven't even boarded the plane already I am gathering information. Did you know that St. Maarten is a part of the Netherland Antilles group? The thing about the web is that you can find almost anything and everything so long as you are bold enough to enter the search criteria in google. I did a search for business travel tips and came up with 30 of the best travel tips! Then I went to facebook and thought, what is the best way to share this with my friends without seeming like I was bragging? And I stumbled upon the travelpod! Welcome again to my travel blog. I will keep you up-to-the-time as often as I can with photos and videos (well, I'll try the video thing) and everything! Cheers!
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