The Best Business Trip Ever

Wendy Swenson CTC tells us about her best business trip ever in Honolulu, Hawaii.

I was chosen to represent our company, World Travel Bureau, at the Classic Vacations annual recognition of the top sales agencies of the Classic products. Classic Vacations creates customized packaged tours to Hawaii, and other locations in the world which include cars, hotels and airfare, and provides great value to our leisure clients. We have a long-time relationship with Classic which is a benefit to our clients in that if there are any difficulties or obstacles to overcome we have a direct connection to resolution.

Classic created this business trip for us and we could bring a friend or relative. I chose my friend, Stephanie, to accompany me. The 3 day business trip consisted of scrumptious cocktail parties or dinners in the evenings, and activities to choose from for the days, or we could just have the days free for our own exploration.

Steph and I have each been to Honolulu many times over the years, so we had done all the usual sightseeing activities. For this trip we wanted to do those things we had never been able to do previously and luckily for us, they were listed on the activity options we were offered.

We arrived at the Halekulani hotel and entered our ocean view room, right on Waikiki Beach. From here we could enjoy our favorite beach, Waikiki, and wonderful views of Diamond Head.

Our first activity was to go Swim with the Dolphins at the Kahala Resort, which was scary at first, but really cool. I was afraid the dolphin would hit me with his tail, but he was very careful and even though we were standing there petting him, he would glide away without touching us. Stephanie loves dolphins so this was probably the highlight of the trip for her.

The next day we took a Group Surf Lesson which was 2 hours long and included a photographer who took photos of us so we could collect the CD the next day. I’ve tried to surf many times on my own, and I knew I needed some help, as the body gets stiffer with age –a surf lesson was what I needed. They showed us techniques which would get us standing up on the board and riding the wave. They did have to push us into the wave, but the important thing was the riding of the wave, not catching it! This was my highlight of the trip and I cannot wait to take another lesson next time I’m in Honolulu.

The third day, we went on a horseback riding Adventure which was in Makaha Valley. Our group was bussed to this location and we were divided in two. One part of our group would go on the horseback ride for an hour, while the other half would go on a nature walk to see ancient artifacts and places of worship. Then we had a very nice lunch before we switched to the other activity. It was a very nice day.

On the final night we went to the awards banquet, and heard the speeches and were brought up on stage to receive our awards and recognition. We had to go home to rest up from our really, fun-packed business trip, with great memories and photos.

If you want to plan an Awards or Recognition business trip for your employees, this is a very nice way to go.

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