5 Top 5s To Get To Know Me Better

5 Top 5s To Get To

Know Me Better

(or for worse)

June 20, 2020

I had the idea this week to completely blank all things travel, and to write about my likes and dislikes outside of travel in order to further the rapport I have with our clients, or perhaps completely destroy it. However, we do have some rather important news to share this week, so I will perform my duty and give you the details.

As if to emphasize the seismic shift in the travel industry, and in particular to give you an idea of what travel planning will look like post COVID, we are thrilled to announce the launch today of Reco from Tripadvisor.
Yes, this huge behemoth of the travel industry, helping over 463 million travelers a month, is throwing its weight behind luxury travel advisors, because even they now see the extraordinary value we bring to our clients. We are extremely excited to have been invited to be a part of the launch with just 150 advisors located all around the world. The plan is to create a Trip Designer community with travel experts who are here to help you create your next adventure and travel with ease.

If you had told me 6 months ago that J5Travel would have a partnership with Tripadvisor you would have heard my belly laugh over on the west coast, but here we are, and I have been extremely impressed with the direction our discussions took, and the platform they have designed specifically for travel advisors to create entire trips for adventurous travelers. If you're interested in what this looks like you can follow Reco on Instagram HERE and we'd love for you to check out my Reco profile HERE. The platform is designed to work best on a mobile phone, so bear that in mind.

I honestly have absolutely no idea if this will generate solid business referrals for us or be a complete bust, but what it definitely does mean is that the travel advisor is BACK in a big way, and may never have been appreciated more. I know I have felt a lot of love from our clients over the last few months, and it has truly helped to keep J5Travel focused and committed to being better than ever, whenever you are ready to plan again. Thank you for sticking with us.

In other news, we have just 2 spaces left for our private, intimate Italian Cooking Class which will come to us live from Rome! Discover all the secrets about four-cheese sauce and fresh pasta making, as well as many anecdotes about Italian food culture. Make sure to pour yourself a glass of wine, it will make the class much more fun and it really won't matter how our farfalle turns out!

Our private, complimentary event is June 26th 4:30pm to 6.30pm eastern US time.

Please click the button below to register. First come, first served.

Show Me the Pasta

Moving on, here as promised is a veritable feast of my personal non-travel Top 5s, the ezine format I have maintained all the way from week #1, and that seems to have been enjoyed since the very beginning. I'd love to have a raging argument with anyone who disputes my rankings below, so bring it on (email preferred).

My 5 Non-Travel Top 5s

Yes, I've been binge watching with the rest of you these past few months and my absolute favorite show ever was only discovered during this period!

Here they are, the unquestionable Top 5 TV series of all time.

1. Dark (above) - Mind-blowingly complicated and twisting sci-fi mystery extravaganza. The fact it's in German only helps I think. Season 3 coming on Netflix June 27th. Be ready!
2. Breaking Bad - I never thought it would be surpassed.
3. ER - had me from Episode 1 all the way back in 1994 and couldn't take my eyes off of Julianna Margulies and George Clooney for the next 15 years.
4. The West Wing - I'd love to see them bring this back now...
5. Homeland - almost lost me in Season 4, but came back really strong. Missing it.

Movies
Well these certainly jump all over the place genre-wise, so not exactly sure what that says about me...
1. Toy Story 4 - how did they keep getting even better?
2. Run Lola Run (above) - you'll have to dive deep into Netflix to find this one now I think. Brilliant original concept at the time.
3. Once - downloaded everything that Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova did after crying through the last 10 minutes of this beautiful musical masterpiece.
4. Alien - scarred me for life back in 1980!
5. Boyhood - the greatest directing feat of all time.

Bands
My British roots somewhat betray me a bit here, right?
1. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band - baby, I was born to run.
2. Embrace - a fiercer version of Coldplay
3. Coldplay (live in SFO above)- a calmer version of Embrace
4. Snow Patrol - an Irish version of both the above
5. U2 - my original #1, but a few albums have missed for me in the last decade

Countries
Sorry, I couldn't resist. Here are my personal favorite countries in the world, visited so far!
You get no explanation, or again I'd be writing all night.
1. New Zealand (above)
2. Laos
3. Thailand
4. Croatia
5. Peru

Guilty Pleasures
1. Toffee Crisp (above) - I once won a bet to go a year without eating one of these British candy treats and it nearly killed me.
2. Bacon Sarnie (sandwich) - has to be thick-cut British or at a pinch Canadian bacon. Sorry, the thin and fatty USA bacon doesn't work. Brown sauce, rather than ketchup.
3. Taylor Swift - I have been know to sing along to Love Story
4. Twiglets (below) - hmm, maybe I miss British snacks more than I thought. Knobbly, crispy and coated with a yeast extract that's a bit like Marmite. Delicious, right?
5. Airline Lounges - yes, it's travel again, but they make such a difference to my journeys in a regular year.

If you need any travel advice in the current travel environment or you're ready to plan let us know by clicking here.

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