“Founded in 1997, Admiral Travel International (ATI) owners Malaka and Ryan Hilton rapidly established a niche in the luxury travel market by offering one-of-a-kind escorted group departures to Egypt and South Africa.

Today, ATI is recognized as a leading Virtuoso Member agency for the expertise, creativity and exceptional experiences our consultants create for individuals and groups.”

Why Virtuoso?

REST ASSURED, YOU’RE WORKING WITH THE BEST
Only 264 of 30,000 US travel agencies have been invited to join Virtuoso, North America’s most respected network of elite travel professionals.

As a proud member of Virtuoso, Admiral’s team of specialists automatically ranks in the top 1% of travel agencies. Our Virtuoso affiliation represents decades of professional experience, worldwide connections and product, lifestyle & destination expertise. We enjoy personal relationships with the world’s most respected cruise, tour and hotel providers.

When Condé Nast Traveler chose the top 100 travel agents for 1999, 2000 and 2001, the vast majority of them were affiliated with Virtuoso. The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, and CNN repeatedly rely on Virtuoso agents for pertinent travel advice and information.

With full travel planning capabilities, Experience Recess is well positioned to help your travel dreams become a reality. Travel planning can be incredibly time consuming. With just one phone call to us, we are able to manage all of the details. You simply have to show up on departure day!

We look forward to being of service and managing all of your travel needs! Remember, life is a playground – go experience it!

Travel the World With These 10 Time-Lapse Videos.

We took a few minutes to enjoy RECESS at our desk. The visual vacation these videos gave us is a great reminder of the words of St. Augustine:

“The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.”

What are your travel plans this year? Let us help you to explore the world!

Pinterest has become one of the fastest growing websites in history. We love the visual inspiration that Pinterest provides. We have started a board specifically for images that remind us about recess. What else would you add? We would love your contributions and suggestions. Click on the link below to take a peek at our current vision board specifically about recess. What a bucket list we have started!

Recess.

On this day of love, we can’t help but get giddy about places around the world deemed the “Most Romantic Places to Kiss Around the World.”  The brilliant people over at Conde Nast Traveler have compiled a list (Click the link below). Enjoying RECESS in any of these places would be delightful, don’t you think?

Hope Cupid has been good to you today on this Valentine’s Day!

Most Romantic Places to Kiss Around the World : Daily Traveler : Conde Nast Traveler.

Planning travel outside the United States? First, get your U.S. passport.

Passport Day in the USA is March 10th

On Saturday, March 10 only, apply for your U.S. passport at a Regional Passport Agency without an appointment. You will be able to apply for standard processing (4-6 weeks) or pay an additional $60 for expedited processing (2-3 weeks, door-to-door). Passport Day in the USA events are being held at Regional Passport Agencies and many Passport Acceptance Facilities across the country in communities like yours. If you’ve been waiting to get your passport, this is the time!

Click here for more information and to find a local office: Passport Day in the USA.

Check out these great tips from CNN.com

How to plan a round-the-world trip – CNN.com.

We are ready to help your dream come true! Book your next vacation today!!

Hasn’t the dawn of the internet caused a decrease in the need for working with a travel agent? NO! We all agree that the internet provides the vehicle to learn about new and exciting places but someone still has to take the time to actually coordinate all the details. On average, we spend 10-12 hours coordinating a 2-week trip overseas for our clients. If you spent 10 hours planning your vacation, you would need a vacation from your vacation planning! Isn’t there something else you would like to do with 10-hours?

As “Architects of Experiences,” we are well positioned to step in to ease the burden of travel planning. Wouldn’t you rather just make one call to your personal concierge to discuss your travel desires rather than being glued to your computer researching which 4-star hotel will meet your needs?

Coordinating your travel plans is just one way we help design a lifestyle management program that allows you to benefit from the gift of time!

We were excited to see Virtuoso CEO Matthew Upchurch, appearing on NBC’s TODAY show this  morning. Matthew was interviewed by the TODAY show’s Ann Curry for a segment titled “When to Use a Travel Agent.”

We look forward to helping you plan your next trip!

If you are reading this article, it’s more than likely between the hours of 9-5 and you are sitting at your desk (which is owned by the company), reading this on your computer (which the company provides) and taking a “break” from your “demanding” work (which the company pays you to do). From the outside, you look busy because your eyes are aimed at the screen. This should make your manager happy. The reality is that this virtual “smoke break” will not be just the standard 15-minute break from your workload. Instead, it will morph into 2.09 hours per 8-hour workday, not including your lunch break or allocated break time, according to American Online and Survey.com [1] That’s 2.09 hours PER employee. Now multiply that by the number of employees you see in your immediate eyesight and you realize that there is a whole lot of nothing being done each day. The research by American Online and Survey.com has shined a bright light on the fact that employees are wasting twice as much time as their employers think they are wasting. And to really add salt to the employer’s wounds, Salary.com ran the numbers and found over $750 Billion (yes, with a B!) is spent on salaries (translation= compensation for actual work) for work that was never performed. Who’s pulling a fast one on whom?

Now before the employees start muzzling me for exposing the dirty little secret, it’s important to take a look at why they are spending so much time sitting at their desks without actually producing any relevant work for their employers. Given the current economic implosion, it’s easy to justify the feeling of burnout most employees are experiencing and the overwhelming inability to manage work / life balance.

53% of employees would opt for a personal assistant rather than a personal trainer. [2]

Only 14% of Americans take two weeks or more at a time for vacation. The average American spends more time in the bathroom than on vacation. [3]

88% of employees say they have a hard time juggling work and life. [4]

70% of working fathers and working mothers report they don’t have enough time for their children. [5]

64% of Americans report that time pressures on working families are getting worse, not better. [6]

Work is inevitable but does it mean we have to give up our personal life for the sake of a paycheck? Not at all. It just means that employers should recognize that work / life balance is a huge motivator for employees. So if you can’t beat ‘em, why not join ‘em? A corporate concierge program can bring sanity to an otherwise scattered workplace filled with unsuspecting managers overseeing unproductive workers.

Texas Instruments is a perfect example of a company that understands happy, stress-free employees make for profitable champions for the business. According to the Texas Instruments website, in 2010, their concierge program served more than 2,900 U.S. employees and fulfilled more than 8,000 requests. They also expanded on-site services, providing 1,276 employees an opportunity to save a trip away from the work site during business hours. [7]

Implementing a corporate concierge program equates to:

• The ability to retain and recruit quality talent
• A far more productive and engaged workforce
• A reduction in absenteeism
• A lower level of stress within the workplace

Corporate concierge programs can be operated either virtually, with employees having access to the concierge through email or a dedicated website, or on-site, where employees can interact with the concierge in a face-to-face engagement. The concierge is retained to provide a solution to the employee’s work/life balance problem.

Frequent requests include:

• travel coordination
• errand running,
• household management
• personal shopping
• personal assistance and
• event planning

Imagine stopping by the concierge desk in the morning on your way into work with a request for designing and planning tonight’s dinner party; only to leave the office 8 hours later armed with the necessary groceries, a customized cd for background music, a paired wine selection and personalized favors for each guest. A corporate concierge becomes the one-stop solution for the time strapped employees. Without a concierge, the employee must manage this to-do list from their own desk and their lunch hour is spent running the errands.

As the workforce begins to shift from retiring Baby Boomers to Generation X & Y prodigies, employers need to evolve. What worked “back in the day” in terms of designing a workplace is completely foreign to today’s up and comers. Gen X & Y demand instant gratification because they have grown up in a world of access.

Although this might seem extravagant to those over the age of 45, the “children are the future.” (cue Whitney Houston).  I think this is what Darwin would call “survival of the fittest.” The strongest employee benefits package will become King of the Jungle. If you don’t make their life easier, I’m sure your competitor would be glad to invite them over. Now is the time to be a trailblazer and create a workplace that can be a place for a Gen X / Y’er to park themselves for a while because their work/life balance needs are met, versus just being a hop, skip and a jump on their resume.

Nicole R. Matthews is Chief Experience Officer of RECESS by The Henley Company, a concierge firm specializing in events travel and lifestyle experiences. She set out to create a company that gives clients the gift of time to experience life. Living a life that incorporates RECESS is a commitment, not just a hope and a dream.  Working with corporate clients, busy individuals and executive families, Nicole designs lifestyle management programs that create work / life balance. She champions the implementation of corporate concierge programs because she knows happy employees are productive employees. When she is not in the office, Nicole can be found with a Diet Coke in hand planning a trip to somewhere that requires her passport, kicking a soccer ball, drooling over fabulous accessories, scanning her social media sites (@henleyco / FB= Recess By The Henley Company) or belly laughing with her family. Follow her journey on her blog: www.henleyco.wordpress.com.

[1] Salary.com, 2005

[2] Circles, 2001

[3] The Families and Work Institute

[4] Aon Consulting, 2000

[5] Family Matters Survey; The National Partnership for Women & Families, 1998

[6] The National Partnership for Women & Families; Family Matters Survey, 1998

[7] Texas Instruments, 2012