"Okay, campers, rise and shine, and don't forget your booties 'cause it's cooooold out there today."

Jessica and I often find ourselves in a Groundhogs Day-esque conversation that goes something like this:

Random stranger: "So, you own a travel agency... that's great!"
Jessica and I: "Actually we're doing something different, it's not really an agency, we do x, y, and z"
Random stranger: "Oh.... I see...." (confused look)
(Pause)
Random stranger: "So what is it you do again?"

In honor of Bill Murray, or maybe because print lasts longer, we are going to lay out for all you loyal readers the niche we have created for ourselves and why we think it makes us unique... and frankly, just totally rad.

First off, if any of you are ever going to book a tour or cruise, come to us! Even if you know the cruise line you're going to take, when, where and how - we are your people. Here's why: If you let us book the tour/cruise for you, we'll share in the proceeds with you. Yep. We get paid by the cruises and tour companies to bring them clients. That means, if the cruise costs you $3,000 and you let us book it, it still costs you $3,000. *But* we'll give you money on the back end to outfit yourselves for the trip. What's the catch you ask? There isn't one.

Secondly, we got into this business to make a difference. We think the travel industry does a tremendous amount of harm to the environment, cultures and sites it visits. A round trip flight from Washington DC to Paris burns over a ton of harmful emissions into the atmosphere alone. Yikes. So, we've partnered with a number of organizations to do something about it. The first is Carbonfund.org. Moving forward, every client that books their trip through us will be receiving carbon neutral travel. What this means is, we will be purchasing carbon credits to offset the damage clients' trips are doing on the environment. When you travel, your plane, cars, trains, boats and even hotel rooms all release carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of fossil fuels which are causing the Earth’s climate to change and warm. These harmful fuels will have catastrophic results if we do not act to reduce them. What's better than Pangaea choosing to do this? Unlike other travel companies that claim to do this for their clients, we are offsetting EVERY portion of their trip (flight, hotel, cars/boats/trains) not just one or two pieces, and we are doing it at our own expense. That's right. We pay for all of it out of our own pocket. As if that's not enough, we've offset our annual business impact here at Pangaea.

Next, we will be also giving back to several leading global conservancies supporting various environmental causes. We will soon be posting the details of this program as well.

Lastly, we can do the simple stuff! If you want a hotel booked, an international flight quote, or a custom made adventure, we're here for you! Read more...

The Green Mile..... travel eco style!

So the word 'green' is being used quite frequently recently. For instance, NBC is in the middle of their green week, I am actually really excited to see David Schwimmer and Al Gore team up and act like super heroes. Hilarious.

Since all you out there are travel experts, you probably know how detrimental travel can be on the environment. That is why the term eco travel or green travel has created such a buzz. However, there are a lot of disreputable companies out there that are simply jumping on the green bandwagon. Sooooooo......I (in my infinite wisdom) have created a great list of the BEST eco-tour companies for all your inquiring minds. Upon creating this list I have taken into account a few things, such as why the company is green and how they are green.

1. Natural Habitat Adventures: Love them. This company is a pioneer in carbon-neutral travel, they off-set all the carbon emissions created by their cleints tours. They also provide their clients with the ability to off-set their flights, so people may decide to pay a little extra money to off-set the majority of damage.

2. National Geographic Expeditions: This is the magazine's tour company arm and the same dedication to sustainable travel exists. They have won a number of awards including Outside Magazine's Best Trip award. Side note, I am dying to take their trip to Nepal and Tibet!

3. Adventure Life Journeys: A wonderful tour company which works with local communities to create sustainable travel with the local environments. They won Conde Nast's Green Traveler award in 2006 and there is no question why. This is simply a well run and committed organization. Read more...

Pangaea Travel Voted Best of La Jolla

This week, Pangaea Travel was voted as having the best travel agents in La Jolla! Thanks to all of you that voted for us, and we look forward to many years to come. For those of you that don't know about us, please visit our Web site at: www.pangaeatravel.net.

We like to think that we are a lot different than other travel companies out there, so for all of you who are wondering what this means we thought we'd attach a list of ten things we are not:
1. We don't wear headsets; they hurt our heads and frankly, just look weird.
2. We've traveled the world to places that aren't limited to Caribbean cruises, and Baja, Mexico.
3. We don't sell packaged trips... Who wants cookie-cutter?
4. Neither of us are grumpy middle aged women. I promise.
5. We don't have 1984 Reading Rainbow travel videos playing in the corner of our store.
6. Not only do we say we care about the environment and conservation, we're actually doing something about it.
7. We believe tours of 150 people following a yellow flag waving maniac, should be outlawed by all governments.
8. We don't serve Kool-Aid, we serve Malbec and Rombauer.
9. Tacky travel posters are only good for starting a fire.
10. In fact, don't even call us travel agents, it just makes us angry. Read more...