Sabine BaniSadr

"Kia Orana" is a Maori greeting used in the Cook Islands meaning "I wish you a long life" :).



My husband and I just returned from an amazing vacation on Rarotonga, the main island of the Cook Islands group in the South Pacific.
We had an incredible adventure and I wish I was still there. Rarotonga is very laid back und unpretentious: No glizzy shopping malls, no MacDonalds, no Pizza Hut, no Walmart, no CostCo - just simple, spectacular be...

Last month I had the good fortune of being invited by the Mazatlan Tourist Board and El Cid Hotels to come visit their beautiful city.

Remembering Mazatlan’s less than stellar reputation of the last 10 years or so, it certainly was not very high on my list of places to visit in Mexico. Gingerly, I accepted the invite and, along with 20 or so other travel agents, found myself Mexico bound within a couple of weeks.
Our group arrived underneath brilliant blue skies and we we...