
My wife, Joy and I. Our first night in Kenya.
I have mentioned a few times that this year my wife, Joy and I are celebrating 25 years of marriage. Well some of you have noticed I have not been blogging as often as normal over the past few weeks and that’s because my wife and I have just had our celebratory holiday!
We decided to go to Africa. Kenya to be more precise and include a safari.
We booked the holiday in February this year. The 7 months to the actual holiday soon passed.
As it got nearer and nearer the more excited we got but also the more apprehensive.
What shall we take with us?
How much money do we need?
Will the kids (well adult kids – 20 and 22) be OK without us?
Will the house still be here or trashed when we return?
We booked “all inclusive”, so we didn’t need to take much money with us.
We looked on-line to check what was needed for the safari trip.
And we told the kids to behave themselves!
And what about our on-line business?
I was working even longer hours to fit everything in and keep my blogs active while on holiday.
The departure date arrived.
We packed.
We were ready.
We took the train to Gatwick. We were on holiday!
We checked in.
The holiday company gave us free access to the ‘first-class’ lounge. That was nice of them.
A nice comfy lounge. Free snacks. Free drinks. It was a great start to our celebratory holiday.
The flight was full.
A nine-hour flight ahead of us.
Now before I go much further, I want to tell you how much this holiday cost us. $10,000. Just have that in mind.
So we get on the plane.
The seats are bigger than normal and the legroom is good.
We have these little TV screens in the backrest of the chair in front of us.
We get settled. We try and relax but we are excited.
First thing the air hostesses do?
Try and sell us a drink.
$5 for a coke.
$6 for a coffee.
They want us to pay for drinks!
I just paid $10k for this holiday!
Next thing. Would you like to upgrade your film choice on the TV screen?
Another $10
“No thanks”
Three hours into the flight. It’s now 11pm.
At last, we are served our in-flight dinner.
I cheekily ask, “Is it free?”
“Of course! Chicken or beef?”
“Chicken or beef what?”, I ask
“Don’t know”
“You don’t know?”
“No, we were just told ‘chicken or beef’”
My wife and I both chose chicken.
It was OK.
We also had a free coffee!
WOW!
Then they come around and try and sell you duty free goods.
Then breakfast.
The breakfast boxes were just dumped on our flight tables.
No smile.
No eye contact.
Where’s the customer service?
They need training I thought.
Unless I can help it, I’ll never fly with this company again.
I can tell you the holiday got much, much better!








Andrew
is highly knowledgeable about blogs, and you can get your blog up and running
successfully and fast. Andrew has helped me immeasurably with
my blog and he is patient and good natured and a wonderful teacher.
The best blog builder, and the best blog maintenance, I've ever met is Andrew Rondeau. This fellow is an authentic professional in every sense of the word. He's lightning fast, knowledgeable, competent, a skilled listener. He goes the extra mile. He's able to share his passion for his work and products without being pushy. He as other great internet skills, too, but his most impressive attribute is mastery of website building.
I happened to stumble upon Andrew's website (WeBuildYourBlog.com) while searching for blogging services that would help me start my very own blog. I was a total newbie when it came to the blogging world. Fast forward 3 months and not only do I have my own awesome blog, but friends and family are actually asking me how to start their own blog and I am able to set their blogs up for them! In only 3 months under Andrew's guidance I went from total newbie to being sought after. Thanks Andrew!
Andrew
has extensive knowledge about internet marketing, SEO and building web
sites/blogs. His course explained everything in an easy to understand
way and I now have a web site that is generating me new clients and
producing income from internet product sales.
Without Andrew, I wouldn't even have a blog -- I would still just be sitting here, staring at my computer, feeling confused and helpless. With Andrew, I no longer fear confusion and it's impossible to feel helpless. He exerts any and all necessary efforts to resolve any problem or perplexity -- quickly, kindly, intelligently, up to and including IM exchanges in real time via skype. I would urge anyone at any level of expertise (or not) to make the most of his extraordinary talent.
I was introduced to Andrew by a dear friend Corinne Edwards and Andrew as transformed by blog in ways that have reaped results. My membership has gone up and my blog always looks clean and easy to read. Whenever I send Andrew a request to check out - it's ALWAYS prompt and easy to understand. In my humble opinion he is the BEST when it comes to knowledge of the blogging world.
I
am very happy to provide a testimonial for Andrew Rondeau. All the parts of
the process of working with Andrew were a pleasure. He clarified what I was
wanting and he delivered it without fuss. He was courteous and prompt in all
his dealings with me. I have no hesitation in recommending Andrew to anyone
who wants work done on their blog.
Having worked with Andrew on and off over the last year, I have found him to be very patient, helpful and easy to work with. He is also very knowledgeable, supportive and a true expert.
Andrew is highly knowledgeable about blogs and very customer service focused. I knew nothing about blogs and Andrew was very kind, patient, pleasant to work with, receptive and responsive. Work was delivered in timely manner and if I need anything done for blog again I would use Andrew. If you are looking for quality work, excellent customer service and someone that really gets YOU and your needs, I recommend Andrew!.
I've spent insane amounts of money in the past with former webmasters until I discovered Andrew Rondeau.
I
approached Andrew in February 2010, because I needed to enhance the way I communicated
my business.
I
was impressed with the excellent service.
The
end result is a fantastic site that is attracting a lot more attention
and visitors than my old one.
Thank you Andrew for your patience in getting my website and on-line courses on-line and selling. You were fantastic in learning the delivery platform software that I had chosen and you were across the complexities quickly. Your detailed approach in setting guidelines and deliverables bought my focus back to where it should be and got the job done. Thank you for all your efforts it was a pleasure.
I have been online since 1996 and in that time I have been involved in the development of almost 400 web sites for my clients. I have worked with a wide variety of vendors and I have to tell you that Andrew @ We Build Your Blog has far exceeded my expectations. In addition to his vast knowledge and expertise, he is a genuinely great guy, who always goes the extra mile. I highly recommend him, in fact I only recommend him now for web development.
Andrew was kind enough to offer up his own time as part of an initiative to make the world a better place, and I was one of the beneficiaries of that effort. He spent an hour with me working on improving my bounce rate; he suggested several helpful strategies. Most importantly, he helped me with some key processes to help speed up my site, which had bogged down considerably with overuse of graphics. Andrew helped me get set up with Rackspace, which helped so much. From a load time of almost 30 seconds, the site sped up to about a 6 second load. Thanks so much, Andrew!
I wanted a stylish website that presented my original abstract art in a visually attractive way. Andrew came highly recommended to me as a "no nonsense" practitioner. He does exactly what he says he will do: I give him the parameters to work within and he provides a quick and precise service. You will receive nothing but the best from Andrew!
Andrew is the real deal and he knows his stuff! His customer service is superb and he gets your work done FAST! You won't need to wait around for endless weeks to see results. Most importantly he works on the site as if it's his own, thus you are assured that you will get the best quality service. I now give Andrew all of my new and old sites to work on. Trust me; you cannot go wrong with this gentleman!
Andrew is an asset to our ongoing website and social media needs. He responds quickly, accurately, and cost effectively. Andrew plays a consultative role in many aspects to our online needs.
Hi, Andrew Rondeau here and this blog, my blog, will not lie to you. I will give it to you straight.This blog is about blogging, the Internet and sharing my experiences and advice on
Hey Andrew You make a really nice couple. Was the house in one piece when you got back home? More pitures would be good. thanks for look into your life. This is nice.
Debbie
Twitter: andrewrondeau
Debbie,
Thanks for dropping by. The house was in one piece – just! More photos (and videos) on the way. Just got to collate together.
Andrew
Hello Andrew, 25 years of keeping the marriage last is very wonderful to hear. It just show that even though divorce is very rampant still you are able to make your marriage last. And I do hope that you will still celebrate another 25 year of your marriage. And before I end my comment can you share to us your wonderful experience in Africa. I surely love to read about it.
Jac Morton recently posted..Should You Buy Solar Deck Lights?