Archive for "Zumba"
Kicking Off ZINCON 2016
Posted on August 4, 2016 by Ching under Events, Travel, Zumba.
I recently returned from attending my third #ZINCON. (I’m not counting the Zumba Instructor Conference in 2014 because they didn’t have special hotel room keycards for the event. LOL.)
Somehow the collector’s edition room keys make the annual convention that much more memorable. Although, the LA conference in 2014 was the very last one so that in itself is pretty special.
We were on the same flight out as Pat and Stephanie which made the trip to Orlando go by a lot quicker. I also managed to talk Brian into shorter layovers on our connecting flights so that helped quite a bit as well. Although were on the same flight out, Pat and Stephanie flew back to Wichita on Sunday. Brian and I opted to stay an extra night (more on this later) and came home on Monday so the four of us didn’t get to travel back home together.
Our flights were pretty smooth and uneventful, unlike Andrea’s whose flight ended up getting canceled. She was supposed to arrive in Orlando by 7 PM and didn’t end up arriving until midnight. On the bright side, at least she arrived the day before and didn’t have to miss part of day one.
Brian and I were glad that we arrived by noon on Wednesday. Even though the hotel was already buzzing with ZINCON attendees, the lines weren’t too bad. I remember the long lines at the hotel check-in desk during my first ZINCON. It wasn’t unusual to have to wait almost two hours just to get checked in.
Lucky for us, I’d amassed a bunch of points by staying at Hyatt Place in Topeka over the last few months. Brian and I wanted to have enough rewards points that we wouldn’t have to wait in the long line when we arrived at ZINCON. You’d think that Brian was thrilled when my project was put “on hold” since I no longer had to be out of town so much but he was actually kind of bummed for two reasons: that meant he could no longer play video games all night and I wasn’t earning Hyatt rewards points to get us special treatment on our trip.
We checked my rewards status a few weeks before our trip and saw I had enough stays to make Platinum but not enough to make Diamond level. “Oh, well. At least we still get to skip the long line,” I told myself.
Fast forward to check in. Brian and I were actually a little bit cranky when we arrived at the hotel because our driver wasn’t waiting for us at baggage claim as we were accustomed to… When I called SuperShuttle to check on our Execucar, they were like “You didn’t give us the airline information so we didn’t know your arrival time.” I thought Brian messed up but he was quick to pull up his records and show me that he did, in fact, provide them our flight number. Somehow the airline and flight information didn’t carry over into their dispatching system so we didn’t have a specific driver assigned to us. When I called dispatch, they told me to go outside to the shuttle loading area and our ride would be there in 20 minutes. Anyway, a shared-ride van shows up and we were like, “Where’s our Execucar?!” The whole thing was all sorts of jacked up. We had a 12-passenger van all to ourselves, which seemed really silly to me. There’s only two of us. Why in the heck would we reserve a huge ass van? As absurd as the whole van situation was, I was more annoyed that we had to wait for the van to show up outside in the heat instead of our driver being ready and waiting for us at baggage claim as they have in the past.
But I digress… Brian and I kind of had the “What else could go wrong today?” mindset at check in because a few days prior we had received an email from the Hyatt Regency stating that they were oversold on Wednesday night. They were offering to put people up at the Double Tree down the street and pay for the stay and shuttle people to the hotel the next day. I think I was actually more nonchalant about it than Brian. He was super worried. Being the optimist that I am, I told him that (a) I felt sure there were other people who would take up the free night offer, (b) they’d probably kick out people who were not loyal Hyatt rewards members first before kicking a valued customer such as me to the curb, and (c) we’re arriving early enough that we should be pretty safe. Although, seeing everyone’s hotel arrival posts on Facebook did make me worry a bit because I knew that there were a steady stream of arrivals leading up to Wednesday.
So there we were in front of the concierge desk. We were tired, cranky, and apprehensive. The check in line was already quite long but not nearly as long as we’d seen it before. We definitely arrived at the right time. Wanting to take advantage of our newly earned elite status, we stood in front of the check in lanes under the “Diamond/Platinum” sign.
“I can help who’s next,” the lady at the front desk says. Brian and I step up. “Ma’am, you have to wait in line,” she tells us scoldingly while pointing to the end of the longish line. “But I’m Diamond,” I tell her indignantly like a petulant child. “In that case, I can help you,” she says completely changing her tone. I asked her if she needed my rewards number and she said she was able to look me up just fine. She told me that I’m actually Platinum in a way that made Platinum sound far more superior than Diamond level. Anyway, having been up since about 3 AM (because Brian wanted to be at the airport two hours before our flight — don’t ask, this is a constant point of contention for us), I also got confused and thought how cool it was that we made Platinum just in time for ZINCON. Brian and I actually knew I made Platinum several weeks prior but were trying to make it to Diamond. Somehow I had gotten it backwards in my mind and so did the front desk girl. She ended up giving us an upgraded room and all of the Diamond level privileges including a special amenity where we got to choose from several different beverage and food options delivered to our room on a specific day and time of our choosing.
I didn’t really care for the beverage options so Brian chose a couple of bottles of Bud Light and we both agreed on the fruit, cheese, and nuts plate.
The fruit and cheese plate was a great choice. It was delicious.
Other privileges included access to the Regency Club Lounge which offers complimentary breakfast each morning, light snacks throughout the day, hors d’oeuvres from 5 to 8 PM, and desserts every night. We bought a big jug of water and a ton of groceries to sustain us during our stay. Had we known we were getting free food, bottles of water, and other beverages we would have not gotten so much at the store. I’m actually glad that we didn’t buy any fruit at the store because we got fresh fruit everyday at breakfast.
Here’s a picture of Brian enjoying the complimentary munchies.
Here are a few pictures of the amazing view from our room on the 26th floor.
We had a great view of the pool area as well.
The our corner room was exactly identical to our room back in 2013, only several floors higher which in turn made for a better view. And, since it’s all the way up above everything else, we didn’t have to shut our curtains as we did before when were on the fifth floor. We didn’t have to worry about people seeing inside our room. It was really nice. I loved falling asleep to the twinkling lights of the Orlando skyline. Andrea, Brian, and I even enjoyed watching fireworks in the distance one night when Andrea came to hang out after the fitness concert.
After settling into our fabulous room and unpacking our bags and packing our fridge and pantry, we went to get me checked in at the registration desk to get my official name tag, commemorative shirt, and convention freebies.
I ran into my kababayan Lei Valle on my way to registration. He was getting his ACE/AFAA certifications during pre-cons.
We also ran into this lovely lady and she encouraged me to take a photo with her giant poster.
This one.
This is the typical scene in front of the “We Move the World” stage in between sessions. But this isn’t even anything compared to the crowd at the fitness concert.
Brian and I took advantage of my free time on Wednesday night to do some shopping at the Zumba Wear store. We met these two lovely ladies. They were hilarious. They changed their minds about various items in their hands a dozen times between when we first got in line up until it was time to check out.
I’m super grateful for Doris (left) because she told me about the official ZIN bracelet which I wanted but couldn’t find. I guess she had it in her pile of stuff and changed her mind so she put it in one of the bins. When she heard me and Brian talk about the bracelet she told me I could have hers. She even went back to the bin she dropped the box off at and got it and gave it to me so then I didn’t have to step out of the super long line to go hunt for it. I thought that was a super nice thing to do for a complete stranger.
Trust me, you do not want to step out of the line. It probably took an hour or so. The line to check out was even longer than the line to get in the store and the line to get in the store was super long. After Brian and I saw the line, we decided that Brian probably should have stood and held my place in line while I shopped. That’s the plan for next year so we can be more efficient.
Here’s an obligatory room selfie just because.
This is the scene at kick off. We got a really great spot toward the front, next to the ZCOM section and just behind the ten-year ZINs, thanks to my friend Charrise.
Zumba Home Office had the best intentions but just couldn’t enforce the no bags and selfie sticks rule. My group and I followed the rules but I saw lots of bags and selfie sticks. I didn’t want to chance it though because I always seem to be the one to get caught even when everyone else is breaking the rules. I’m like the little red coupe that gets busted for speeding the one time that I do speed. And I’m thinking, “But I was just going with the flow of traffic!”
Zumba gave us a bonus gift this year of the ultimate ZINCON experience through PixMob wristbands.
Here’s an example to give you an idea. You’ll also see it in the Magic Moments video at the bottom.
Anyway, this post is super duper long already so I’m going to have to cut it off here. Before I go, here are some key notes from kick off:
- Everyone at ZINCON also got a bonus gift of our very own copy of ZIN Volume 1. Of course, many of the ten-year ZINs probably have every single ZIN Volume ever created already so now they each have a second copy.
- Zumba is launching a new app that will replace ZIN DJ (which explains why they haven’t invested in fixing any of the bugs). The new app will combine ZIN Now features with ZIN DJ features and then some. It’s going to be like ZIN DJ on crack. I can’t wait until it’s available for download so I can finally scrap ZIN DJ. Until then I guess we’re stuck with the issues.
- Zumba is launching an official mentoring platform. They know that we mentor students and help them become fellow instructors so they’re providing tools and resources to help us help another and flourish.
- Timbaland will be making music for STRONG by Zumba. That’s how we roll.
- The BabyFirst network will have a Zumbini TV show, which will help drive babies and moms to Zumbini classes.
For the rest of the Zumba Instructor Convention highlights, here are the Magic Moments of ZINCON 2016…
No Comments
Shaking it for a Cause
Posted on May 19, 2016 by Ching under Zumba.
I participated in a Zumbathon a few weeks ago in support of my friend Jen Cole’s bid for Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Woman of the Year. If you’re going to do volunteer for a cause, it might as well be a fun one! Right? Right!!!
Brian even helped by taking photos and videos.
We didn’t have the door code so we had to wait for Abby to let us in. We made good use of our time by taking a bunch of photos.
We had six instructors — Jen, Missy, me, Andrea, Charis, and Nick — teach four songs each plus a warmup song from Nick and a cool down song from Jen. Everyone picked out some awesome songs. I put together the playlist and I was astounded by how well everyone’s songs worked together. It was 90 minutes of nonstop party and the best playlist I’d ever put together.
These are the instructors who happen to be some of my favorite people: (clockwise from left) Charis, Andrea, Jen, Nick, Ching, and Missy.
This is definitely my kind of volunteer work!
Obligatory “before” photos with our Woman of the Year candidate, Jen Cole.
Look at these guys and their matchy-matchy shirts!
I love Missy. She’s so vibrant!
We had a pretty good turnout also.
I don’t particularly enjoy squats but I recently realized that almost every song I do in class has squats in it. If we’re not squatting, we’re doing a bunch of jumping jacks. I guess that’s why they say it’s exercise in disguise. You’re having a great time dancing around and don’t realize that you truly are exercising.
Here are some videos of us in action.
Nick warmed us to the tune of Damelo.
Meghan Trainor’s Better When I’m Dancing with Jen.
This is the song with a bunch of squats in it.
Merengue Choque. I love watching Charis and hearing Nick’s laughter.
Konsey, Konsey, Konsey!
Andrea led us through Lindsey Stirling’s Roundtable Rival.
There’s a ton more videos on YouTube. I won’t post them all here. Just head on over there to watch the rest.
Courtney and Andrea won Zumba shirts!
A few people had left already by the time we remembered to take a group photo. It was such a great turn out. I’m grateful that I was able to be there and support Jen and help raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
If you missed this event and want to shake it with us, don’t worry. We have another event coming up. Come join us for Zumba in the Square tomorrow night — Friday, May 19 — at 6:30 PM. We will we right in front of the Warren Theater downtown.
Hope to see you there!
No Comments
Impromptu Tour of Zumba Home Office
Posted on April 25, 2016 by Ching under Travel, Zumba.
I was in Florida on a work trip a couple of weeks ago when I happened by the Zumba headquarters completely by chance. We were walking around Gulf Stream Park when I saw this sign on the wall: Zumba Fitness, CORPORATE OFFICE, 2ND FLOOR.
As soon as I saw it, I heard the sound below.
Without even trying, I had stumbled upon the Holy Grail. I couldn’t believe my luck!
Ginger and Darcy went on back to the hotel. I told them to go on without me. I think it was quarter ’til five but I decided to pop in anyway. I mean, how often do you randomly run into the Zumba Home Office on a work trip? Plus, I didn’t know when I’d ever be in the area again. I had to go up and see if I could get a tour.
I don’t think Monica was super thrilled to see me that late in the day but she was nice enough to humor me. I explained to her that I’m a ZIN (Zumba Instructor Network member) in good standing and I’m only in the area for a couple of days and I didn’t know when I’d be back and I would like to get a tour of Home Office if at all possible. Monica explained that public tours are only available from 2 pm to 4 pm and, any other time, tours are done by appointment only. “This is the only time I have,” I pleaded. “Can you please check to see if there’s anyone available for a quick five minute tour?”
“Let me check,” she said as she started typing away on the computer. I waited patiently in their stylishly decorated lobby with all of my fingers and toes crossed. After what seemed like an eternity, she told me the last thing I wanted to hear. There was no one available. I should have known. Everybody wants to go home. No one will want to stick around and give a random, crazy person a tour that late in the day.
“Are you able to come back tomorrow afternoon?” she asked.
“No,” I told her. “I have a meeting starting at eleven o’clock and will be tied up well into the evening. Can I come back for a tour first thing tomorrow morning?”
Again, Monica informed me that I would need to schedule an appointment. She did me a solid though, and she gave the name and email address of there person in charge, Community Relations Specialist Gina Graziani.
“May I please have her phone number so I can give her a call as well?”
Monica looked in the system and couldn’t find her phone number but, being the resourceful person that I am, I saw some business cards on the desk.
“May I have one of these?” I asked, pointing at the business cards.
“Oh, yes. If you call that number, they should be able to connect you with Gina.”
I called the number as I walked back to the hotel. I’m not sure what the phone number was for but it wasn’t the right number. The man who answered explained that Gina belonged to a different department and I had to hang up and dial a completely different number. Some people would be annoyed but I was overjoyed that he was giving me the correct phone number to call. I eagerly called the second number and was able to get to Gina’s voicemail. I left a very desperate sounding message and told her that I would follow up with an email. As soon as I got to my hotel room, I fired up my laptop, immediately typed up an equally desperate email, and hit send.
And then I waited. And waited.
Obviously, I didn’t hear back because it was the end of the day but I was hopeful. Darcy wanted to go to the beach before our meeting the next day. I told her I would be happy to go with her but it depended on whether or not I could get a tour of the Zumba Home Office. I was now on a mission and I was determined to accomplish it.
Darcy and I met at 8 am the next morning for breakfast. Still no phone call or email response from Gina at this point. After eating breakfast and visiting for an hour, I checked my email again. Still nothing. At this point, we only had a couple of hours before our 11 am meeting so I didn’t think we had time to go to the beach. However, I had a couple of hours to try to squeeze a tour in.
“What are you going to do?” Darcy asked, knowing I didn’t have an appointment.
“I’m going to ask for a tour and I’m not going to take no for an answer,” I said determined. “I’m going to wait in their lobby and I’m not leaving until someone gives me a tour. Someone is bound to take a break at some point. Maybe I could tag along with them while they take their break?” Wishful thinking on my part, I admit. I failed to take into account that, unlike crazy workaholics like myself, people don’t actually want to work on their designated breaks.
When I got back to the office, Monica wasn’t at her desk so I had to wait outside until she came back. When she came back, I waived at her enthusiastically from the glass doors with a look of “Hi, it’s me again! Remember me? Crazy ZIN from yesterday?” on my face. I’m sure she was thinking, “OMG. Not you again!” but she didn’t show it. To my surprise, she actually buzzed me in.
“Do you have an appointment?”
“I called and I emailed but I didn’t hear back,” I told her, “but I called and emailed really late in the day so she might not have gotten to my call and email yet. I only have free time until eleven, though. Could you please try and see if it’s possible for me to get a tour? I fly home tomorrow and I don’t know when I’ll be back.”
We went over the whole tours are by appointment only unless between the hours of two and four in the afternoon again.
“I know but I don’t have any other time. If there’s another tour that’s scheduled and they don’t mind, I’d be happy to tag along on that tour or, if someone could spare five minutes, I will be quick. I promise,” I told her. Monica explained that tours usually take about a half an hour. Even a quick one would take at least 20 minutes.
“Let me see if Gina is available.”
So I waited once again with my fingers and toes crossed. At this point, I was a little bit nervous. On the one hand, I really, really, really wanted a tour. But, on the other hand, I cannot be late for my meeting which is the whole reason that I was in Florida to begin with. The PwC Experience Center was only two minutes away so I was calculating in my head how much longer I could wait before I had to give up and call it quits. It was then when Monica finally called me back up to the desk.
“Gina is on her way.”
Gina wasn’t by herself. She brought security with her so they could escort me off the premises. Just kidding. Gina actually brought one of her team members, Marsha, with her. Gina explained that she was running late for a meeting so she couldn’t give me a tour. Marsha would be giving me the tour instead.
Here’s a picture of the three of us behind the reception desk. Gina is on the left and Marsha is on the right. Both ladies were super nice and welcoming. They said that they really love it whenever they have ZIN visitors. Although, I’m pretty sure they prefer it if you make an appointment ahead of time. LOL.
Despite the randomness of my visit, they still made me feel special and welcome. And for that, I’m truly grateful.
Our tour started at the “Zumba Love” conference room. It’s the main conference room used for the weekly meetings with the department heads. Here’s a picture of me at the head of the table.
“Is this where Beto sits?” I asked Marsha.
I learned that Beto doesn’t actually have a permanent seat. However, he usually sits at the other end by the door so he can make a quick exit when needed. Makes sense.
This is the “Salsa” conference room where Forum Live! happens. Marsha asked if I’d ever participated in one but I haven’t. It usually happens during the day while I’m working. Maybe one of these days I’ll be able to hop on but I haven’t had the pleasure as of yet.
This is a picture of their break room where Zumba President and COO Alberto Aghion, the third Alberto in the Holy Trinity of Zumba, has lunch everyday. Marsha said that he usually sits at a different table each time and uses the opportunity to chat with employees. He does this everyday.
Aghion is known to employees but, to the general public, he is the lesser known of the three Albertos. He works behind the scenes so not a lot of people know about him. The only reason I know of him is because I’ve been to a few ZINCONs. He’s not as visible as Zumba CEO Alberto Perlman and definitely not as visible as Beto.
I posted a short video clip that I found on YouTube to help you out.
Perlman and Aghion’s offices are next to one another. The doors were closed so I didn’t get to peek in. I wish I could have, though. I’m curious what their offices look like.
Here’s a picture of Beto’s door.
I’m not sure if the door was locked because I didn’t try it. t wish I would have asked Marsha for permission to look into his office. He wasn’t there. I know this because Marsha told me that any time Beto is in his office he always has his music on full blast you can hear it all the way down the hall. This would explain why his office is away from the other two Albertos. LOL.
Anyway, Marsha encouraged me to take pictures of everything except for Finance, HR (also known as People & Culture), Legal, IT, and Zumba wear. Yes, I got to see the new Zumba wear line and pictures of all of the designs yet to come through 2018. I just couldn’t take any pictures.
This is a picture of the studio where they have free Zumba classes for employees at least three times a week. Armando and Heidy and other zelebs (also known as celebrity Zumba instructors) teach on a regular basis. Now that’s what I call a job perk!
In this room they have the ZINfolio – every single boxed set and ZIN DVD.
I believe beyond that door is the sound studio.
More pictures of the same room.
I love this room!
And then I was Gina Grant for two seconds.
I want one of these life-sized cutouts for my next Zumba party!
This is the customer service area. Part of it anyway. They outsource the first level of customer service. If I remember correctly the only customer service work they handle at Zumba Home Office is their online/email support.
Here’s a picture of me with Monica. Note her outfit. They actually encourage people to wear Zumba wear to work everyday.
Besides all of the fun pictures, I also got a some parting gifts: some rubber Zumba wristbands (Marsha gave me a couple), socks (a 2-pack with a pair each in Zumba green and pink) and a pink “Get Funked Up” t-shirt. That’s pretty much my tour of Zumba Home Office. Huge thanks to Marsha Segree, my wonderful tour guide; Monica Lazarus, friendly receptionist who was ever so patient with me; and Gina Graziani, Community Relations Specialist extraordinaire.
Thank you for making this trip to Florida truly memorable!
No Comments
The Trip Home
Posted on February 12, 2016 by Ching under Babies, Travel, Zumba.
The ship looked so empty on debarkation day.
No more Zumba banners and window clings.
Even thought Brian and I didn’t have a flight until 3:45 PM that day, we got up early anyway. We had a nice leisurely breakfast and then went down to Café Promenade so I can have one more Creamice Mocha.
This drink is so delicious. I wish that I would have discovered it sooner than halfway through the cruise.
Anyway, the valets picked up our bags the night before and we were pretty much all set so we went ahead and got ready to disembark the ship at eight o’clock. We thought it would take a few hours to get off the boat and go through customs. Little did we know that our stateroom attendant hooked us up with these special, VIP tags that worked like magic. There were tags numbered 1 to 45 – the higher the number the later it would be before your bags would be delivered to the baggage claim/staging area. I think we were supposed to be number 15 according to Guest Services. Somehow, we ended up with these “Suites/Pinnacle” tags in our stateroom which we were grateful for because that mean our bags would be ready at the baggage claim area by 8 AM. “Suites/Pinnacle” had priority over all the numbered tags.
You basically had two options, you let the valets take your bags the night before and then they put it in the baggage area for you or you lug your bags with you. The downside of letting them valet your bag is that you’re at the mercy of their schedule, which meant the higher numbers would be ready last. Some people don’t want to wait to they decide to cart their bags with them. Brian and I only had carry-ons but I remembered that the elevators only go down to a certain floor on debarkation day and you have to take the stairs all the way down. I told Brian that I didn’t want to lug my bag around so if he insisted on taking our bags ourselves then he would be carting both carry-ons. Plus, I told him that we should use our ultra-special bag tags.
Brian was really glad that he listened to me as went down the stairs from Deck 3 to Deck 1. Since we went down early, the line moved pretty quickly and we were off the ship in no time. When we got to the place where they line up everyone’s luggage, there were only a dozen bags or so there but we easily spotted our bags. We used our red luggage for this very reason.
Several people got off the ship before us, and I think there were seven other ships disembarking that same day, so the line through customs had already started snaking. After grabbing our bags, we asked one of the port staff where we should go and she told us to stand by the red pole. It just happened to be the end of the long line. There were a handful of people getting in line so we let them get ahead of us and then fell in line behind them. We started to follow the line as it started moving but then the lady walked toward us and asked us to follow her. She then lifted one of the barricades and told us to go through and wait right there right in front of one of the customs officers’ stations. We were called up to next so we effectively bypassed the customs line altogether. I’m convinced we got special treatment because of our special “Suites/Pinnacle” bag tags.
It only took about 30 minutes from the time we got in line for debarkation to get off the ship, completely through customs, and out to the shuttle pick up area. It was amazing. I’d never gotten off a cruise ship that quickly before. And then, as luck would have it, our ride to the airport showed up within a couple of minutes and then we were at the airport by quarter till nine. The crazy part is that our flight wasn’t even until later that afternoon.
Anyway, they’re a lot stricter at the Fort Lauderdale airport than in Wichita. They had this Delta attendant there who did nothing but point people to the security line and/or make them check the size of their carry-on against the metal carry-on measurement stand. Brian’s duffel was just a tad too long. We tried to explain to the lady that we carried both of our bags on during our arrival flights and they fit with no problems but she was not having it. She wanted Brian to take items out of his duffel until the bag would fit. There was no amount of stuff we could take out that would make it work because it was the shape of the bag that was the problem and we didn’t want to hassle with trying. Since we were early, we decided to just go to the desk and pay to check our bags. We figured that while we were doing that we could see if we could get on earlier flights home.
The lady at the Delta desk was a lot more helpful and pleasant than the first woman we encountered. She punched some keys on her computer and broke the news to us.
“If I type fast enough,” she told us, “I can get you on the 9:45 AM flight.” It would cost $50 each to change our flights, plus $25 for each of the bags, so we’d have to play $150 total; and we only had a split second to think about it.
Brian and I looked at each other and were like, “Let’s do it!”
She quickly took our payment, printed our new boarding passes, tagged our bags, and placed them on the conveyor belt behind her. I was a little worried that our bags wouldn’t make it on our new flights since we were cutting it so close but she reassured us that our bags would make it.
At the end of our transaction she was like, “It’s 9:08 now so you better hurry because your flight is boarding.” With that, we quickly said our thanks and skedaddled to security.
Security was long and cumbersome per usual but, lucky for us, our gate was close by. When we got to the gate, they were boarding Zone 2, which just happened to be our zone so we fell in line with everyone and got on the plane. We didn’t have to wait around at the gate, which is just the way I like it.
This plane wasn’t as nice as the plane that we flew in going to Florida. There were no free inflight games but the flight seemed to go fairly quick and we were in Atlanta in no time. I think we were 10 minutes early actually. We had a decent layover length before getting on our flight to Wichita. That flight went smoothly as well. We were either early or right on time. We landed shortly after 2 PM. Our bags safely made it and were one of the first few to hit the baggage claim carousel. Our ride home was already waiting for us so we got in the van and were home by 2:30 PM or so.
Brian and I were completely amazed because our original flights wouldn’t have put us back in Wichita until after 9 PM. We got on the flights that, just the night before, Brian told Missy and Todd they wouldn’t be able to make. Crazy!
Things seemed to be going perfectly our way until we got home and found Molly had been badly hurt. She and Saki got in a fight the day before that resulted in Molly getting staples on her head. I guess the reason why things worked out for us and we were able to get home early is that the universe wanted us to quickly get back so we could take care of our poor baby.
It wasn’t fun coming home to a $175 vet bill but we were grateful to be back early to be with our beloved dogs.
No Comments
Cruise Recap Cont’d – Day Five
Posted on February 8, 2016 by Ching under Travel, Zumba.
On the fifth and final day of our sailing, the ship was booking it back to Fort Lauderdale. You could feel the difference. We were no longer cruising leisurely along. Anyway, true to my craziness, I had yet another 8 AM class. I could not miss this one though, because it’s a masterclass with ZES Loretta Bates and she is amazing. Such an inspiration!
Just listen to her message. Dance to inspire, not to impress. We should all take this to heart and not judge one another and just dance for the sheer joy of it.
I got up early and got a great spot. Not hard considering I think almost everyone was pretty worn out. I was feeling it too. Thus, the need for the massage the day before.
Do you see Loretta’s head peaking out above the stage? She is so cute.
Do you see Brian? We were taking pictures of each other, I guess. He wasn’t supposed to be up there, though. That’s the special observation area for ZESes and other Zumba VIPs. He found that out later. They didn’t make him leave. Brian realized it on his own.
A couple more of Loretta…
Do you see the guy in the gray and white shirt? Well, that’s J. Perry.
If you don’t know J. Perry, he sings some of my favorite Zumba tracks: Dekole, Boujé, and Konsey. If you’ve ever been to my class, you’ll recognize the songs when you hear them. The rhythm is soca, which is my favorite beat to dance to. I have no idea what he’s saying most of the time but the songs are so enjoyable.
This is where we found out that our special guest will be performing while we Zumba to his tunes. Here are a couple more pics…
Here are some videos from the masterclass…
TI PAM NAN
ENJOY
KONSEY
There were some technical difficulties in that last one but J. Perry and Loretta took it all in stride. Such pros! They make a great team also. This was definitely the highlight of the whole trip for me. I love, love, love J. Perry and I love, love, love Loretta Bates! Having the two of them together just made me want to explode. I could hardly contain myself.
I got a shameless selfie with J. Perry!
And another with him and Loretta both. I was totally fan-girling it. I was so giddy! I was on a roll, too. I ran into ZES Ricardo Marmitte in the elevator on my way to my next masterclass and grabbed a quick selfie with him as well. LOL.
It was real shame that I didn’t get to take Ricardo’s class. I love his African style. Anyway, they canceled his class the first day because they were still installing/constructing stuff and then we were all going to take his make up class on Thursday night at the jogging track but that got canceled too due to weather. Stupid rain!
Missy and I ran into Ricardo later on. They had him peeling the Zumba decals from the store window at the Royal Promenade. I guess they put him to work because he didn’t have to teach his class. When we walked by, Missy whispered something to him and then he made a face and pretended to spray her with Windex.
“What did you say to him?” I asked.
“I told him that he needs to come over to my house when he’s finished because my windows also need to be cleaned.”
This is Australian ZES Jarrod Tucker. He was my last official masterclass of the cruise. It was my first time taking his class. He was super nice and friendly and absolutely fantastic but the class was held at the helipad, which was my least favorite surface to dance on. The floor was really grippy and it felt like sandpaper under my shoes. Also, it was super duper windy. It was like doing Aqua Zumba but with air as the source of resistance. That made it really interesting.
Meanwhile, back at the main pool deck this was happening…
And at the H20 Zone, Richard Gormley was leading an Aqua Zumba masterclass…
And Brian got a selfie with ZES Erick Santana…
I heard part of his playlist while I was at the spa the previous day. He has great song choices. We also got to watch Missy dance with him (she was taking his class at the jogging track while we were at the spa) and she was having a blast. She was so focused that she didn’t even see us trying to wave at her on the other side of the window.
And I got another elevator selfie. This time with ZES Eliza Stone. We ran into her on our way to back to our room. That was the best part about being on a ship. My Zumba idols could not escape me.
We made the mistake of taking a brief nap and were late to ZES Armando Salcedo’s class in the Alhambra Theater. Yes, every inch of the ship was being used for Zumba classes. Rob, Todd, Heather, and Missy were already there when we arrived. They got their late too so the stage was already at capacity.
They were only slightly ahead of us.
I didn’t get to take any classes in Alhambra Theater but that stage floor looked perfect for Zumba. That might have been the best floor to dance on; even better than the Sports Court, which had been my favorite up to that point..
Armando had some fun routines. I was bummed that I didn’t get to take his class.
That theater was rockin’! Everyone was dancing, even in the aisles and between the rows. People kept piling in after us and, since the class was full, they were just dancing in place wherever they could find some space.
Here are some clips from Armando’s masterclass…
This was the pow-wow about debarkation the next morning.
Always the bearer of bad news, I think this was Brian telling Todd that chances of them making their 9:45 AM flight in the morning were slim. Brian is kind of a downer like that.
I made them cheese for the picture.
Obligatory selfie… You know how that goes.
Group selfie! Groupie?
This is ZES Michael Marmitte, Ricardo’s older brother. That was a revelation. He told us that he’s actually older. Everyone assumes Ricardo is older because he’s taller but he’s actually the middle brother. Their youngest brother mixes their music.
I would have taken his masterclass but I had to use the restroom. By the time I got out, they were at capacity and wouldn’t let any more participants in. It was fine though, because I felt tentative about dancing on carpet with carpet gliders. You have to be really careful or you could twist your ankle and seriously hurt yourself.
It was a super fun class, though. I did a few songs with the class right outside the karaoke bar. In this space…
Michael’s class was overflowing.
He needed a much bigger space than the karaoke bar.
And then, ZES Walter Diaz (Wally) showed up looking for the same ice skating show that we were looking for that apparently wasn’t going on until seven o’clock that evening.
I love Wally. I took his Salsa and Merengue Mashup workshop at my first Zumba Instructor Conference almost three years ago. He is amazing!
Group selfie right before our final dinner together. The first one was tricky because I’m much shorter than everyone so they all had to crouch down. We had to have Brian take another, which was better.
And yet another group selfie when Rob and Heather showed up.
Don’t ask me about the selfie stick. I brought it with me but I forgot to pack the charger. I had it with me the entire time but we never used it because it was dead.
We all hung out for bit after dinner but Brian and I went to bed early that night because we wanted to be ready for debarkation the next day. We had to finish packing so we could set our luggage outside our door before 11 PM. The funniest part is that Brian and I both set our clothes for the next day and packed all of our clothes including our dirties. Brian had his clothes for the next day laid out and was completely naked (so was I, actually) and then it dawned on me, “Now, how are we going to put our luggage outside?” We both busted up laughing.
Brian put his next day jeans on and then put our bags outside and then took his jeans back off and hopped into bed. We had some great laughs throughout the trip. It was such a blast hanging out with Glynda, Missy, Todd, Rob, and Heather; but as they say, all good things must come to an end.
Come back soon for the final installment of our cruise recaps!
No Comments
