I did this work for Celebrity Cruises at the New York Stock Exchange. I do not always use the products or services that I promote at events, but in this case I can speak from some experience. When we were living in Italy and my son was in Italian public school, we ran into a typical problem that faces Europeans. Everybody goes on vacation at the same time and all of the services are overpriced, bad, or on strike during these weeks. My wife proposed a Mediterranean cruise, which I initially thought was an absurd idea. After all, I was a hardened European traveller, could speak the languages, and had been to most of the places on the itinerary.

Nevertheless, I did not have a solution for going on vacation during the infamous Ferragosto (summer holiday) time period. So we packed up and went. It turned out to be the best vacation we had done in a long time. It was a blast to get off the ship in the middle of a city like Naples and go have a pizza at a favorite restaurant. The whole experience was also relaxing, unlike many of the more “interesting” travels I had done in the past. Europe is spectacular, but the travel part is sometimes so tiring that it leaves little energy for the enjoyment part, especially when one is no longer in his 20’s.

Celebrity was the first cruise line we used and the food was excellent, much better than most of what was available during the summer holidays. Later on, I also discovered that the relaxing atmosphere was really conducive to writing, which is what I often do on the ships.

The New York event was right in front of the famous stock exchange. The day was sunny but bitterly cold and windy- it certainly made one wish for a Caribbean holiday, (not that I need bitter cold for that)! It is hard to get good photos in much of Manhattan, because the sun reflects off of all the glass windows and casts strange light over the work, even when it is in the shade.

Here is the event video: