How Busy Moms Can Travel in Luxury (Without Spending More)

Welcome to the Working Moms of San Antonio podcast. We're your host, Erika Radis and Marie Lifschultz, a realtor and lender here in San Antonio. But most importantly, we're working moms just like you.

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Now onto today's episode. Grab a cup of coffee, settle in, and let's get started.

Welcome to this week's episode of the Working Moms of San Antonio podcast. Today we are here with our guest, Alicia Myers., and we are going to talk all things travel.

Yay! Let's go on vacation. Yeah, let's go.

So I'm going to turn it over to her and she can introduce, um, herself and, and share a little bit more.

Okay. Hi everyone, I'm Alicia Myers, travel agent with Luxe Relais Travel, and Luxe Relais Travel is a Forbes Travel Guide endorsed agency. We're one of 57 in the world, and it's something really special, something we're really proud of, and I'm really excited to share a little bit about what that means and I guess what's so exciting about being a travel agent and what I can do for people. Um, but I guess first off, you know, I, I sound pretty Southern Texan, and I want to address the elephant in the room that I came here from Australia in 2019. So that makes it 7 years, I think.

Yeah, roughly.

Um, I came over as an oil and gas executive for Australian oil and gas company, and they made some business acquisitions that brought me over here. Amongst other things, I managed all our commercials and corporate travel, and I had been managing that at other companies. One of the first companies I did it at was 200-300 belt splicers and technical staff all around West Australia and Australia, and I managed all the travel for them. So I've, I've had a little bit of travel experience, you could say.

Yeah.

And, uh, it came over here and did that, and it It wasn't until 2021 I took a vacation to Hawaii and I met my husband on the beach, um, thanks to his friend who had a companion pass with Southwest Airlines.

Oh nice.

And so he took the trip with Sammy, and Sammy could talk to, you know, talk the leg off a chair. Yeah. And so it was Sammy that actually struck up the conversation, and one thing led to another. They invited me on their group dinner And 2-3 weeks later, my husband kept contacting me and I realized he was interested. And so we ended up dating, um, and then started our family. We have Jordan, who is 2 and a half. I gave birth to him in 2022. And at this point, I was still thinking I was going to go back into that oil and gas world. Yeah, um, crazy hours, you know, 70-80 hours Um, I guess we were kind of in the hybrid working from home, back in the office at that point, but there was definitely a push to get back. Um, we had taken a very nice office space, so that was definitely a driver for it. And honestly, I— it was like a ton of bricks hit on me at the thought of leaving my son. We didn't have a great network in Houston, and I felt suffocating at the thought of having to choose, but that's how it felt. And for all the support that my company had in Australia for maternity leave and returning to work, the US just didn't have it.

No, we don't.

We don't have much.

We never do. Yeah, it's the worst.

Yeah, it, it couldn't have hit home more so than that. Yeah. And I remember when I was contacted, ready to return to work, and I just felt like a ton of bricks fell on me. And as it turned out, I felt very unwell and didn't return. I couldn't return. Physically couldn't get out and do that. And so, yeah, like I said at the time, just completely suffocating at the thought of having to choose. That's what it felt like. And so I took some time and decided we would, you know, work on our family. And we decided Houston wasn't for us. We, you know, my husband was is retired military. He served for 30 proud years in the Air Force in a special warfare school. And for him, coming back to San Antonio meant coming home.

Yeah, yeah.

And so we decided this is where we were going to come. And at that point, it was a case of, what am I going to do? You know, mentally at that point, I'd kind of gotten myself in a much better space. I was ready to return, but the thought of returning to that 78-hour week travel out of the office. Just let's be real, it's a men's world. And so I was always having to overprove and overwork, and just, I just didn't want to go back to that. Yeah. And so I thought, okay, let's dig deep, let's do a little bit of a SWOT analysis on myself.

Yeah.

And where are my skills, where are my strengths, intelligence, passion? And I looked all of that, and it came to travel. And so I started researching and looking at how I was going to make this work, and I wanted to go with a host agency I didn't want a host agency that was full of hobbyists who were there to just book travel for themselves and not really learn and care about their clients. I didn't want an MLM scheme that wasn't actually a—

yes, constructive business, right?

And that led me to Luxe Rally Travel. Um, really phenomenal story of David Eisen. He started cybersecurity for defense contractors. And a huge passion for luxury car rallies. And so he was curating these phenomenal and extravagant car rallies, and they weren't the traditional rally staying at, you know, the Red Roof Inn and whatnot. They were staying at Forbes 5-star hotels, they were dining at Michelin restaurants, and he was curating all the travel for that. And that led to him joining a host agency and I guess ruffling a few feathers because he had very different views of how a travel agency should work. Okay. Shouldn't charge fees. It should be leading by excellence, leading by excellence of knowledge, experience, and contacts, as opposed to, if I book that hotel at that brand, I get a kickback, or I'm going to charge you a fee. Okay, now I've got your money and your fee, so you're locked in with me, so you have to book something. Yeah. So he wanted to change the perspective, and he stuck with it for a while. Realized how archaic that particular agency— not speaking for all, of course, but that particular— and so he, together with his wife, co-founder, uh, Courtney, who's now the chief marketing officer, they decided to pivot from Luxe Rally to Luxe Rally Travel. And that's where we were born from. Um, he personally curates and has coded an incredible proprietary system for us to book, and we can access thousands— and I'm talking thousands— of rates for properties in seconds. So we can ensure clients never overpay, and that includes public rates and rates that aren't available to them. So I can always see— I don't have to hunt through 35 places. Within seconds, I can find what's the best rate at this property. Oh, I love that.

Yeah.

I want to go to Austin and my client wants to spend $500. Where can I put them? And I can run a search in seconds. I can pull up and have a look at it. Um, and you know, it's, it's phenomenal what he's built. It's the only agency in the world that has that. So that's fantastic. But more than that, the endorsement by Forbes Travel Guide that came through recently um, it's just huge. And it's— I guess it's a— it's kind of a stamp of approval of all the hard work and the hard yards that he did in setting up the agency. And then for us coming on as agents and building the agency to where we are, it's really that kind of signature, um, and stamp for us to say, you know what, we're on the right track and we are doing a great job.

Yeah.

Um, and so, you know, the Forbes Travel Guide's been around since 1958. It's a leading body when it comes to luxury hotels, and they work off a— they have over 900 categories where they send in their anonymous assessors. They stay at the properties, they assess them, and for them, they come back and that's what, you know, drives the rating system with them. And it's really not about, you know, of course there are ultra-luxury properties in there and ultra-expensive properties, but you would be surprised what properties are in there.

Yeah.

And for anything, it's a— it's an endorsement and a confidence that when I'm working with those properties, I have so much more confidence of knowing what my clients are going to experience. And I have the ability to, once I'm booked, with one button, link in with the general manager at that hotel and introduce my client to that general manager and say hey, I have Erika and her family coming to stay on the 5th of July or 5th of August, and she's coming for 3 nights, and it's her daughter's 10th birthday. And, you know, what can we do to make their stay really fabulous? And so they'll come back and they'll say, look, looks like we've actually got a, you know, next remap upgrade available. We'll get that approved for you right now, and we'll get a welcome amenity and some balloons for her.

Any allergies?

No allergies. Okay, we'll get a chocolate cake as well. So that, you know, they're the things that we can do, uh, and it just exemplifies the experience for clients. And most of the time, you know, people travel for all different reasons, but when they're traveling for something special, they're looking for something special. Yeah, they're not looking for just a cookie cutter. So somewhere—

yeah, I mean, if you're spending the money, certainly.

Correct.

Yeah, one, that's where you get all the the experience part, you know, like you go and you can have a, a great experience or a bad experience and, and having someone who help you thinks of things that maybe you don't, you wouldn't have thought about if you're booking it yourself.

Yeah.

Correct.

I can't tell you, we, mm-hmm, my husband and I for our anniversary every year try to go to someplace that we've not been. Okay. Um, and I always book it myself. Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's a disaster. But we went to Tennessee to Gatlinburg to kind of check it out. It was beautiful.

Mm-hmm.

I, I usually am the one that's like, he will usually pick the Airbnb.

Mm-hmm.

And if it's terrible, then I'm like, oh my God, why did you do that?

You know?

Mm-hmm.

But in this case, case, I did it. I picked it. And we got there and the view was lovely, but they all are there. You know what I mean? Yes. It was expensive as all get out. They left us like a bar of soap that was like the size of a nickel. I didn't know, like no laundry stuff. No. Like they were like, hey, you're allowed one roll of toilet paper. And after that, we were there 7 days.

Oh my goodness.

I was, and after that you have to buy it yourself. And I was just like, oh my gosh. Like, and I will never go back to that place. Um, but it was just one of those things where I was like, you like, the photos all look great and it's all whatever, but when we got there it was very cold. Like not a rug on the ground, you know? Mm-hmm. Like little things like that where if you spend a few thousand dollars, it's like you want it to be. Yeah. And I can't help but feel like if I had had some help, probably it would've been better.

Yeah. Well, and I recently, we, I sort of, I, I booked a, a vacation for my, my, my Samar, our, my personal family and then my extended family. Mm-hmm. And. I, I did all the work.

Yes.

And we had a— it was a great Airbnb, it was a nice, nice place to stay. Um, I was exhausted, exhausted because I had all the food, the laundry detergent, what else do I need? Like, just doing all that stuff, the mental work, the mental work of it. And I, I enjoyed it, but then I came back and I, I got myself sick. Like, I, I was, I, you know, ready for a vacation. I was ready for a vacation from the vacation.

Yes.

So it would have been nice to have someone help me think of the— or do the things that I didn't think about. Because like, on a down day, what do we do? We're like, oh, what do you want to do? Where's— where are we seeing fireworks? I don't know. Like, I didn't have that stuff.

Yes. Um, so that's where I guess, uh, another key distinguisher with our agency is we actually don't work with Airbnb.

Yeah.

And there's just too many unknowns. And I like to have confidence with the experience I'm booking for somebody. And if they come to me and say that we want to be able to have this, have that, go here and do that. I like to know that I'm— when I'm booking it, that they're going to have a high chance, yeah, slash guarantee of getting it. And when you book with, you know, Airbnb, unfortunately there is that risk. But having said that, it's, you know, people still— there's people want villas, they want condos and things. So we have some um, higher quality suppliers that we do use. But I guess the— this is where the experience and the knowledge comes, that there are more hotels than people realize that actually have family rooms and family suites that are cheaper often, or same price but better experience than Airbnb. And by the time you start adding up the cleaning fee, the purchasing of the food the, uh, questionable mattress that is on the spare bed.

Yes.

The threadbare sheets that they've put in the cupboard to make up the sofa couch. By the time you add all of that, is it really— how much are you saving?

Exactly.

Yeah.

Yeah, you're right.

Um, so my, my client I'm working at the moment, their multi-gen trip, they're heading to New York next April, and they have kids ranging from 13 to 18. Uh, they normally— my client is the, the main person who designs it all. Um, her sister and one of the children has basically very, very picky and a peanut allergy.

Oh.

And so she's normally the one doing all the research to find the restaurants and, you know, to, to find somewhere that's going to make her parents down to, you know, her and her 3 kids comfortable in a place. And so she came to me and I said, yeah, that's fine, you know, what's your budget per night? And all the activities, and I'm now— I'm designing it all. So we're picking somewhere for her to stay. They've got 2 to choose from. They're looking at those together as a group, and they're going to vote. And then I'll build the itinerary. I'll pre-book her tickets, her Broadway. I will, um, work with our— we have an in-house luxury concierge who, just quietly, he's kind of like James Bond. Uh, he speaks 7 languages.

Oh my gosh, how amazing.

Um, he's a past general manager at Forbes 5-star hotels and Michelin restaurants. His connection and little book of contacts is just phenomenal. And his knowledge of, you know, I need a restaurant that can accommodate peanut allergies, someone who will only eat cheese on toast. And, you know, Mum wants truffle pasta and he'll know somewhere.

Wow.

Without having to look.

Yeah.

So I'm working with him to design all of that. The end result is they're going to have an app. They'll download the app and they'll have an itinerary in there that will have basically day-to-day everything organized for them. They can wake up, they didn't have to think about it, and all of that, they haven't paid a fee, nothing.

Amazing.

So that's something, you know, the value that I bring as an agent of being able to do that. Um, they're looking at some phenomenal hotels in New York where they're going to be staying. Um, both that they're looking at are Forbes-rated So their stay will be introduced to the general manager, and they'll also call it— they qualify for that complimentary in-house concierge service. So in addition to me, they'll have access to James Bond.

Yeah.

To help with things.

This just sounds like the best thing ever. I guess because what are we doing with our lives?

Yeah, like, because I mean, just, I guess I didn't, I didn't understand how a travel agent would work and how them, like, because I always thought it was for the luxury, for, for the elite, like wealthy, wealthy, like, but if you're, I mean, if you're gonna spend a couple of thousand dollars, why not do it the right way? Yeah.

You know, do you feel like Alicia, that is a common misconception?

100%.

Yeah.

Yeah, it is. And I, I am often asked, do I book cruises? That's, I would say that's one of the most common of, I just wanna go out of Galveston on Royal Caribbean with my family. 'Can you help me?' And let's be real, I mean, they could call up themselves and book it, or they could go online and book it, but it's also not the most user-friendly, and they're kind of just going to be looking at it going, 'I guess I'll take that balcony one. Which one do I pick? I don't know.' They'll probably flip a coin. Yeah, they can come to me, and I don't charge any fees again, so nothing. I'm contractually banned from charging fees by my agency. Yeah, um, come to me and And once we've identified the sailing or sailings that they're looking at, how many cabins, you know, do they have any needs and wants in terms of, you know, they really need a balcony, or maybe they need an accessible suite, or whatever the case might be. And then I put it all together. I look at any and everything within my network to see what I can give them in terms of onboard credits. Um, in terms of, you know, are you going to pay with an Amex Platinum card? Because I can give you even more onboard credit.

Yeah.

And that's all no cost.

Yeah.

So would you rather book, you know, Cabin A online for $1,000 hypothetically, or Cabin A with me for $1,000 but get a heap of onboard credit?

Yeah.

And have somebody, no, confidently booking it knowing that that's actually What's the good solution for you?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, as we go online, you, you know, sure, that, that looks good. And you don't know if, I mean, it's, it's not our, uh, industry.

No.

We don't know what we're booking. We don't know what we're doing.

Yes.

Yeah.

And that just goes to show, I mean, with the cruise example, it doesn't have to be a crazy fancy luxury setup for her to help. Mm-hmm. You know?

Well, it's just like in, in my industry, if I, someone's like, you can, could you get a mortgage online through whatever and talk, you know, to some chat GPT type person online and do it. Yes, but are you going to get the customer service and walk you through what your financing is?

No, no.

Like, you're just pushing buttons and hoping it's the right thing. Yeah, the same thing in, in the travel world.

Yes. Um, and you know, to your point, Marie, it's complex, right? What you do is highly complex and highly specialized, and there are so many touch points through that process from the moment of you know, and you know this as well in real estate.

Sure.

I found a house and I want to buy it through to here are the keys. Oh gosh, there's so many steps. I mean, we would probably need 10 whiteboards to fill it all out.

Yeah.

And each of those steps have deadlines, and if you don't meet them, you could be not fined but charged, or you could incur a fee, or maybe you miss an option to, to do something or alert of something. Well, ChatGPT is not going to send you a text message or a call and say, hey, have you remembered to do this?

Right?

And that's where both of you, the value is just phenomenal. You can't put a price on that. Um, and it's the same with me too, where, you know, I make sure people are set, ready, and, you know, primed for their travel. They— I can't come and pack for them, so they need to do that. But yeah, if they ask me for a packing list, I can certainly I can share one with them. Absolutely.

Sure.

Um, you know, I, I can't apply for their passport, but I'm going to keep an eye on their passport expiry date. Um, and I, I have one at the moment who they're heading to Greece, and, uh, Jamie and, and Roy. And Roy's passport has been expired for a few months, and so I've been reminding him, reminding him, and, and he said, no, no, we're going to Mexico, we're getting it sorted. And he said to me last week, thank you so much for being on top of that. He said, we did let it get away from us. Yeah, so good thing that you did. Yeah, you know, because it's kind of an issue.

Yeah, yeah. Um, yeah, that's amazing.

It is. I mean, it's just something, I guess, if you've never had someone— I mean, we didn't grow up— if we went anywhere, went to the coast, shut down, it wasn't far, and it wasn't something that we felt, or I felt like, hey, this is something that a travel agent could help me with. But I'm like, I wish I would have called. Yeah, like it was just a quick family vacation, a 3-day go down and Airbnb, we're just gonna hang out. But it was a lot of work. Yeah, to host 13 people and make sure everybody had a good time.

So speaking of groups, I would say that's one, uh, certainly one area that the value that I, I provide is, is pretty phenomenal. And again, there's no fees, no membership to be able to do that. And I work with corporate clients, I work with personal clients. I typically, for groups, I, I'm negotiating upwards of 20, 30, 40, even 50, 60% off average daily rates. And I guess that's where my, my oil and gas days experience really comes to shine. And so yeah, groups, you know, take a lot of work. Um, I have some corporate clients, I've managed and organized their corporate retreats, uh, their annual events. Couple hundred people, you know, multi-rooms in San Antonio Riverfront, which coincided with Días de los Muertos Festival. And I got them over 38% off. Oh wow, they paid—

yeah, that's amazing.

Um, and a myriad of inclusions and freebies as well. And so that also extends to destination weddings. So I have a number of destination wedding clients past and present, one actually from here, from Working Moms. Yeah, so the wonderful Melissa Venegas, they got married last month in Cancun, uh, the most incredible couple. Yes, or family, I should say. Um, and all of their guests were just so wonderful to work with, and I had a ball. I, I love destination weddings.

Yeah.

Um, and I guess it's— I love what I do, and I love planning travel, and I love all of that, but it's the why of people that travel. That, you know, if you said to me, well, what do you like to— what do you book? What, what's the most common thing you book? And I say, well, okay, we can, we can reel that off, but what do I like to book? It's the why. So the destination weddings, for someone to come to me and work with me and put their trust in me for something so special— I can't tell you how hard I work for every client, but yeah. Wedding clients. I mean, that's huge.

Yeah, it's a big moment.

It's a big moment.

Yeah.

So I put a lot of pride into that because I just, I love that they have chosen to work with me by choice. Um, people who, uh, you know, taking first trips overseas, that's huge. I love that. Um, babymoons.

Yeah.

I, you know, I love that as well. Um, I have one client at the moment next week, so they take a big trip every year. They're from Melbourne, so I met her on social media, but they actually live around the corner from my parents.

Oh, how funny!

Yeah, and they take a big trip each year, and they're going to Africa on safari next week.

Amazing.

I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to just vicariously living through her videos. Um, and her son, I actually— they are currently in Japan. I booked their honeymoon, so they are spending 3 weeks through Japan, and I designed all that for them. So it's— I, I can book, you name it, I can book it. Budget, you name it, I can book it. Um, I prefer not to book and would probably encourage you to go somewhere else if you wanted Red Roof Inn. Yeah, I just— it doesn't give me a lot to work with in terms of the value. But, uh, so yeah, it, it's, it's exciting what I get to work with and what I get to put together for people. And I guess also just people, you know, the penny dropping of realizing, like, like you were saying, Marie, of, I guess, that assumption that travel agents are for the rich and famous.

Yeah.

And we are for the rich and famous, but we're also for the not as rich and not as famous.

Yeah.

And being able to enjoy an incredible hotel or resort or luxury property it's actually more accessible in many cases than what people think because of all the wonderful work that David, our founder, has done to set us up with phenomenal contacts, the system that he's built that enables us to hunt, search, and find great properties and deals.

Yeah.

And, you know, I'm not a deal house, so I'm, I'm not a Costco but human. That's not me, right? But at the same token I come across deals every week and I share them, and I have saved my clients thousands. Um, and one of my— she's now, I guess, an auntie almost to the boys. She's just been a part of our life for over a year now, and I managed her destination wedding. And she came to me because unfortunately she got bad advice from a destination wedding travel agent who over a Valentine's weekend said, don't worry about a room block, and the rates surged to over $2,000 a night.

Oh my gosh.

So it was a difference between, can I get something that's achievable because my, my guests aren't going to be able to afford this. Yeah. And so I— she found me and, you know, the rest is history. But she regularly now shares about me and tells people that Alicia saved our wedding because Where would people have stayed?

Exactly.

Where would they have stayed?

And such an important date that you— yeah, how wild.

Yeah. And, and the— they were required to have a certain percent of guests booked through and stay on property, or they were going to start having to pay for these guests to, to, you know, show. And I'm like, man, that's just insane. I mean, that, you know, I said to her, look, I can't do anything about those rates. I mean, I can't change history. But I do have a supplier that I can work with, and I can get your guests there for— it was around $700, $800 a night was what it ended up being. Um, and so I said, but you're gonna have to move quickly because I, I can't guarantee how long these, these rates are going to be here, but I'll work to make sure that they're there as long as I can. And over the period of about a month, I just had them all pinging me, and we got them all booked. And so she was able to, to have all the guests there.

Yeah, that's amazing. And that'll be the kind of client that shares you around, you know what I mean?

Yeah, yeah.

I think, no, even like in our industry, you don't know you have something bad until it goes bad.

Oh God.

Or how important it is to have someone who's good and who cares about whatever it is you're doing as much as you do.

Yes.

And so you don't—

how many times do you and I come into this very office and have a conversation where it's like Oh my gosh, someone called me and they got this horrible advice and now they're here.

What do we do? Yeah.

You know, it's like, it happens in all of the industries. Yes.

I feel like, but it happens everywhere too.

But you don't want it in house buying when you're spending thousands. You don't want it in vacationing when you're spending thousands.

Well, because when you're, when you're booking a vacation, it's, it's actually, it's, it's for me, it's, I have to, I have to save and I have to plan and I have to, I have to have this and that's money. That could go to something else. So if I'm gonna put it to this, I want it to be a great experience with great memories being built. I mean, you, we're all moms, so you have kids for only so long in the household, right? They're gonna get up and, and you wanna build those memories. And if it's crappy and you wasted money, like, oh, that money could have gone to something else.

Yes, exactly.

Hearing you talk about your, your clients that you've helped and, and the care that you put into what their experience is gonna be is very refreshing. Like, it's, oh, like, thank you.

Yeah.

Someone cares about it like I do.

Yes.

You know that.

And you know, to your point, before about ChatGPT, which, you know, all of those AI things are wonderful. They have a purpose and they have a place when it comes to quick answers or comparison thing, whatever, you know, all sorts of things, obviously. But is that person going to answer the phone at 2 AM because your flight's been canceled and you can't get from A to B and you need to reschedule your transfer and whatever the case may be. Heck no.

No.

Yeah, you know, Costco is not going to do that either.

No.

Yeah, right.

Um, and so aside from having an 8-month-old who occasionally doesn't like sleep, which is why I look a little tired, I also check in with my clients when they land and arrive and as they pivot from places. So I mentioned my, uh, my honeymoon clients in Japan at the moment. And so I don't pester people on vacation because I wouldn't like it myself.

Sure.

But when they're moving from one place to another and I just want to make sure that that flight, that they got there okay.

Yeah.

And so I, I'm up at 2, 3 a.m. to do that.

Yeah.

And, you know, Cecilia from, from here, you know, they had their big trip recently and oh my gosh, did American Airlines do a number on them.

Yeah.

On the way here.

I saw her posting about it. Poor thing.

On the way there and the way back, they got stranded both ways in Charlotte for a night and then London. And, you know, I mean, I'm a fabulous travel agency and Luxe Rally is a phenomenal agency. We can't reschedule flights. Sure, we're not that good. Yeah, but we can help in the process and we can support and we can advocate. And that's something that, you know, sometimes it's just a case of well, this has happened and I'm gonna queue up and try and do this. Yeah, okay, ask for this, say this, wait for this. Yeah, and then do that. Um, and so I, I feel so awful, um, and I'm pretty sure that they'll never fly American Airlines again. Yeah, but the reality is that tomorrow somebody else will fly and have the best experience in the world.

Sure.

So, you know, flights are— flights are a a challenge, always.

Yeah.

But I'm always there to support, and you're not going to get that from a chatbot. You're not going to get that from an online travel agency or where you buy bulk toilet paper.

Yeah.

You'll get it from someone that cares to the level you both do, and 99.99999, if not one, you know, rounded up to 100% of mums here, because we all do. Yeah, that's what, that's what connects us all. Because we share that same commitment.

Absolutely.

We always talk— we— the, on the online services have, have, are good and they do what they need to, but when it comes to things, no one's going to replace a friend, your community, a person you, you've— you can meet in person, that kind of thing. Like, and have that care. Like, we always like, meet me in person. It's completely like— I'm not— I tell people when I'm working, a lot of times I am a virtual person to a lot of people. They don't like coming into the bank or having, you know, consultation in person. So I'm either a text, I'm a phone call, I'm an email, but I'm like, hey, I'm a mom, I'm a mortgage lender, and I'm part of this community. So you're my neighbor and I care about you.

Yes.

So, and having someone who does that with your vacation plans, because a lot— I don't travel very often, so if I get stranded, I don't know what to do because I've never— that's never happened before, you know, or I've never had where my hotel wasn't booked properly. Like, if something like that goes wrong, you want to have someone in your corner.

Yes.

So having someone that you know and that cares about you in your corner and that will be there to answer, at least answer questions that maybe the, the airline won't.

Yes.

Then tells you what to do next. And at least that at least limits some of the anxiety or stress that you're going through.

Exactly.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I love that you're providing that level of service and I love that you're providing it to some of our members.

Yes.

Oh, absolutely.

Absolutely. If, when, when clients come to me, uh, you know, if I know them, I obviously know what the connection is. But when someone comes to me and, and I don't recognize this name, and I ask them, how did you find me? Or, you know, where did you find my contact? And they say, oh, you're from Working Moms, right? Or, I saw you at the morning tea. And, you know, I don't treat anyone different. Everyone is a VIP to me, but it's a special place in my heart because I, I feel so honored that as a mom, I know how much time and effort goes into doing anything. Just getting out the door to come here with a little guy then amplify that when it's an overnight stay or whatnot. So if I can take all that stress away and they just need to worry about how many diapers to pack and how many matchbox cars or whatever, yeah, then I can make sure that their experience is exceptional regardless of what they're doing and where they're going and what their budget is.

Well, as a mum, you always want one little less stress Off your plate is always helpful. Yes. Whatever it may be.

Yeah.

Yes.

I know when something you don't have to worry about.

I know when we travel, and first of all, if anyone that knows me knows that like I run on anxiety and coffee alone.

Yeah.

My shoulders live up here at all times. But when I am traveling, especially with my 3 kids, they're like up here. Yeah. Like, it's like you're constantly like this. And so then by the time you get someplace, you're exhausted. Yeah. Cuz you were worrying about who's crying and who's fighting and, you know, is there enough snacks and are we gonna have time? We got to run, you know, all the things. And so traveling can be a lot as a mom.

Yes, it is. It is.

And I like— we always carry so much. And if one thing can be taken off your plate.

Absolutely.

Yeah. Yeah. So, and again, I— until speaking with you, Alicia, I thought it was part of the luxury, you know, elites that had— so I'm like, I can't afford one. And I didn't know that that's how it worked.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

Look, There are certainly some, I guess, agencies who will only operate in that space, and some agents who will only work in certain manners and, you know, require a fee to get in or a membership to access their service, especially for concierge services. That's huge for that to be provided complimentary. Um, now it's obviously conditional on, you know, you can't be staying at the Red Roof Inn to get concierge services, but I mean, that's a phenomenal, um, service that we can provide. And I guess it just exemplifies the experience for people. Um, and I love that we can do that. And I love that, you know, I'm so proud of being part of the Luxe Rally community. And, you know, I mentioned when I was researching, you know, returning to work and researching where was I going to find my place, and Luxe Rally just screamed to me And I tell you what, the process to get in was no easy task. So I had to go through an interview, um, pass the interview, invited to do training, did the training, and then had to sit a role-play exam. And we had to prepare vacations, uh, 12 vacations, 12 scenarios, and then we didn't know what scenario we were going to get, so you had to prepare them all equally. Go that way.

Okay.

Um, and you had, I think, gosh, it's going back now, 10 days to do it, 8 days to do it. And then you would pretend with the person on the video call and qualify them to work out what trip they wanted, and then present what you presented and you had 3 goes. You could, you could fail twice, and then you had to pass by the third go to be then invited in and kind of finish the training and whatnot.

Yeah.

So I was one of few to pass on the first go, which I'm proud of, but it's kind of like you don't ask people, you know, when, when did you learn to walk?

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, that's right.

It's you learnt to walk. Yeah, is what matters. Um, and then from there, uh, basically it's just more training on training. And every week we have presentations and vendor sessions with Forbes-rated properties. So we, we do that every week. There's a continuous education portion of what we do.

Yeah.

Um, and so I, I love that it's not a stale thing, you know, once I join and then that's done.

Yeah.

Um, But I work ridiculous hours, I'm not gonna lie, but I do it on my terms and I, I do it with this guy, right? And I get to shuffle things around so I can come and do, you know, morning tea on the last Tuesday of the month here with my fellow mums. And, or, you know, next Monday for instance, Cecilia and I are catching up. We're going to be, um, you know, having a chat about their trip and just— we love going to Coffee Crush on Bovodi Road.

Yeah.

Um, so it's wonderful that I I get that. And, and I wouldn't have— wouldn't have that life, and I wouldn't have that job if I had returned to the cliché 9 to 5.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

I think we all do that. We all want to find a way to make it all work. And, and you found a passion that you're great at and is able to allow you to be the mom that you want to be.

Yeah, I try. Um, and Marie, we talked about this before, but, um, the very first time I met you, you said, I'm a mum first and a mortgage lender second, and I will never apologize for that. I own it because I love that. And it dawned on me after you said that, that so am I. And I realized that, you know, for 20 years I worked in oil and gas and thought I would be, you know, that was it.

Yeah.

And then I took the vacation to Hawaii and everything changed.

Yeah, yeah, amazing. Well, this has been lovely. It has.

Yeah, Christian's been great.

Yes, our first little guest, and he's so keen. I learned about, you know, that's him. Yeah, I learned about, um, the fact that just anybody can use, you know, a travel agent. And I feel like if nothing else, our listeners should take that away, that, that that bit of stress when you travel can be taken off your plate, um, and for no fee really. So that's amazing. Um, and lastly, we usually just like to ask our guests to sort of share how they can be found for your services.

So I'm on Facebook, Alicia Myers at Luxe Rally Travel, and also Instagram, Alicia Luxe Rally Travel. And you can also go to the Luxe Rally Travel website and Okay, we're just going to try this together. Okay, we just, uh, just hang two. All right, just give me two, that's all I need. Uh, you can also go to the Luxe Rally travel website in the agent profiles and you'll see me in the, the very first section of the agent profiles in the Luxury Circle. Um, so I'm, I'm one of the top 12 agents in, in Luxe Rally and you'll see me in that little luxury cycle category.

Okay, perfect. Well, we'll add that in our show notes as well. I think Christian has decided that the podcast is over.

He's done. We're good.

So I want to just quickly thank you for being on and joining us. Yeah. And I'm going to also thank our listeners for tuning into this week's episode, and we'll catch you guys next time.

See you guys next time.

Bye. Thanks so much for tuning in to this episode of the Working Moms of San Antonio podcast. We hope you loved today's chat and found a little inspiration to take with you into your week. If you have a podcast topic suggestion or a question you'd love for us to cover, definitely send us an email at hello@workingmomsofsanantonio.com. We'd love to hear from you. And until next time, see you in the community.