Sylwia Majtczak - Mixing Travel and Family

For many businessmen and women who must travel regularly it is hard to keep a strong focus on their family. As a corporate travel consultant for Altour and working mother, Sylwia Majtczak knows how hard it can be to leave family behind for a business trip. However, it is important to ensure a proper balance between traveling for your career and prioritizing family.

 

Many regular business travelers say the need to be constantly on the move between locations and the inability to spend time with family creates stress and frustration. Family members that are unable to join business trips can feel jealous of the business traveler or excluded from the traveler's experiences. For a business traveler, each trip rarely includes time for sightseeing or vacationing and is generally filled with meetings and work instead. This can create tension and lead to more frustration and stress.

While away on a business trip, it is often difficult to call family every day. However, a call every two to three days can help everyone feel more comfortable. As well, directing the conversation to include activities the family is doing in your absence can build a sense of interest in them, minimizing the feeling of exclusion.

Most importantly, when you return home from a trip, make sure you are spending out of work hours engaging with family and friends. Sylwia Majtczak spends time with her daughter as often as they can, even if it is only over the phone. She knows this not only builds strong family ties but helps relieve the stress of a hard day at work.

Sylwia Majtczak - Where to Go Next

Most travelers have a favorite destination they like to return to when they can, but it can also be exciting to visit a new location. Researching and planning a vacation takes a lot of time and work, but with preparation a trip to a new destination can be more exciting than a trip to a favorite vacation spot. Sylwia Majtczak, a corporate travel consultant at Altour, loves to travel to new destinations and learn about other cultures. Some great vacation spots are:

• San Francisco, California, United States. San Francisco offers great views of the ocean, impressive historic scenery, and exceptional dining.
• Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. This small village in the southern Alps is in the Veneto region of northern Italy. Like all of Italy it is steeped in hundreds of years of history, and this town offers beautiful views and great skiing in winter.
• Anchorage, Alaska, United States. Anchorage has a wealth of museums and historical sites.
• London, United Kingdom. Although London is a well-known vacation spot, the city offers a lot more than many visitors encounter. Along with the standard attractions, London has great shopping, many parks to visit, and
• Krakow, Poland. Krakow has castles, historical sites, and beautiful churches, as well as a free walking tour of the city.

When planning any trip, it is important to consider the culture of your destination and prepare accordingly. Sylwia Majtczak enjoys studying the cultures in various destinations and uses that knowledge to advise her clients when they are visiting a new location.

Sylwia Majtczak - Agent or Consultant

When most consumers think of using a professional to book travel, they use the term travel agent. In the travel industry, however, there are different roles and different client types handled by travel agents as opposed to travel consultants. The distinctions may seem slight to a consumer, but Sylwia Majtczak is proud to be a corporate travel consultant rather than a corporate travel agent.

The main difference between a travel agent and a travel consultant is in the type of representation they provide. An agent will listen to a client's preferences for a trip and then locate airline tickets and hotels to meet those needs, as well as recommending restaurants and attractions. A consultant can and will do all of that for a client, but also looks at the planning of the trip as a whole. Where an agent might recommend a different hotel than the client initially requested because it has better access to a business venue, a consultant might recommend a different business venue because there are better hotel options nearby and have a secondary recommendation in case the venue cannot be changed.

Travel agents are valuable professionals in the industry and help a lot of travelers plan great trips every year. Nonetheless, Sylwia Majtczak knows the real difference between her job and that of a travel agent is in the level of trust placed in her by her clients. As a result, she works hard to ensure every client is comfortable with a trip before, during, and after their travel so her clients will know their trust is well placed.

Sylwia Majtczak - To Consult or Not To Consult

In today's world of quick access to information and services online, many travelers don't consider using a travel agent or consultant when planning a trip. Airplane tickets, hotels, rental cars, and even tickets to attractions can all be booked online, allowing consumers to make their own choices in the comfort of their homes. Sylwia Majtczak, a corporate travel consultant since 1997, knows that online deals aren't always the best option for travelers, though. Here are a couple reasons you might not want to book travel on your own:

Sylwia Majtczak

•  Travel agents often have access to reservations that are otherwise unavailable. Because they book hundreds to thousands of trips every year, travel agents and consultants have bargaining power individual consumers don't and can acquire hard to get rooms, dinner or entertainment reservations, and other perks for their clients.

•  Travel agents offer security when something goes wrong. Everyone wants to believe their trip will be problem-free, but when you do have an issue it is reassuring to have someone you can call. Travel agents and consultants have connections with airlines and hotels that allow them to resolve issues more swiftly and often with a better result than the average consumer.

Although these are common reasons you may want to use a travel agent rather than booking on your own, Sylwia Majtczak knows the best reason for using an agent or consultant is the personal attention you receive. A travel agent is likely the only person you'll speak to about your trip whose primary concern is to ensure you have the most successful travel experience possible.

Sylwia Majtczak - How to Stay Safe and Enjoy a Bike Ride?

Sylwia Majtczak is a busy Senior Corporate Agent at Altour. Sylwia has been working in the travel industry for several years and has traveled to several amazing destinations around the world. Sylwia is a full-time working mother with one daughter. Though she has a busy schedule, Sylwia, and her daughter make it a point to enjoy regular bike rides together. Biking is an excellent outdoor physical activity, but it is one that requires you to take adequate security measures. Here are some safety tips you can use to stay safe and enjoy a bike ride.

Since you are going to be out on the road, it is recommended to wear a helmet and protect your head.

Wear bright colored clothes so that other road users can clearly see you on your bike. If you ride at night or in low-light conditions, make sure you wear a reflecting bike jacket.

Use hand signals to let other drivers know where you intend to turn. Avoid making quick turns without using hand signals.

When you are on the road, you must make sure you follow all traffic laws.

No matter how short the distance, do not ride your bike in the opposite direction of the traffic flow. Apart from it being an offense, it is extremely dangerous.

Do not weave in and out of traffic, and if possible use the designated lane for cyclists.

If you are listening to music while you are riding, make sure the music is not too loud and that you can hear what is happening around you. Do not let yourself get distracted while riding your bike.
Before you take your bike out for a ride, make sure it is in perfect working condition.

Sylwia Majtczak and her daughter like to take long bike rides during the weekend.

Sylwia Majtczak - Three Photography Mistakes to Avoid Like the Plague

Photography has evolved over the years and has incorporated various new techniques so much that things that were acceptable 20 years ago are considered serious mistakes today. Sometimes all it takes to spoil a beautiful picture is just one silly mistake or using one outdated technique. Sylwia Majtczak has been taking pictures of places in and around Hamburg, New Jersey for several years, and has built up a good collection of beautiful pictures.

Selective Color

In the past if you used selective color, it was considered cool, but that is not true today. The trend of using selective colors was popular when Photoshop layers were first introduced, but today if you use it, it would be considered a mistake. If you have any pictures with selective colors in your portfolio, it would be a good time to get rid of them.

Dreamy Portraits

Dreamy portraits would have looked good if it was the 1960’s, but that is an era gone by. If you are thinking of using diffusion filters to capture “dreamy” portraits, or if you are using Photoshop to give your portraits a blurry look, stop and think again. Photography has moved on into the future, so don’t get stuck in the past by using outdated techniques.

Eye-Level Perspective

One of the biggest mistakes many beginner photographers make is that they tend to walk around taking pictures at eye-level. It is not recommended to shoot subjects from a high level, instead get down lower and change your perspective to get better shots. If you need to photograph children, get down on your knees to get a more natural perspective.

Sylwia Majtczak is a passionate photographer who takes pleasure in taking pictures of nature.

Sylwia Majtczak - Travel Apps to Help Make Your Trip Easier

Gone are the days when you had to worry about looking for a place to stay or restaurant to eat at during your overseas trip. Today, with the advancement in information technology, information is literally at your fingertips. With the flip of your thumb and a few voice activated search queries, you can find the best hotels and restaurants near you without having to go out and look. Sylwia Majtczak has traveled to several amazing destinations around the world.

Hotel Tonight

Don’t worry about where you are going to stay because you forgot to book your hotel room. Hotel Tonight is an app that brings you last-minute inventory and helps you to book hotel rooms when you have forgotten to book a room, or if your favorite hotel is overbooked. The app allows you to check for hotels in several cities around the world “with just five clicks on your phone.”

AroundMe

Not sure what is around where you are staying? With the AroundMe app that is no longer a problem. Based on your location, the app provides a list of businesses and services near you. The app helps you find places such as hospitals, gas stations, restaurants, hotels, banks, cafes, and much more. The app also provides directions to the place you want to go, right from where you are.

XE Currency

The XE Currency app lets you check currency conversion rates in over 180 different currencies. You no longer have to worry about trying to calculate foreign exchange rates anymore. With this app, you can check the price of goods in your home currency. Sylwia Majtczak recommends using these apps the next time you travel.