In Venice, a Monograms rep awaited us at our arrival gate to take us to our water taxi
In Venice, a Monograms rep awaited us at our arrival gate to take us to our water taxi

What is Monograms?
Monograms is an international travel company and part of the award-winning Globus family of group travel brands. Monograms is different in that it’s geared toward independent travel, and taking the planning, coordinating and arranging out of your travel equation so you can just show and go!

Let’s face it: Traveling is great, planning sucks, but those who fail to plan, plan to fail. With Monograms, all the logistics of the travel planning process are taken care of: accommodations, transportation, sightseeing, and local knowledge from your Local Host.

Each travel package can be tailored and personalized to meet specific needs and wants. Family, active, sightseeing, cruise/boat, food and wine and entertainment are just some of the categories in which Monograms offers excursions.

Accommodations:
Monograms selects great hotels at the heart of the action and gives you flexible choices to meet your travel style.

Transportation:
Although finding a way to get from Point A to Point B is all part of the adventure, transportation can be a very frustrating and daunting experience—not to mention time-consuming and possibly unnecessarily expensive. Monograms will make arrangements to pick you up and drop you off right where you want to be!

Sightseeing:
A half-day of sightseeing in each city is planned to assist with orientation. To me this is a great idea, as it’s a way to get a quick hit of any major points-of-interest/attractions while leaving the rest of the day to be planned at your leisure. With Monogram’s “VIP” access, you’ll jump straight to the front of any lines to make the most of your precious time abroad.

Local Hosts:
Having family or friends to show you around in your far off land would be the best of both worlds, but having (what Monograms calls) a Local Host booked with your trip is hard to beat. This is unique in that no other travel company that I’ve experienced can offer the accessibility to the wealth of this type of information. On your trip, you’ll get this valuable information right there, right when you need it.

So what makes Monograms so smart? It’s all in the science—a scientific approach to traveling happy. Monograms recently participated in a study (the New Road to Happiness Study) with Shawn Achor, a Positive Psychology Researcher and international bestselling author of “The Happiness Advantage.” Through this study it was determined that four primary ingredients are needed to have a happy travel experience:

  1. Minimize stress – The biggest vacation stressors are wasting time figuring things out, being unfamiliar with the destination and managing transportation.
  2. Plan ahead – Nearly all of the best and happiest vacations were planned at least one month in advance, which reduces stress and allows for anticipation of your getaway.
  3. Make a local connection – “When you meet up with a local guide or someone you know, you are better to connect with the destination. And creating a connection with people and places, cultures and histories, allows us to open our minds and increase our chances of experiencing happiness,” said Achor.
  4. Go far and away – This research mirrors a recent Twitter study that demonstrated  that the happiness level of tweets increased the further the post is geo tagged from home.

To summarize:

According to the New Road to Happiness Study results, when travelers adopted the above ingredients, nearly all enjoyed more energy after returning from their trip—something Achor refers to the “post-vacation glow.” So how does Monograms incorporate this proven formula to provide you with the best possible chance of experiencing a much happier vacation? Read on and find out how, as I share my personal experiences with Monograms on a five-day vacation to Venice and Lake Maggiore, Italy:

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