Sally Samler

Sally, being B.C. born and bred, has fond memories of summer road trips with her family from their West Vancouver home out to a cottage her family rented out in the Okanagan Valley, on the shores of Skaha Lake. As an eight year-old, she was specifically impressed by a huge wooden cigarette, suspended from a roadside gallows at the entrance of Manning Park, warning of the forest fire danger caused by careless smokers! The destination was a cottage called “The Lazy Leprechan”, and it was a cherished annual pilgrimage for many years, extending well into her teen years. As an adult, she was able to pay a return visit with her husband and her own two daughters. It was these trips which later led to the construction of their own getaway home in Tulameen, near Princeton.

Sally has been many places during her lengthy career in the travel industry, and the place that has stood apart from them all is Sandy Lane in Barbados. A particular little detail, not overlooked by Sally, were the snazzy peppermills that caught the crushed pepper to allow for accurate and even distribution on her plate! She’s looked high and low ever since and has never found a gadget quite the same. Another highlight of this agent familiarization trip was a stay in Princess Margaret’s villa on the island of Mustique. Each agent had their own private room (Sally’s was complete with outdoor rain shower), and they were treated to a meal prepared by the villa’s own chef. The infinity pool had to be seen to be believed.

And finally, as testament to the formerly glamorous heyday of the travel agent, Sally remembers a time in the mid 60’s when a bunch of agents from Vancouver hopped on a Pacific Western Airlines (PWA) propeller-powered flight from here to Grand Cayman to pick up passengers. Most of the DC-4 aircraft’s seats were stacked up and out of the way on the flight down, allowing plenty of space for the select few to roam around the plane unencumbered. After a quick turnaround in Grand Cayman, the flight headed to New Orleans for a necessary refueling stop, combined with an overnight stay. While in New Orleans, although hotel rooms were supplied, the intrepid travellers decided to forego sleep in favour of an all-night rum-fueled party stop before heading back to Vancouver. Doubtless today they would have been denied boarding for that leg of the trip!