The Official Blog of Wes Melcher

New Content Coming Soon!!

2011-10-09T18:11:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to write and let everyone know that I am working on some exciting new projects that have kept me away from updating this blog. I apologize for the lack of updates, and will be coming your way soon with some brand new content and valuable information!

“What are You Going to Be When You Grow Up and Get a JOB?”

2010-08-25T20:56:00.001-07:00

I was flying back from WorldVentures Millionaire Bootcamp today, and I observed an interesting conversation. I was sitting in my seat and a little boy in a Boston Red Sox Jersey walked out of the bathroom and walked past the flight attendant. She stopped him and asked him if the jersey he was wearing was his favorite player and if he was a big fan of the Boston Red Sox. The little boy obviously a little shy and embarrassed just kind of shrugged and said “I don’t know.” To continue the conversation she then asked him “What are you going to be when you grow up and get a job?” I had to almost think twice about what I had just heard. The age old saying “What are you going to be when you grow up” has now turned into the perfect example of exactly what has happened to a nation once built on the entrepreneurial dream. Our country was founded by people who wanted to live life on their terms, and wanted to have better lives for their families. People didn’t come to America so that they could build someone else’s dreams, and provide for someone else’s family. “Go to school, Get a job, work your whole life, and maybe have a little money when you retire” has become the “NEW” American Way. If we are already teaching our children they need to get a job when they are 5, there is no wonder our country is on the brink of depression, and we have people everywhere with the entitlement mentality. We now learn at an early age “NOT” to think for ourselves and that we need to stay in the “System.” If we continue down this road I feel sad for what our country will look like another 100 years from now. I know as an entrepreneur I am in the very small minority today, and that number is shrinking because of the way we are training our children to think! I remember as a child I used to have BIG Dreams and BIG plans, and I felt like I could do anything! Today I feel like our children are being stifled at an alarmingly young age. This just reinforces my belief that we need a “NEW” education system for our youth! We need a system that teaches leadership, positivity, independence, creativity, entrepreneurship, wealth creation, contribution, and respect. I know I am not alone in my feelings of doubt about our future generations, but we have the ability to make a difference now! We don’t have to sit around and worry. We can put a focus on mentorship, contribution, and education in our local communities or in the places we visit or do business in on a daily basis. There are mentees out there waiting for the mentor to appear. We must make a difference and share this message now so we can start to make a difference and it starts with the youth. I am renewing a commitment to this belief after watching this interaction today, and I will make sure that this continues to be on the forefront of my mind as I make a difference in people’s lives, and I hope some of you will do the same thing.

Wes Melcher

Naked & Travel: Naked Vacations Are Becoming More Popular - CNBC

2010-08-18T13:40:00.000-07:00

Naked & Travel: Naked Vacations Are Becoming More Popular - CNBC

This type of vacation may not be for everyone, but it shows that there are several areas of travel that are growing like crazy!! This is exactly why it is good to be in the travel business!!

-Wes Melcher

The Safari of a Lifetime

2010-06-29T19:28:00.000-07:00

I was recently asked to train in South Africa for the official International Launch event for WorldVentures in Africa. While we were there we had a chance to stay at Ulusaba Lodge outside of Johannesburg. The lodge is owned by Sir Richard Branson and has been voted in the Top of the World for Safari Lodges. Just like the other properties that Richard has assembled in his portfolio at www.virginlimitededition.com this property is no different! I will be uploading photos and videos from this incredible journey. Most people spend an average of $1,500 per person per night for this property, but of course due to the special partnership WorldVentures Luxury DreamTrips has with Virgin Limited Edition we were able to experience this at a fraction of the cost.

Wes Melcher
www.WesMelcher.com

The Oasis of The Seas

2009-11-28T11:03:00.000-08:00

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/cruises/item.aspx?type=blog&ak=54644552.blog

Check out this article from USAToday on "The Oasis of The Seas"

here is just an excerpt:

The big news of the past week, of course, is that the much-ballyhooed, 5,400-passenger Royal Caribbean cruise ship -- scheduled to debut in late 2009 -- finally has gone on sale. Royal Caribbean started taking bookings Thursday from its most loyal customers (so-called Diamond members who have sailed 10 or more times). Other past Royal Caribbean customers will be able to book starting this coming Thursday. General bookings open Sept. 3.

RELATED ITEMS: Oasis of the Seas will have zip lines, water shows; USA TODAY reader wins contest to name Royal Caribbean ships; ships will have live trees in 'Central Park'

So what does a cabin on the biggest cruise vessel ever built cost? Price sheets sent to travel agents over the past week show inside cabins are as little as $729 per person, per week for off-season fall months. For the peak summer weeks of June and July, however, the same inside cabins sell for $1,399. And the least expensive balcony cabins during the peak summer weeks start at $1,779.

The FREE $25,000 Vacation Part 8

2009-10-31T20:19:00.001-07:00

Athens was probably one of my favorite stops on the entire vacation from a sightseeing perspective. Obviously, the acropolis is one of the focal points for the history of politics and considering my degree is in Political Science, I have read enough Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, and the rest of the Greek scholars to put the non-history buff to sleep for hundreds of years! Getting a chance to see the birthplace of politics and modern civilization was a HUGE item on my bucket list. Seeing the streets that some of the most famous men in history walked on was quite inspiring. We also got a chance to visit the original Olympic Stadium where the first Olympics were held!! Also the town of Marathon is just outside of Athens, which is where the word "Marathon" comes from!

We figured out a trick on the Athens stop that you should consider when you are taking cruises especially if you have any ADD symptoms inside you. After the first couple of cruise tours, Sara and I realized we were definitely much faster walkers and had shorter attention spans than the average tourist. So, we decided to get a private driver and not to do the group tour of Athens. This worked in our favor for several reasons, we had a chance to meet a great couple from England before we found our driver who actually joined us on the adventure, and this gave us the ability to go where we wanted to and stay as long as we wanted to, and our driver just waited outside for us everywhere we went!! This also wound up being considerably shorter and costing les than the cruise line tour would have been for the exact same thing! I would also recommend brushing up on your history of these places before coming, because my memory from the college days at Texas State in 1996-2000 was a little spotty.

Stay Tuned For More,

Wes Melcher

The FREE $25,000 Vacation Part 7

2009-10-14T12:49:00.000-07:00

The ship we sailed on was the Celebrity Solstice, and at the time was the newest cruise ship in the World. The ship was so big, and had so much stuff on board that we never even saw everything!! One day we tried to explore the ship completely but we kept getting distracted, and never finished our self guided tour. The food was awesome in all of the restaurants and in the main dining room. The service was a little slow in the main dining room I think because the ship was so new they were not adequately prepared for a COMPLETELY SOLD OUT CRUISE. That’s right in the middle of a so called recession the ship which can carry over 2500 passengers was completely full!!! This is just another reason of why I have been working in the travel industry, and I why I think the travel industry will continue to break record after record as the number of people around the world continue to migrate for business and pleasure to all edges of the earth.
At our first port of call was Sicily, Italy and we booked a tour for wine and cheese tasting. This is one of the top wine/cheese regions in the world, and we met an amazing couple from Dallas named John and Jean. They quickly became our cruise buddies, although we didn’t do that many tours with them because they booked all of them in advance and they all started at 8AM or earlier and there was no way Sara and I were getting up on our vacation before 8AM EVERYDAY for two weeks!!!

Wes Melcher

The FREE $25,000 Vacation Part 6

2009-10-07T10:49:00.000-07:00

The second day in Rome started a little later than any of us planned because we decided to check out the nightlife the previous night which took us to a place called the ICEBAR, which is made completely of ICE!! This is absolutely a MUST stop for anyone between age 18-23, which made us feel like parents when we showed up and the place was filled with backpackers and students! This was probably the most entertained I have ever seen Jeff, when you combine something like an igloo and alcohol along with pay one price and drink FREE for as long as you can stand the cold!! Due to the fact that we attempted to stay in as long as we could bear it, and then tried a few other bars we definitely did not get the proper amount of sleep for tourist activities! We finally started the day at the Coliseum, and for me this was one of the best things I saw on the entire trip. I have always been a sports fan, and so this is like the birthplace of competition and athletics to me. The Romans sure knew how to entertain, and if you actually understand what it took to build the Coliseum and operate the events and control the crowd it is really unbelievable! This is also why I purchased season tickets in the new Cowboys Stadium, because I think the stadium is like our modern day Coliseum! There are a lot of different interpretations of the gladiator events, but the bottom line is that place was where people fought to the death not always but sometimes. The Coliseum was also the epitome of Roman Decadence (just like the cowboy stadium). We then got a chance to visit Vatican City, and St. Peter’s Basilica. This was also a major highlight considering I have seen this and read about it since I was first able to read. The whole area controlled by the Catholic Church is really unbelievable. The decadence of gold blended with the frescoes from some of the greatest artists in history all adorned by carvings, sculptures and statues dedicated to the early saints are absolutely breathtaking.
We attempted to make it to the Sistine Chapel, but due to a planning glitch we got there as they were closing it, but by that time I was not only exhausted from all of the walking and waiting in lines, I was pretty much like Michelangelo Who? Besides in less than 18 hours we would be on the

NEWEST Cruise Ship in the World, and we had several more things to see and do!!

On the morning we were leaving to head to the cruise ship our bags finally showed up, to this day I have no idea what we would have done if they had been just four hours later. I will never fly US Airways again, and I will make sure they don’t get any business from anyone I know either. Not having your bags for a week on a trip you have been looking forward to your entire life is a pretty disappointing experience, and their lack of customer service and effortless approach to helping us left a pretty bad taste in my mouth.

Nonetheless we were now on our way to the pier outside of Rome and headed for the best cruise of my life! The 12 day and 11 night itinerary boasted some of the best sites in the entire Mediterranean and thanks to WorldVentures not only did we get a discount, but we also were completely reimbursed by the company after we got back!!

Stay tuned for more photos and stories from the cruise,
Wes Melcher

The FREE $25,000 Vacation Part 5

2009-10-02T06:05:00.000-07:00

Our bags still did not show up before we left Venice for Rome which was horrible, so we had to coordinate our plans in Rome to attempt to get our bags from the Rome airport. This was especially time sensitive considering we were leaving on a two week cruise in 72 hours, and considering how poorly US Airways had handled the bags up until this point we were extremely nervous!! However, this gave us a chance to do some more shopping (courtesy of US Airways, or at least it will be when they pay us back). Once we landed in Rome Maria encouraged us to take the train to our hotel, which I will NEVER do again, the Wes Melcher approach would have been to take a cab. Dragging all of Jeff’s and Maria’s bags were bad enough going through the subway, and then walking 3 miles it seemed like to our hotel was absolutely AWESOME (NOT)! I just listened to Maria because she is from a town just outside of Rome, and I figured “When in Rome” we stayed at the Westin Excelsior in Rome, which once again was an amazing hotel. This is one of the reasons I love the Starwood Brand. They always have great service, and they have GREAT beds!! Rome was the typical tourist adventure for us, although we all did a TON of shopping because of the great high end Italian designer stores. We started off with the Spanish Steps, and the Trevi Fountain which are two of the can’t miss stops on the Rome checklist. Jeff actually got into the Trevi Fountain, and I am not sure that is legal so I of course acted like I didn’t know him. This is something you have to be prepared to do sometimes with Jeff! We went to an AWESOME restaurant that night which became my favorite of the trip. The had the absolute BEST LASAGNA in the history of Italian food ever!! I proceeded to eat it three more times on the trip, which probably wasn’t the most adventurous of an eating experience, but why try something you don’t know if you will like, when you have already found your favorite!!!

Watch out for more photos and crazy stories,
Wes Melcher

The FREE $25,000 Vacation Part 4

2009-09-30T12:00:00.000-07:00

We left on an early flight from Miami to Philadelphia where we met up with Jeff Johnston and Maria Corr for our trip to Italy! The flight was uneventful on the way to Venice, until we landed and realized that US Airways had lost mine and Sara’s luggage. This was especially problematic considering the airport is on the mainland in Venice and we were staying at the Westin Regina Europa, which is in the main section of the canals. The airline also did not handle the situation properly at all, and there is only ONE US AIRWAYS employee who handles ticketing and BAGS!! We called the airport for hours trying to track down the bags, and luckily since Jeff and Maria had their bags we shared clothes with them until we could do some shopping!
Venice was amazing! It is incredible to see a city built completely with canals and especially considering the city was built hundreds of years ago and it is still there! (At least for now) We got a chance to see all the sites in Venice and had some amazing food and wine (which we pretty much did everywhere). The hotel we stayed is the highest rated hotel in all of Venice, and was absolutely gorgeous and our room looked out at the largest cathedral in the city. There were some great shops with beautiful hand blown glass because of the proximity of Venice to Murano, where most of the BEST hand blown glass comes from. We only spent two days in Venice which was about the perfect amount of time considering the city is relatively small and everything starts to look the same after a while!

The FREE $25,000 Vacation Part 3

2009-09-29T16:28:00.000-07:00

We decided to plan an extra day on the Florida of the leg of the trip to go to South Beach. I recently purchased a unit at the “W South Beach” with my friend Henry Nahmad, and this gave us an excuse to go see the unit and check out the AMAZING property.

I made the decision not to purchase anymore real estate two years ago, because I do think the economy and the real estate market is going to see a double dip that could be worse than the first round in 2008. However, I love the Starwood Brand and this property offers a condo hotel program that allows the owner to share the hotel revenue on the unit when I am not using it!

Especially if inflation gets as bad as I think it will this will be a great investment because the purchase price is based on today’s dollar value and the hotel rental rates will increase with inflation.

We got to Miami in the afternoon and hit up my FAVORITE sandwich shop “Sandwicherie.” Henry joined us over at the W and we checked out the pool and the INCREDIBLE property. The lobby ceilings are about 4 stories and the grounds are immaculate.

They even have a bungalow dedicated to my favorite show “Entourage.” We went to the Living Room lounge at the W that night and then hit the actual club at the hotel later in the evening.

It is definitely the place to SEE and BE SEEN right now on South Beach with the cheapest rooms in off season selling for around $500 per night.

Can't wait to share more about the trip!!!

Stay Tuned,

Wes Melcher

Kanye West Takes the Mic from Taylor Swift at MTV VMA Awards

2009-09-15T12:31:00.001-07:00

This is the video everyone has been talking about!! I hope it stays up because it has been yanked down everywhere!!

Kanye West took the microphone from Taylor Swift on stage at the 2009 MTV VMA awards last night.

The FREE $25,000 Vacation Continued

2009-09-15T09:39:00.000-07:00

The second leg of the Wes Melcher $25,000 FREE VACATION took us on a First Class flight from Los Angeles to Key West, Florida. Sara has been talking about her family tradition of "Lobstering" for as long as I have known her, so we made plans earlier in the year to participate in this amazingly difficult but very entertaining experience. In typical Wes Melcher form I challenged Sara that I could get more lobsters than she could, and that was a HUGE mistake!

Sara is not only an expert at this crazy sport, but she has practiced many times!! I assumed that catching a lobster with your hands couldn't be that difficult, but I was definitely wrong!! Her family also handicapped my experience by giving me the leftover "Lobstering" supplies!! We had to free-dive in about 10 feet of water, and use a lobstering stick, bag, measuring gauge and gloves. The trip was a HUGE Success with our group bringing in over 125 Lobsters in two days!! I was the loser on the leaderboard with a whopping two lobsters!!

Key West was a great change from the pace of the previous week in Hollywood. We got a chance to relax around a totally different pool scene at a great Hyatt Resort, which we got at a huge discount thanks to WorldVentures! We also got a chance to eat some amazing food, which included multiple pieces of KEY LIME PIE!!
We also got a chance to wrap up a couple of the days with some pier fishing that yielded very little results, so all in all my outdoors skills were below average at best on this leg of the trip!!!

This leg of the trip was adventurous to say the least, and I am glad we got to spend time on the boat, but sleep at a great hotel, because sleeping with the fish and lobsters would have been interesting!!

The BEST FREE $25,000 Vacation EVER!!

2009-09-07T10:59:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share some photos and highlights from my one month vacation. The entire month would have cost well over $25,000 without including any of the shopping or AMAZING food.

The trip started off with Jeff Johnston and Maria Corr joining Sara Thompson and myself for a weekend in Los Angeles. We were invited to a Charity Event at Beso, which is co-owned by Eva Longoria. We had an amazing meal and spent time with Chris Masterson from "Malcolm in the Middle." The weekend was topped off by time at Teddy's nightclub and the amazing pool at the Roosevelt Hotel, which is a Hollywood landmark and icon. I love getting to mix business and pleasure at amazing hotels around the world. We got to spend time with Eden Alpert and Martin Ruof (two WorldVentures Superstars) at the hotspot Vibrato which eden co-owns with her Jazz Legend fathere Herb Alpert. These are the types of people and events I have been blessed to attend because of the lifestyle WorldVentures has given me.

We also got a chance to work with some very influential people in the entertainment industry on the new Luxury DreamTrips product that Worldventures just rolled out to the US Market. The product has been met with an overwhelming response to the high end market that are looking for the type of class and service that WorldVentures has already shown with their DreamTrips around the globe. If you would like to visit the official website for the Wes Melcher Luxury Dream Trips site then please go to http://www.cashiontravel.luxdt.com/

I will be bringing you the next leg of this amazing vacation real soon, so stay tuned!!

Thanks for your support,

Wes Melcher

Glad to Be Back Home

2009-08-18T05:16:00.000-07:00

I just landed back in the United States after an amazing month long vacation. I will be sharing my travel highlights and photos over the upcoming week. I had the BEST Vacation I have ever had as I zig zagged throughout Europe after two weeks in California and Florida. Everything was amazing except for the service on US Airways. Make sure if you are travelling to Europe DO NOT use US Airways. They lost our bags in Venice, and if we hadn't of planned a week in Venice and Rome before our cruise we would not have had clothes for our two week cruise. They have one employee in Venice for US Airways who handles all of customer service, baggage claims, lost baggage, baggage transfers, and even works the counter. We deffinitely take customer service for granted in the United States!! LOL

I have some amazing photos and videos that I will be posting on the BLOG and on my website in the photos gallery.

I was also chosen to train at the next WorldVentures International Acceleration in London the weekend of September 24th.

Great to be home,
Wes Melcher

What can happen in 11 months??

2009-06-24T14:16:00.000-07:00

I am so excited that WorldVentures International Acceleration Training program is coming to San Antonio this weekend!! WorldVentures has decided to host this month's event in South Texas due to the rapid growth and expansion we have created in less than a year!

When I moved to San Antonio 11 months ago, nobody had spoken the words WorldVentures in 3 years. We were able to take a new market completely from scratch with some of the right contacts and build a group of over 2500 people in 11 months!! Now our market stretches from San Antonio through Laredo and down along the border to Mexico, just waiting for the day we open WorldVentures in Latin America. For those of you that have helped make this happen I am thankful, and for those of you who have not gotten on board with WorldVentures and Wes Melcher what are you waiting for?

Sea Shepherd a Great Cause

2009-05-29T17:55:00.001-07:00

Sea Shepherd a Group Saving the Whales

A great article about vacations in America!

2009-05-27T11:00:00.000-07:00

This is just another reminder of how important vacation time is to the average person. Make sure you are building a residual income so you have the freedom to travel when you want!!

Check out the article here:

Welcome to The Official Blog for Wes Melcher

2009-05-25T20:55:00.001-07:00

I want to thank everyone for their support of my training and coaching over the last decade. I have been blessed to work with some amazing people, and I am going to try to update this Blog as often as possible to keep you up to date with all of my current projects and training content.

Thanks for Your Support,
Wes Melcher