WWW.HOLDMYLUGGAGE.COM - Orlando, Florida

Our travels have inspired us to fill a need for all travel enthusiasts!  There were many times we were stuck in the airport while on a layover because of tons of luggage that we didn't want to lug around with us.  The longest layover we had was in Panama for 13 hours! We were miserable!! Had there been a service like we have, we would have definitely used them!

We have started a business called "Hold My Luggage" which caters to individuals who have long layers and nowhere to store their luggage or for people who have early hotel checkouts (i.e., 11 or 12 am) but their flight leaves at 8 pm.  What do they do with all of their luggage? Hotels may offer a courtesy hold for 2 or 3 hours and afterward, they are stuck with all of that luggage until the flight time.

Hold My Luggage concierge staff will come to you, pick up your luggage, store it and return it to the airport, hotel or wherever you choose.  There is no other service in the greater Orlando area that will give you a service like this at reasonable rates.  We know some travelers want to park their luggage and travel about the country, so we offer weekly and monthly storage services.  Your luggage will be safe and secure at all times.  Check us out at www.holdmyluggage.com.

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Our Move to Ecuador - How we Did it!

Moving to Ecuador?
Here's How We Did It!

Many of you have emailed me about the process of our move here to Ecuador, especially with our children in tow. Here is how we did it!  On April 1, 2011, we started researching countries that we could live in.  Costa Rica was a country my husband's heart was settled on.  He talked about Costa Rica from the time he got up in the morning until the time we went to bed at night.  One evening,  I announced our goal of moving to Costa Rica on FaceBook. My cousin who lives in Ecuador convinced me that Costa Rica wasn't the place we wanted to go...now to convince my husband!  Well, long storry short, we changed course and started researching Ecuador.  Of course, we still had to go check out Costa Rica.  Although a very beautiful city, we could see that it would not be easy raising the kids there.  So Costa Rica was out and Ecuador here we come.

The decision was made that we were going to move to Ecuador on August 2011.  We took out a calendar and set "goal dates". The first goal date was January 2012; that month we began selling things in our house, we alerted the children's teachers that we were planning to move out of the country, possibly in the next 3 months.  The kids were in denial and didn't believe we would do it; but when they started to see big items being sold in our home, it started to become real to them. We had a huge task ahead of us which was to sell 16 years worth of "stuff" in a short amount of time. We are so glad we started in January because the next "goal date" was March 1; which was our 16 day scouting trip to visit Ecuador.  We gave ourselves 16 days so we could find the city that we liked, rent an apartment to move into, check out schools,etc.

So we purchased our airfare for our scouting trip.  I arranged for family and friends to take care of our children and off we went to find our new home in a new country.  We started out on the coast (see my blog on Bahia de Caraquez) but ended up in the Andes Mountains in Cuenca (see my blog on Cuenca).  Fortunately we found a beautiful apartment two days before our trip ended.  We signed the lease, paid the rent for the month of April and headed home to pack up the kids and sell the rest of our things.  We got back to the States from our scouting trip on March 16, 2012.  We set our final "goal date" for April 25, 2012.  This date is the actual date that we would be on the plane heading back to Ecuador.

So the first thing we did once we were back was order all of our children's passports.  We paid an extra fee to expedite them since we didn't have that much time.  The next thing we did was purchase airfare for that date.  Once the airfare was purchased, it really sealed the deal for us.  One by one the passports came in the mail.  We then got all of our children's medical and dental records up to date. Since we were moving to the mountains we didn't need to get yellow fever shots, but I do recommend that you get them in case you want to travel to the coast.  Because this move was a one time deal we wanted to make sure we had all the necessary paperwork.   So we got our FBI background check, my husband's income letter from Social Security (residency requirement is for head of house to show $800 income and $100 for each dependent, so we had to show a total of $1200 per month of income for a family of 5), marriage license and the children's birth certificates apostilled at the State department.  (This is important and a requirement when applying for residency in Ecuador.  Many people do not come to Ecuador with the proper paper work and apostilles and have to either travel back to the U.S. or their perspective country to retrieve them or spend hundreds of dollars to send for them through the mail.)  All of our documents had to be translated word for word and apostilled as well.  

So all of the paperwork was done, the passports arrived, plane tickets were purchased, all household items and furniture sold, our cars were sold, kids last week of school was bittersweet along with saying goodbye to family and friends.  On April 25th at 8:00am, we loaded up our rental car with 20 suitcases, 5 carry-on's and a few bags; and headed to Miami International to board a plane at 6:30pm. We were off to our new life...Cuenca, Ecuador or Bust!  It's hard to believe that was three years ago.  Looking back, it was the scariest, most exhilarating thing we have ever done...but it also was the most rewarding experience we have ever had.  Ecuador was very good to us and we will never forget our experience of a family of five who took the leap and stepped outside of their comfort zone to live abroad.

WE MOVED BACK TO THE U.S.

As of October 4, 2014, We, the Serrano's, moved back to the United States! We live on the East Coast near New York City! This move back was just as major as our move to Ecuador! Our teenage boys needed to continue with their education and learn a skill so that they can secure a decent job when they get older; so an opportunity presented itself that allowed us to transition back to State life.  

Our journey as a family unit to Ecuador was wonderful and we will never forget the life we built there.  We have truly lived outside of the box and have learned about the beautiful cultures of the indigenous people of Ecuador and their language and also Ecuadorians as a whole.  They are a very family oriented people and enjoy doing things together as a family unit.  Seeing this on a daily basis made me miss my family that much more.   We will really miss the friends that we made there and all of the wonderful experiences with learning and speaking the language. 

For you who have not even thought of putting Ecuador on your traveling agenda, please, think again! Traveling through Ecuador was a great experience for all of us and you can do it literally on a dime.  Whether you decide to take the van lines for $12 or the comfortable buses for $8, it will be worth the trip!  As with traveling any place whether outside or within the U.S., do take precautions.  Don't travel with your expensive cameras, laptops, Ipads, Iphone's, or anything of value, as you will be a target for petty theft.  Don't pull out big wads of cash especially in cities such as Quito and/or Guayaquil. Use coins and small bills no larger than $20, as most vendors do not have change for anything larger. We lived in Ecuador for nearly 3 years without any incidents of that nature.  We always did things together as a family or always made sure we did things with a group of friends.  There is always safety in numbers!! 

Now we are back to U.S. living and there are a lot of things that we miss about Ecuador such as low rent, low electric bills, low water bills, and friends that we have made that are like true family.  But being home around my brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews are worth the trip back to the U.S.  There was always that one thing missing living abroad for us...and that was our family.  It's sure good to be back home.  Ecuador will always be in our hearts!  What a great experience!! Hope you all can make it there some day!!  Until our next big adventure...

 Ciao for now.....

Constance Serrano

Our First Trip Back to the U.S.

First of all, I can't believe we have been in Ecuador for 2 years! Wow! We have been through good and challenging times here in Ecuador and looking back, we wouldn't change a thing.  So now we have planned our first trip back.

The initial plan was for all of us to travel together as we have always done in the past. Well, since the tickets are not as cheap going home versus flying into the country, Hector and our son Ashton decided to sit this trip out and opted for me to bring them some things back. So me and our two other kids are traveling together. I booked our flights, paid for the tickets and we await our destination day.  A week later Hector's mom surprised him and paid for both their tickets. So they would be traveling on a different flight, different airline, etc., hence, our first time traveling separately.  Both of our travels dictated that we leave for Guayaquil at 10 p.m. a week apart from each other (Approx. 4 hours down the mountain) so that we can check in at 3 a.m. to catch our flight at 5:30 a.m.  So off we go, me and my oldest son and my daughter, all the way to Guayaquil.  We get to the bus terminal, take a taxi ride (which is scary in itself, because they are just not safe in Guayaquil) to the airport about 8 minutes away, check in at the airport and wait two hours to check our luggage in.  Finally, it's 3 a.m., we go check our luggage, they give us our tickets, we head to immigration.  Everything is great, we are minutes away from getting past immigration to go wait to board our flight... when they ask me a question:  "Where is your husband?" I'm like, "He's in Cuenca; he will be traveling on another flight on a different day." They say, "We have a problem".  Long story short, we could not get on the flight. Due to the fact that I am a resident of Ecuador, Ecuadorian laws apply to me and my husband and they state that I needed notarized authorization from Hector to travel with our minor children. Hector would need the same, an authorized document from me to travel with our son.

You talk about someone kicking you in the gut.  My poor daughter was balling her eyes out, my son's jaw was clenched so tight, I thought he was going to turn into the incredible hulk.  I thought I was going to turn into the incredible hulk.  I was about to lose it...and then a calm came over me.  A guy came over and walked us to the entrance where we first came in. Handed me our passports and basically said "Deuces"!  We all sat down like... what just happened. I called my husband (who was 4 hours away by bus, and 1 hour away by plane; even if he was to try to fly out to meet me, flights don't begin to take off in Cuenca until 7:30 a.m.) and cried into the phone, my exact words were: "DO SOMETHING", like in the movie John Q.   But there was nothing he could do for us.  We waited for Avianca Airlines to open to see if we could salvage what was left of our trip and they said, "of course you can for an additional $2700".  The rest of what happened is a blur.  Next thing you know we are on a bus back to Cuenca with shattered hopes and dreams. Sixteen hours of nothing accomplished.

We are back in Cuenca.  I spend literally 2 hours on a Skype call with an Avianca Representative who was so patient and so kind.  She looked and looked for flights into Orlando and still with the ticket change fee of $200 plus the difference of the flight we were looking at over $2500.  So I had an ah-ha moment...change the destination to Miami.  She found a much better fare into Miami and our total fare change for the three of us was $1,000.  Thank goodness for social media, because when all of that was happening in Guayaquil, I wrote on my FB page about our snafu. My sister Candace called my brother Patrick and next thing you know by the time we got to Cuenca, I received an email to call my brother.  My brother took care of the difference for me! That was such a blessing!  The next day my husband and I went to retrieve the necessary documents for both of our flights ($100 for notarized documents to travel with minor children).  Was there a lesson in this? Yes, a bunch...but the most important lesson: I'm never travelling separately without my husband again! If I can help it:-) lol  All in all, we did arrive safely and enjoyed our trip with friends and family! I'm actually still here..leaving in July!

Here are a few pics from our wonderful trip back to the U.S.  Vale la Pena!

Seeing my brother Patrick for the first time in 2 years!

Mami seeing her son for the first time in 2 years!

Meeting my niece Lauren...she was trying to pull my lips off! Lol

On Marco Island with My Family

(l-r Patrick's twin, our baby sis Patricia, Candace, Shane, Patrick, Lauren, Alex & Ashton)

bottom- Aria, Hector, me, Shania & Taylor

My brother Patrick & My Nieces

My sister Candace, brother n law- Shane & Kids

Candace & My nieces

My sibblings

Mi Hermanas

Cousins

Our baby girl

Hector & his Mom

Hector's Mom, Brother & Cousins

Hector and his Sibblings

(l-r Liz, Hector, Magdi & Moises)

Me and the Girls

Sibblings

Aunt & Nieces

Cousins

The whole gang is here! Cousins!

Family Bike Ride

My first babies...Sibblings

My Sis-n-Law Caila

My Friend from Philly!

Celeste flew out for the weekend from Philly to see ME!

Me, my daughter and the nieces! Love my girls!

Lauren, Caila & Me

We absolutely loved being back home with our friends and our family.  It was worth all of the headache at the airport.  Now we will be heading back to Ecuador refreshed and ready to tackle the next 2 years there! Until next time! Ciao!  Oh and I will be adding more pics of our trip so stay tuned:-)

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts to all who contributed to our trip back to the States! We love you so much!

 The Serrano's

MINI SELF STORAGE IN CUENCA ECUADOR!

There has been a growing need for storage here in Cuenca, Ecuador.  Whether foreigners are moving in or moving out they need a secure place to store their things. So my husband and I have decided to start a storage business here.  This is the first of its kind here in South America. If you are planning a move here and would like to use our self storage facilities please contact us via our website or email me here on my blog.
 

Website: Mini Self Storage Cuenca Ecuador

Located on Gonzalez Suarez South of Monay Shopping

Secure Gated Facility with 3 Large Storage Units

10 x 10 Storage Unit

Locked and Secure

10 x 15 Storage Unit

Garage Doors for Added Security

Gated and Secured Facility

CALL US FOR ALL OF YOUR STORAGE NEEDS IN CUENCA, ECUADOR!

Schooling in Ecuador - Public, Private or Home-school?

So many of you have emailed me asking more specific questions in regards schooling here in Cuenca for your young children.  Public, private or home-school?


Disclaimer: I am only speaking from my own experience and cannot speak for others.  My experience in regards to schooling is my personal opinion and I cannot and will not promote or dis-credit any type of schooling here in Cuenca, Ecuador.  The information I provide here is just general information and may change at any given time.  Again, I am only speaking based on my experience here in Cuenca, Ecuador.


General Information:





Public School - Free
Uniform Costs - $100 (Pants, shirt, sweater, sweat pants, sweat shirt, shorts, and skirt)







Private School - $100-300
*This price does not include the uniform an various other things the school may charge.
Uniform Costs - $150-300 (Jumper skirt/dress, turtleneck, t-shirt, shorts, sweat pants, matching jacket, swim cap)






Home-school - Free




Here is our experience with me working as a teacher here in Ecuador and sending our youngest to private school:




We were very nervous about putting Aria into any school.  So my husband and I embarked on finding a school for her and the boys as well.  We went to several schools and all of them were very intimidating for the kids as no teacher spoke English and it would be a sink or swim situation.  I saw an ad looking for an English speaking person to teach English at a private school about 15 minutes away.  I thought this would be great, I could be with Aria everyday and monitor her.  The person who posted the ad spoke English and there would be at least three other English teachers.  This sounded like a perfect situation.


On the interview I asked as many questions as I possibly could about the school, their curriculum, talked about my daughter attending the school and so forth.  They told me that the pay would be $300 per month for teaching English.  I asked about the tuition for Aria and they told me it would be $175 but they would give me a 50% discount since I would be teaching there.  SWEET!   On the interview, I found out that this was a relatively new school with the goal of being a tri-lingual school (Spanish, English and Mandarin).  The school was only 2 years old and still trying to develop their curriculum so Mandarin had not been introduced yet.  This would be a great opportunity to allay both my fears and my daughters; to be there with my her to see how she was adapting to the environment, etc. 


I was so happy to see Aria doing very well!  She was frustrated occasionally because of the language barrier, but kids are so resilient and I was very impressed with her being able to adjust.  She would even complain that she knew the work, but I would say now you know it in Spanish.  My husband and I figured well at least she would immerse herself with other kids and learn Spanish. But the problems soon begin to manifest.




What she was learning at the 3 grade level here, she learned in 1st grade in the States. On top of that, in regards to me teaching, we (English Teachers) noticed the Ecuadorian teachers only had 20-30 students they would teach per day; whereas the English teachers had approximately 90-100 kids per day.  We also had to make up our own monthly curriculums for each grade level.  We had to come up with creative lessons, songs, etc. each day and the books they had in English were for students who were advanced in the English language, not for beginners.  There were no copy machines, so we had to make our own copies after work. They would not allow me to teach reading in English because the children here don't begin to learn how to read until the 2nd grade.  So they didn't want me to confuse the children. Ok, so these were problems I didn't anticipate about the job, but this was not about me, it was about Aria.  So I just had to grin and bear it...until I got Aria's first bill:-)





I received the discount on tuition from $175 to $87 per month which was great and I told them to just add the registration fee ($120) and I would pay it all together.  So I'm expecting a bill of $207 instead I get one for $388.  Lunch was $33 per month, swimming was $20 per month, the bus ride for Aria $20 per month, my free bus ride because I was a teacher turned into $40 per month (because the bus driver quit and the new bus driver wanted to charge the teachers) and swimming was $16 per month.  In addition, a one time Classroom Materials fee was also added for $88.  This made me appreciate our schools back in the States even more:-)  In private schools here you have to pay for every single thing.  Yes, before the kids start school they give you a list of books that have to be purchased before they begin class.  This is not provided by the schools.  So Aria's books were $180.


So here is the run down of how much it cost for 1st year of private school:


Registration Fee - $120 (yearly one time fee)
Tuition - $175 - (50% discount) per month
Classroom Materials - $88 (yearly one time fee)
Bus - $20 - per month
Swimming - $16 per month
Lunch/snack - $33 per month
Books - $180
Uniforms - $180
Miscellaneous - $50
Total = Approx. $800


This was just getting Aria started to begin school in the first month not to mention what it cost me to start teaching.

Aria in her 3rd Grade Class

 

This was only one private school.  Others are more economical and still others are more expensive.  I did a survey asking the parents whose children attended public school, why they chose public over private; and many of them said that it is just as good as the private, while others just can't afford the costs (which is understandable).  One administrator who worked here in our subdivision told me her son attends public school and she showed me his curriculum and sure enough it was the same as the private school.  The jury is still out on if we will send her to public school because she is doing very well with our home-school curriculum.  If you have the patience to home-school... that works too! We go on field trips to the museum, she writes reports on her trips. When travelling around Ecuador we make that part of her schooling as well.  Every day living here in Ecuador is an educational experience as well as following your own personal curriculum, which includes math, science, history, English, etc.  I have her in extra-curricular activities too.  She takes violin lessons for $7 per hour.  Her Spanish lessons are $5 per hour and she is learning from a friend how to knit and weave.  So there are lots of things here to keep them busy.





If you have children who are in the 6th grade and higher, you may want to immerse them in school here, but if they are like my teenagers who do not want to go to school here, you may want to look into your home states Virtual Home-School Program.  My two teenage sons attend virtual home-school and take classes online.  They are doing well with this type of schooling too. Who knows one day we may send our daughter back to school here.  But right now, homeschool works.  I see a lot of children in school here in Ecuador and it works for them.  So do  your homework, investigate; you the parent are the one who best know your children and your circumstance. You have many options, you just have to do what you feel is best for your child.   Hope our experience has been enlightening...ciao until next time. 

Bahia de Caraquez...Un Paraiso!



GORGEOUS BAHIA DE CARAQUEZ

 

So I'm going to back track a little bit.  I was suppose to tell you about Bahia de Caraquez some time ago but I got a bit distracted with just living and settling into our Ecuador life-style. 

 

If you look down the beach area, we were going to live in the shorter condo building with the blue hues.  Our cousins found us a 4 bedroom 3 bath furnished apartment on the beach for $500 per month! We loved the apartment - the view was spectacular!

4 Bedroom 3 Bath Condo

 

Condo View

 

 

Bahia has a warm, friendly atmosphere.  This is one of the few cities that is truly lost in time. The people are really friendly, the town is so cute and gives you an "at home" feeling.  There are nice markets and little tienditas (stores) where you can purchase groceries and household things.  However, if you want to do any major shopping for groceries and bigger purchases you would most likely drive or hire a taxi to take you to Manta (45 minutes) away. 

We had been in Ecuador for 3 days at this point...started out in Guayaquil, no deal, got to Manta, no deal, then arrived in Bahia - BINGO! This city was just as my cousins described! The pictures and YouTube videos did it no justice! It was the Goldi-locks syndrome, not too big, not too small...just right! There is even a huge bridge that connects Bahia to the other nearby coastal beach towns such as Canoa.  We wasted no time and found a Kingdom Hall and arranged to go out in the preaching work the next day.  Field service was AMAZING!! The brothers were warm, kind and very loving. Hector and I placed 10 magazines and 5 return visits on our first day out!



Preaching

 

 



Talked at Every door!

View from Territory

 

Two young Aux. Pioneers (14 and 11 years old)

 

So what happened???? It was hot as blazes! Granted, we lived in Florida for over 20 years and we can take the heat! But this heat was different...it was a heat that cooked you from the insides.  I could not cool off no matter what.  Even after taking a cold shower, I still was hot! And poor Hector looked like a cooked Lobster.

View From the Territory

These convenient rides were only .25 or .50cents

After preaching, we rode this back to our cousins house!

So cute and fun!

Across the street from the condo - Cerviché 

 

 

Sadly to say we made our decision that this would not be the place where we would settle down.  We had to really think about what was best for us and the kids; and even though we absolutely LOVED Bahia, the weather was a deciding factor in our decision.  Our cousins reassured us that it wouldn't last long (maybe 3 months at the most) but that was even too long for us. 

 

  But....you may like it......

If you are thinking about moving to Ecuador and you don't mind the coastal weather (sometimes extremely hot) I must recommend Bahia de Caraquez, which is about an hour from Manta.  This was the most beautiful little city I have ever seen on the coast!

 

 

 

 

 

 Contact info: conciserrano@gmail.com

 



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