Here are a few of my favorites starting with my favorite - Ursula.

Ursula - Briefcase 5

Brooke - Briefcase 15

Lauren - Briefcase 8

Lindsay S. - Briefcase 4

Megan - Briefcase 6

Stacey - Briefcase 2

Last but not least, Pilar - Briefcase 14

For those of you who would like to watch it, it’s on:

Mondays & Fridays 8 PM EST and Thursdays 9 PM EST on NBC.

This was an unplanned last minute trip. We talked about it Sunday and Wednesday we were on a plane going to Venezuela for a 12 day trip. My friend Steve, who works for Delta flies for next to nothing and friends fly for almost next to nothing, so why not? We packed our bags with no itinerary what so ever. We flew first class to Venezuela, I must say, not bad at all for under $250 round trip.

The first two nights we stayed at Hotel Nostrum or something like that. I don’t remember the exact name; it was in the Lonely Planet book, which by the way was the best investment I ever made for any vacation. Hotel Nostrum is in a town called Las Mercedes which is considered a better part of Caracas.

So after staying in Caracas for 2 days with not much to do but eat and inhale the wonderful pollution we decided to head to Isle de Margarita or Margarita Island. Margarita Island is Venezuela’s largest island. It sits in Caribbean Sea. It was either take a bus ride in a broken down bus for 6 hours to a ferry terminal or a 30 minute flight. We chose the flight.

We checked into Hotel Colibri which was also in the Lonely Plant book, I must say, this hotel was 5x better then Hotel Nostrum. This hotel has hot water and more then 4 channels on the TV!

This island has no American tourists; as a matter of fact we didn’t bump into one American tourist on the entire trip! There’s not much to do on this island but to eat and go to the beach which was exactly what we did. The beaches there were quite nice although some beach had large amounts of seaweed. Playa de Agua is the most famous on the island and the largest one with hotels and restaurant along the entire beach. We also went to a few other beaches as well but Playa de Agua is the one to go to if you’re visiting Margarita Island. It’s loaded with hotels and restaurants.

Transportation is a cinch. Cabs are an abundant in this country. Did you know that the average cab driver in Venezuela makes double of what an average doctor makes? The average cab driver salary is $1200 a month, the average doctor’s salary is $600. Gas in Venezuela costs about 8 cents per gallon, which means almost no over head, except for the cost of insurance but who knows if they even have that. A 5-10 minute cab ride costs about $2. But beware; only get into well marked cabs with YELLOW license plates. Getting in the old beat up American cars increases your chance of being robbed by 5 times. Just about anyone can be a cab driver in Venezuela. Slap on a sticker and it’s a cab.

Food was just OK. We ate a lot of rotisserie chicken since you really can’t go wrong with that. Most of the cheese there is un-pasteurized so it could make your tummy feel funny. I was on the pink stuff for 2 days after eating something bad but couldn’t figure out what it was.

Overall, a good trip with a great friend. It’s definitely not recommended for women to travel to Venezuela alone or in groups unless you’re staying at the hotel resort the entire time. I read many warnings before I left and went anyway. Here is one warning from the US embassy in Venezuela:

“The US Embassy in Caracas is issuing this warden message to underscore the Consular Information Sheet’s caution regarding travel on the La Guaira highway between Caracas and Maiquetia International Airport. Venezuelan officials and media outlets report a recent rash of robberies on this highway after dark. The section of road between the first tunnel (Boqueron I) and the El Trebol cloverleaf is particularly hazardous. Recent incidents involve armed gangs rear-ending vehicles and robbing the victims of all of their belongings. One victim who tried to resist was shot dead.
American citizens are strongly urged to travel only the most heavily trafficked routes between Caracas and Maiquetia International Airport and to confine their travel to daylight hours”