Sultan and Lourdes:

Lou's co-worker introduced Lou and me about 15 years ago – second time around for both. I raised a daughter Raissa from my first marriage and Lou has Lee and Michael. Lou is from the Philippines and I am from Pakistan. But for both of us "home" and "citizenship" is USA! Lou is an RN and works in ICU. I came as a graduate student. I have lived in San Francisco for 25 years now and fortunately Lou agreed to move from East Bay to San Francisco!

FEATURED OWNERS QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

How long have you been a member of WorldMark?
Since 1999. Our first visit was to Marina Dunes in March 2000. We have been to all the resorts in California except Oceanside. Lou had also been to the Seaside and Depoe Bay.

What is your favorite WorldMark resort? What do you like about it?
Lou and I like Marina Dunes. We try to visit a "New" drive-to resort within a few months after it opens. I was joking with her that we have not stayed at the SF resort and we should book it! We live 4 miles from it.

What things do you like to do when visiting this resort?
We usually just take it easy – sightseeing, finding wines, vineyards, and new restaurants. What we like is to get a "feel" for what make a surrounding unique – so we drive a little bit away from the immediate tourist / town surroundings to where the local people live – be it Lake Tahoe, Windsor, or Solvang, or foreign countries.

Would you share some of your favorite vacation web links and/or photos from this resort and the surrounding area?
Yes, but the will be added later.

Tell us about the people you travel with - are they family? friends? co-workers? If you have children, what are their travel preferences?
When we were buying our first timeshare, I wanted to go for timeshares that were selling cheap (relative to the developer's price). Lou and Lee (19 at that time) and Michael (12) quickly nixed those timeshares and wanted Embassy Vacation, which we had visited on an invited presentation but did not buy. We bought EVR a few months later at about 75% of the developer's price because it was very new and so few were on the resale market. Then a few months later we got Worldmark. Wordmark has allowed us to arrange a family get-together between Christmas and New Years at South Lake Tahoe every year for the last 4 years. I book a 3 BR at South Shore exactly 13 months plus 2 day out (to get the 3 BR) and then keep a lookout for extra stand- alone days. And because we also book a 2BR at Embassy Vacation Resort for the same week, we have availability for 16 persons plus any extra stand-alone days. Lou's sisters' family is regulars and my brother and niece's family have also joined us there. All our 15K credits go for that booking and then I try to get some one-time credits and use Bonus Time.

What is your most exciting vacation memory?
We used WM and EVR combined for a 2-week vacation in Maui, Big Island, and Kauai. In Kauai, we won a 2 for 1 lottery at WM Manager's breakfast to tour the Movie Sites in Kauai. We saw the Elvis movie locations and Puff the Magic Dragon! The tour is well worth taking even if one pays the full price.

Have you ever had some kind of "vacation disaster" threaten to ruin your trip? Tell us your story!
We had planned an Exchange to Carriage Hills Resort in Barry, Ontario for 9-20-2001. The 9-11 gave us a scare –- SF airport was deserted and our 250-passenger plane to Toronto had 20 persons! But Niagara Falls was spectacular – for me a fulfillment of a dream to visit Niagara Falls ever since I saw the movie in Karachi when I was 15 years old and for Lou the romantic atmosphere.

What activities do you and your family enjoy besides vacationing? (i.e. camping, walking, painting, etc)
We love Yosemite. We try to visit Yosemite Valley at the end of May when the waterfalls are full. The hike up Mist Trail to the top of Vernal Falls is still our favorite. The Full Moon Rainbow at Yosemite Falls is simply a sight to see. I think there is no place as scenic and spiritual as Yosemite. The drive from Bass Lake to the valley is a bit too far so we stay a few nights in the Valley.

Do you have a hobby? What is it and what makes it special to you?
For me: Reading and traveling. I can never be without a novel! For Lou it is Cruising. Cruising has taken a lot of our vacation $$ and time. As I will be retired in June, we will look for more Bonus Time at WM resorts. And for me also participating in the Anti-War marches and demonstrations.

Other than a WorldMark destination, what is your favorite place to visit for rest and relaxation?
Cruising. But Lou just (March 2006) returned from a land tour of Egypt.

If you could choose to live anywhere in the world, where would that be and why?
Interestingly enough, San Francisco where we live, is one of our choices. New York, Washington, D.C., and London would have been my other choices. Then I like the other extreme – countryside but I do not like suburbs but Lou is comfortable wherever there are good restaurants and activities.

How did you choose to become a WorldMark owner? Or, why did you choose WorldMark over other timeshare companies?
We had just bought the Embassy Vacation Resort in September 1999. We got this invitation to attend the TW presentation in Burlingame (about 10 miles from where we live) and the offer of a Las Vegas trip was too tempting. So before we went for the presentation, I kept reminding Lou that we were just going for the gifts and no matter what -- we were NOT buying. And then the sales person told us that they had almost completed a resort in Marina Dunes. I knew that it was impossible to get a permit to build there, so I laughed and told him to stop kidding me. And he brought out the photos! And I was immediately tempted to buy 6,000 credits. We have not regretted buying our first set of credits directly from TW because otherwise we would have not got WM. Lou can attend presentations and walk away. I am an easy target.

What do you enjoy most about being a WorldMark owner?
Besides the memorable vacations, the camaraderie of the forums – starting with the Delphi and now this WMOwners has brought a community feeling. Both Lou and I love the GOOs. Because we both love wines, bonus time at Windsor is always great.

What do you like best about this WMO website community you have helped create?
WMO is largely friendly and even when contrary opinions are expressed there is no "personal" attack. I still keep learning about issues and how best to make use of the credits. Just recently, (4/23/06) Lou's sister, who lives in Portland, Oregon, called to see whether we could book them in any Canadian Resort. I found the calendar on the WMO site and used the 5-day calendar to book a Saturday and Sunday as guests in Victoria!

What suggestions do you have to enhance it?
It is great as it is. I feel guilty that we cannot send gifts to express our appreciation to those who manage the forum. Also, I have wondered whether without creating any hostile feelings, we could post our GOO announcements in the TW4M. It would be a nice way to get together members from both forums.

Do you have ideas for contests and giveaways that we could possibly incorporate in the future?
Giveaways – yes. Create some inexpensive memorabilia for each GOO as keepsake – a Mug with Photos or just collages (let Manoj work on it).

Sultan & Lourdes