Join our journeys.

877-211-3481

Montgomery County, Maryland

877-211-3481

[email protected]

Who We Are

ITB Travels! is a company that specializes in luxury, incentive, and group travel. We connect with a worldwide network of suppliers to ensure that our clients are treated with the utmost attention and receive added benefits and amenities. Our clients’ top motivators for travel are vacation, relaxation, experiencing different cultures and cuisines, exploring new destinations, and enhancing relationships.

A Message From the Founder
Ingrid Theresa Argueta

Hello, travelers! I am Ingrid Theresa, the founder of ITB Travels! I left my successful corporate sales career, where I was exceeding sales goals and winning incentive trip after incentive trip. That was fun, but I wanted more! I finally made the decision to stop putting off my desire to leave my 9 to 5 desk job behind and travel as much as possible.

I became an independent travel planner/agent about 5 years ago. I’d spent years planning and booking travel for family, friends, and friends of friends for free.

I wanted to travel the world, talk about it (mostly through my travel blog), and plan memorable, exciting, stress-free vacations. I also enjoy the sometimes tedious, sometimes fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants preparations, the busy airports, train stations and cruise ports, cocktails in transit, maneuvering my way around new cities, the excitement of trying new foods, and meeting new people.

ITB Travels!

“Join our journeys.”

Our Mission and Vision

Our goal is to enhance the travel experiences and local cultural immersion of our clients. We achieve this by providing them with personalized, fun-filled, adventurous trips.

A Girlfriends’ Trip to Cartagena

Ingrid pulled off a girls' trip to Cartagena, Colombia. They got together and took a short, yet amazing, trip from Washington, DC to Cartagena. Nine busy women, who have careers, husbands/mates, children, parents, and pets, all said “Yes!” 3 months ago and all followed through.

Have Birthday, Will Travel

Leading up to Ingrid’s milestone birthday, her best friend asked her how she wanted them all to celebrate. Since they know that she lives to travel, they knew a trip was in order. They probably were not even surprised when she said that she wanted them to celebrate in Cartagena. She thinks, though, almost all of them were surprised that they were able to make it happen.

With a couple of minor tweaks on the dates, and adding a new friend to their party about three weeks before the big day, they set off on their adventure. They took a 7:00 AM flight out of Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, connected through Fort Lauderdale, and arrived at Rafael Núñez International Airport by 2:30 PM.

Most of them slept through the first leg of the trip, so their two-hour layover at FLL got the party started. As they gathered at the bar close to their gate, they had quick salads, sandwiches, snacks, and Prosecco. They were so excited to see that the airport bar carried their favorite splits of La Marca.

As they enjoyed a couple of rounds, strangers came up and asked what they were celebrating, where they were going, and offered to take group pictures for them. It was almost like their excitement was contagious.

"In life, it's not where you go, it's who you travel with."

~Charles Schulz

Even the Best Plans Change

Their early morning flights had them running on fumes, and they were pretty beat when they arrived in Cartagena. As a result, Ingrid could see some of the action-packed adventures that she had planned for their first evening fading away. Laura of Gema Tours was waiting for them as they cleared customs. Her team quickly loaded their luggage into the mini bus.

They then excitedly started the 15-minute ride to the Intercontinental Hotel. After the check-in, they made quick wardrobe changes and met in the lobby. They walked to Kokorico, for a late lunch of roasted chicken, fried chicken, yucca, and arepas. One at a time, they placed their orders at the register. They sat and enjoyed how cool it was to see that at this fast-food restaurant, they have servers.

The servers delivered their silverware, soft drinks, napkins, and gloves (for eating the fried chicken!). While the wait was a bit longer than they are used to, they agreed that the outcome was well worth it. Hot, juicy, delicious chicken made to order!

Lazy With the Locals

After their late lunch, they attempted to walk off the ton of food they had just eaten. Ingrid had planned for them to go back to the hotel, nap, and get dressed for dinner and dancing. Instead, they walked a few more blocks, reached the beach, and answered the call of the tiki hut servers to come, sit, and have cocktails.

With the waves splashing and the sun setting as a backdrop, they soon realized this was probably not a bad decision. A couple of local “musicians” sang songs for them. A stray beach dog slept at their feet, and growled at anyone that came near them. They sat happily, lazily, and decided that this was pretty much how their first day in Cartagena was going to wind down.

After a couple hours, they headed back to their hotel. There was a huge party about to take over the bar and rooftop pool deck. The hotel manager stopped them as they headed to the elevators. She offered them 2-for-1 nightcap, and their own private section of the rooftop pool area. Who could turn that down? Finally, after a couple more hours, they turned in.

In addition to being totally wiped out now, they had an 8:00 AM pick-up the next day for their trip to Isla de Rosario, and
they wanted to be ready.

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Cartagena Travel Tips

Getting There: Jetblue had the best flights for us from the Washington, DC area airports.
Stay: We enjoyed our stay at the InterContinental Cartagena de Indias in Bocagrande. Located in the midst of everything and just across the beach, the hotel exactly looks just like its website pictures! If you would rather stay in the Walled City (Old City), you must definitely consider the beautiful, stately Hotel Casa San Agustin.
Getting Around: Making airport/port transfers and excursion arrangements beforehand. Taxis are great to get around town. The nine of us typically used three mini cabs to get to and from dinner and dancing. 10 Colombian COP from Bocagrande to The Walled City.
Official Language: Spanish
Currency: The country’s official currency is the Colombian Peso (COP). 2859.85 COP is equals to $1 USD.
Credit and Debit Cards: US credit and debit cards are widely accepted in Cartagena. Be sure to let your home bank know that you are traveling.
Weather: We were there in early February, the average high was 90°F, and the average low was 76°F. It was very sunny. Take sunblock and a hat.

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