Elevating Your Travel Experience with the Right Guide

It's not what you are listening to--it's who you're listening with.

Collect  moments, not things.

We hear and read quotes like this all the time, reminding us that it's not always the material things that carry the most meaning in the long arc of our lives. In the case of travel, it's often our experiences that stick with us. 

Perhaps we have photos of the experience. or perhaps it's only preserved in our minds. Maybe we've even embellished it. If we are fortunate, a travel experience has moved us–to joy, to tears, to action.

The Personal Connection 

One of the surest ways to move from a tour to an experience is to have the right guide. Sure, you can walk around a major sight with your nose in a book or an app. But having to constantly refer to a source can keep you from a deeper experience that would be available if you were able to shed that crutch, or relieve yourself of the responsibility to inform your travel companions of what you're reading.

Visiting a destination or an attraction–be it famous or obscure–in the company of a specialist guide can elevate a travel experience beyond what you may even be able to imagine. I was well into adulthood before I decided to spring for a guided tour, but I've never looked back. 

A larger group situation is a start, but a smaller number of participants is even better. Why? Because with just a few people along for the tour, you have the opportunity to ask questions about what you're seeing or learning. 

If you're in a position to enjoy a completely private tour, that free flow of conversation and experience is heightened to the point that your guide can change plans on the fly, to cater to a particular interest that you might want to explore or to make a detour that wasn't on the original itinerary.

This week, I've been working on guides for several upcoming group trips, so my past favorites have been front of mind.

Victor: This guy could recite the family tree of the ruling family of his country going back a thousand years. That kind of detailed memory enables him to put everything into context for you. (He also doesn't think the moon landing was real, but I decided to let that slide.)

Elisa: I've known this art history professor since she was 14 years old, and now she delights my clients with her encyclopedic knowledge of her country's art and history. Guiding is just an occasional side gig for her but she usually makes herself available for my clients. And on top of that, she's warm and kind, having taken on some challenging assignments that might have flummoxed lesser souls.

Then there was that guide in Germany who turned out to have spent a significant part of her life as a professional singer. She serenaded us with a bit of Ave Maria at the end of our tour. 

Or the internet-savvy Cuban guide who rolled her eyes when she deadpanned, "Oh, yes, we are still having a revolution."

That surfer who squired us around Cornwall...and the Welshman who told us about his great-grandfather having fought on the French WWI battlefield we visited.

Perhaps a story yet to tell?

I recently found myself needing to secure a guide for a client who makes a study of English parish churches and architecture from a certain period. It was an unusual request. Well, after a few layers of networking, we've got her set up to tour Norfolk and Suffolk for three days with a certified Blue Badge guide who has visited over 12,000 churches! I can't wait to see how it goes.

Updates on Mon Voyage Small Group Trips for 2022 and early 2023: 

• Holland barge trip: Filled!

• Italian opera trip: Reservations closed; inquire about late availability.

• I only have two rooms left on the artist-escorted Seine River cruise in Normandy and Paris for late August 2022. This is a wonderful, engaging itinerary filled with art and history. I just reserved the most beautiful inn in Honfleur and a perfectly-located Left Bank boutique hotel in Paris. And France has just lifted its entry test requirement for vaccinated travelers! View our presentation by clicking here.

• Mexico City: Sold out!

• I am now taking Early Bird reservations for A Celebration of Classical Music: The Danube. We will enjoy the inaugural sailing of this brand new AmaWaterways itinerary in March 2023. Add a pre-trip extension in Krakow before we embark in Budapest, and enjoy a post-trip extension in Vienna with music-focused activities, Wiener Staatsoper performance, top museums, Easter markets, and more. I haven't even released the details for the post-cruise stay in Vienna, but you may now reserve your place on the cruise and the pre-cruise Krakow land package. To learn more, click here.

Please contact me for details and current promotions on either of these trips. I know we'll have some terrific guides along the way.

Which guide will enrich your travel this year? It's not too late to plan but the best guides' calendars stay full!