Have You Ever Wondered How I Travel?

The way I travel has a lot to do with the way I plan travel for you.

Have you ever wondered how I travel, or how I decide what I'm going to recommend to you?

If we sit down and start talking about your vacation, I'm probably going to ask you a lot of questions. But one of the most helpful ones might sound a little backward:

What do you absolutely NOT want?

I really do want to know.

Because what interests me may not interest you at all. And knowing what you don't want gives me a pretty good starting point for figuring out what you might love.

“I want to go to Europe.”

Okay. Have you been before?

What are you hoping to see? Italy? London? Paris? Ireland? Scotland? Amsterdam? Maybe several of them?

Do you want to be busy every day, or do you need some downtime? Are there certain places or tours that you absolutely don't want to miss? Anything you already know you don't want to do?

And then we're going to talk about budget.

I know that's sometimes a hard question to answer. If you've never taken this kind of trip before, how are you supposed to know exactly what it should cost?

You don't necessarily need to give me one hard number. I just need a starting point.

Because everyone's idea of a vacation budget is different.

Then we can start figuring out what makes sense.

Maybe it's a land trip where we put together several nights in Rome, then Florence, Tuscany and the Amalfi Coast.

Maybe you'd love a guided tour where the transportation, hotels and sightseeing are already planned for you.

Or maybe I'd suggest a cruise.

That's actually how Lloyd and I first started seeing Europe. I didn't know how many times we'd get back, and I wanted to see as much as I could. Cruising let us experience several different places on one trip.

You don't get days and days in every port, and that's an important trade-off. But it can be a wonderful way to get your first taste of several places and discover where you'd like to return someday.

There isn't one right answer.

There's the answer that fits you.

I plan around the traveler.

Lloyd and I are actually a good example of this.

We're alike in many ways, but we don't travel exactly the same.

I'm a little more comfortable going with the flow. Lloyd doesn't particularly like the unknown.

Transportation is a big one for him.

When we arrive in Rome, who's picking us up? Where are we meeting them? Where are we going? What time do we need to be ready for our transfer to the cruise port?

He doesn't need every minute of every day scheduled. He just feels better knowing what's coming next.

So when we're traveling together, I plan with that in mind.

Could I say, “Oh, it'll work itself out”?

Sure.

But then Lloyd would spend part of his vacation worrying about something I could have handled before we ever left Texas.

Why would I do that?

And that's something I carry into planning for other people, too.

I don't need you to become my kind of traveler. I need to understand what kind of traveler you are.

And no, I don't need five-star everything.

I'm certainly not opposed to luxury. 😂

If you find me a beautiful luxury hotel at a great price, sign me up.

But that's not what makes a trip good to me.

I want somewhere clean and comfortable that makes sense for what we're doing. It could be three-star, four-star or five-star.

Now, I'm also spoiled.

I want air conditioning, running water and my own bathroom.

I'm not backpacking across Europe and sleeping in hostels. Let's just get that established right now. 😂

But I also don't believe something is automatically better simply because it costs more.

And that's important when I'm planning for my travelers.

Sometimes the less expensive option is actually the better one.

I recently had travelers looking at one of the Celebrity cruises I'm hosting in Greece.

They were looking at a balcony cabin, which was perfectly fine.

But as we continued talking, they started asking questions.

Does it include the beverage package?

What about gratuities?

Those questions told me something.

Those things mattered to them, and they were paying attention to the overall cost of the trip.

So I went back and looked again.

There was a Distinctive Voyages rate available on an oceanview cabin. It wasn't the balcony they originally considered, but the overall value was excellent, and it included things they specifically wanted.

So I showed them the option.

Would I make more money if they booked the more expensive cabin?

Probably.

But it's not always about me.

If the oceanview gives them what matters to them and leaves more money in their pocket, I want them to know it's available.

Maybe they'll spend the difference on an excursion in Greece. Maybe they'll shop. Maybe they'll have a wonderful dinner.

Or maybe they'll just keep the money.

That's perfectly fine, too.

My job isn't to figure out how much I can get you to spend.

It's to help you decide where your money is worth spending.

And what does “hosted” really mean?

This is another question I think people have.

If you join one of my hosted cruises, please don't picture me standing outside your cabin at 8:00 in the morning with a clipboard telling you it's time for breakfast. 😂

That's not how I host.

There may be excursions Lloyd and I are doing, and I'll invite the group to join us. We may have a dinner or two planned. There will be opportunities to spend time together.

Come with us!

But you don't have to.

If you want to spend the day doing your own thing and meet us later, wonderful.

If you want to join everything we're doing, wonderful.

And if you want to see us at sail away and then disappear until we get back to the home port, that's okay, too.

It's still your vacation.

There are other styles of group travel where the itinerary is intentionally structured from morning until evening. Guided tours can be fantastic for exactly that reason. Your hotels, transportation and sightseeing are planned, and you know what's happening next.

A hosted cruise with me is different.

Hosted doesn't mean scheduled. Hosted means supported.

I'm there.

There's somebody you know onboard. There's somebody to ask. There are people you can join when you want company. And if you're perfectly happy exploring independently, you have the freedom to do that too.

That's especially important to me for people who want to travel but hesitate because they don't have somebody to go with.

You can come with us.

You don't have to spend your entire vacation with us.

So, how do I travel?

I like some plans and some freedom.

I want the important logistics handled.

I want comfort, but I don't need expensive just for the sake of expensive.

I want to see things. I want to experience where I am. And if there's a great value that lets me do more with the money I've set aside for a trip, I'm interested.

But that's how I travel.

When I'm planning your trip, I'm much more interested in learning how you travel.

Tell me what excites you.

Tell me what makes you nervous.

Tell me what's worth spending extra money on.

And please tell me what you absolutely do not want.

I'll listen.

Because at the end of all those questions, that's really what I'm trying to accomplish:

I don't want you to travel like me. I want to help you travel like you.