Start here
8If you only open one thing.
- Home The whole trip, by hand — how the practice works and who it is for.
- About Erik Bespoke journeys grounded in relationships, intention, and slow travel.
- Just engaged Newly engaged? The honeymoon conversation should start earlier than you think.
- The Quizzes Short quizzes that narrow the trip you are really after before you book a call.
- FAQs How it works, the fee, and who I am the right fit for.
- Reviews Real client reviews from real trips, preserved verbatim.
- Partners A few of the partners I love working with most — across sea, rail, and land.
- Schedule a call Thirty minutes, no fee, no pressure.
The four specialties
4The shapes most trips take.
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Rivers & Small Ships European river cruises and small-ship expeditions, planned by a specialist who has been onboard. -
Wild Places & Luxury Lodges Safari camps and remote luxury lodges in Africa, Patagonia, and beyond. -
Honeymoons & Milestones Honeymoons, anniversaries, and milestone trips — planned by a specialist who understands the stakes. -
Groups & Celebrations Destination weddings, multigenerational trips, and milestone group travel — one guest list at a time.
Two lenses
2Not a fifth specialty — a layer across all four.
Choosing a ship
5Four ways onto the water, and the rail journeys beside them.
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River Cruises How to choose a river cruise — the river, the line, the cabin, and the week. -
Small-Ship Cruises How to choose a small-ship ocean cruise — the ship, the coastline, the cabin, and the week. -
Expedition Cruises How to choose an expedition cruise — the region, the ship, the season, and the operator. -
Ocean Cruises How to choose a premium cruise line — by the line, the ship, the suite, and the itinerary. -
Scenic Rail Two great rail landscapes under one standard — the red-rock Southwest and the Canadian Rockies.
The lines, trains & collections
9Operators I know well enough to have an opinion about.
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AmaWaterways The family-founded river line I sailed and keep recommending. -
Uniworld The most decorated, most all-inclusive ships on the rivers, from Venice to the Nile and the Ganges. -
Viking The only major line where eighteen-and-over is written into the ticket contract. Rivers, oceans and the poles. -
Cunard QM2 transatlantic crossings, the three other Queens, and the Grill Suites. -
Virgin Voyages Adults-only, food-forward, transparently priced — and the two ways to sail it. -
UnCruise Adventures Small ships, big wilderness, all-inclusive — the operator I send wilderness travelers to first. -
Belmond The rare luxury collection where one consistent eye runs across hotels, trains, and river barges. -
Rocky Mountaineer The daylight-only luxury train through the Canadian Rockies, April through October. -
Canyon Spirit The daylight-only luxury train from Denver into Utah’s red rock.
Travel with me
4A handful a year — come along.
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Travel with me A handful of departures a year that I book my own place on — the operator runs the trip, I come along. -
Gather — bring your people Group trips and reunions designed around your guest list, with real rewards for the host who fills it. -
Colombia by river Building a small group to sail the Magdalena in Colombia — small ships, a Cartagena bookend. -
The wine river, 2027 Come sail the Douro with me in 2027 — the valley readers chose. Join the short list.
Destinations
112A working list, not a catalog — places I know firsthand or where I have someone on the ground when something needs sorting.
Europe Where most stories start.
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Country guide France Two cities, two vineyards. -
Country guide Germany Where I grew up. -
Country guide Greece Athens, then the islands. -
Country guide Italy Fewer cities. Longer stays. -
Country guide Switzerland Correctly priced for what it delivers. -
Amsterdam, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated, useful, and built around the canals and the museums and the version of the city beyond the spring-break clichés -
Athens, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated, useful, and built for the version of the city that earns the trip rather than steals two days of it. -
Barcelona, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated, useful, and built around the truth that Barcelona rewards travelers who arrive without a checklist and let the city set the pace. -
Berlin, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated, useful, and built for the city where 20th-century history is written into the streets, neighborhoods, and memorials. -
Bern, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated, useful, and built around the truth that the smartest base for a Switzerland trip is also the country's least-visited capital. -
Bordeaux, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated, useful, and built for France's wine capital and the Garonne river-cruise origin city. -
Budapest, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated, useful, and built for the city most Danube river cruises start in and most travelers leave wanting to return to. -
Douro Valley: Wine, Terraces, and 2,000 Years of Intention Hand-built stone terraces, river quintas, and the patience that makes wine and place inseparable — landscape with meaning, not postcard moments. -
Florence, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated, useful, and built around the truth that the city rewards travelers who give it more than the standard two days. -
Interlaken & the Jungfrau Region, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated, useful, and built around the truth that Switzerland's most romantic mountain region is also the one most travelers walk straight through. -
Krakow, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated, useful, and built for the medieval Polish city whose Jewish history is both ancient and catastrophically interrupted. -
Lake Como, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated, useful, and built around the truth that Como rewards travelers who anchor in one village and move by boat, not car. -
Lisbon, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated, useful, and built for Europe's Atlantic-facing capital and the southern bookend of every Iberian sweep. -
Lucerne, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated, useful, and built around the question most Switzerland visitors get backwards: where to actually base. -
Melk, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's port-day guide — opinionated, useful, and built for the half-day in Melk almost every Danube traveler gets. -
Munich, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated, useful, and built for the version of Bavaria's capital that lives twelve months a year, not just the two weeks of late September. -
Mykonos, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated, useful, and built around what separates a real Mykonos trip from the Instagram version. -
Nuremberg, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated, useful, and built for the Bavarian terminus city that ends most Danube cruises and earns more than the standard port-day pause. -
Paris, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated, useful, and built around picking one arrondissement and walking it deep instead of racing across all twenty. -
Passau, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's port-day guide — opinionated, useful, and built for the Bavarian three-rivers town that most Danube travelers underrate before they arrive. -
Porto, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated, useful, and built for the world's port-wine capital and the Douro river-cruise origin city most American travelers underrate. -
Prague, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated, useful, and built for the central European capital that earns the cruise extension and the standalone visit alike. -
Regensburg, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's port-day guide — opinionated, useful, and built for the day-in-port at the most architecturally intact medieval city on the Danube. -
Rome, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated, useful, and built around the truth that Rome rewards travelers who plan less and walk more. -
Santorini, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated, useful, and built for the version of the island that's actually worth flying for. -
Seville, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated, useful, and built for the Andalusian capital where Sephardic Jewish history, Islamic architecture, and Spanish passion collide. -
Sicily, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated, useful, and built around the truth that Sicily rewards travelers who slow down and commit to the island's rhythm, food, and layered history. -
The Amalfi Coast, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated, useful, and built for travelers who want dramatic cliffs, slow pace, and the version of Mediterranean that earns the cliché. -
The Dalmatian Coast, Croatia Split, Hvar, Korčula, Dubrovnik, and the Kornati archipelago — the Adriatic coastline built for a small ship, plus the cities, wine roads, and walled towns worth your time on either end. -
Tuscany, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated, useful, and built around the truth that Tuscany rewards travelers who slow down, stay in one place, and let the landscape become familiar. -
Venice, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated, useful, and built around the truth that Venice rewards travelers who stay longer than a day and walk farther than the line at San Marco. -
Vienna, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated, useful, and built around what most itineraries miss. -
Warsaw, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated, useful, and built for the Polish capital where Jewish heritage and WWII memory are inseparable from the city's identity. -
Zermatt, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated, useful, and built around the truth that the most photographed mountain in the Alps is also the village where romance has actual stakes.
The Americas Closer to home. Mostly wild.
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Country guide United States Wilderness, islands, and the long weekends in between. -
Alaska, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide to the wildest American state — when to go, where to base, and how to plan around the daylight rather than against it. -
Anchorage, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — short, useful, and built for travelers who're using Anchorage as a soft entry to Alaska rather than as a destination in itself. -
Anguilla, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated, useful, and built around what separates genuine from performed casual luxury. -
Baja California & the Sea of Cortez, Mexico Cousteau's 'aquarium of the world' — desert meeting sea, whales and sea lions, and the small ships built to reach it. -
Bogotá, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated, useful, and built for the high-altitude Andean capital that anchors any serious Colombia trip. -
Buenos Aires, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated, useful, and built around what most South America itineraries miss. -
Cartagena, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated, useful, and built for the Caribbean colonial city most travelers underrate before they arrive. -
Charleston, the Way I'd Plan It Food-forward, walkable, and small enough to actually inhabit — the bachelorette, reunion, and multigen weekends Charleston does better than almost anywhere. -
Chena Hot Springs, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — single-property, single-purpose, and the most important piece of any serious aurora trip. -
Extending Your Alaska Trip: Inside Passage and Denali An advisor's guide to what comes next — the trip after the trip, for travelers who came for the aurora and decided Alaska wasn't done with them. -
Fairbanks, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated, useful, and built around what most aurora itineraries miss. -
Glacier Bay, Alaska Tidewater glaciers, calving ice, and humpback waters — Alaska's set-piece bay, and the small ships permitted to enter it. -
Hawaii, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's state guide — opinionated, useful, and built around the question every multi-island Hawaiian trip starts with: which island actually matches who you are as a traveler. -
Juneau, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated, useful, and built for the traveler who's seeing Juneau as part of the Inside Passage, whether for a cruise day or an overnight stay. -
Kauai, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated, useful, and built around the truth that the oldest, most photogenic Hawaiian island is also the one where the choice between north shore and south shore decides the whole shape of the trip. -
Lanai, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated, useful, and built around the truth that the smallest Hawaiian island is also the one that actually delivers what most travelers think they're flying to Hawaii to find. -
Maui, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated, useful, and built around the truth that the Hawaiian island most travelers think they want is also the one where the choice between Wailea, Kapalua, Ka'anapali, and Hana decides the whole shape of the trip. -
Medellín, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated, useful, and built for the eternal-spring Colombian city most American travelers' mental model is fifteen years behind on. -
Mexico City, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated, useful, and built around what most travelers miss in their rush between the Zócalo and the airport. -
Molokaʻi, Hawaii Hawaii's least-developed island — towering sea cliffs, empty roads, and the quiet the other islands lost. -
Napa Valley, the Way I'd Plan It Thirty miles of vineyard, four Michelin stars, and one logistical problem nobody warns you about — how I'd actually build a Napa trip. - New York, the Way I'd Plan It Five boroughs, sixty-nine starred restaurants, and one planning mistake almost everyone makes — how I'd actually build a New York trip.
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Palm Springs, the Way I'd Plan It Mid-century design, spa culture, and desert rhythm — how I'd anchor a long weekend in the Coachella Valley. -
Peru, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — Lima's extraordinary food scene, the Inca circuit done right, and the Amazon river cruise that turns a good Peru trip into the right one. -
Provincetown, the Way I'd Plan It Cape Cod's town at the tip of the world — the seasonal rhythm, the culture, and how to plan a long weekend that actually works. -
Puerto Vallarta, the Way I'd Plan It Reliable weather, real neighborhoods, and beaches with actual life — how to anchor a Pacific-coast beach trip with substance. -
Sitka, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated, useful, and built for the traveler who's looking for the Inside Passage port that's genuinely culturally interesting, where Russian-American history and Tlingit heritage overlap. -
Skagway, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated, useful, and built for the traveler who's seeing Skagway as a cruise port or small-ship stop, and wants the gold-rush-town experience without the tourist theater. -
St. Barths, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated, useful, and built around what ultra-quiet-luxe actually means. -
St. Lucia, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated, useful, and built around what makes this island different from every other Caribbean option. -
The Big Island, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated, useful, and built around the truth that the Hawaiian island with the active volcano, the world's tallest mountain, and eleven of thirteen climate zones is also the one most travelers underestimate. -
Turks & Caicos, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — the easy luxury Caribbean. A beach routinely ranked among the world's best, a short flight, and zero friction — plus the quieter cays most honeymoons never reach.
Asia & the Pacific Specific. Slow-burn. Often life-changing.
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Country guide Vietnam North to south, in the right order. -
Bali, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated, useful, and built around what separates a real Bali trip from a resort-only experience. -
Bangkok, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated and useful, built for the version of Bangkok that opens a Thailand trip with the right energy: temples on the river, street food that outclasses most cities' restaurants, and a hotel that does half the work. -
Bora Bora, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated, useful, and built around what actually earns the hype. -
Central Vietnam: Hue, Da Nang & Hoi An, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated and useful, built for the cultural-and-coastal heart of Vietnam: the imperial citadels of Hue, the beaches and gateway of Da Nang, and the lantern-lit old town of Hoi An. -
Chiang Mai, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated and useful, built for the cultural north: the old Lanna capital of temples, craft, and cooler air that is the gentle counterweight to Bangkok on a Thailand trip. -
Halong Bay, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated and useful, built for the version of Halong Bay that's an overnight luxury cruise among the karsts, not a rushed day boat from Hanoi — and increasingly, the quieter bays next door. -
Hanoi, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated and useful, built for the version of Hanoi that opens a Vietnam trip in the north: the Old Quarter, lake temples, a French-colonial overlay, and the best street food you'll eat all trip. -
Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated and useful, built for the version of Saigon that anchors the south of a Vietnam trip: French-colonial landmarks, essential war history, rooftop bars, extraordinary food, and the gateway to the Mekong. -
Japan's Inland Sea The Seto Inland Sea — Naoshima's art islands and the quiet water between Honshu and Shikoku — wrapped into a wider Japan of Tokyo, Kyoto, and Hiroshima, planned on the ground through a local partner. -
Koh Samui, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated and useful, built for the Gulf-coast beach finale: the summer island on the opposite monsoon calendar from Phuket, all coconut coast, calm water, and an easier pace. -
Kyoto, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated, useful, and built for the version of Japan's old capital that rewards slow travel and earns more than the standard two-day flying-in-from-Tokyo treatment. -
Maldives, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated, useful, and built around why this destination works for some couples and wastes money for others. -
Nha Trang & the Vinh Hy Coast, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated and useful, built for the beach finale of a Vietnam trip: not the busy town strip, but the dramatic, secluded mountains-meet-sea coast of Nui Chua and Vinh Hy Bay. -
Phnom Penh, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated and useful, built for the version of Phnom Penh that earns its place on an Indochina trip: the riverside capital of French-colonial elegance and essential, sobering history, and the Mekong-cruise midpoint between Saigon and Angkor. -
Phuket, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated and useful, built for the version of Phuket that's the high-season beach finale of a Thailand trip: Phang Nga Bay, private boat days, and a coastline of properties from clifftop Aman to design-led boutiques. -
Siem Reap & Angkor Wat, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated and useful, built for the version of Angkor that earns its bucket-list billing: the sunrise, the great temples paced so they don't blur, and a base chosen to match the trip. -
Thailand, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated and useful, built for the version of Thailand that strings the city, the north, and an island coast into one trip and gets the two-monsoon timing right. -
The Golden Triangle, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated and useful, built for the wild north: where Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar meet across the Mekong, anchored by an ethical elephant camp and Chiang Rai's surreal temples. -
The Mekong Delta, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated and useful, built for the watery south of Vietnam: the floating markets, canals, and orchards of the delta — best as an overnight or a luxury river cruise that carries you on into Cambodia. -
Tokyo, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated, useful, and built for the version of the city that actually rewards the long-haul flight.
Middle East Compact. Layered. Deeply written-about.
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Jerusalem, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated, useful, and built for the city at the center of three faiths and one of the most layered histories on earth. -
Tel Aviv, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated, useful, and built for the Mediterranean city that is modern Israel's cultural and creative heart.
Africa The next chapter.
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Cape Town, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated, useful, and built around the truth that Cape Town is the only African city where the trip starts the moment you step off the plane. -
Essaouira, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated, useful, and built around the truth that Essaouira is the exhale after Marrakech: a walled Atlantic port where the wind does the work and nobody's in a hurry. -
Fez, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated, useful, and built around the truth that Fez is not a city you see in a day; it's a city you get let into. -
Marrakech, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated, useful, and built around the truth that in Marrakech the hotel isn't where the trip happens between outings; the hotel is half the trip. -
Seychelles, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated, useful, and built around why this is the honeymoon for couples who want a beach AND something to do. -
The High Atlas & the Sahara, the Way I'd Plan It An advisor's guide — opinionated, useful, and built around the truth that the desert isn't a day trip from Marrakech; it's the leg that turns a city break into a country.
Polar Regions The trips that change you.
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Antarctica The white continent — the Drake, the Peninsula's ice and wildlife, and the small ice-strengthened ships that are the only honest way in. A bucket-list expedition, with Buenos Aires and Patagonia worth folding in on either side. -
Svalbard & the High Arctic Spitsbergen at 78° north — polar bears on the pack ice, walrus, blue glaciers, and the midnight sun — reached through Oslo and Longyearbyen, the Arctic's headline expedition by small ice-class ship. -
The Northwest Passage The fabled Arctic sea route — Greenland's coast, the Canadian High Arctic, Franklin's ghosts, and Inuit communities at the top of the world — reached through Reykjavik or Copenhagen, by expedition ship.
Rivers Eight rivers. Different reasons.
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The Amazon: Not a Consolation, an Escalation The river for travelers who've done the others and are asking what's next — not a consolation, an escalation. -
The Danube: The River That Converts First-Timers The river that converts first-timers — holiday markets by lamplight, the Wachau by day, and the sailing that made me a believer. -
The Douro: Europe Without Everyone Else’s Itinerary Portugal's terraced interior — schist hillsides, quintas above the water, and Europe without everyone else's itinerary. -
The Magdalena: García Márquez’s Colombia by River García Márquez's Colombia by river — Mompox and the Caribbean watershed, on a new program before the category gets crowded. -
The Mekong: Two Countries at the River’s Pace Between Siem Reap and Ho Chi Minh City — two of Southeast Asia's most layered countries, threaded at the river's pace. -
The Nile: The Temples, in Sequence The temples in sequence — Karnak at golden hour, Edfu at sunset — one of the oldest civilizations on earth, a day at a time. -
The Rhine: The Castle Stretch, Done Right The Middle Rhine castle stretch — the gorge, the Lorelei, Riesling slopes — the passage I grew up beside and plan with the most affection. -
Venice and the Po: Arrive by Water The one itinerary that arrives in Venice by water — through the lagoon into the canals, not by bus from the airport.
The Journal
95Everything I have published — the takes, the trip reports, and the before-you-book pieces.
Manifesto / About 3 pieces
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Finding Your Thread I move through the world as a gay man and a Jew by choice, and I've stopped pretending it doesn't change how I travel. This is about that lens — and why I want every traveler to have a thread of their own to follow. -
A Trip Has Chapters If your trip plan walks into the room as a list, the only story it tells is "we did the things." "We did the things" is not a story; it's a receipt. Here's the four-act arc I work from — and why the order matters more than the chapters. -
A Collaborator With a Point of View Most travel-buying falls into two camps: the order-taker who books what you described, and the expert who already decided what you should want. I'm building something different. A collaborator with a point of view.
Field Guides 7 pieces
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Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim: Charleston's Jewish Story, and How to Fit It Into a Weekend A congregation from 1749, a petition from 1824, an organ installed after the fire of 1838, and a sanctuary from 1841 that's still in use. Here's the story behind Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim, and the practical shape of a visit, including the one day of the weekend it won't work. -
The Reading Route Reading is how you travel before you go, and how you keep traveling after you're home. A new series: one book that earns a trip, the route it demands, and a drink to start it with tonight. -
Following the Thread Through Andalusia: Sephardic Spain The golden age, the rupture, and the thread that runs north from Córdoba to a ritual bath under a Catalan street. How I plan the slow Sephardic arc through Spain — with the pacing, the operators, and the kosher logistics that make it land. -
I'm Married. I Still Travel Alone. Solo travel has been sold as a transformation. It isn't one. It's a skill, and a pleasure, and the most honest way I know to find out what you actually like. Here's how I do it, where I've gone alone, and the one hour nobody warns you about. -
What's a Repositioning Cruise? (And Why the Crossing Is the Whole Point) A repositioning cruise is the trip most people scroll past — a ship moving between seasons, sold cheap by the night, with days at sea that are the whole reason to go. It's also the smartest way to sample a luxury line you've never dared book. -
Choosing the Right River Cruise: An Honest Guide Most 'best river cruise' lists answer the wrong question. There's no best one — there's the right river, line, cabin, and week for you. Here's how I match them. -
Jewish Heritage Travel: Following the Thread, Not Just the Sites An advisor's lens on Sephardic Spain, Ashkenazi Europe, Israel, and the trips that earn the depth. How I plan Jewish heritage travel — the destinations, the archetypes, the operators, and why the work is different when the lens is right.
Behind the Trip 2 pieces
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The Secret in the Itinerary: Behind Bonnie & Shelby's Switzerland & Italy Shelby texted me out of the blue: there was a plan, and it needed a co-conspirator. Eight weeks later, in a valley of seventy-two waterfalls, Bonnie said yes. Here's the trip with a secret folded inside it. -
Holding Someone's Becoming She wasn't looking for a vacation. She was looking for permission to disappear — and then maybe come back a little different. Here's how we built 45 days around that.
Trip Reports 3 pieces
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A Solo Thanksgiving on the Danube Sometimes you need to be somewhere else entirely — somewhere that has no memory of who you usually are at the table. The Danube, it turned out, was the right kind of somewhere else. -
16 Days on a Panama Canal Cruise: A Trip Report I'd recommended the Panama Canal crossing to clients before I ever took it myself. Then I booked 16 days on a Princess cruise — alone, no agenda — and arrived somewhere I hadn't expected. -
Seven Days at Sea: Why You Cross Instead of Fly There is no flight that competes with the feeling of crossing the Atlantic by sea. Here’s what a Cunard transatlantic crossing is actually like—from someone who’s done it.
Rivers & Small Ships 19 pieces
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Which Alaska cruise is right for you? Seven kinds of trip, and the line I'd book for each The real choice in Alaska isn't which cruise line. It's which kind of trip you're after. Here are the seven I see most, and the line I reach for in each. -
Six Days Without Land: Waugh and the Crossing A crossing is a suspension: no ports, no arrivals, nowhere to be. Which makes it the best place on earth to finish a four-hundred-page novel about a house you'll never own. -
The Traveller's Portugal: Saramago on the Douro Saramago drove around his own country refusing to say 'I' — he calls himself 'the traveller' for four hundred pages. It is the strangest and best travel book I know, and the Douro is where his method pays out. -
The Flag They Fly So Nobody Boards Two people in their seventies board a riverboat, run the cholera flag up the mast so nobody can board and nobody can land, and keep going. The finest thing any writer has ever done with a boat. -
Everyone Aboard Has a Motive Most murder mysteries make a place look dangerous. This one makes the Nile look like the most civilised way anyone has ever travelled — which, annoyingly, expensively, correctly, it still is. -
Reading Twain Down the Mississippi Twain spent four hundred pages teaching you that a river is a text. Then you want to be on it, moving at its speed, learning it a bend at a time — Memphis to New Orleans, at reading pace. -
Walking Into Winter: Fermor on the Danube In December 1933 an eighteen-year-old set out to walk from the Hook of Holland to Constantinople. The book he made of it is the best prose ever written about moving slowly through Europe. -
Two Valleys, One Harvest: The Douro or Bordeaux by River One river line sails both of Europe's great wine valleys — the Douro and Bordeaux. Readers picked the Douro for my own 2027 sailing; here's the honest case for each, so you can pick the one that's actually yours. -
AmaWaterways vs. Viking: How to Choose Your River Cruise Line Two of the best river cruise lines on the water, and they're built for different travelers. Here's the honest, side-by-side breakdown — and how I'd help you pick. -
The Danube Educates. The Rhine Enchants. The Douro Slows You Down. Here's How to Pick Your River. The three great European river cruise routes are all beautiful and completely different. Here's how I help clients pick — Educator, Romantic, or Intimate. -
What Is River Cruising (And Is It Right for You)? River cruising is not ocean cruising in miniature. It's a fundamentally different way to move through the world — and once you understand the difference, it's very hard to go back. -
Bordeaux River Cruising: A Week on the Garonne, the Way I'd Plan It A week on the Garonne is the wine-region cruise I'd send a serious traveler on this year — château by château, oyster bar by oyster bar. Here's what the rhythm of it actually feels like. -
European Holiday Markets River Cruise: What to Expect The holiday markets river cruise is one of my most-requested itineraries, and for good reason. Here's what the experience is actually like—beyond the mulled wine photos. -
Fall Wine Country River Cruising: The Season I'd Choose Fall is when wine country river cruising is at its best—harvest festivals, vineyard colors, and the sense that you've arrived at exactly the right moment. -
The Best Time for a European River Cruise, Month by Month and River by River The month decides what's happening on shore. The river decides what the water is likely to do. Here's the whole calendar, month by month and river by river. -
The Best AmaWaterways Itinerary for First-Timers Of all the AmaWaterways itineraries, the Romantic Danube is the one I send first-timers to. Iconic cities, manageable pacing, easy flights, and the kind of week that turns one river cruise into the first of many. -
Choosing Your AmaWaterways Cabin: French Balcony, Twin Balcony, and the Suites The Twin Balcony cabin is AmaWaterways' signature for a reason. Here's the breakdown of every cabin category — what each one really gets you, and which one I'd book for your trip. -
Small Ship vs. Mega Ship Cruising: Which Is Right for You? Mega ships and small ships are both cruises the way a Marriott and a boutique inn are both hotels. Here's how to tell which one is actually you. -
UnCruise vs the other small ships in Alaska — how the field actually compares Small-ship Alaska covers everything from a 20-guest yacht to a 170-guest coastal ship. They are not competing for the same traveler. Here's the field as it stands in 2027, and where UnCruise sits in it.
Wild Places & Luxury Lodges 7 pieces
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The Drake Is the Whole Point The thing standing between most people and the trip of their life is not money and not time. It's a two-day stretch of water they read about on the internet at midnight. Semple built a whole novel on it. -
Quoyle's Coast: The Shipping News in Newfoundland The best novel I know about the specific dignity of being no good at things — and one island off Newfoundland where the story of the book and the story of the place have gone on to rhyme. -
Aurora 101: What the Northern Lights Actually Are (and How to See Them) What the northern lights actually are, why Fairbanks is the canonical aurora city, and the math that separates a trip where you'll almost certainly see them from a coin flip. -
How to Pack for -20°F (And Actually Enjoy It) Interior Alaska in winter runs from -20°F at night to 20°F in the afternoon. Here's the actual packing list — what you need, what to leave home, and how layering works when the temperature swings 40 degrees in a day. -
Safari Lodges, Camps, and Private Reserves: What's the Difference? A permanent lodge with a wine cellar is a completely different experience than waking to lion sounds in a tented camp. Here's how to understand what you're actually choosing between. -
What Is Luxury Lodge Travel? Luxury lodges are not hotels that happen to be remote. They're a specific kind of experience built around place, access, and a level of service you can't replicate anywhere else. -
What Is Expedition Travel? Expedition travel isn't a destination — it's a category defined by place-first design, expert guides, and itineraries built around conditions instead of clocks.
Honeymoons & Milestones 15 pieces
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Wilde's Last Address Everybody has read Dorian Gray. The book that earns this trip is the one almost nobody reads — fifty thousand words written from a prison cell, in which the wit drops out from under you. -
Mongibello Doesn't Exist Highsmith invented the village and put it on a coast that doesn't have it. Three screen versions went looking anyway, and not one of them filmed in the town she was actually staring at. -
Snowbound: Christie and the Train A blizzard buried the Orient Express near Çerkezköy in 1929 and held it for the best part of a week — a train full of wealthy strangers with nothing to do but look at each other. Christie only had to add a body. -
The Rooms Baldwin Wrote In He was advised, in so many words, to burn it. He published it instead. Seventy years on, Giovanni's Room is still a slightly shocking book — not for the content but for the nerve. -
Two Acts: Isherwood From the West End to Berlin A book you can see staged in one city and true in another. The only pairing on the route with an intermission — the West End's Kit Kat Club, then the Schöneberg street where it was written. -
The View From Fontana Vecchia In 1950 Capote left New York for a hillside villa above the sea and did the best quiet work of his early life there. A writer nobody could shut up, gone happily quiet — and the trip that earns. -
Somewhere in Northern Italy Read it again as travel writing and you notice what the swooning reviews skipped: nobody has written the pace of Italy in July better — the way a day can hold almost nothing and be the fullest day of your life. -
What Couples Always Forget on Their Honeymoon The things couples consistently overlook. Don't be that couple. -
Solo Celebration Travel: Post-Divorce, Post-Promotion, Post-Retirement Celebrating alone is serious. Here's how to plan it. -
How to Plan a Honeymoon Without Losing Your Mind Honeymoon planning doesn't have to be chaos. Here's what actually matters. -
The Honest Truth About Honeymoon Budgets: What Each Tier Actually Buys Price transparency without judgment. What your honeymoon budget actually buys. -
When to Start Planning Your Honeymoon: The Month-by-Month Timeline The single biggest predictor of whether a honeymoon comes together well isn't the budget. It's the timeline. Here's the month-by-month version, working backward from your wedding date. -
The Calm Babymoon: A Final Adult Trip Before the Sleep Disappears This is the last trip before parenting. Plan it accordingly. -
Hawaii Honeymoon vs. Abroad: When the Domestic Answer Is the Right One The honest comparison most honeymoon guides skip: when Hawaii is actually the right call over Europe, the Caribbean, or Asia — and when it isn't. -
All-Inclusive Resorts: An Honest Take I recommend all-inclusive resorts to clients regularly — and I also talk people out of them regularly. Here's the honest framework, and when each answer is right.
Groups & Celebrations 10 pieces
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Travel With Me: What It Means, and What It Doesn't Every so often I put a departure in front of you and say: come with me. The operator runs the trip; I'm your advisor before you go and a fellow passenger once you're there. Here's why that split works in your favor. -
My Brilliant Friend, Your Next Trip Four books means your club has lived with these women for a year before you land. Naples and Ischia host eight to twelve people almost suspiciously well — this is the greatest book-club trip on earth. -
The Ringleader's Reward Every friend group has one — the person who gathers everyone. Here's how to keep the part you're good at and hand off the rest, and why filling the trip often earns you your own seat. -
Bachelorette Without the Sashes: How I Plan These for Adults The bachelorette you want to remember isn't the one in matching shirts. -
The 40th, 50th, 60th: Milestone-Birthday Trips That Earn the Hype Not every birthday gets a group trip. The milestone ones do. Here's how to plan them right. -
Reunion Travel: When Your College Roommates Want to Go to Tuscany Reunion trips have their own rhythm. Here's how to honor the history without forcing the intimacy. -
Girls Trips That Actually Work When Eight People Try to Agree Coordinating eight people is a puzzle. Here's the structure that solves it. -
Multigenerational Travel: How to Plan a Trip Everyone Actually Shows Up For Multigenerational travel is a different puzzle than a regular group trip. Here's how to solve it so nobody feels bored, rushed, or left behind. -
How to Plan a Group Trip Without Losing Your Friends The group trip paradox: the more excited everyone is at the start, the more exhausted someone is by month two of planning. Here's how to avoid it. -
Celebration Trips for Adults: A Guide for the Group That Wants to Plan One Once Not every celebration trip needs sashes. Here's how adults actually plan them.
Destinations 4 pieces
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Italy Destination Weddings: What You Actually Need to Know Italy destination weddings are glorious and logistically demanding in equal measure. Here's what I've learned planning trips around them—and what makes the difference between beautiful and chaotic. -
Eating Italy Like You Live There: A Pragmatic Guide Italian cooking is not haute cuisine. It's the food Italians eat at home. Here's how to find the restaurants worth your reservations — and how to order in a country where the menu hierarchy actually means something. -
When to Go to Italy: A Region-by-Region Seasonal Guide "When to go to Italy" depends entirely on where in Italy you're going. Here's the region-by-region version of the answer, plus the windows nobody tells you to avoid. -
Italy in Five Itineraries: Which One Is Yours? Italy isn't one trip. It's at least five distinct kinds of trip wearing the same name. Here's how to tell which one you actually want — and which destinations build it.
Why I Recommend 14 pieces
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Is the British Pullman worth it? And which seat to ask for The British Pullman is the day version of the great train trip: 1920s Pullman carriages out of London Victoria, lunch in the countryside, home by evening. The decision isn't really whether to go. It's which journey, which table, and whether the Coupé is worth paying for. -
Is Queen Mary 2 worth it? What I tell my clients about the transatlantic crossing Queen Mary 2 is the only ocean liner still crossing the Atlantic on a schedule. I've made the crossing with my husband. Here's what it actually is, what it costs in each stateroom tier, and the traveler I'd put on it. Some people shouldn't book it, and I'll say who. -
When to go to Southeast Alaska — the week matters more than the month Earlier buys weather; later buys wildlife. The weather it buys is far smaller than people think, and the wildlife it costs is total. Here's the week-by-week case, sourced properly. -
What an UnCruise sailing actually costs — and how to read the number The sticker price on an UnCruise sailing looks high next to a big-ship Alaska fare. Then you add back everything the big ship charges separately, and the gap narrows more than you'd expect. Here's the honest math. -
UnCruise reviews: the complaints worth reading before you book UnCruise sits at 4.5 out of 5 across 211 Cruise Critic reviews, and the complaints inside that number are specific, consistent, and worth reading before you book. Here they are, and here's which ones matter. -
Which UnCruise Alaska itinerary is right for you — all nine, compared Two of the itineraries with 'Glacier Bay' in the title don't go into the bay proper. That is the fork that decides this trip, and the booking page won't tell you about it. Here are all nine, sorted by that fork. -
Is Canyon Spirit worth it? What I tell my clients about the Rockies to the Red Rocks Canyon Spirit is the new name on a route Rocky Mountaineer used to run — a daylight-only luxury train from the Colorado Rockies to Utah's red rocks. Here's what it actually is, what it costs, and the traveler I'd put on it. -
Why I Started With Belmond Most luxury hotel collections are a logo stretched over properties that have nothing to do with each other. Belmond is the rare exception. Here is why I built the first TWE landing page around Cap Juluca — and what I am putting under the rest of the collection, property by property. -
Why I Keep Recommending the Sea of Cortez Jacques Cousteau called it "the aquarium of the world." Sea lions at Los Islotes, gray whales in Bahía Magdalena, dolphins from the skiff, and the kind of expedition pace that lets the trip find you. Most travelers don't know to plan for it. -
Is UnCruise Adventures Worth It? What I Tell My Clients UnCruise has been running expedition routes for thirty years in places most operators can't access. Here's an honest assessment of whether it's worth the price — and who it's actually for. -
The Anti-Resort Hawaii: UnCruise Hawaiian Seascapes Most Hawaii trips involve a resort. The UnCruise Hawaiian Seascapes itinerary is what happens when you skip all of that — 36 guests, a small expedition ship, and coastline most visitors never see. -
Virgin Voyages for Couples Who Don't Want Kids on the Ship An adults-only cruise isn't about disliking kids. It's about choosing the kind of vacation where the pool deck stays calm at noon and dinner doesn't start at 5:30. -
Why I Recommend Virgin Voyages Virgin Voyages isn't trying to be every cruise line. It's trying to be the one for adults who want design, food, and a transparent fare — and that focus is exactly why I keep recommending it. -
Why I Recommend AmaWaterways: A Family-Founded River Cruise Line, Up Close AmaWaterways isn't the only river line I recommend, but it's the one I've sailed and keep recommending. Here's what makes the family-founded approach show up in the actual ship.
Before You Book 11 pieces
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Is a private arrival transfer worth it? The one thing I never skip, even for myself Every trip has a moment where it either starts well or starts badly, and it's not the flight. It's the twenty minutes after you clear customs. Here's why I pre-book a car for that moment on every trip I take, which kind of car for which trip, and where you can book your own. -
The Expensive Way to Save Money I spend a fair amount of my working life untangling trips that were planned sensibly. Not badly — sensibly. Here's the difference between what a trip costs and what it's worth, told through six trades that looked smart on paper and weren't. -
Adults-Only at Sea: Which Line Is Yours? Only three of these five lines are adults-only by rule, and the other two still come up every time a couple asks me for a grown-up ship. Here's who each one suits, and who'd be happier on something else. -
The Two Clocks: When Your Trip Actually Goes on Sale (and When It Sells Out) Most people plan a trip around one date: theirs. But every trip runs on a second clock — the market's — and it decides whether you get more trip for your money or pay the late tax. Here's the calendar I'm already watching for you. -
How Travel Advisors Actually Get Paid (and How to Choose a Good One) The money question most people are too polite to ask: how does a travel advisor get paid, does it cost you anything, and how do you tell a good one from a bad one? Here's the honest version. -
Dear Travelers, Some of You Are Doing This Wrong Somebody who loves travel needs to say the blunt thing out loud. Nine instincts that feel like freedom and quietly cost you the trip — from someone who's made most of them himself. -
What Does a Planning Fee Actually Get Me? Clients sometimes hesitate at a planning fee. Here's what it actually buys you — broken down honestly, without the sales pitch. -
What Is a Travel Consortium (And Why It Matters for Your Trip)? When advisors talk about being "consortium members," most clients nod politely and have no idea what it means. Let me explain — because it directly affects the value an advisor brings. -
Do I Really Need a Travel Advisor? The question I get asked more than any other. Here's my honest answer — including the cases where I'll tell you that you probably don't need me. -
When Should You Start Planning Your Trip? The most common mistake I see is starting too late. Here's how to think about booking timelines by destination type — and what you actually lose by waiting. -
Travel Insurance: An Honest Guide Travel insurance is the thing most people buy wrong or skip entirely. Here's how to think about it correctly — and why the cheapest policy is almost always the worst deal.
Quizzes
16Five to seven questions each. They narrow the trip before you spend an hour talking about it.
- What kind of traveler are you?
- Do you actually need an advisor?
- Honeymoon matchmaker
- Milestone trip matchmaker
- Which cruise suits you?
- Which river?
- Are you an expedition traveler?
- Is Antarctica your trip?
- Which safari?
- Which Alaska?
- Which Italy?
- Which France?
- Which Japan?
- Which Belmond?
- Is the QM2 crossing for you?
- Which UnCruise destination?
If something here is stirring an idea, that is the whole point of the shelf. Let’s talk about the trip.