My Life in Italy, Part 16: Two Weddings and a Funeral
What do The Nazis, Audrey Hepburn, Ronald & Nancy Reagan, Mikhail Gorbachev, Pope John Paul II, Margaret Thatcher, The Chernobyl meltdown and Mother Teresa all have in common? I knew you would ask! As always, if you are just...
My Life in Italy, Part 15: Race Against the Clock
Every time I think about a wedding, Wallace Shawn shows up in my head lisping about “mawwiage” and “twue wuv.” Sorry, can’t help it! It ruined weddings for me forever… in the best possible way....
Small Group Tours in Croatia: 8 Checks Before You Book
Full disclosure before you read a word of this: I run one of the companies that offers small group tours in Croatia. So treat what follows as a method, not a recommendation, and run it on us too. Our own numbers are in here...
My Life in Italy, Part 14: He Speaks! & Mirror in the Bathroom
As with every post in this series, if you are jumping in here, it is like jumping into the middle of a movie. Please start with Part 1, or this will make absolutely no sense. Yikes, it has been a long time since I wrote the...
Best Small Group Tour in Italy: 10 Checks Before You Book
Full disclosure before you read a word of this: I run one of these companies. So treat what follows as a method rather than a recommendation, and run it on us too. I have put our own numbers in wherever they are relevant,...
Why There’s No Little America in Italy: 6 Reasons, and Only One of Them Is Romantic
I first came to Italy in 1983 and moved here in 1985. Nineteen years old, straight out of The Valley. There was no Facebook group. No welcome committee. No English-speaking realtor with a golf tan and a business card. Nobody...
Croatian Food, Region by Region
Because “Croatian food” isn’t really one thing. I get some version of this question every single time we bring a group through Croatia. “So what’s Croatian food actually like?” And every time,...
You Can’t Learn to Care
I just got back from IMEX in Frankfurt. If you don’t know it, IMEX is one of the big ones… the trade show where the meetings-and-incentives world gathers to talk shop. Corporate event planners. Incentive houses. The...
Tomorrow, We Lose Money. Here’s Why I Sleep Perfectly Fine About It
What happens when 2 guests show up for a tour that needs 8 to profit – and what it reveals about an industry that’s forgotten its purpose I was scrolling through TripAdvisor reviews this morning (don’t ask me...
The Crisis That Revealed Our True Identity – And Changed Everything
How choosing family over profit during COVID confirmed for us that we were still the company we were always meant to be In March 2020, the entire world seemed to stop, and we were just about to start our season. The entire world...