I recently returned from taking a short, 3-day road trip with my husband from a small town in Central Oregon up to a small town in Central Washington to visit his cousin and her significant-other. It was less than 300 miles away, pretty much due North and took us 4-5 hours by car.  We went from an altitude of 3500 feet and a high-desert dry area with forests of juniper trees and sagebrush to an altitude of 1900 feet with lush, thick ponderosa pine forests and the Yakima River running alongside the town. 

Recently I moved to Bend, Oregon, an absolutely beautiful area in Central Oregon.

Central Oregon is situated at the Western edge of the Great Basin which stretches from the Rocky Mountains to the Cascade Mountains. It is considered high desert with elevations ranging from 3000 feet all the way up to 7000 feet. The area has over 280 days of sunshine and just two weeks less of “sun” days than San Diego.

Now that New York City is in the reopening process, I was thinking about all the museums within the city and the surrounding boroughs and if/when they plan on reopening their doors in the wake of the Coronavirus situation. Almost all of the 80+ tours I’ve arranged in the last few years want to schedule a guided tour, an art workshop or a combination of both at one or more of the many museums to choose from. 

Wherever we call home – perhaps a house, apartment, maybe even a hospital bed – there are always things to be grateful for. Another word to describe gratitude is “thankfulness”. Gratitude can be defined as “the expression of appreciation of what one has.

There have been several occasions since the Coronavirus outbreak began that I’ve thought about the many businesses I’ve dealt with over the last six years when I am making the arrangements for student tour groups.  This includes performing arts classes, museum visits, local attractions and dinner arrangements.

All of this downtime from the Coronavirus Pandemic stay is a great opportunity for individuals to take a ride down memory lane by looking through old photo albums and videos.

The travel industry has been one of the top sectors in the global economy. It has taken one of the largest hits from the Coronavirus Pandemic. Hotels, the airlines, cruise lines, attractions, bus companies, tour operators, restaurants, the performing arts, and other segments of the hospitality industry have been decimated by the onslaught of Covid-19. Domestically state tourism industries in Hawaii, California, New York, Florida, and Nevada have been particularly hard hit.

With the U.S. airlines receiving a massive bailout they should be required to reconfigure the seating on planes based on social distancing.

For example, middle seats should be blocked unless the entire row is for family members and the

A sense of humor is helpful to cope with the Coronavirus Pandemic. Laughter and humor are the best medicine and can actually strengthen one’s immune system.

​ Like many of my colleagues in the tour business, I am advocating for postponing tours rather than canceling them.

Travel industry experts are forecasting that about 2-3 months after recovery from the Coronavirus pandemic consumer confidence will rebound and there will be significant pent up demand for travel in late 2020 and early 2021. Travel professionals should take advantage of the current down time to promote and market tours that are keyed to this pent u...

For over 40 years my companies in San Francisco have withstood enormous hurdles and challenging "bumps in the proverbial road." We have contended with forest fires in the West, the riots in Los Angeles, and the vagaries of the economy but the biggest challenges we have faced were a result of the following disastrous events out of our control : &nbs...

Students and seniors enjoy taking factory tours. There are a wide variety of factory tours which produce goods made in the USA which are sold in markets throughout the world. Some of the tours are free and others charge a group rate.  Following the tour, individuals may enjoy some samples at some of the factory tours. Some of the well-known Am...

Each year we setup a study tour to San Francisco, Silicon Valley, and Seattle for a Masters of Business  Administration (MBA) university group from South Africa. The program features meetings at companies and universities in each  destination in addition to sightseeing  tours, excursions, and cultural experiences. Meetings may be sch...

The Best of Northern California is simply one of the top selling and most popular tours. It features San Francisco, the Wine Country, Lake Tahoe, Yosemite National Park, Monterey & Carmel, Route 1, the Pacific Coast Highway and the Hearst Castle.   Day 1 - Arrival at San Francisco International Airport, city tour upon arrival, hotel check-...