Access,
The guides, properties, and drivers here are people I have come to know over years of traveling. These are the ones I would introduce you to if we were exploring the city together.
01 — what you're getting
You arranging the guides, properties, and everything in between
A vetted starting point instead of the standard list of recommendations
The same partners and preferred rates I use for design clients
Coordination and timing handled
Someone choosing for you
A finished itinerary
A large inventory of small-group and private experiences with trusted local guides.
A family-run team in the Pisa countryside arranging cooking classes, wine and food experiences, Vespa rides, and private drivers across Tuscany, working with cooks, farmers, and winemakers who do not take outside public bookings.
Private and small-group tours led by scholars who know how to make a city come alive.
Independent guides who live in the places you're visting.
A good guide does more than recite dates and names. They help you see why the painting hangs in the museum, tell you the stories passed down through generations, and bring your attention to what you would walk past if you were only glancing.
Guides who give you context
The Virtuoso portfolio covers cities worldwide, and booking through my membership opens amenities that are not available when you book direct.
Perks included
Breakfast, room upgrades, dining and spa credits, early check-in, and late checkout.
How to book with Virtuoso
1.Create a Virtuoso account. Already have one? Skip to step 2.
2.Tap the Book a hotel now button to open the Uptown Travel Design booking portal.
3.Select Hotels in the top nav.
4.Enter a destination in the search field. Choose your hotel, and tap More Details and Photos to see rates and availability.
5.Tap the red Book button to select your room type.
Four- and five-star properties booked through my industry partnership. Four Seasons, Rosewood, Six Senses, Shangri-La, and the major brand collections when those are the right call. The simplest way to get VIP treatment on a straightforward booking.
Perks · password required
Breakfast for two, property credits, room upgrades, and late checkout. Email hello@uptowntraveldesign.com for the portal password.
For longer stays and family travel, a villa gives you space and a daily rhythm a property cannot. Kitchens, separate bedrooms, and somewhere to be together at the end of the day.
Perks included
Preferred rates and concierge support through my partnership.
Location does more than any amenity list. Being on the right side of the river or a five minute walk from what you want to see changes what you do with an early morning or a free hour before dinner. I look for what you see when you open the curtains.
Where you wake up frames everything after
03 - accommodations
Landing jet-lagged in a new city is exactly when you want things to be simple. Not negotiating with a taxi driver, not decoding a train map with a suitcase behind you. The drivers I use already have your flight details before you land, and they are still there when the flight is two hours late. That difference shows up in how the first day goes.
Arriving without the friction
04 - transportation
Private airport transfers and car service, booked in advance and tracked against your flight, so a delay does not leave you at the curb.
River, ocean, or expedition, including "I am not sure which yet." We sort through the options together before anything gets booked.
The four decisions that make or break a sailing, the lines I work with, and what a port day looks like when someone has planned it properly.
A cruise is a commitment, not just a place to sleep. The line, the route, the cabin category, the season, the shore days. Those are the decisions that separate a week that belongs to you from one that could belong to anyone.
So there is no self-serve link here. The options only make sense once I know how you actually like to travel, and that conversation is complimentary.
The one thing I will not hand you a link for
05 - cruises
If you have a stack of miles and no idea how to turn them into a journey, this looks across loyalty programs and shows you which points will actually get you where you want to go.
Referral code
Enter rachelstankovicGTN when you set up your account.
Photographers who match your style and notice what matters to you, from a short walk to a full morning.
Perks included
Five extra photos and three extra gallery months when you book through my partnership.
Runway Health connects you with US-licensed physicians online for prescription travel medications and vaccines before you leave.
Fee waived
Your consultation fee is waived automatically at checkout through my link.
Most people assume their credit card coverage is enough. It rarely is. A separate policy covers you from the day you book, so a change of plans, an illness, or lost luggage comes with real help rather than a claims form and a shrug.
These are not glamorous, which is why they get skipped. Points that never get used, insurance bought too late, a prescription remembered at the gate. Each of these solves a problem I have watched travelers run into, and several come with something extra through my partnership.
The details that make travel easier
06 - travel support & services
You skip the twenty tabs.
About Rachel
Cruise Design
Travel Design
+1 (480) 868-6152
Monday–Friday, 10am–4pm MST
hello@uptowntraveldesign.com
That is what travel design is for. A property matters more when it sits inside an itinerary built around how you want to spend your days, with someone coordinating the pieces while you look forward to going. You keep every perk on this page.
without doing the work?
Want the benefits
The other option
Takes about three minutes. No obligation.
Why an art history background changes the journey
River, ocean, and expedition. Matched to how you travel.
Full custom itineraries, and how the process works.
where to go next