The things I find myself telling clients before almost every trip — from airline realities and passport rules to European hotel quirks and travel insurance truths. A calm, honest briefing from someone who plans international travel every day.

Paris has a version most travelers never reach — the literary salons, the artist studios, the hotels built from a particular cultural perspective. This is how I design a trip around it.

Most European trips go wrong not from lack of research, but from too much of it in the wrong direction. Here’s how to plan a trip that actually feels the way you imagined it would.

London rewards the traveler who slows down. From the Savoy and Westminster Abbey to a candlelit tavern in a medieval village outside the city — a travel designer’s guide to the version that stays with you.

Palm Springs contains one of the most coherent collections of modernist residential architecture anywhere in the world. A travel designer’s guide to the houses worth your time, and how to visit them.

Some travel entertains you. These three properties are designed to restore you. A travel designer’s guide to Palmaïa in Mexico, La Coralina in Panama, and Four Seasons Koh Samui — and how to know which one is right for your trip.

Notre Dame reopened in December 2024 after five years of restoration. Here’s what visiting looks like now — entry, the towers, guided tours, and how to design a full day on Île de la Cité.

Designing a family trip that genuinely works for everyone requires more than a good destination — it requires the right base, the right pace, and experiences chosen for the specific group. Three European destinations worth designing around.

Some trips confirm what you already believed. The Amazon did something different. A travel designer on what the jungle teaches about fear, connection, and the kind of travel that stays with you.