Hey Reader,

I ate my first arancini (deep-fried Italian rice balls) at a long farm table, as the sun went down over the olive fields. I'd never had one before, because I can't eat gluten, and nobody makes them gluten free. My farm host Chiara invited me to dinner, and went to the trouble of making a special batch for me.

We stayed at that table for hours after the food was gone, laughing with Chiara and a couple of Swiss tourists in four languages, none of which we shared completely. I have no idea what half of it was about. The wine that Chiara makes herself didn't even give me a hangover, which felt like a miracle.

I think about that night more than anything else I did in Sicily.

As it turns out, the trips that change something for people are almost never the ones where they ticked off boxes and saw the most stuff.

They're the trips with enough room built in to stay at the table. And the ones where somebody, somewhere along the way, thought about what you needed before you had to ask for it.

You don't get that if you're the one managing the reservations, second-guessing the neighborhood, and wondering if the reviews are real.

One client put it better than I ever could:

"Thanks for all your help with all of this. I could not do what you do, it would make my brain hurt 🙃"

That's the trade. I take the brain-hurt part, and you get to be a person on your vacation, instead of a project manager.

Kerry used my Signature Journey Design for a bucket list trip:

"We were having a hard time narrowing down our choices and working out details. Carolyn made the whole process so much easier and a lot of fun! She really took the time to understand what we were looking for, asked great questions, and came back with ideas and hidden gems we never would have known were there. The best part was how much she took off our plate."

If a trip is anywhere on your horizon, I'd love for you to tell me about it here. You don't need to know where you're going yet, you just need to be done waiting for the perfect time.

-Carolyn

PS - Know someone tired of planning? Send them my website. A referral is the best gift you could ever give me. (Except for maybe more arancini...)