HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

Today we pause and reflect on the fathers in our lives. Pictured above is my dad with me and my sisters. As the firstborn of my dad's 4 daughters, on Father's Day, my dad always thanks me for making him a dad.

My passion for travel was inherited from my parents. As a child and young man, my dad's travel experiences were limited to visits to his family - traveling from Chicago to Milwaukee to visit his mom's relatives, or to Richmond, Indiana to visit his grandfather. (He did participate in a historical American event - his family hitchhiked from Chicago to Washington, D.C. as part of the "Bonus Army" when he was a toddler.) Drafted during the Korean Conflict - my father was deployed to France, serving as a clerk-typist to a unit of architects and engineers. Being stationed in Europe was a life-changing experience for him, and he took advantage of every day of furlough to explore the continent. After his discharge, he returned home to Chicago and met my mom while they both worked for Lions International. At the time, my mother was planning to enter the convent; she was visiting relatives in Mexico on what she called her farewell tour when she ran into my dad on a Guadalajara sidewalk. "What are you doing here?" she asked him - and he responded that he had been moved by her descriptions of Mexico's beauty, and wanted to see it for himself. The rest, as they say, is history - and I can honestly say that I owe my very existence to my father's curiosity about the world, sparked by his travel experiences.

As we continue to navigate these unique times, I for one am hopeful that by Father's Day next year, we will once again be able to enrich our lives by exploring more of the world.

Happy Father's Day!

Save The Dates

During July, I'll be hosting three virtual wine and travel nights, featuring wines from South Africa, France, and Italy. I'll be partnering with a bay area wine merchant, from whom you can order the wines we'll be tasting - as well as travel partners with expertise in each of those countries. The ZOOM calls will be at 5 PM Pacific, 8 PM Eastern, on three Thursdays - July 8, July 15 and July 22 - details will be released shortly. I hope you will join us for these physically distanced but very social events.

From Joan's Kitchen

If you missed my live demo of how to make my mother's non-traditional Gazpacho, never fear - here's the link for the video. To request the recipe, click the link below the video. And on Monday, June 22 at 2 PM Pacific, 5 PM Eastern and 4 PM Central, I'll be in the kitchen again - this time, making a Mexican Shrimp Cocktail! tune in to my personal page on Facebook, to follow along.

Request the Recipe HERE: 

Not All Who Wander Are Lost

What's a Wanderlist?

I am very fortunate to be affiliated with Virtuso, which describes themselves like this: "Virtuoso is the leading global network of agencies specializing in luxury and experiential travel, with more than 20,000 advisors. We partner with over 1,800 of the world’s best companies such as hotels, cruise lines, tour operators, and more. Our advisors use their personal connections and firsthand expertise to craft bespoke trips for clients, including unique experiences, special values, complimentary perks, VIP treatment and rare access." Since mid-March, Virtuoso has been incredibly supportive to its membership community of travel entrepreneurs, and they've recently announced the rollout of the Virtuoso Wanderlist - a digital tool to explore destinations around the world, as well as unique and specialized things to do in those destinations. I've linked a PDF with more information - and it would be my pleasure to share a complimentary link to this tool with you! -If you're interested, just reply to this email to let me know. We will be able to travel again - and creating your own Wanderlist will encourage you to learn and dream about -and anticipate - where you may want to travel when we can.

Click HERE for More Information on Wanderlist

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Thoughts About The Future of Travel

MUSINGS:  THE FUTURE OF TRAVEL

A very wise and thoughtful colleague, Kathleen Sullivan of Anthology Travel, recently published this article. It's so well done that I'm sharing almost verbatim (with permission, of course!) I hope that you'll find this helpful.

A few thoughts on travel for the summer/fall of 2020:

I know we all just want to get the heck out of Dodge, but there are some things to keep in mind.

• In general, domestic travel is going to be easier than international.
• Some international locations, notably the Caribbean, have announced opening dates - take those with a large grain of salt, as those dates have been shifting a lot lately.
• Countries are imposing varying restrictions on entry - some require a specific type of negative COVID-19 test within 48 prior to entry, for instance. And it's not just enough for a government to declare the borders are open. In order for tourism to begin again, the hotels will need a little bit of time to do things like re-hire staff and ensure their supply chains are well-functioning. We'll also need the airlines to start running routes to those destinations.
• Speaking of the airlines, the flight schedules currently posted aren't terribly accurate, so you could be looking at schedule changes, long layovers, multiple layovers, etc...not ideal conditions, especially when traveling with kids or anyone who is differently-abled. Driving trips will be much easier than flying.
• Don't forget that we're still under a Level 4 State Department travel warning globally, which means all non-essential travel should be very carefully considered.
• Domestically, hotels on farms, ranches, etc. are going to be your best bet for social distancing. Lots of people are considering a visit to National and State Parks, but they can get crowded very quickly, so you'll want to have some alternate activities in your back pocket. For instance, when I was in Zion last spring, the traditionally-visited portion of the park was packed, but the northern part of the park, where we went hiking, was deserted...I think we saw maybe ten other people over six hours.
• If you're considering a visit to smaller, rural communities - make sure that you're not going to be stressing their resources and that they want tourism right now. Good ways to figure that out are to read local news sources and check out the local destination marketing organizations (tourism boards).
• I'm not really looking at international travel until 2021. Personally, I don't think a lot of borders will be open to citizens and residents of the US until we have our situation better controlled. I'd love to be wrong on that, and maybe I will be. It's definitely something I spend a lot of time reviewing with European travel companies. I will continue to share with you what I'm learning.
• Everyone in tourism is super stressed right now - we were the first industry affected by COVID and arguably one of the hardest-hit. So I know you're all lovely humans - just be extra-specially flexible and friendly and for the love of God, TIP HEAVILY, please.
• There is less availability for 2021 than you might think; many trips scheduled for this year have moved to next year, and those travelers will have first priority for available inventory, which may have fewer scheduled offerings. If you're contemplating something for next year, I'd consider at a minimum making refundable hotel reservations while we wait to see how the year plays out.
• Please, for the love of all that's good and holy, if you're not going to book through me or another travel advisor, book directly with the hotel. Online Travel Agencies (e.g., Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz) take a huge cut from hotels for booking. These companies don't need your dollars as much as the hotels themselves do (and one of the dirty secrets of the hotel business is that travelers who book through OTAs are assigned to less desirable rooms.) If you are brand-loyal to a large hotel chain, consider staying at smaller properties. One of the reasons I love and support and push boutique hotels is because you're supporting small business owners, actual humans, rather than large corporations.

In sum, domestic now; international maybe in the fall but probably next year; be kind to yourself and to others. 

My very best,

Joan