Posts Tagged ‘customized tour’
Many thanks to Joy at Gourmeted.com for her blog post yesterday profiling Celebrations International Travel as a sponsor and highlighting our Culinary Tours.
I had the pleasure of speaking with Joy recently after a couple of months of e-mailing. Not surprisingly, we share a common love of great food and world travel. Joy enlightened me with the notion that there are many other “people like us” out there who take their love of food and cooking seriously, and want to travel the world to delight in this passion.
It is my hope that in collaboration with Joy, I can impart my knowledge and love of both travel and culinary excellence, helping food and wine enthusiasts enjoy custom culinary experiences around the world.
Gourmeted.com‘s featured Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna looks like it’s ready for the best Italian grandma’s Sunday dinner table!
Lasagna of Emilia-Romagna from Gourmeted.com
Not only does this look delicious, but Joy from Gourmeted.com includes the recipe with instructions, including many pictures of her first attempt at lasagna-making. What a wonderful first lasagna!
I know there are many wonderful cooks and culinary enthusiasts out there who share this passion for great food and excellence in our kitchens. Follow your passions and indulge in a custom culinary tour to Italy, where you can take hands-on cooking classes, visit local markets with chefs, tour vineyards, taste wines, and do just about anything else you want to satisfy your culinary pleasures and curiosity. Contact us to start planning your custom tour today!
We are pleased to announce that Celebrations International Travel is a new sponsor featured on Gourmeted.com. Working in conjuction with Gourmeted.com‘s site owner Joy Jose, we look forward to a tasty and adventuresome exchange of ideas and experiences!
We have invited Joy to share some of her culinary knowledge and talent with us as a guest blogger in the near future. You will also find a banner link to Joy’s beautiful blog on our Culinary Travel Homepage.
Tiramisu: Heaven on a Dessert Plate
Posted on: March 1, 2010
Check out this divine tiramisu made by Joy of Gourmeted.com. Looks just as good as restaurant-quality, but it’s homemade! Read more about Joy and her love of cooking, and follow her on Twitter @Gourmeted.
Homemade Tiramisu by Joy of http://www.Gourmeted.com
Click on the photo above to view Joy’s recipe.
If you love Italian food and want to enjoy an authentic Italian culinary experience, check out Celebrations International Travel’s Tuscany culinary tour. The itinerary posted is only an example of the types of tours we can custom create for your family, group, or organization. Let us help you plan an ideal tour to savor the tastes of Tuscany!
View sample itineraries for other featured culinary destinations. In case you’re interested in a destination that’s not featured, contact us. We can customize culinary tours throughout most of the world.
Guilin & The Lijiang River
Posted on: February 15, 2010
We would like to thank our friends and colleagues at www.GotSaga.com for featuring my article on Guilin and the Lijiang River. What a befitting destination to feature in light of the Chinese New Year celebration currently going on!
Celebrations International Travel’s agents can help you plan a tour to China that best suits your travel style. Whether you prefer to participate in a tour where the itinerary is pre-set and you get to join a group of traveliing companions, or if you’d prefer a tour itinerary customized with travel dates of your choice and including only those cities and towns that interest you, we can help you explore the wonders of China and the world!
Either as a part of your tour to China or as a trip by itself, a river cruise down the Yangtze and Lijiang Rivers is a unique and unforgettable experience. See our Cruises page to learn more. Victoria Cruises is an American-owned and managed cruise line specializing in Yangtze River cruises. There is no better, more luxurious way to experience the waterways of China.
Two separate conversations I had yesterday with professionals in the world of foodie Web sites left me bewildered, and inspired me to write this entry. I’m still not sure what to think of these interactions, and would be interested to see if readers out there have any thoughts to share on the subject.
Call #1: I was explaining my agency’s approach to culinary tours, when the person asked about Italy. I responded by using our Tuscany sample itinerary as an example, and mentioned that we suggest guests stay at a villa outside of Florence, using it as their home base for a few days to explore the Tuscan countryside. Mid-sentence, she cuts me off with “So you do luxury tours?”
“No,” I said, what we do are custom tours. If a client asks for a luxury tour, we can certainly arrange that, but if someone asks us to put together a culinary tour on a budget, we can do that as well.”
Her answer: “Oh, that one sounds expensive.”
Well, I can’t argue with whatever gold-tinged images she might have had in mind, but what this experience taught me is that people’s perceptions and other long-held notions can be difficult at best to change or even influence. But what stood out even more was this person’s apparent unwillingness to even hear me out, or to be open to ideas in the culinary and related realms. Baffled as to what else to say, we ended the call with formalities.
Call #2: This time I’m explaining our approach to culinary tours (i.e. Get out of the tour bus and actually experience the destination; per my earlier post “Escorted Tours My Way: No Whirlwind Bus Rides”.) to Caller #1’s designee. This time I decide to explain simply that our tours are customized to accommodate whatever the traveler is interested in seeing and doing, but that our culinary tours are designed to be more than just restaurant tours, that we give travelers the chance to do more than just sightsee, eat; sightsee, eat.
Her Response: “Now that’s my type of tour.”
Normally, her answer wouldn’t have bothered me, except that instead of listening or wanting to learn anything about our tours, she proceeded to tell me that “For those of us who live to eat, that’s what we want,” and that our culinary tours wouldn’t work in the foodie world.
As much as I respect every individual’s right to their own opinion, I take our work and professional stance in the travel and culinary worlds very seriously. I would not want anyone to ever think that the intent of our culinary tours is anything other than to introduce travelers to the joys of the culinary world. By all means, the highlight of any culinary tour is for travelers to enjoy all the food, wine and other delights their destination has to offer.
The point I think both callers missed is that Celebrations International Travel’s culinary tours are 100% customized to give travelers the opportunity to experience their destination in ways that best suit the travelers’ interests and needs.
That is not to say that enjoying a host of different restaurants isn’t one way to experience a destination, but good meals can be enjoyed anywhere, without necessarily having to travel. And good memories are created through good, enriching experiences, which exploration and travel provide.
I think there’s a commonly-held misconception that anything “custom” or “customized” must be expensive. Well, I’m here to dispel that myth, at least where escorted tours are concerned.
In my post entitled “Escorted Tours My Way: No Whirlwind Bus Rides!” I talked about the fact that with many traditional group tours, the travelers’ experience can typically be described as “on the bus, off the bus,” without doing much to actually experience the destinations. “Standard vs. Custom Tours” highlighted the benefits of custom tours.
Delving further into the subject of tours, I want to explain how and why custom tours don’t have to be expensive.
– Custom Travel Dates: Unlike standard tours, which have set departure dates, you get to choose when you want to travel, and how long you want to be away. Many times, moving your travel dates by even a day or two could make a difference in cost of the airfare, accommodations, and other arrangements. Plus, if you decide the cost of your dream trip is more than you’re comfortable with, you can always cut down the number of days to save. That just isn’t possible when booking standard tours with pre-set itineraries and travel dates.
– Spend On What’s Important to You: Not all travelers are alike. With custom tours, you tell us what you’d rather spend your money on, and what you’d rather save on. To some travelers, it’s most important to be able to see and do everything on their wishlist, and they’d rather stay in more moderate hotels in order to stay within their budget. By contrast, other travelers might prefer very luxurious hotel accommodations paired with a more leisurely-paced itinerary with fewer cities or locales planned. Whatever suits you, Celebrations International Travel can help you plan your custom tour.
Travel How You Want: On standard tours, your transportation between cities and between attractions is pre-set for the group. However, with a custom tour, in most locales, there are choices in transportation that can save you money. For instance, if a standard tour itinerary includes a flight between cities that can also be easily reached by train, you might choose the train ride to give you a different perspective and experience, provided you have the time. Or, you might decide to forego a privately-chauffeured transfer from the airport if you’re familiar with the city’s metro system or prefer to take a taxi.
– See & Do What You Want At Your Own Pace: Standard tours are designed to please a crowd, they tend either offer travelers more of an “overview” visit to their destination and/or include the historical sites and attractions most popularly requested. What if some things on a standard itinerary don’t interest you, or maybe you’ve done it before? On a standard tour, you’re stuck with it because it’s included in the price of the tour, so you end up going with the group because the group travels together. Why not make better use of your time and money? With a custom tour, you tell us what you want to see and do, and if you need ideas, tell us what types of things interest you, and our destination experts can offer suggestions accordingly. Not paying for tour inclusions that you don’t want saves you money for the things you do want! As an added bonus, you can explore at your own pace because of the flexibility that a customized private tour provides. You’re not being “herded” in mass!
– Choose the Services & Inclusions You Need & Want: In some destinations, you might choose to have a tour guide/translator, driver, and/or other professionals to assist you. In other cases, you might prefer to explore on your own, or you might opt for a combination of guided and free time. You may want meals other than breakfast or certain activities or special occasion celebrations included in your tour. Any and all of that can be customized for you. On a custom tour, you choose when, where, and what services and inclusions you want, instead of paying for a standard set of inclusions that you might not need.
Contact us for more information on custom tours, and see our Culinary Travel Homepage for delicious and adventuresome sample itineraries to inspire your travels!
Standard Tours vs. Custom Tours
Posted on: February 3, 2010
If you’ve ever been on a standard (non-custom) escorted tour like I have, what do you remember? In my case, what I remember is a bus (motorcoach) full of people, a tour director, and a driver. (To read more about this, see my earlier post, “Escorted Tours My Way: No Whirlwind Bus Rides!”.)
What I think is good about standard group tours (where the itinerary is pre-set, and agents book travelers into a group with pre-set travel dates) is that the tour guides are very knowledgeable and experienced, most motorcoaches are comfortable, the driving is left to someone else, you have no worries about language barriers, and you can get to know your fellow travelers.
Admittedly, some travelers may find this “standard overview” approach to touring suits their needs, and Celebrations International Travel works with a host of tour companies to offer clients who choose this option the best possible choices for any destination they want to visit.
But here’s what I don’t like about standard group tours:
– These tours assume that “one size fits all,” which may not be true for many travelers.
– Pre-Set tours can be restrictive. Yes, it’s nice that someone else gets to worry about all the arrangements and hassles, but what if you want to spend more time exploring a particular attraction, or if there’s something on the day’s itinerary that you’re just not thrilled about? What if you simply would rather experience the same attraction in a different way? What if you want to go out at night, but not by yourselves, and the pre-set tour doesn’t give you escorted options? No matter how much flexibility or free time is built into a pre-set itinerary, you as the traveler still have to work within the choices and timeframe that the tour gives you.
– Large groups and pre-set tours can make travelers feel like they’re being herded in mass from one place to another.
– You are not in control of your own time, as the group must travel as a whole, and the amount of time spent in each locale is prescribed.
Try telling my teenage self that there was anything OK with this last point when I had a completely unobstructed view of the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace, but as soon as the guards marched in and turned around, someone tapped me on the shoulder and said “It’s time to go back to the bus.” My reaction was and is to this day: I can’t believe I went all the way to London and didn’t even get to see the changing of the guard!
All this is why in my view, custom tours are a much better idea. You can still experience all the benefits of standard touring: You can have knowledgeable drivers and English-speaking tour guides, comfortable transportation, and enjoy getting to know people you meet along the way.
What custom touring gives you that standard touring doesn’t is this:
– Flexibility: Travel when, where, and how you want. There are no pre-set travel dates or itineraries, although we can provide you with sample itineraries and other ideas to consider incorporating into your custom tour. You see and do what interests you, and you have the flexibility to alter your itinerary on the spot if you’d rather spend more time at a particular locale or skip something else.
– Budget Considerations: With custom tours, you pay for exactly what you want. You get to approve your custom tour before committing to it, and we work within your reasonable budget constraints. This is helpful because it allows travelers to spend on what’s important to them, and save on other things if they choose. Custom tours do not have to be expensive. I’ll talk more about this in an upcoming post.
– Travel with Whomever You Want: You can bring just your spouse, or your family, friends, your bowling team or wine club, or open the tour up to your entire company if you want. Your customized tour is just for your group, so it’s up to you!
– Theme Tours Your Way: If you have a hobby or interest you’d like to incorporate into your custom tour, let us know! Whether your passion is food and wine, photography, art and architecture, gardening, or anything else, Celebrations International Travel’s destination experts can design a tour to focus on your interests. Our Culinary Travel Homepage provides some sample itineraries designed with food and wine connoisseurs in mind. These will give you an idea of what a theme tour might entail.
Contact us for more information on planning your own custom tour!
This entry was inspired by a conversation I had recently. A caller tells me she wants to book a tour for a group of professional chefs. “They don’t want to cook,” she insists. “They just want to eat, drink, and be merry.”
Don’t get me wrong, I of all people am all for eating, drinking, and being merry, and the food and beverages are the highlight of any culinary tour. However, these comments reminded of the need to re-state my agency’s approach to culinary travel.
The idea behind a culinary tour is not simply to eat your way through your destination! (See my previous post entitled “An Introduction to Culinary Travel”.) The idea is to experience the destination through its food, wine, culinary traditions, history, culture, people, and way of life. This can be achieved in any number of ways, but the point I’m trying to convey is that a culinary tour is not the same as a “restaurant tour”. And Celebrations’ culinary tours are by no means designed to be run-of-the-mill bus tours that leave you with dizzying memories of getting on and off a bus for short stints.
When I say culinary travel is meant for travelers to experience their destination, I mean just that. Get out of the motorcoach and experience your surroundings first-hand and up-close. Maybe you’d like to stroll through the vineyards in Tuscany, or enjoy wine and cheese on the patio of one of the locales. Maybe you’d like to visit a local market, where a guide could introduce you to some of the regional produce and specialty foods. While you’re there, you might see a butcher in action, and you might want to buy a fresh, juicy cut of meat and bring it back to the villa where you’re staying so you can watch the chef prepare it for you. These are all examples ways in which a culinary traveler might experience his or her destination.
You might have noticed that I have not mentioned any type of hands-on cooking experience up to this point. Why? This is precisely how I would address a request that a custom culinary tour not include cooking. If chefs, bakers, or other culinary professionals or enthusiasts don’t want to cook on their culinary tours, they don’t have to! They’re on vacation, after all!
And of course, although it is a culinary-themed tour, most travelers still want to sightsee, shop, or attend cultural events or festivals. Our culinary tours are designed to accommodate all of that and are customized for you. Whatever you want to see, do, and experience, we will help you make it a reality!
Regardless of what interests you, or what you’d like to enjoy on your tour, a myriad of choices will always await you. The world is full of amazing destinations, and culinary travel provides an interesting and delicious way to explore them all!
Celebrations International Travel Blog 