Adventures with Sarah

14/10/2026

While I’ve just wrapped up Greece, my friend Lisa is just starting our Naples and Amalfi tour. Tonight, it’s homemade pizza for dinner!

If you were hoping to do this tour in 2027, we have good news for you! It will be back on our schedule in a few weeks!

08/10/2026

Do you know the Minoans?
Far before the days of classical Greece, the Minoan civilization was flourishing in Crete. They were peaceful, spending their time traveling rather than waging war. Their art conveys a sense of humor and joy for life.
On our day in Heraklion, we visited the Palace of Knossos, best known as the home of the Minotaur. It wasn’t really a palace, but more of a multilevel city. At the nearby archaeological museum, we got to see some truly impressive ancient works of art from 5000 years ago.
The Minoans lived all over Crete, but are also famous for their settlement on Santorini. The legend has it that after the volcano of Santorini exploded, the Minoan city sank into the sea, creating the idea of Atlantis.
This is just one of many reasons that a visit to Greece isn’t complete without seeing the wonders of Crete.

07/10/2026

Savoring Greece.
You know I’ve been focused on Italy for more than two decades, but maybe I should have turned my gaze to Greece sooner. It’s a natural next step for anyone who loves Italy.
We’ve actually been doing private Greece tours for a few years, but this is our first public tour, and it only makes me start plotting all of the tours we need to do next.
I’m thinking about adding more to this tour, like Santorini. We need a mainland Greece tour. And I still want to find a good sleep-aboard boat for exploring off-beat islands.
There’s just so much to see, but also so much to NOT do. 🏖️

06/10/2026

Even the severe wind storm couldn’t stop our Athens and Greek Island tour from getting to the dreamy Island of Naxos.
Rather than the ferry, we flew to this island in the chain known as the Cycladic islands. We enjoyed our time at a lovely beach hotel, and took an island joyride that explored villages and ancient sites.
I’ll admit it, I put Naxos on our tour because I personally enjoy it very much. Naxos is the perfect combination of Greek charm, quiet villages, and pretty beaches. Perfection.

06/10/2026

Happy Tuesday everybody. Here's some travel news for you.

Do you agree that the sweet spot of booking international flights is 90 days prior?
https://www.pcmag.com/news/heres-what-5-years-of-google-flights-data-says-about-when-to-book-your

As we get older, we realize certain inconveniences aren't worth the money saved. Here are some tips and factors to keep in mind when choosing a flight.
https://parade.com/travel/best-international-airline-travelers-over-60

Are you more likely to book a flight or a train ride? More people are choosing travel by train.
https://www.travelandleisure.com/train-travel-is-surging-for-2027-12132713

"Airport security employees checking boarding passes and IDs will no longer be allowed to sit down while working." Will this lead to grumpier TSA officers? 🤔
https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/29/us/tsa-officers-chairs

Google joins a long list of experts in confirming that there’s no special days of the week to get cheaper airfare. But it does have thoughts on how long you should wait to book.

04/10/2026

Bedtime story from Greece. 🇬🇷

It’s been a bumpy few days at work. A massive windstorm has thoroughly disrupted Greek travel, and I’ve had to do a lot of quick thinking to smooth it over for my guests. I think the lesson is that money can’t buy happiness but it sure can fix problems.

There are days my job feels like free money. And then there’s this week. 🥴

03/10/2026

If you’ve ever wondered why taking a tour is a good way to travel, well, I have a story for you.
Our tour had a 9:00 fast ferry yesterday to Naxos from Athens. The night before, I got a note that our vessel had changed. No big deal, or so I thought.
Our coach picked us up for the transfer, but as we were arriving, my Greek contact called to tell me the ferry might not go. It turned out that there was a massive wind storm brewing.
After waiting for a while, not just our ship but ALL SHIPS IN GREECE were stopped.
So I’ve got a bus full of tour guests and no way to get to our island and hotel. Great.
Luckily, I have a fantastic team and we all put our heads together to figure out what to do. We quickly grabbed the last tickets available for a flight the next day. Then we worked on where to sleep. Athens is pretty popular on weekends so there was nothing available on the apps. My local contacts worked some magic and found us a nice hotel with 12 rooms available.
By luck alone, our bus was free all day so I kept it and our wonderful driver helped me plan how to spend some of our time.
We ended up taking a lovely scenic drive out to see the Temple of Poseidon, a stunning temple contemporary with the Parthenon. After, we checked in to our seaside hotel and most guests went out for a nice seafood dinner.

It was definitely a day of turning lemons into limoncello.

The nice thing about a tour is that someone else has to fix the problems. My guests drank coffee and chatted while I figured out what to do. I wondered about all the folks stranded at the ferry terminal. They are likely still in Athens as ferries were still stopped today.

Anyway, all’s well that ends well. Check out the wind video shot from my balcony. I learned all about the Beaufort Scale yesterday. It was at a 9.

02/10/2026

Our second day of our Greece tour covered as much of Athens as we could. We had a whirlwind day at the Acropolis, enjoying the best of Ancient Greece.

30/09/2026

Our Athens and Greek Islands tour is now underway!
Our tour begins in Athens, then heads to Naxos with a sailing trip to Paros, continues to Heraklion in Crete and finishes in Chania.
Today I met up with our group and took them to meet Mamma Faye, a legend in tour guiding. We went for a wander along the Plaka (which I learned means “old lady”) and out to see the Olympic Stadium, with lots of storytelling along the way. Our dinner was a fun family style meal with more plates than we could count.
The weather is unseasonably cool, a fact that has been vociferously related by every taxi driver I’ve met. And while my bikini is sadly gathering dust in my bag, that cool weather is nice and comfortable for our lucky guests.

28/09/2026

RIP to any other rooftop hotel pool I will ever see again.