Adventures with Sarah

17/06/2026

Hey Friends! Our Paris Foodie Staycation is now open for booking!

https://adventureswithsarah.net/tours/paris-foodie-staycation/

We will spend a week on Paris eating, drinking, cooking, and more.
We’ve already sold most of the spots, but there are a couple of rooms available.

If you’d like a different spin on Paris, we have spots available for our Paris and Strasbourg Christmas market staycation , which is a fan favorite.
Join us for a taste of La vie en rose, book now 🇫🇷

https://adventureswithsarah.net/tours/paris-and-strasbourg-christmas-2026/

Join us for a 6 night small group tour focusing on the sweet and savory aspects of cuisine and culture of Paris in April 2027.

16/06/2026

Our Sicily Highlights tour kicked off in Palermo this weekend, but I missed the first day since I was at my son’s college graduation. No worries, though, our fabulous guide Giusi had it covered and introduced our guests to her hometown.

Day 1 started with a meet and greet with our guests at our beautiful hotel. She took the group to tour Teatro Massimo, one of the grandest opera houses in Italy. Later, our group met one of my dear friends, the Contessa Federico, and toured her palace. Dinner afterwards was nearby at a restaurant that emphasizes Sicily’s multicultural community through dishes that fuse African and Sicilian cuisine.

The next day, our group ate their way through Palermo with my friend Domenico Aronica and enjoyed a bit of time to explore the city one their own.

I arrived yesterday and started with a long overdue chatty dinner with the Contessa, and then got caught up by Giusi, who has now passed the torch to me.
I’m all for tag team guiding!

I’m so happy to be back on my island. This tour is like a return to my cozy space, and I’m happy to share my love for this place with friends old and new.
More Sicilian adventures tomorrow!
Ammunini!

14/06/2026

Aaaaand we’re off!

This has been a seriously busy spring. After a huge launch (we’ve sold more than a third of 2027 tour seats !) along with the intake of a bunch of new private tours, and my son’s graduation from college, I’m ready for a Negroni and a nap 😴

I guess that nap will be on a plane because I’m off for one of my most epic adventures yet.

We planned our Sicily tours more than a year ago—the classic Highlights of Sicily, and our new Aeolian Islands adventure. We got a small curveball a few months ago, a private group that did an Egypt tour together and loved it so much they wanted to do something else. So they asked if we could arrange a tour of Ecuador and Galápagos Islands, and if I could lead it.

You know how I adore beaches, so pretty hard to say no to that. We reached out to our network and arranged an amazing tour that will cruise on our own catamaran. The only problem though, was the schedule. Most of the group booked our Peru tour as well, so we needed to shoehorn this tour between Sicily and Peru. How on earth could I do all of that?

Turns out, yes, you can fly from Sicily to Peru with only one stop in Amsterdam, so that’s what I’ll be doing.

Packing was an interesting challenge, and I’ll unpack for you in a couple of days.

Anyhow, that’s what’s up. I actually bought an economy ticket, and was offered a paid upgrade to premium. After a chaotic spring, i decided to use an upgrade certificate at the last minute, and here I am, ready for a drink, movie, and a long nap.

Allora, andiamo. Ci vediamo presto!

14/06/2026

✨Today on the Substack✨

Palermo, A City Guide

Sicily has been a great passion of mine for many years. I’m flying to Palermo tonight, and I have written up a concise city guide with all of my best intel, including a self-guided walking tour. You’ll find my favorite hotels, restaurants, and activities, plus all of the little tips for getting there and enjoying your visit.

This is another in my series of guidebook posts for Substack that are exclusively for paid subscribers. Consider becoming a paying supporter of Substack to support my research and writing!

As a side note, I really would love to grow Substack because I would ideally like to shift more of my time into writing, video production, and research. Even subscribing at the free level helps move me closer to this goal. So, go fourth and subscribe, please and thank you!

https://open.substack.com/pub/adventureswithsarah/p/palermo-a-city-guide?r=2hl4hh&utm_medium=ios&shareImageVariant=title

14/06/2026

We’ve been pretty busy around here, but for good reason!
Please join me in congratulating my son Lucca on graduating from the University of Washington, with a BA in urban planning.
Lucca will be continuing on to graduate school in the fall to get a masters degree in public policy and a second masters degree in urban planning.
Many of you know Lucca, either virtually or because you’ve toured with him, so please join me in celebrating him. Congratulations Lulu!

12/06/2026

If your dream trip to Italy involves tasting the truest flavors, breathing in the history of quiet side streets, and having an expert guide pivot the day's plans just to show you a hidden gem—this is your sign to join us.

Our November Rome Staycation is officially open for booking. We take care of the boutique lodging, the incredible meals, and the insider access. You just bring your sense of adventure.

👉 Head to our bio link to see what’s included and grab your double or single spot before they fill up!

12/06/2026

Summer travel shoe recommendations! Which are your favorite? Links coming in the comments below.

11/06/2026

Hey travel friends!
Just a reminder that if you’ve enjoyed my writing, I’m dedicating most of my new writing to Substack. You can subscribe for FREE and I’d be delighted if you did.

If you’re new around here, I was a guidebook writer for Rick Steves for 20 years, and now enjoy writing in my own style, but with the same focus on useful, truthful travel journalism.

I drop a new article each week, I will be focusing on packing, summer travel and Italy over the summer. I have a nice archive of articles and a podcast of past interviews on the platform as well.

If you love what I do, consider a paid subscription to support my work. I post one guidebook style article per month for paid subscribers only that features all of my personal suggestions for itineraries, hotels, and more.

Support your local travel journalist and help get the word out, please and thank you!
Andiamo ✈️

https://open.substack.com/pub/adventureswithsarah

Travel inspiration, itineraries, cultural observations, and practical secrets to navigate the globe confidently and make your next adventure easy. Travel writer Sarah Murdoch (formerly with Rick Steves for 20 years) writes & guides in Italy and beyond. Click to read Adventures with Sarah, by Sarah M...

09/06/2026

EDIT! Links have been sent to the presale list, if you received an email you have until the end of day on Thursday to book. We also have more folks on the presale list than spots available, so first come, first served. Merci!

Our Paris Foodie Staycation is almost ready for sale, get your name on the presale list asap!

You might have noticed I was in Paris recently doing some research (aka eating) in anticipation of a new weeklong Paris tour. Well, we are ready to go! We will be emailing our interest list later tonight for the first chance to register. If you aren’t on this list, email [email protected] asap!

Details!
April 5-11 2027
Your guide: me! (Sarah, yes I still personally manage all of my social media 😁)
What we are doing: market tour and cooking class (not the same as the Christmas tour), chocolate tasting and tour, cheese making, field trip to champagne tasting, opera dinner, jazz club and much more!
Cost: $4850 per person double occupancy (single supplement is available)
(Yes, this is more expensive than our Christmas tour because we’ve included a ton of food and wine 🥂)

We will post this for public sale in a couple of days but presale for this on the interest list starts tonight! Allons-y!

08/06/2026

I don’t know about you, but phones and electronics have been a blessing and curse for me. Ease of everything is great, but when traveling, there was value in the struggle, getting lost, making phone calls, being forced to interact with locals. There are also neurological benefits to using a pen and paper to record memories. So, what are we to do about disconnecting on a trip?

Why the future of exploration looks back to a time of the paper map, the notebook, and the unplanned detour.