What are the opening hours?

Monday 7am - 4pm Tuesday 7am - 4pm Thursday 7am - 4pm Friday 7am - 2pm

Fork & Leaf Travel

Home
United States
Birmingham, AL
Fork & Leaf Travel

Designing customized travel with a culinary & nature niche. Jenn Nix, Owner & Certified Travel Industry Executive

11/02/2026

Have you heard? Aman has a new property in Mexico, and the wait was worth it.

Amanvari opened August 1 on the East Cape of Los Cabos, the brand's first resort in Mexico. It skips the busy hotel corridor for the Costa Palmas estate on the Sea of Cortez, about 45 minutes from the airport, with nearly two miles of swimmable white-sand beach. Anyone who knows Cabo knows how rare that is, since most of the coastline here is for looking at, not swimming in.

Only 18 standalone casitas sit on two levels, each with a wraparound deck, and some even have a cantilevered private pool hanging off the edge. The main pavilion holds three restaurants, a library, and an infinity pool ringed by four jacuzzis.

Now for the question the launch photos can't answer: which casita would suit you? Send me your dates, and I'll start there.

10/31/2026

Do you really need a private guide? Sometimes no. Sometimes it transforms the entire trip. Here's how I call it.

Worth every penny:
* Layered ancient sites like Egypt, Rome, Kyoto, and Machu Picchu, where the stones don't explain themselves and a great guide turns rubble into a story.
* Food cities, where the best stalls have no sign and no English menu.
* Wildlife, where a trained eye spots what you'd walk right past.
* Your first day somewhere intense, like Cairo or Delhi, where a guide turns chaos into context.

Skip it: beach weeks, cities you already know well, and days you've deliberately left open to wander.

A brilliant guide is the difference between a tour and a memory, and I keep a short list. Ask me about them.

10/29/2026

One island: safari, tea country, ancient cities, and beaches. Sri Lanka might be the most complete destination.
Here are just a few of the highlights:

* Leopards in Yala National Park, home to one of the densest leopard populations on earth.
* The hill country train, gliding past tea estates on what many call the most beautiful rail ride in the world.
* Sigiriya, a royal fortress built on top of a rock rising 600 feet out of the jungle.
* Galle's 17th-century Dutch fort, now full of boutiques and cafés.
* And the south coast beaches to end on.

The hotel scene: colonial-era tea bungalows, design hotels shaped by the legacy of architect Geoffrey Bawa, and safari camps that rival Africa's.

10/28/2026

"Why" before "where" is purpose-first travel.

Vacations that start with the reason instead of the destination:
* celebrating a milestone
* getting three generations around one table
* marking a recovery, a retirement, a new chapter
* learning trip: cooking in Oaxaca or truffle hunting in Tuscany

The place gets chosen because it serves the purpose, not the other way around.

These are my favorite requests. Tell me the why, and I'll handle everything after it.

10/26/2026

This is what October is supposed to look like.

Golden fields, a ridgeline in full color, wood smoke drifting between the cabins. Wildflower Farms, Auberge's retreat in New York's Hudson Valley, delivers all of it about 90 minutes from the city.

The 140-acre working farm spreads out below the Shawangunk Ridge, with 65 freestanding cabins and cottages designed to frame the view, and Travel + Leisure readers just voted it the #1 hotel in New York State, with a Michelin Key to go with it.

In fall, the whole property leans into the season with harvest dinners, hikes through the Gunks in full color, bonfires, c***r, and mornings cold enough to justify the fireplace.

Fall weekends here disappear quickly. Message me before they do.

10/23/2026

How does being one of the very first guests on the Riviera's newest private island sound?

Zannier Île de Bendor opened just this May. The whole island is yours to roam, seven minutes by boat from Bandol, reimagined as a completely car-free village with 93 rooms spread across three houses, each with its own personality.

Fill the days however you like. Swim off the beach cove, take a lesson at the on-site diving center, wander between eight restaurants and bars, or disappear into one of the largest spas in the region for an afternoon.

Openings like this have a short window before the word gets out. Get in touch and be early.

10/21/2026

Egypt has been on bucket lists for about 4,000 years, and it has never been a better trip than right now.

The Grand Egyptian Museum is finally open in full, with Tutankhamun's complete collection displayed together for the first time in history. Pair it with sunrise at the pyramids before the crowds arrive, a few nights sailing the Nile on a private dahabiya, and the Valley of the Kings with an expert Egyptologist bringing every painted wall to life.

October through April is prime season on the Nile. Reach out, and I'll get you there.

10/18/2026

Three signs it's time to work with a travel advisor:

1. You have 27 tabs open and less clarity than when you started. Endless reviews contradict each other. I've been to these places and can tell you in one call what actually fits.

2. The trip matters. Honeymoon, big anniversary, a once-in-a-lifetime destination. When the stakes are high, guesswork gets expensive, and a wrong hotel choice can't be refunded in memories.

3. You're the one who plans everything for everyone, and you'd like to actually be on this vacation instead of running it.

Sound familiar? Send me a message and see the difference on the very first trip.

10/17/2026

The hotel currently ranked #9 in the world isn't on a beach. It's deep in the Yucatán jungle.

Chablé Yucatán, a restored 19th-century hacienda outside Mérida, holds the #9 spot on the World's 50 Best Hotels list and was just named the Best Hotel in North America for the third year in a row.

The claim to fame is the spa, built around a natural cenote, one of the underground pools the Maya considered sacred. It was the first spa in the world designed that way.

Every casita comes with its own private pool and jungle views. Dinner is its own event too, with menus shaped by Jorge Vallejo of Mexico City's famed Quintonil and a tequila library so deep it earned a Guinness World Record.

Advisor tip: pair it with the ruins of Uxmal and a day in Mérida's colonial center. Mexico beyond the beach is one of my favorite trips to plan. Let's talk.

Address

Birmingham, AL
35210

Opening Hours

Monday	7am - 4pm
Tuesday	7am - 4pm
Thursday	7am - 4pm
Friday	7am - 2pm

Website

https://forkandleaftravel.com/contact

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Fork & Leaf Travel posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.