http://www.adventuretravelsgroup.com/

Adventure Travels Group, Charlotte, NC (2026)

09/05/2026

GREECE DAY 1️⃣ We made it to Santorini!! 🇬🇷

And it is every bit as charming as I imagined it would be. The whitewashed buildings. The blue domes. The cliffs dropping into that ridiculous blue water. The caldera views. It really does look like the photos.

It is also every bit as crowded with tourists as you have heard.

But here’s the thing. If there are two things I am REALLY good at when it comes to travel, it’s avoiding crowds and picking amazing hotel rooms.

While everyone is literally lined up about 50 feet down the road trying to get THE Santorini view of the blue domes, we have the same view, if not an even better one, right from the balcony of our suite!! Except ours also happens to be built into a cave and comes with our own private hot tub overlooking the caldera too!

I think we’ll stay right here, thank you very much.

We’re staying at Luxus VIP Suites in Oia, and the experience has been fantastic from the communication before we ever arrived to the welcome once we got here. Our private transfer from the airport was a breeze, which is exactly why I am such a believer in having those details arranged ahead of time. Our porter was waiting to carry our bags through Oia, and instead of dealing with a traditional lobby check-in, we were checked in right at our suite.

And today happens to be our 24th wedding anniversary.

The very first thing our transfer driver said when he greeted us was, “Happy anniversary.” Then we arrived to find our room decorated with rose petals for us.

Those things may seem small, but THAT is what makes a luxury travel experience feel different. It’s not just about having the gorgeous room. It’s having someone paying attention to the details before you ever arrive.

And yes, when you’re ready to come to Greece, I can absolutely hook you up too.

We finished our first night with dinner on the terrace at Strogili overlooking the caldera. We started with dips and pita because obviously I was not coming all the way to Greece and exercising restraint: hummus, tzatziki, baba ganoush and feta. Then we split souvlaki and finished with baklava while watching the sun disappear over Santorini.

The sunset was unreal.

I love Greek food. I love this hotel. And I have a feeling I am REALLY going to love Greece.

Not a bad way to celebrate 24 years. Let’s Go!

09/04/2026

One last OA Conference-related post to wrap up before we fly out for Greece today! You know me. I like to properly wrap up one adventure before moving on to the next.

This year’s conference was held at Universal Orlando Resort, and Universal was incredibly generous in giving every attending advisor a three-day Park-to-Park ticket to enjoy Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure.

During the conference, we stayed at the beautiful Loews Sapphire Falls Resort, but once the conference wrapped up, some of us moved over to Loews Royal Pacific Resort for a very important reason: staying there includes Universal Express Unlimited.

And we intended to put those passes to WORK.

Friday evening, we all headed over to Islands of Adventure together after the final conference events. A classic Florida summer storm had just rolled through which is something I love because it makes for a practically EMPTY park. If you are willing to wear a poncho rainy days can be the best time to visit a theme park!

I was the only one brave enough to tackle VelociCoaster, which is a PHENOMENAL coaster, by the way. From the moment I walked through the entrance until I walked back out after riding was just FIFTEEN MINUTES! That includes the actual ride.

If you know Universal in the summer, you know how completely absurd that is.

It was also Hayden’s first-ever visit to the Universal parks, so naturally we had to document her introduction properly with a photo in every land.

The next day, Dannielle, Kris and I tackled Universal Studios Florida, where our ridiculous theme park luck continued. Between the light crowds and Express Unlimited, we were able to hit basically everything we wanted with ease, have a lovely lunch at Minion Cafe, wander through the MASSIVE new Wicked store and generally enjoy Universal without spending half the day standing in lines.

And can we talk about the Wicked store for a second?

It still absolutely blows my mind to walk into a store filled wall-to-wall with Wicked merchandise. Back in the heyday of my own Wicked obsession, and later when I was putting together Siennah’s Wicked-themed birthday party, THERE WAS NOTHING. I had to make everything myself from scratch.

I had originally planned to stay and play in the parks through Sunday, but after two days of being able to do everything we wanted and then some, I changed my flight and headed home early Sunday morning.

And that turned out to be exactly the right call.

By that point, I had been gone for 14 days and I’ve had exactly FOUR days at home before we leave again for Greece, and as much as I love traveling, I was very ready to see my family for a few days, squeeze in some necessary appointments, doctor visits and even a fitness photo shoot (yep!!) before we leave again.

So this officially closes the book on one pretty packed August.

Global Travel Market Place in Palm Springs. The Disney FAM - Disney resorts. The Disney Wish. Four Disney parks. A Disney VIP Tour. An OA Conference that gave me one of those full-circle moments I’ll probably be processing for a while. Time with my team and industry friends. And finally, Universal Orlando to finish it all off.

Next adventure: Greece!

09/04/2026

There is going to Disney…and then there is going to Disney as a TA and VIP.

I’ve been to Walt Disney World many times. I know the parks. I know the resorts. I’ve done the training. I sell Disney.

But this trip gave me a completely different look behind the curtain.

I started with a Disney FAM that was really about seeing the enormous RANGE of what Disney offers. We experienced five Disney resorts and toured seven more in the Disney Springs area, seeing firsthand how wildly different the experience can be depending on where you stay.

Because a Disney resort is not just a place to sleep between park days. The location, transportation, restaurants, pools, room configurations and overall feel of a resort can completely change a vacation. And there is no substitute for actually walking through them and thinking, “I know exactly which client I would put HERE.”

We also got to tour the Disney Wish, which was particularly fun for me because Disney Cruise Line is such a different animal from a Walt Disney World vacation while still feeling unmistakably Disney. I loved getting another up-close look at how the experience translates from land to sea.

And then, of course, there were the parks.

All four of them.

And THAT part was less about studying Disney and more about remembering why people love it so much in the first place.

A group of advisor friends came together after the FAM and before the OA conference to take the whole Disney experience to a whole new level.

And, well…

This may have ruined me.

I knew what a Disney VIP Tour included. I’ve sold them and seen how happy my clients were with the investment. Experiencing one firsthand though gave me a whole new appreciation.

Having someone who knows Disney inside and out take over the logistics while you simply move through the parks and ENJOY them is kind of glorious. As is having front of the line access to rides, having someone waiting when you get off with a cold beverage or to hold your bags, fetch you a Mickey bar and roll in to your reserved perfect spot for fireworks. We covered an absurd amount of ground, but it never felt like the usual Disney game and I fear I have now seen the promised land.

Regular Disney Amber is going to have a hard time forgetting that VIP Disney Amber exists.

But from the travel advisor side, THAT was probably one of the most valuable parts of the entire experience. I can now explain exactly what someone is paying for with a VIP Tour and, more importantly, who I think should spend the money on one and who probably shouldn’t.

And really, that was my biggest takeaway from the whole trip.

There are a hundred different ways to “do Disney.”

The right resort matters. The right park strategy matters. The right extras matter. Sometimes spending MORE in the right place can completely change the experience, while spending more somewhere else may not matter to you at all.

After five Disney resorts, seven Disney Springs area resorts, the Disney Wish, all four parks and one dangerously fabulous VIP Tour, I came home with an even better understanding of those differences.

09/03/2026

One of my favorite things about our team is just how well traveled we are, and this week might be one of the best examples yet. Adventure Travels Group advisors are heading out across the globe, all at the same time!

Haley and Dannielle are off to Norway on a Hurtigruten FAM.

Andrea is heading to Brazil.

Kris is exploring Iceland.

Hayden- will be traveling through New England.

Siennah is headed to the Riviera Maya, Mexico for the 45 Years of Lomas Hospitality celebration.

And Brian and I are headed to Greece for two weeks of island hopping before boarding Crystal for a cruise through Greece, Turkey, Malta, Sicily, Sardinia and Italy.

That is a LOT of the world being covered by one travel agency over the next few weeks!

But this is also such a big part of who we are at ATG!

We travel. A lot. Research and training give us an incredible foundation, but experiencing a destination firsthand adds another layer of perspective that we can bring back to our clients.

We stay in the hotels, sail on the ships, ride the trains, eat the food and explore the neighborhoods. We discover what feels special, how destinations actually flow and all those little details that can make a big difference when we’re planning someone else’s trip.

Travel also strengthens our supplier relationships and gives our entire team more firsthand experience to draw from. Every time one of us goes somewhere new, that knowledge becomes something our whole team can share.

And it keeps us doing what Adventure Travels Group does best: blending luxury and adventure to create travel experiences that are anything but ordinary.

So if you need Adventure Travels Group over the next few weeks, there is a pretty good chance one of us is answering you from somewhere else in the world.

We’re out there doing the research. It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it. 🫶🏻🌎

08/28/2026

I’ve been trying to put my finger on why this Outside Agents conference has felt so different for me, and as we close out this truly amazing week two things keep coming to mind; “full circle” and “agency”, in both meanings of that word.

I went to my first OA conference at a point when I was technically building a business, but I was still operating inside someone else’s ethics and vision of what my business could be. I was being kept in the dark and encouraged to stay small in ways I did not fully recognize yet. I was even discouraged from going to that conference in the first place.

Thankfully, I went anyway.

And it completely blew my world open.

For the first time, I saw a much bigger version of this industry and of what was possible for me within it. I met people who would become some of my best friends, not just in travel, but in life. You don’t know what you don’t know, and this was where I first began to understand just how much opportunity existed and what was really possible. I came home genuinely changed by the experience, with new knowledge, new expectations, and questions about the tools and processes I needed to keep growing. Ironically, asking for those things would ultimately contribute to the rug being pulled out from under me.

It’s okay. Because I didn’t shrink.

I soared.

I turned around and grew my own business. Then I brought others into this industry and created opportunities for them too. I built a team. And from the beginning, I made very deliberate choices about what kind of leader I wanted to be and what kind of culture I wanted the people around me to experience.

I knew what I didn’t want to recreate.

I wanted people to have access to information. I wanted them in the room. I wanted them building their own relationships and reputations. I wanted them exposed to opportunities that could change the trajectory of their businesses. I wanted them to know that someone else’s success did not diminish mine.

That is why this particular conference has felt so significant.

I am looking around and seeing the physical evidence of all those choices.

The agents on my team are winning awards. They are being recognized for the businesses they are building. They are joining Opulence. They are developing their own supplier relationships, reputations, friendships and opportunities.

There is something incredibly emotional about that for me.

At my first OA conference, someone else’s limitations could have kept me from the room.

Now I am actively helping other people get into rooms that can change their lives and their businesses.

That might be one of the biggest full-circle moments of all.

And then there has been the recognition I received personally this week. Being nominated in both the “Trail Blazer” and “Community Hero” categories at the gala was deeply meaningful.

Not because I needed to win them.

Because of what those words themselves represent.

I’ve worked very hard to build a successful business, yes, but sales have never been the whole story for me. Those two nominations reflected the things I hope define what I’ve built: creating my own path AND bringing other people along with me. Having a growth and inovation mindset AND building others up along the way.

I didn’t just want to become successful.

I wanted to create community and opportunity around that success.

And then there is Hippo Lakes being at this conference.

In some ways, Hippo Lakes might be the perfect symbol for this entire journey.

That relationship has been incredibly personal and meaningful to me for years. I have worked so closely with them and believed so strongly in what they had to offer long before most people in my professional circle knew who they were. I wanted more advisors to know them, more clients to experience them, and more doors to open for them.

At one point in my career, there was actually a financial incentive to keep those bookings separate rather than bring that relationship into the Outside Agents ecosystem. It meant a short term loss in exchange for a long term gain that benefited everyone.

Why?

Because my instinct has always been to connect.

If I see two people or businesses that could create something better together, I want to make the introduction.

So I introduced Hippo Lakes to leadership at Outside Agents because I could see the potential for everyone involved.

And now I am standing here years later watching Hippo Lakes become part of both Opulence and Outside Agents.

What began as a relationship that meant so much to me personally has grown into something that can benefit Hippo Lakes, OA, Opulence, the 14,0000 advisors across this organization and, ultimately, all of our clients.

That feels enormous to me.

Because I chose expansion over protectionism.

I chose connection over gatekeeping.

And those choices have compounded.

That is really the story underneath all of this. It isn’t that someone once treated me badly and I proved them wrong.

It is that I actively chose to build something different.

This week, I got to stand in the middle of everything that has grown from my own choices and intentionality.

I walked into this conference with a team of my own and watched them be celebrated for what they themselves are building. I saw a supplier relationship that has meant so much to me become part of both the OA and Opulence families. I was recognized in ways that spoke not just to my sales, but to the kind of leader and member of this community I have tried to become. And I was surrounded by friends who have been part of this journey since those early days, along with new ones I’ve made along the way.

I could never have imagined any of this when I walked into that first OA conference. It opened a door for me that changed the trajectory of my business and, in many ways, my life.

And now I get to hold some of those doors open for other people.

That’s the part that feels full circle.

Because agency, in both meanings of the word, was never just about having a business of my own. It was about having the freedom to decide what I would build, how I would lead, and who I could bring with me.

08/18/2026

And I’m off again! This time I’m headed to Orlando for what is going to be a very full couple of weeks.

I’m starting with a Disney FAM and then spending several days experiencing the parks, resorts, and even some VIP touring. There is truly no substitute for experiencing a destination firsthand, especially somewhere like Disney where there is always something new to learn, see, and bring back to my clients and our team.

From there, I’ll head straight into the Outside Agents National Conference. This is always such a valuable week for me, not just for the education, but for the relationships. I’ll get to spend time face to face with so many of MY supplier partners, the people I work with throughout the year to make our clients’ trips happen. Even better, most of our Adventure Travels Group team will be there this year, which makes it an opportunity for us to learn together, build our own supplier relationships, and come home better at what we do.

After the conference, I’m squeezing in a couple of days at Universal before finally heading home.

For three days.

Then it’s time to unpack, repack, and jet off to Greece!

This is definitely an intensive season of travel for me. There are moments when I look at my calendar and wonder what I was thinking, but I also know how fortunate I am to have built a career that lets me experience the places I sell, invest in relationships with the people behind them, and share so much of it with a team I genuinely love working alongside.

It’s a lot of airplanes, hotel rooms, conferences, park days, early mornings, and suitcases right now, but I really do love this job and the people I get to do it with. Orlando, here I come!

08/08/2026

Heading home after another AMAZING Global Travel Marketplace event, and after several packed days in the desert, I’ve been thinking about what made this week so special.

So, here are the TOP 10 things I loved about GTM West…and the two things I didn’t!

1️⃣ FIFTY one-on-one supplier meetings. Yes, 50!!!
This is hands down one of the most valuable parts of GTM. Over the course of the event, I had dedicated face-to-face time with 50 different travel suppliers from around the world. Hotels, cruise lines, tour operators, destination tourism boards, DMCs and more. These are the conversations where I can ask very specific questions, talk about actual client trips I’m working on, discover new options and, most importantly, build relationships with the people behind the products. Those relationships absolutely matter when I’m planning travel for my clients.

2️⃣ The deep-dive Boardroom presentations.
In addition to those 50 individual appointments, we had 16 small-group Boardroom presentations. I learn SO much in this environment, sometimes even about suppliers I already work with regularly. There is a huge difference between knowing a company and really understanding the nuances of what they offer, who they are best suited for and how to use them creatively for my clients.

3️⃣ The theme-night costume parties!
If you know me, you KNOW I love a good theme. Give me an excuse to dress up and I am IN. This week gave us three: Great Gatsby, Denim & Diamonds and 80s Night. After full days of meetings and presentations, it was such a fun way to unwind and spend time together outside of the conference setting.

4️⃣ Being surrounded by such high-caliber travel advisors.
GTM is an invitation-only elite event, and that means spending several days surrounded by advisors who take this profession very seriously. There is something incredibly valuable about being in a room with people who are constantly learning, growing their businesses, traveling the world and pushing themselves to be better at what they do. Some of the best conversations of the week happen advisor-to-advisor.

5️⃣ Experiencing a new-to-me destination.
This was my first time in Greater Palm Springs, and La Quinta Resort was BEAUTIFUL. I always love when a conference gives me the opportunity to experience somewhere new firsthand. Now I have another destination and resort tucked away in my mental travel files for the right client.

6️⃣ Some of the best food I’ve ever had at a conference.
Seriously! The banquet food throughout GTM was fantastic, and the food around the resort was equally good. I will be going home dreaming about those blue spirulina bowls. I may have had more than one. Or two.

7️⃣ Discovering suppliers and experiences I might never have found otherwise.
This is one of my favorite things about events like GTM. I always arrive with suppliers I already know I want to meet, but inevitably leave excited about companies, properties and destinations that weren’t even on my radar before. Those discoveries become new tools in my toolbox when a client comes to me looking for something a little different. A rail focused DMC in Peru? ✅ World World 2 specific tours? ✅ River cruising in CHINA? ✅ I even learned about the new Game of Thrones studio tours in Ireland! ✅✅

8️⃣ The conversations that weren’t on the schedule.
For as valuable as those 50 appointments and 16 Boardrooms were, some of the best moments happened in between them. At breakfast. Walking between meetings. Sitting next to someone at dinner. Catching a supplier in the hallway and continuing a conversation from earlier. Travel is an incredibly relationship-driven business, and those organic connections are a HUGE part of why being in person matters.

9️⃣ Getting completely immersed in travel for a few days.
There is something pretty incredible about spending several days where practically every conversation is about a destination, hotel, cruise ship, itinerary, new experience or somewhere we can’t wait to send a client next. I came home with pages and pages of notes, new ideas and an even longer list of places I need to experience myself.

🔟 The relationships. Always the relationships.
This industry is filled with some truly wonderful people. GTM gives me the chance to reconnect with supplier partners and advisor friends I’ve known for years while also making brand-new connections. At the end of the day, those relationships are one of the biggest reasons I invest so much time traveling to events like this. When my clients need something, I don’t just want a website or an 800 number. I want to know the people on the other side.

And because no trip is perfect, there were TWO things I definitely did NOT love…

1️⃣ THE HEAT.
I have traveled to some pretty hot places, but 124 DEGREES is officially the hottest temperature I have ever personally experienced. That is not “it’s a dry heat” hot. That is “why does the air hurt my face?” hot. It was still around 100 degrees AT almost 10PM at NIGHT. I have never been so grateful for aggressively air-conditioned conference rooms or the little mini fans that were provided, in my life.

2️⃣ The one-on-one appointments weren’t long enough!
This is probably the best complaint you can have about a conference. There were so many conversations where the time was up just as we were getting into the good stuff. I already know I’ll be following up with quite a few of these partners over the coming weeks to keep those conversations going.

So now I’m heading home with a very long to do list, a stack of new contacts, approximately 400 new travel ideas and a LOT to bring back to my clients and my team at Adventure Travels Group.

GTM West, you were a good one.

Until next time!

08/07/2026

We understood the assignment! It was business by day and back to the 80s by night! What a fun way to wrap up the Global Travel Marketplace West!🤘🏻🤘🏻

08/06/2026

Putting the “western” into Global Travel Marketplace West at the Denim & Diamonds Dinner! 👖💎

08/06/2026

What a roaring fun way to kick off Global Travel Marketplace in Palm Springs!

Adventure Travels Group

09/05/2026

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08/28/2026

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