About Me
It was my Greek father who taught me to love the Mediterranean. From moussaka and souvlaki overlooking the Parthenon to pasta and la dolce vita in Rome, you can count on me to create an exceptional Mediterranean odyssey.
But my travel experience doesn’t stop there. For many years I was the exclusive travel agent for the Life Division of Kemper Insurance and Mc Donald’s Corporation. I managed not only their daily travel but meetings and conventions, sending large incentive groups to many worldwide destinations.
Over the past 35 years, I have served clients from coast to coast, providing the highest level of personalized service and expertise. I look forward to offering the same level of service to you.
What My Clients Are Saying
Many thanks to you and your team for planning another memorable and spectacular trip for us. We absolutely loved Portugal and everything you organized, especially our amazing accommodations added to the magic.
Our only regret: we wished we stayed longer!
Our only regret: we wished we stayed longer!
Ellen
Many thanks to you and your team for planning another memorable and spectacular trip for us. We absolutely loved Portugal and everything you organized, especially our amazing accommodations added to the magic.
Our only regret: we wished we stayed longer!
Our only regret: we wished we stayed longer!
Ellen
Joan did an outstanding job listening to our needs and desires and planned an excellent trip for our family. She has great instincts and is very attuned to ensuring that every detail of the trip goes off without a hitch. We look forward to planning many more trips with Joan!
Mike
Joan did a great job on our Istael trip. The Israeli agency Lakeshore uses is very thorough. Our guide was excellent. Transportation and accommodations were outstanding, we were stuck in Eilat due to a flash flood which closed the airport for several hours. Travex people were there to assist us and make sure we were taken care of. Also texted us at 1 am to make sure we boarded our very delayed flight, The trip was costly but worth it, I would book another trip to Israel using Lakeshore and Travex the Israeli agency.
Karyn
Over the past two decades, Joan has gotten to know our travel likes and dislikes and every trip gets better and better. However, we were traveling with other couples for our Africa trip and she had to negotiate many different personalities, budgets, timeframes, and preferences. She handled it all with aplomb! She reassured us every step of the way, stayed on top of due dates for travel documents, made suggestions and sent out countless itinerary revisions. During the trip we kept remarking about how smoothly everything had been coordinated and how taken care of we felt. We were never left wondering how to accomplish border crossings and immigration, transfers, and never had to carry our own luggage! We also thank Joan for enlisting the invaluable services of Larry Rednour to assist in every step of the Africa itinerary. However, it was Joan who knows the way we like to travel and made sure we were happy and felt accommodated. Happy is an understatement. Exuberant is better!
Bev
Joan helped us with an emergency re-booking from China. She was extremely responsive and executed our booking very quickly and found us a last minute fare which was very reasonable. Without her help, we would've been stranded in China for an extra couple of days.
David
This trip was a last minute Spring Break trip. I have young children, and I needed somewhere safe (and not wild and crazy). As always, I asked Joan for suggestions, and she recommended SF and the Fairmont. It was a FANTASTIC vacation -- hotel and amenities were great, the trip plans she put together were great, and overall, it was the excellent service from Joan that I have come to expect and rely on. I book all of my travel through her for good reason -- she is GREAT!
Joan is always awesome! A true pleasure to deal with. I count on her for all of my business travel and personal travel. She always finds great deals and has great ideas for every travel need. I literally would be lost without Joan!
Joan assisted my family on a recent trip to Italy. She is hardworking and professional, always going the extra mile to ensure that her clients know what they want and get it. She proved invaluable in rescheduling our entire trip due to a family member's injury. She used her contacts on the ground in Italy to get nonrefundable deposits refunded and, when that wasn't possible, she made sure that we could forward the deposited amount to future dates of our choosing. Joan is a high end professional who works tirelessly to make sure her clients have the best possible experience.
Baz
After booking trips for me for 10+ years, Joan knows my likes and dislikes and has once again worked her magic. She found us a resort in southern England that was pure delight. My whole family loved it - from our 28 year old daughter to my 86 year old mother! Joan takes care of all the details so our trips run smoothly and we can relax on our vacations. If we need to get in touch with her, we know she's available. On one of our last trips, we decided to change hotels at the last minute from one that I was staying at for a conference. Joan was able to handle it internationally without blinking an eye and within hours we were settled into our more comfortable accommodations. I can't imagine planning a significant trip without consulting Joan.
Bev
I just wanted to thank you so much for all your efforts putting together such a marvelous adventure for Dominic, Giorgio, Cathy and me. It truly was a trip of a lifetime. The Absolute Italy team provided us, without exception, superb tour guides and wonderful experiences at each stop. Every day was jam packed with interesting and exciting things to see and do and I can honestly say, we learned far more about Venice, Florence and Rome then we ever could have imagined! One thing I’m glad we didn’t learn was how to drive on the roads in Rome. Thank God we used local drivers! I seriously considered buying a rosary to carry with me in the cars! Also, excluding the one bad experience we had at the Venice hotel (thank you again for getting us the refund!), the other hotels were A-1 with beautiful rooms and an excellent support staff. The last stay in Rome was the cream of the crop. Our room was luxurious and after being out in the sun in 100+ degree temperatures every day, was an oasis to return to.
Beyond that, the food we enjoyed for virtually every meal was amazing. The boys got their fill of pasta and pizza and will now have to work extra hard in the gym to get back down to fighting weight again!
This truly was a trip Cathy, the boys and I will treasure forever. From the golfing in Scotland to the beautiful Amalfi coast, everything we did together over the 20 days will be something we never forget. As usual, you outdid yourself in providing our family with such a cherished opportunity to explore a part of the world where time seemed to stand still.
We love and sincerely appreciate you and look forward to seeing how you can outdo yourself again for our next adventure!
Papou and Cathy
>> A word of thanks for all your efforts in planning our recent trip. Our family odyssey to London and Paris was nothing short of magical. The hotels, tours and guides were outstanding and helped to make this such a memorable vacation. Our goal was to make wonderful memories for our four grandchildren and the journey did just that. We couldn’t have asked for more.
Jerry
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