I’ve collected an assortment of these fun facts from around Europe that I’ll share in future blog posts. Kathy and I arrived in Provence this past week for our Luberon Experience tours, so I’ll focus this post on some stories from France.

• At the train station in Apt in the Luberon region of Provence, you can purchase tickets for rail travel to and from any destination in France – except for Apt. The line was closed to regular service in 1989, but the Apt station remains open… even thought the tracks have been removed and a bike trail installed in their place.


At the Apt station you can buy a ticket, but there isn't a train!

• In France it is possible to marry a deceased person but only with the authorization of the President of the Republic.
• In Châteauneuf-du-Pape, a very famous wine village in Provence, a municipal law of 1954 prohibits flying saucers from landing in the town.
• More tourists visit France each year than any other country in the world. In 2010 over 67 million visitors came to France, more than the country’s entire population.
• Les Gorges du Verdon (the Grand Canyon of the Verdon) in Provence is one of Europe’s deepest canyons, over 2500 feet deep. The gorge was not really known to the outside world until 1906.
• The world’s first true department store was founded in Paris in 1838 – Le Bon Marche.



• The Societie Bic is the world’s first manufacturer of ball-point pens. By 2005 it had made and sold over one hundred billion pens – that’s 100,000,000,000!!!
• The Eiffel tower was built as a temporary structure in 1887-1889 as the entrance arch for the 1889 World’s Fair. It had a permit to stand for twenty years after which it was to be dismantled. This “temporary” structure has now stood for 123 years. It’s estimated that 6.8 million people now visit the Eiffel Tower every year, with over 250,000,000 visitors since its opening.
• The Millau Viaduct, completed in 2005 in the south of France, is the tallest bridge in the world.
• The Train à Grande Vitesse (TGV) is the world’s fastest train. It reached a record 356 miles per hour on a test run between Paris and Strasbourg in April 2007. Its normal cruising speed is 180 mph.
• In a 75 year period in the 19th and 20th centuries, Alsace changed hands between France and Germany four times, depending upon the outcome of the most recent war.
• Lascaux, the cave famous for its primitive animal art, is a UNESCO World Heritage site in the Dordogne region of Southwest France. The thousands of visitors clamoring to see the cave each year resulted in serious damage to the art and prompted authorities to close the cave to the public for good in 1963. Lascaux II opened in 1983 and was an identical replica of Lascaux I. Now after some three decades, the replica suffers from the same problems as the original.
• The Pont Julien, crossing the Calavon River near Bonnieux in Provence, was built by the Romans in 3 BC. It was used for daily traffic until 2005 when a new bridge was built!


This 2000-year-old Roman bridge carried regular traffic until 2005!

Charley Wood and his wife Kathy lead European Experiences, week-long “slow tours” in some of the most beautiful areas of Europe, including The Luberon Experience in Provence, France. In 2012 they’re hosting groups in the Luberon, the Chianti region of Tuscany, and the Salzkammergut region of Austria. Charley recently published his first book, A Chateau in Provence.

Kathy and Charley have been traveling in Europe for 20 years and love sharing their special places in Europe with other travelers. Read more about Kathy and Charley here.

Slow Travel Tours is an affiliation of small-group tour operators who offer personalized trips in Italy, France and other European countries.

Congratulations Kathy & Charley

Blog readers might wonder what this means, but everyone within the Slow Travel Tours group knows.  Earlier this week Kathy revealed to us that The Luberon Experience had been selected for a prestigious National Geographic Award and this seemed the most appropriate way for the rest of us to congratulate them publicly – it was no easy ride achieving this accolade.

National Geographic Traveler Magazine 50 Tours of a Lifetime (photo courtesy of National Geographic)

Each year National Geographic hand pick tours from a myriad entries and home in on those they regard as worthy of being included in their ’50 Tours of a Lifetime’ which are featured in their Traveler magazine.  It must have been an agonising wait from Christmas until early April, but then the great news came via email: this year The Luberon Experience is one of the companies to wear this crown.  The 50 selected Tours are world wide and this year’s selection is revealed in the May issue of the Traveler Magazine.

This is how National Geographic describes the Tours they are looking for:

“They offer a short but deep dive into far-flung cultures and transformative experiences. We looked for tours (including volunteer, adventure, family, and small-ship trips) designed for experience, immersion, sustainability, and cultural connection.” and “An antidote to the average”

Obviously Kathy & Charley’s Luberon Experience Tours fit this bill and it’s true to say that all the Tours offered by Slow Travel Tour group members do too.  But to be selected for such an award is irrefutable confirmation that those ‘returners’ are right – a Tour with Kathy & Charley is a life-changing and memorable experience.

This is just one comment from Kathy & Charley’s Travelers’ Feedback Page:

“I felt like a traveler, not a tourist… seeing those things most people do not. Goat farms, family homes, private vineyard tours… they all topped all expectations. I loved the feeling of being a “local”. 

Nick from Massachusetts, USA

Everyone in the Slow Travel Tours group works tremendously hard to put together unique Tours and importantly, Tours are led by the group members – right from the start you deal with the person you will be touring with.  Kathy and Charley have a time proven track record and many ‘returners’ on their tours, what better recommendation can there be? But again, all the members have excellent track records too – take a look at any of the groups’ websites and you’ll find glowing comments from past visitors.

Visitors’ comments are appreciated and cherished; this is just one example from our Visitors Book that you can see on our website:

“There is an old Van Morrison song called “Enlightenment” – this one word that so well describes my 6 days staying in your lovely home – drinking your Pineau! Eating absolutely splendid meals created both by Judie and also by your friends at local restaurants (beef cheeks? Who knew?!) and of course, being chauffeured and guided by archaeologist extraordinaire – Steve!  The caves, the castles – the emotion and enthusiasm you brought with you to each site was truly infectious and will change the way I view our world, our past, as humans. Thank you both so much for enlightening me with this knowledge and your passions. I truly am changed (for the better!) for this adventure. I will be back someday!”         

            Sandy, Colorado, USA, April 2011

Selection is no lottery!  All entries are screened and sifted, checked and rechecked. As Kathy told us “we filled out the extensive questionnaire and made it through to the next round when we were asked to send photos and captions”

That’s a lot of hard work!  I once asked Kathy if she ever slept – she is a major contributor to STT as well as organising and running the Tours with Charley – her days seem to have more hours than mine!  Her answer was “I fortunately need very little sleep”.   I believe it!  She is so committed to everything she is involved with.

Kathy, Charley – we all applaud you.  You run great Tours and this Award substantiates what your previous visitors and we your fellow group members know: you are truly dedicated to what you do and also work incredibly hard to promote and develop your Tours.

It has been suggested that other members of the Group should try for this prestigious award next year.  Having one member of the group recognised in this way is tremendous – if others of us could join you up there, it would be phenomenal!

Watch this space….

In the meantime, again congratulations to you both from all your fellow members of Slow Travel Tours.

Steve and Judie Burman live in the beautiful Vezere Valley in the Dordogne region of South-West France. Together they run Caves and Castles, specialising in prehistoric Cave Art and medieval Castles Tours. Small groups tours (up to six people) are based at their recently converted farmhouse. Alternatively, they offer non-residential tours for a day or longer.

Professional archaeologist, Steve and his wife Judie love to share their passion for the ‘Cradle of Humanity.’ World famous sites such as Lascaux, the ‘Sistine Chapel of Prehistory’ and Font de Gaume are close by. Coupled with gastronomic meals and superb wines, your Caves & Castles Tour is really special

Slow Travel Tours is an affiliation of small-group tour operators who offer personalized trips in Italy, France and other European countries.

The pleasure of a special place (on the Dordogne River in France)

Ah, travel! Simply hearing the word evokes memories of favorite places visited, wonderful things experienced, and the happy anticipation of more adventures to come. No other word in our language encompasses so much that is important to so many people.

Investment Review estimates that 260 million people worldwide are employed in some facet of the travel industry. Annual revenue of all businesses associated with travel amounts to the staggering sum of almost 12 trillion dollars. If the travel industry were a country, it would be the world’s second largest economy, according to the World Bank. Close behind the USA, travel’s economy would be roughly equivalent to the combined economies of Germany, Russia, France, Italy and the United Kingdom.

Obviously, much travel is done for business, government, and other non–tourism reasons, but the subset of travelers called “tourists” recorded 940 million arrivals in 2010 according to the World Tourism Organization. That’s three times the entire population of the United States who set foot off a plane, train or car just for the sheer pleasure of getting away from home to see something new.

I account for three or four of those 940 million arrivals each year. An avid and frequent traveler to Europe, I would love to ratchet up the “frequent” part but alas my budget and certain European Union restrictions limit my time there. I compensate and travel vicariously by reading whatever printed materials I can find about my favorite places. This can be guide books, maps, blogs, novels – I don’t care. If I can’t be there physically, let me be there in my imagination.

St. Wolfgang in the Salzkammergut

Chipping Campden in the Cotswolds

If asked what I love so much about travel, I used to say it was the lakes, the mountains, the cozy little villages, the sophisticated cities, and so on. It was what was in the guide books, the physical things that set one place off from another; the things that make the Scottish Highlands different from the Alps of Austria, or the lake district of England distinct from the lakes of Northern Italy.

Now that I have more miles behind me than I care to acknowledge, I am more apt to say the greatest pleasure in travel is getting to know something about the people who inhabit these strange and wonderful places. Many of their customs are different from our own. They may eat differently, dress differently, and think differently about politics and religion and a hundred other things. But being fellow members of the human species, there are invariably a lot of things that are the same. Here’s where travel can take on a new and more meaningful dimension. It’s where a visit can become an experience.

With my 'French daughter' Nathalie

Nathalie and I have now made this little joke so many times that we do it automatically and with a warmth that, although we aren’t really family, we are friends, and if she really were my French daughter, I would be very proud of her and her accomplishments. And it’s been a great pleasure for me to watch her grow into her new role during the past six years.

Talking with a Frenchman or an Italian or a German about family and work or hearing them wax nostalgic about their youth has a familiar ring. Hearing them laugh at the foibles of some politician or complain about taxes and government gives me the sense that we have more in common than we have that separates us.

They get up in the morning, fight through traffic that frazzles nerves in Munich or Marseille as well as it does in Boston or New York. They labor at jobs that may be fulfilling or simply labor to get through the day. Family, community, health and happiness are usual topics of conversation.

Two special friendships that we have made in Italy touch our hearts with the concerns common to friends everywhere. Rita and Rosita are two sisters who live in a large 12th century castle on a hilltop in Chianti. They are as warm, human, and worthy of being called ‘friend’ as anyone I know. They share their moments of sadness as well as their times of happiness with us. We look forward to visiting and catching up with them when time and distance have kept up apart and to introducing them to our Chianti Experience groups this June. What else is friendship?

The pleasure of special people (sisters Rita and Rosita in Chianti, Italy)

Ultimately, we’re all ‘in the same boat,’ so if we all rowed together, we’d not only get ‘there’ quicker, we’d get there together. I’ve always thought that travel provides a wonderful education, but now I’m beginning to see travel as the best way to bring different peoples and cultures together for the benefit of all.

Go ahead, pack up and hit the road… it’s the ultimate form of diplomacy and international relations.

Charley Wood and his wife Kathy lead European Experiences, week-long “slow tours” in some of the most beautiful areas of Europe, including The Luberon Experience in Provence, France. In 2012 they’re hosting groups in the Luberon, the Chianti region of Tuscany, and the Salzkammergut region of Austria. Charley recently published his first book, A Chateau in Provence.

Kathy and Charley have been traveling in Europe for 20 years and love sharing their special places in Europe with other travelers. Read more about Kathy and Charley here.

Slow Travel Tours is an affiliation of small-group tour operators who offer personalized trips in Italy, France and other European countries.

Since this is my last post of 2010, I thought I’d close the year by sharing a few photos from our 2010 scrapbook. We’re fortunate to host our groups in truly incredible places, but it’s the people who join us who make each week so memorable. We come together on Saturday afternoon as strangers and say goodbye the next Saturday morning as good friends. Our goal is to make each person’s experience week their “best vacation ever,” and we appreciate all 68 of our 2010 travelers entrusting their vacation to us. It’s a responsibility we take very seriously.

Women's week picnic near Lioux (May 2010)

Gordes overlook (May 2010)

Lunch at Domaine Faverot (May 2010)

At Domaine Faverot (May 2010)

Hiking to Lacoste (May 2010)

On the Mediterranean (May 2010)

Visiting the Matteis (May 2010)

Rollright Stones in the Cotswolds (June 2010)

On a Cotswolds hilltop (June 2010)

Dinner at Janice's (Sept 2010)

On the way to Lacoste (Sept 2010)

Our family will be spending the Christmas holidays in Bonnieux, the little village in Provence that means so much to us. And we’re looking forward to new experiences in 2011: back to the Luberon in May, June and September and our first Chianti Experience trips in mid June.

From our family to yours… we wish you a very special holiday season. Happy travels in 2011!

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Kathy and Charley Wood lead European Experiences, week-long “slow tours” in some of the most beautiful areas of Europe, including The Luberon Experience in Provence, France. Their 2011 trips will include three weeks in the Luberon and two weeks in the Chianti region of Tuscany, Italy.

Kathy and Charley have been traveling in Europe for almost 20 years and love sharing their special places in Europe with others travelers. Read more about Kathy and Charley here. Kathy, Charley and their daughter Kelly are looking forward to a family Christmas in Bonnieux… and to new experiences and friends in 2011.

If you were to join us on one of our week-long Experience trips, you’d very quickly realize that Charley and I are living our dream.  We’re proof that people have the ability to change direction at any age to pursue the lives they’ve imagined.

We love what we do! We spend several months a year in Europe, in some of the most beautiful places in the world.  We work with wonderful, interesting people. Our work is incredibly positive… we’re helping people have great vacations.  We’re outdoors much of every day.  We have incredible meals.  And we get to do all this together. 

I always wanted a job that didn’t feel like work… and now I definitely do.  I wish I could say that this was a carefully-planned life and career strategy, but it wasn’t. I was lucky in many ways. 

For almost 30 years, that quote by Thoreau played in my head.  In my younger, idealistic days, it literally hung over my head, on an inspirational poster above my college dorm room bed.

Despite a major in English and History, after college graduation I pursued a business career. A year later I headed more aggressively down that path, pursuing an MBA from a prestigious school.  Armed with my Wharton MBA, I spent the next 27 years in the corporate world.    

In 1991 I met Charley, quite unexpectedly.  I was a 35-year old VP of Human Resources in a growing company, single, and working 60 to 80 hours a week.  Charley was divorced with two grown daughters, working in sales. 

We were engaged six and a half weeks after our first date.  We married the following spring and had our daughter Kelly 15 months later.   I was definitely heading in the direction of my dreams.

Newlyweds in London

When we talked about our hopes for our married life, Charley and I both said we wanted to travel abroad.  Our geographic interests were very compatible:  we both dreamed of experiencing Europe.

Charley had been to the Caribbean, Mexico and Canada, but didn’t even have a passport.

My situation was a little different; I had lived abroad as a child.  I was born in Munich, Germany and lived in Melbourne, Australia for four pre-teen years.  As a college student and young adult, I always wanted to travel, but it just didn’t happen. So many excuses. I didn’t have the time, the money, anyone to go with.   I had a current passport, but it had never been stamped.

Then in 1991, right after Charley and I got engaged, I went to Europe with two girlfriends. It was a trip planned before our whirlwind courtship.  Cheap airfares and encouragement from my parents helped propel  my friends and me across the Atlantic instead of to a beach or ski resort.  It was a fast-paced two-week trip to Vienna, Salzburg, Munich, Paris and the Bavarian and Swiss Alps. 

I loved Europe!  And I couldn’t wait to share it with my husband-to-be Charley, the traveling partner I had dreamed of.

We spent our honeymoon in London, and we’ve been traveling in Europe ever since.  In Europe we’ve found everything we enjoy, in the most beautiful places we’d ever imagined.  

On Lake Como (1997)

Over the next ten years, with our young daughter in tow, our family vacations increasingly focused on European destinations, first one and then two trips a year.  Our travels provided a much-needed break from my often stressful job and never-ending meetings, voice mails, and e-mails.  Thousands of miles from problems like layoffs, plant shutdowns, health care costs, union negotiations, and lawsuits, I could relax 24/7 with the two people I loved in a totally different environment.   

In 2002 something else happened that made dreams possible:  one of my former companies went public, and I was still a shareholder.  I made some money I hadn’t expected… not a fortune, but enough to give us the confidence to take some risks and pursue some major life changes.  In early 2004 Charley and I shocked family and friends when we announced that we’d be going to Europe for 14 months.  Kelly was 10 years old. 

I quit my job in June.  Charley put his home renovation business on hold, and we took Kelly out of school for her 6th grade year.  We rented our house, sold my new car, and put our personal possessions in storage.   We left the USA with a duffle bag and a backpack each.   

We called our trip “Our Grand Tour of Europe.”  Our 14 month trip involved nine countries (England, Scotland, Belgium, France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Austria, and Switzerland), where we stayed in 20 rentals and 34 hotels in a mix of big cities, small villages, and the countryside.  We also did two long-distance hikes:  192 miles across England and 100 miles in the Swiss Alps.

Living in Provence

In the Austrian Alps

For the first time in my adult life, I didn’t have a job, but my life was full.  We explored, made new friends, shopped and cooked, studied French, hiked, hosted friends and family from home.  We even took care of the owners’ dog and cat.  I was one of the first people I knew to keep a blog.    

“Our Grand Tour” was an amazing life-changing experience, significantly enhanced by the people we met and the many friends we made along the way.

In August 2005 we returned to Knoxville and our old house, but it was impossible to return to our old lives.    Charley was approaching retirement, and after the freedom of a non-traditional lifestyle, I didn’t want to return to a demanding corporate job. Flexibility was more important to us than money.  We wanted to stay in Knoxville for Kelly’s schooling and our families, but we also wanted to continue to spend time in Europe.

Charley and I had an idea for a small part-time business that would potentially enable us to achieve all these objectives. That business was European Experiences. 

We’re often asked where the idea for European Experiences came from.  During the time we lived in the farmhouse in Provence, we hosted seven groups of family and friends.  It was like running a country B&B and acting as tour guides.  We really enjoyed planning our friends’ visits, introducing them to the area, helping them understand the local culture, choosing just the right places to eat.  That was the beginning of the idea. Charley and I began to talk about a special kind of small group tour that would help people get to know the real Provence, a week-long “experience” based in the Luberon.

The more we brainstormed ideas for The Luberon Experience, the more it became clear that this opportunity was an ideal match for us, bringing together our interests, experience, skills and dreams.  We could use our knowledge and interests in history, literature, art, architecture, music, food, wine, and culture.  We both had careers that involved working with people, and we could engage with people in a very positive way.  We’d be outdoors surrounded by spectacular scenery.  And we could use our business skills to build something we were truly passionate about.  Best of all, it was something we could do together, working as a team.

We hosted our first Luberon Experience groups in Provence in September 2006, based in our village of Bonnieux.  Our first two groups were small, including some trusting friends from Knoxville, one friend’s sister, a wonderful couple from California who knew us through the Slow Travel website, and an adventurous woman from Oregon who discovered us on the internet.  Several other friends who were traveling independently in Provence joined us for a few activities during those two weeks. 

Our first Luberon Experience group

Sometimes you’re just in the right place at the right time.  Our September 2006 trips took place just a few weeks before the Ridley Scott/Russell Crowe movie “A Good Year” was released.  The movie, based on a book by Peter Mayle, was filmed mostly in the Luberon, and the major filming location was a wine estate just outside Bonnieux.  While we were in Provence with our groups, we were contacted by a USA Today travel writer working on a feature story about the Luberon, Peter Mayle, and the movie.  She had found us on the internet. The writer Laura Bly and her husband ended up joining our second group for a full day.

We were mentioned in a sidebar to Laura’s article in USA Today, with a link to our brand-new website.  What great fortune to have that kind of visibility just a few months after we started our trips!  We had over 800 visits to our website the day the article appeared.  Our May and September 2007 trips filled quickly, and interest continued to grow and develop from that beginning.   

We’ve welcomed 20 groups to Provence in our first five years.  In 2009 we expanded to offer trips to other areas of Europe that we know well, and we’ve now hosted groups in the Salzkammergut of Austria, the Bavarian Alps of Germany, and the Cotswolds in England. Next year we’ll have two groups in the Chianti region of Tuscany, Italy. 

Our work with European Experiences has enabled us to connect with so many wonderful people. We now have friends all over the USA, and in Canada, Australia and New Zealand too. Most of the people in our “new” trips have traveled with us before, and we love being with them again.  Next year we even have five people coming back to Provence for a second Luberon Experience. 

With Kelly on the 20th Luberon Experience

Meanwhile, our dreams have taken our family’s lives in other new directions too.  We now spend about three months a year in Europe, and nine months at home in Knoxville. Charley is semi-retired, and enjoys doing volunteer work, writing, woodworking, and home improvement projects. Kelly is busy applying to colleges and getting ready for her more independent adventures. We’re proud of the young woman she’s become, and the impact her European experiences have had on her plans for her future.

A part-time teaching opportunity at the University of Tennessee led to another new career for me, one that complements our travel business.  My part-time role soon became full-time, a nine-month appointment which provides summers off and a lot of flexibility.  My teaching now focuses mostly on international business, and it’s fun to work with and mentor young people who are excited about international careers and experiences.  My new teaching career has opened up other international opportunities for me too, such as my two week trip to China earlier this year. 

I haven’t always moved confidently, but I’m definitely living a dream…  a life I once only imagined.

The other members of Slow Travel Tours have their own stories, each one an interesting personal journey.  We all share something very special:  we’ve shaped our lives to pursue our dreams and passions.

We lead small group tours because we want to share places we love with other people.  It’s so much more than a job or a business, a way to make money or get a free trip to Europe. Our trips are very personal; they aren’t subbed out or led by hired guides… our travelers are with us!   

We’re passionate about creating unique experiences.  We love sharing different, often simpler lifestyles and traditions.  And we celebrate slowing down to savor some of the world’s most beautiful places.

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Kathy and Charley Wood lead European Experiences, week-long “slow tours” in some of the most beautiful areas of Europe, including The Luberon Experience in Provence, France. Their 2011 trips will include three weeks in the Luberon and two weeks in the Chianti region of Tuscany, Italy.

Kathy and Charley have been traveling in Europe for almost 20 years and love sharing their special places in Europe with others travelers. Read more about Kathy and Charley here. They’re looking spending a special family Christmas in Bonnieux… and to next year’s groups in the Luberon and Chianti.

Just a few hundred yards down Maiden Creek from Pennsylvania’s historic Dreibelbis Station covered bridge, the Berks County home of Barbara and Matthew Daub sits tucked in at the foot of a tree-covered hill. Their home – an old log cabin, a striking modern addition, and a red barn – huddles around a small tributary of Maiden Creek where it noisily tumbles through a notch in the hills behind the house and joins the larger stream. Their home was a most appropriate setting for our Slow Travel Tours planning retreat the last weekend in October.

Slow Travel Tours is an informal affiliation of small-group tour operators who lead trips in Europe using the Slow Travel philosophy. Our group members first connected through the Slow Travel message board and began sharing ideas in early 2008. Spread across the USA and Europe with busy travel schedules, most of us had never met in person. Now on this autumn weekend in Pennsylvania Dutch country, ten of us were finally together. The two of us (European Experiences) were eager to meet Matt and Barbara Daub (Arts Sojourn), Anne and Kirk Woodyard (Music and Market Tours), and Valerie and Bryan Schneider (Panorama Italy). And after earlier encounters in Savannah and Asheville, we were excited to reunite with Bill and Kristi Steiner (Adventures in Italy). Our 16-year old daughter Kelly, also an enthusiastic European traveler, joined us for this weekend trip.

Still smiling after a long day!

Our group immediately felt a kinship with each other and the idyllic location. This peaceful, wooded setting at the juncture of hill and stream seemed to emit a confirmation of our travel philosophy: take it slow, stay put and relax, and dig down to discover the deeper layers of place and relationships.

It was fitting in another respect that our group held its first meeting in the Quaker state. Pennsylvania has been the site of a multitude of historical events: the constitutional convention, the first national capital, the birthplace of the oil and steel industries. The list is a long one.

Obviously, the first group gathering of Slow Travel Tours doesn’t equate to these seminal events, but for those of us able to participate, the warmth and hospitality of our hosts and the conviviality of a like-minded group with common interests and goals, will be fondly remembered. This “historical event” gave us a clearer sense of direction, a sharper definition of goals, and some great ideas about how to achieve them. Perhaps the real “event” though was the first meeting and nurturing of new friendships.

Our host Matt Daub

Barbara and Matt welcomed us into their home with its lovely setting and ensured we had the quintessential Pennsylvania Dutch experience. Everyone arrived Friday evening and enjoyed a get-acquainted dinner at the Daubs’ home. The informal evening set the tone for the weekend. Barbara prepared a wonderful buffet meal with an Italian theme, very appropriate for the many Italophiles in the group. Everyone brought wine from one of their favorite wine regions, and we offered a toast to the members of our group who were not able to be with us for the weekend.

On Saturday morning we reconvened in the Daubs’ great room for a full day of discussion facilitated by Bill Steiner. We shared our experiences leading small group tours, discussed ideas for enhancing our trips, and identified initiatives to pursue together. Bill expertly kept us on track and helped us arrive at consensus decisions. We adjourned for a lunch of sandwiches, and then continued working until just before dinner.

Valerie helps with dinner preparations

Bill’s job would have been considerably easier and we would have wrapped-up much earlier if we were average business meeting attendees with a set agenda and a let’s-get-finished-and-out-of-here attitude. But put ten people who love, eat, and breathe travel in the same room and time has a way of getting lost amidst a flurry of personal anecdotes, the sharing of special places and experiences, and discussions of ideas to make great small group trips even better.

Once again we found that the internet facilitates special friendships between people of similar interests who are separated by hundreds and sometimes thousands of miles. Travel is a great common denominator. We fell easily into a comfortable and warm camaraderie. What great fun it is to discover that you’ve sat at the same sidewalk café on the Cours Mirabeau in Aix-en-Provence and enjoyed a glass of wine on a warm summer afternoon, perhaps at the same table and perhaps just days or hours apart.

Getting acquainted on Friday evening

And you can almost smell the aroma of toasted flour in the air when you discuss your favorite boulangerie with someone who’s also walked through that same door and left with a baguette tucked under an arm. And comparing the merits of the multitude of gelato shops in Florence– the taste is on your tongue!

It’s so pleasant to reminisce with another who has shared the experience of strolling along the warm pavements of the Spanish Steps, watching the Roman evening come alive with people doing the things people have done in Rome for thousands of years.

Our attentions and dreams wandered mightily, but Bill pulled us back just before we all signed up for each others tours. With the work mostly done, it was time to enjoy the hearty Pennsylvania Dutch fare of the local area. Dinner at Deitsche Eck in the hamlet of Lenhartsville and breakfast at the Hamburg Diner in the small town of Hamburg brought back memories of America a half century ago.

Small towns, idyllic farms, family-owned restaurants, home style food, covered bridges, hex barns… we loved the ambiance and culture of this part of America. It was hard to believe we were just an hour-and-a-half drive from Philadelphia and approaching the end of 2009! We especially enjoyed the atmosphere at the Hamburg Diner, where several of us met for a copious, inexpensive breakfast before our Sunday morning departure. The old Wurlitzer juke box just inside the front door belted out classics from Elvis, the Beatles, and the Righteous Brothers. The packed café buzzed with polite conversation and a friendly banter that joined the music as the perfect accompaniment to the diner food. Our group semed to be the only non-locals.

Goodbyes outside the Hamburg Diner

Whether it was a scrapple-scrambled-eggs-hashed-browns-and-pancake induced inertia or simply a reluctance to call it finished, we slowly said our goodbyes on the quiet little sidewalks of Sunday-morning Hamburg. On that morning, our home in Knoxville seemed not just miles away in place but ages away in time. No one else said as much, but leaving, we sensed in each face that they had also experienced something very special and unique: a travelers time.

Every member of this group has a passion for sharing special places with other travelers, and for providing a high-quality travel experience. We all have a deep, personal connection with the places where we host our groups. Now we hold even brighter expectations for future possibilities. We came away from this weekend with fresh ideas and the support of friends. We have an excellent plan of how Slow Travel Tours will work together to spread the word about the benefits of small-group, slow tours and how we can let more people know about our trips. And we all look forward to future gatherings of the Slow Travel Tours group where we’ll again enjoy stimulating conversation, idea-sharing and brainstorming, and exceptional food and wine in the company of friends

As a final thought, maybe we should all sign up for everyone else’s tour! We’d definitely enjoy traveling with each of these people and experiencing the places they love so much. Hmmmm… an idea definitely worth considering!

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In the Dordogne, France (July 2009)

Kathy and Charley Wood lead The Luberon Experience, a week-long “slow tour” in the most beautiful area of Provence, France. Their popular trips are offered five weeks a year, in May and September. They also now lead two or three trips a year to other special places in Europe. Their other 2010 European Experiences tours will be based in the Salzkammergut area of Austria and the Cotswolds in England.

Kathy and Charley have been traveling in Europe for almost 20 years and love sharing their special places in Europe with others travelers. Read more about Kathy and Charley here.