Gabriella Ribeiro has been traveling the world since she was a little girl, and taking notes along the way. Those notes come in handy now with her Travel Concierge business, Explorateur Journeys, where she helps people plan their dream vacations to some of the most exotic destinations around the globe.
“I would keep track of my favorite table in a restaurant, the dish I liked, something I thought was particularly cool, a specific alleyway—whatever,” said Gabriella, of her many years of personal travel. "I don't travel like a normal person. I seek out the unknown, and people were always asking me for advice."
More than your ordinary travel agency, the travel concierge services that Explorateur Journeys provides combine consultations to help choose the aspects of your trip that satisfy everyone on the trip be they solo travelers, couples, or families. When trying to DIY your vacation from one website to the next starts to overwhelm you, that's when you need a travel concierge like Explorateur Journeys.
Their extensive partnerships around the world provide a once-stop-shop, negotiating all of the rates and packages together for you. "If you wanted to go visit Vietnam, we have a partner that coordinates every single thing on the ground for us—the ground transportation, the guiding, the immersive experiences. We bundle all that into one package for your trip.”
Your flawless experience is heavily orchestrated behind the scenes. Before your arrival, Gabriella and her team are calling every hotel, ensuring the details of your reservation are correct, making sure special events like birthdays or anniversaries are communicated to staff along the journey, all to create a personalized one-of-a-kind experience for you.
In 2015, Community Marketing & Insights released their annual LGBT Tourism and Hospitality report, indicating that 25% of LGBT travelers spent over 15 nights in hotels for leisure travel with 39% taking 15-21 days off from work. "I'm working with a gay couple right now planning their trip to Italy," said Gabriella. "I have to get to know my clients. I have to hear then, especially with honeymoon couples. They'll get on the phone together, and that's where you'll hear the arguments. Do they want to sit, or walk, or stay in the hotel room. If they are battling between two destinations, I'll propose a third."
The destination vacations that Gabriella plans are not your everyday getaways. Her favorite destination is Africa, where she travel al least twice a year. "It's thrilling on so many different levels. I also to a lot of volunteer work there. The stories behind the people that you meet; the smells, the tastes, the food, the music. The wildlife is overwhelming."
She avoids any place with just a beach, going on a guided tour and not getting out of the vehicle, traveling somewhere to say you've been, but not actually experiencing the destination. Her seasonal picks include Italy in the spring for hiking and climbing then gorging on pizza and pasta. Summer is Portugal–it's nostalgic for her since she grew up there. For winter, she picks a different European capital to spend New Years.
There's still plenty of time to plan for spring and summer vacations. Visit explorateurjourneys.com for some great ideas on how to plan your next adventure. From finding the top tagine in Tangiers, to the hippest haberdasher in Hong Kong, Explorateur Journeys will take you through the what/when/where/why and are the ideal accompaniment to any vacation.
