Soraya DeMattia
If you are looking for a highly-personalized trip where everything is curated to your interests, I would like to put my expertise and connections to work for you. Decades of experience and attention to detail equip me to create a seamless journey, with everything from airport transfers, hotel and dinner reservations, and your detailed daily itinerary thoughtfully arranged.
My new clients are often surprised by the kind of doors I can open for them. For example, I can arrange a private guided visit to the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City outside of normal visiting hours or a gourmet picnic lunch at the Great Wall of China in a magical area not open to group tours and the general public.
When I arrange trips to Argentina, I often suggest a visit to a ranch where you can get a taste of gaucho (cowboy) life, and a wine tasting at one of the top vineyards in the Mendoza wine-growing area, where you can enjoy a wine tasting in the vineyards and lunch or dinner with the owner and their family. I can arrange similar winery visits in Tuscany and the wine regions of France.
Wherever you go, I can suggest off-the-beaten-track ways to take in the sights. In Hong Kong, The Peak is a must for its amazing panorama, but I know a quiet area where locals go where the views are equally spectacular and no one is around. And in Thailand, I can arrange a motorboat trip to phenomenal secluded beaches.
Machu Picchu is spectacular and definitely worth seeing. However, in addition to seeing the archaeological site, I like to arrange a private guide to take you to the Sacred Valley, where you can visit local villages, take a cooking class and learn how people in the valley have been farming and preparing meals for centuries.
For families, voluntourism often provides meaningful and memorable moments. My son’s number one experience was spending a day at an elephant sanctuary in Chiang Mai, Thailand. You spend the day feeding and bathing the elephants and walking through the forest with them and it is unlike anything you can imagine.
Africa also has many opportunities to support and interact with endangered wildlife as well as local people. So in addition to going on safari, you can actually bring supplies to a local school.
Every trip is a unique project for me and I love planning each journey as though it were my own. Since many clients send photos as they travel, I often feel as though I am right there with them, vicariously enjoying everything I have planned. The most joyful part of my job is when clients come back and tell me what an amazing time they had.
What special experiences can I plan for you?