Susan Desmarais

I recently booked a three-week itinerary in France for a family of 15, including a five-year-old and his grandparents. They were attending a wedding and landed at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, then went from there to Normandy, the Loire Valley and finally Grenoble. I worked with a trusted private concierge service, who provided a guide and a private driver for one half of the group. The other half of the group rented a car because they wanted the flexibility to go out at night.

Normandy was a site of special interest to the grandfather, a World War II veteran who wanted to see the historical sites. I booked them at the Château La Chenevière and they took all of their guided tours there, then went out to see the commune of Mont-Saint-Michel. After leaving Normandy, they went to the Loire Valley, where they stayed for three nights, then moved on to Tortinière, where they enjoyed wine tasting tours and visited the chateau. Five nights in Paris came next, and I booked my clients at the beautiful five-star Esprit Saint Germain. After the wedding, they flew home from Nice.

This itinerary had many moving parts and was simply not something just anyone would be able to book themselves on the Internet. As an experienced travel advisor, my job is to keep on top of the details and make sure everything goes according to plan so that my clients can do their job, which is to sit back and enjoy the journey.