Trips by Simone

Antarctica, an overwater bungalow, the Galápagos, gorilla trekking, and a private alpine stay share one thing: the best versions are rarely last-minute.

Remote ships have limited cabins. Wildlife trips depend on specific dates and small groups. Private villas disappear quickly during the weeks everyone wants. Even a simple flight plan can become complicated when the destination has only a few workable connections.

Long-term planning is not about filling every hour a year ahead. It protects the hard-to-replace pieces first, then leaves room to shape the rest of the trip as dates get closer. I start with access, accommodations, and routing.

If any of these are on your list for 2027, the planning window is open right now. Message me.

Building a trip around food? The hard part is not finding one famous table. It is making the meals work with the itinerary.

A destination breakfast, lunch over the water, dinner beside the coast, and a Michelin reservation can each be worth planning around. They should not all compete for the same day. The best food trips leave room for appetite, travel time, and an unplanned meal that turns out to be a favorite.

I look at reservation windows, the distance from the hotel, lunch versus dinner, and which experience deserves the anchor position. A celebrated restaurant can shape the route, but it should never make the rest of the trip feel like a commute.

Eat your way somewhere unforgettable. Message me to start planning.

Planning a first trip to Vienna? My advice is almost unfair in its simplicity. Stay at the Sacher, because the location cannot be beat.

The State Opera is directly across the street. The Albertina is around the corner. The old city starts at the door. You can walk to nearly everything that made Vienna famous and be back in time for a nightcap at the Blaue Bar with the after-opera crowd.

The hotel holds up its end with richly layered interiors, an art collection worth a museum visit of its own, and the kind of formal Viennese welcome that makes the whole trip feel like an occasion.

Advisor tip: the original Sacher-Torte lives here. Don't stand in the café line with the tour groups; guests can have it served in the Blaue Bar or sent to the room.

Vienna, from the exact center of it. Reach out, and I'll plan the rest.

One of Greece's best-kept secrets isn't an island. It's the mainland.

Kinsterna is a centuries-old mansion estate in the southeastern Peloponnese, named for the ancient cistern at its heart, and it has become one of the coolest stays in Greece. Many suites come with private pools. The spa runs on old Greek bathing rituals, steam and all. You can ride through the vineyards, take a boat down the coast, or plant yourself at the infinity pool with a glass of the estate's own w**e, made a few hundred feet from your chair. And in season, guests are welcome to jump into the grape stomping, which I'm told is impossible to do with dignity and absolutely worth it.

Advisor tip: it's about a three-hour drive from Athens, which sounds like a commitment until you realize it's the reason there are no cruise crowds waiting on the other end.

Greece the way the mainland keeps it. Reach out to plan it.

The Orient Express is now a ship. Not just any ship: the largest sailing yacht ever built.

Corinthian began sailing this summer, and the numbers barely capture it. Three masts rising 328 feet. Just 54 suites across 722 feet of yacht. Five restaurants overseen by Michelin-starred chef Yannick Alléno, plus a 1930s-style speakeasy and a Parisian cabaret at sea.

The interiors reinterpret the golden age of ocean liners with contemporary French craftsmanship, and the itineraries are refreshingly flexible: voyages of one to four nights that combine without repeating a single port.

The Mediterranean season runs through October, then the yacht crosses to the Caribbean for winter. First seasons of ships like this become the ones people talk about for years.

Rail legend, reborn under sail. Message me for itineraries or to learn more.

Why settle for one island when you can explore an entire archipelago? Trade the drop-and-flop for island-hopping in the British Virgin Islands, where a private yacht unlocks secluded coves, turquoise waters, and unforgettable moments. 🌴⛵

Read more, then reach out to start planning your escape.

How to See the British Virgin Islands via Yacht Charter A Caribbean escape with The Moorings lets travelers trace their own routes between Virgin Gorda, Cooper Island, and Peter Island, trading the drop-and-flop for catamaran bliss.

The number one resort in Southeast Asia, according to Travel + Leisure, is ten villas on a Philippine surf island most travelers can't find on a map. Allow me to introduce you.

Nay Palad Hideaway is all-inclusive in a way that makes other all-inclusives look like they're holding back. Condé Nast Traveler just added it to its Gold List, and Michelin gave it a Key. Every massage on the spa menu, every island-hopping boat, every surf lesson near the famous Cloud 9 break is included before you even think to ask.

The setting matches the service. Ten villas between an ancient mangrove forest and a private white-sand bay, wrapped in sculptural woven architecture, with hanging nest pods in the palms and an infinity pool facing the Pacific.

Ten villas, one island. Reach out, and I'll get you one of them.

From groundbreaking fine dining to the flavors that define Peruvian cuisine, Lima is a destination worth traveling for. Explore this three-day, chef-approved dining guide, then reach out to create your own food-focused adventure. 🍴🌿

📷: Camila Novoa

The Best Lima Restaurants, According to Chef Pía León The award-winning chef and owner of Kjolle (and Central Restaurant Lima alum) shares her favorite spots for Peruvian nikkei cuisine, coffee, pastries, and more.

The conversation clients dread most is the one that helps me most: the budget talk.

Here’s why it matters. A clear number lets me make smart trade-offs on your behalf: where spending more genuinely changes the trip (the right room category, the private guide, the once-in-a-lifetime day) and where it quietly doesn’t.

Without it, I’m guessing. And a vague budget tends to produce a generic proposal, because I can’t tell whether to show you the very good option or the truly exceptional one.

There’s no judgment attached to any number. Every budget has a best possible trip inside it, and finding that trip is exactly what I do.

Tell me the number. I’ll show you what it can really do.

Michelin's highest rating for hotels is three Keys. Fewer than 150 places on Earth have it, and one of them is ten canvas tents in the Namib Desert.

Zannier Sonop is built directly onto granite boulders above 13,800 private acres of desert, styled like a 1920s expedition that never packed up: four-poster beds, leather trunks, clawfoot tubs facing one of the oldest landscapes on the planet. A guest once told me it felt like sleeping inside an old expedition novel, and I've never described it better myself.

Then dinner arrives, five courses, served by butlers in tuxedos, in the middle of the desert. Days bring sunrise rides and hot-air ballooning; nights bring an open-air cinema and telescopes under some of the darkest skies anywhere. Let’s start planning!