The value of a personal guide

People ask me often how I plan my trips. I have gotten used to hearing "You do so many interesting things". All I know is I have always enjoyed planning our travels and with the internet it is a lot easier than it used to be.

I met a woman about 12 years ago through the internet who has become a good good friend. I was working in Nashville for Dr. Ming Wang at the time and a woman in the chatroom (where I met Graham) told me she was a travel agent. As it turned out, she was working very part time and turning the assignment over to Carol, who ran the travel agency in a small town outside of Sacramento, California. Carol helped me with Ming's travel each month, and I learned to trust her abilities. When my mom took the family to Alaska, Carol coordinated our air travel from Nashville, Washington DC, Newark and Hartford, CT to land in Anchorage within an hour of each other. She helped my daughter Lisa maneuver through a airline strike when Lisa had to report to her study abroad in Copenhagen and had a ticket on that airline. Carol was and remains a terrific resource. She retired a few years ago and moved to Dubrovnik, Croatia. This is the area where her parents emmigrated from and she has family there.

Dubrovnik is a marvelous old town on the Adriatic and a cruise destination in the summer. Carol was appalled to see the hoards of sheep, I mean people, walk up and down the Strada (Main Street), park themselves in a cafe, hike as fast as they could along the city walls, and then wander back to the ship. She knew that in the 4-6 hours most ships stay there, people could see so much more and experience what life is like. So she tried to offer a tour guide service. She has had few takers who are smart enough to recognize the value. If you plan on going to Dubrovnik, check out www.tours-in-croatia/Dubrovnik_tours.html

Personally, we experienced the benefit of hiring a personal guide almost 3 years ago when, on our honeymoon (with Dan, Lisa and Sam with us) Graham and I hired a local archeologist to take us on a 3-hour hike from the B&B near Mesa Verde. That woman showed us cliff dwellings and explained the life of the people who built them in ways we never would have gotten from the guidebook when we went to the National Park. A personal guide is well worth the money if you really want to understand and get a good feel for a special place.

So, when my sister Sue organized this whirlwind trip to Paris, and I started my trip research, it became apparent to me that we would end up doing the same old same old unless I hired a guide. I prefer to get off the beaten path. I want to see how people live their lives. And so, I started my search.

When I googled "Paris tours" I found the usual bus trips and the river boat trips and even located something a bit unusual, a bike tour. That intrigued me, but I rejected it because of the potential cold and wet weather as well as the realization that I would be so busy watching the pavement in front of me that I would not be looking around. I knew we needed to be on foot in order to best appreciate this city.

I finally googled "unusual Paris tours" and that is where I found Richard. Actually, the first content I read was another person's blog talking about the "unusual tour she had in Paris". A friend of hers had arranged for Richard Nahem and the way she described her time with him convinced me he was a contender. I linked to his blog and knew he probably was the one. I contacted him, we had a friendly round of emails, and as the months passed and I read more and more of his daily blog entries, I knew I had foudn someone who would show us the things and places that I wanted.

Richard is from New York City, so I knew he would understand us, our background, and our desire to escape that. He had visted Paris many many times over the years and finally moved there. He has built a network of laisions, from the car service to/from the airport, to the woman who has the cooking school, and knows just where to shop for absinthe and fois gras. He took us into hidden courtyards and to "the best place for pastries"....more than once. He is knowledgable and friendly and I recommend him whole heartedly.

Richard's blog, Eye Prefer Paris, is found at http://www.ipreferparis.com/

Read through his blog to get a wonderful explosure to a Paris most Americans never find, and subscribe for daily additions.

If you plan to go to Paris and spend any time at all, it is well worth it to hire Richard to show you a hidden treasure. He says people do what we did, ask for neighborhood tours, most of the time, but he has also organized shopping tours, food tours, cemetary tours, winery tours, and will plan for any specific theme people request, in Paris as well as in the countryside. When we return to Paris, we will contact Richard again!