An Amazing Culinary Adventure with Delectable Destinations on the Amalfi Coast: A Client’s Perspective
This blog excerpt was written by KMTcommunications on behalf of Carol Ketelson and Delectable Destinations:
Traveling—who doesn’t love everything that one word has to offer? To walk out your front door and leave the real world behind in order to explore a new adventure, it’s something that everyone wishes they could do more often. But how does a busy person with a 9-5 job, zero time to kill, and limited planning resources take the time that is needed to plan a customized culinary travel adventure of a lifetime?
As a freelance copywriter in Dallas, Texas, I decided to write my next piece on this very topic. Highlighting some of the pro’s of hiring a full service international travel planner and intimate vacation guide to help dot the I’s and cross the T’s so that every single detail is regarded. Hence, I had a candid conversation with Peggy Thompson, a client of Delectable Destinations to get a better perspective.
Can you tell me a little about your travel plans?
We went to the Amalfi Coast in southern Italy in May of 2012. We stayed in the town of Ravello, a cozy, quaint coastal Italian village perked high on the side of a mountain. We stayed at a wonderful villa and went with our best friends, as well as another couple who were from Montreal. Carol, of course, was our guide. There was no special occasion involved – just a wonderful treat.
Have you ever been to this destination before?
This was our first time to the southern part of Italy. We’ve been to Italy before and loved it, and we have always wanted to experience the Amalfi Coast, having read about its beauty, interesting places, great food and wine.
Planning a vacation like this takes months. How did Delectable Destinations come into the picture?
We had not done any planning for this trip. In fact, we really hadn’t discussed going to Italy this year. But when our friends approached us to go and told us that every single detail would be planned on our behalf, it was too hard to turn down. They met Carol and her husband several years ago on a vacation where they were in the same place at the same time. Carol explained to them the type of travel planning she does and that she would soon be planning a trip to the Amalfi Coast. When she had her May trip all planned, she called them, they called us, and the next think we knew, we had a vacation scheduled on the calendar!
How was Delectable Destinations different from your average travel agent?
First of all, once we decided we were in, it was very exhilarating to know we really didn’t have to do any planning of our own. Carol made everything so easy. She had answers for all of our questions, reminded us about little details such as what to bring, weather, etc. All of this knowledge and pre-planning made the trip a pure stress-free pleasure because we simply avoided the planning task that must be done ahead of time. Carol is not your everyday “travel agent”. She makes the trip warm, fun, just simply fabulous. She does all the work and we just go and have fun. Her true goal is to make sure everyone has a “wow” experience the moment they arrive and she wants them to have the best experience possible.
On your vacation, what were your favorite experiences?
There are so many I cannot even begin to express. We loved the trip to the winery, and thoroughly enjoyed the mozzarella cheese making, the olive groves, the cooking school, the villa where we stayed, the town of Ravello – the entire trip was hands down amazing. I truly believe we could not have planned a trip like this ourselves without knowing exactly where to go and what to do. It would take multiple trips to this region, or months of planning and extensive research to get it just right.
Did you have any fears or worries prior to going? Were these overcome during the trip?
Not that it was a big fear, but we’d never gone on vacation on a tour before – we’ve always done our own planning and “winged” it. We didn’t know exactly what this would be like to have everything planned out for us. But Carol made this totally wonderful and put all our qualms to rest before the trip even started. We realized the great care she took to make everything and every experience wonderful for us. Every little detail was covered. And there were so many small details, it made the difference.
For those interested in doing a culinary trip to Italy, and are engulfed with research, questions, uncertainties, etc., what would your advice be to them when thinking about hiring someone like Delectable Destinations to lead the journey?
We would tell them that Carol does her research and only wants to make this kind of trip the best it can be for her clients. I use the word “clients,” however you realize very quickly that you are her friends. She is warm, professional, and gracious and you always feel that she has your best interest in mind with every part of the trip. She constantly asked for our feedback about each part of the trip so she can make adjustments if something needs to be improved upon for her next tour. As the four of us from Greenville were extremely busy in the months prior to this trip, knowing that Carol was taking all the tedious planning work out of it for us made it so much more enjoyable. We could just sit back and relax and look forward to a marvelous vacation. That’s exactly how it was – MARVELOUS!
Anything else you can say about anything from your vacation would be great.
This is such a beautiful, special part of the world. We feel so fortunate to have experienced it and know that we had the pleasure of experiencing it with someone who knows and loves the region and wanted us to fall in love with it, too. We did! We have talked with many people since returning home about our trip and about Carol and her company. We cannot recommend her highly enough. The photo book and video that we have received from our trip are wonderful – we have looked at them so many times and just smile all the way through them – they bring us such joy to remember the wonderful time we spent on the Amalfi Coast.
Carol Ketelson is the owner and operator of Delectable Destinations LLC. Dedicated to planning, co-ordinating and curating customized group tours to hand-picked destinations. As an experienced travel planner, Carol’s customized itineraries, specialized tours and off-the-beaten-path experiences create memorable journeys for her small groups of singles, couples, divorced, widowed and solo travelers seeking exceptional trips into the culture and cuisine of destinations around the world. Spring and Fall bookings invite travelers to taste delectable local cuisine, culturally rich traditions and mesmerizing sights. For over 10 years, Carol’s tours have captured the true essence of Tuscany, the Amalfi Coast, Puglia, Spain, Ireland and India.
About the author: Kristy M. Theis is a freelance copywriter, SEO content marketing specialist, and owner of KMTcommunications, a full-service copywriting company located in Dallas, Texas. To learn more about her services, visit www.kmtcommunications.com.
