CARPE DIEM ADVENTURES

How I Work

Planning a trip should feel like the vacation started early — not like a second job. Here’s exactly what happens when you work with me, no black box, no fine print surprises.

We talk (free).

Fifteen minutes, zero pressure. You tell me what you’re dreaming about — and just as importantly, what you don’t want. (No judgment if your dream trip is “somewhere warm where nobody needs anything from me.”) After you book, I’ll send you my intake form — ten minutes of questions that make our call twice as useful.

I plan.

This is my favorite part. I dig into the options, compare the ships and resorts honestly, and build you a proposal with real pricing — not a puzzle for you to solve, not a sales pitch. Just “here’s what I’d book if it were my trip.” One recommendation plus one alternative, never a fourteen-option dump.

You go.

I handle the booking, the documents, the seating requests, the “what happens if our flight is delayed” — all of it. Before you leave, we do a pre-trip check-in so nothing’s forgotten. When you get home glowing, I’ll ask how it went (and gently ask who else you know needs a trip like that).

What It Costs

Let’s talk money plainly — no fine print, no surprises. Here’s exactly what I charge, and the reasoning behind every line.

No planning fee, ever. Here’s the part people don’t expect — when you book a cruise or an all-inclusive through me, you pay exactly what you’d pay booking it yourself. The cruise line or resort pays me a commission out of their end; it’s built into their pricing whether you use an agent or not. So booking without one doesn’t save you money — it just means you left the service on the table. My research, my price-drop watching, my “your flight got cancelled at 11pm” problem-solving — all of it costs you nothing extra. You just get me thrown in.

$200 design fee, credited back in full when you book. A two-week, four-city Europe itinerary can take me fifteen hours to research and build — comparing routes, checking which connections actually work, finding the hotels worth your money and skipping the ones that just photograph well. The design fee covers that work before I start. And it’s credited back the moment you book, so if we move forward together, it never really existed. If you take the plan and go elsewhere, I’ve been paid for my time. Either way, it’s fair — and I’ll never spring it on you. You’ll know about it before I open a single tab.

$100 per traveler, also credited back. Group trips are a different animal — wrangling eight-plus people’s dates, budgets, cabin preferences, and dietary needs, then keeping everyone in the loop without the group chat descending into chaos. The per-traveler fee covers that coordination, and like the design fee, it’s credited back in full when the group books. Everyone pays it, everyone gets it back — no awkward “who covered the planning” math among friends.

Before Our Call

Ten minutes of questions that make our consultation twice as useful.

Fill out my intake form

Ready When You Are!

Q: Cruises & Resort Packages

No planning fee, ever. Here's the part people don't expect — when you book a cruise or an all-inclusive through me, you pay exactly what you'd pay booking it yourself. The cruise line or resort pays me a commission out of their end; it's built into their pricing whether you use an agent or not. So booking without one doesn't save you money — it just means you left the service on the table. My research, my price-drop watching, my "your flight got cancelled at 11pm" problem-solving — all of it costs you nothing extra. You just get me thrown in.

Q: Custom Multi-Destination Trips

$200 design fee , credited back in full when you book. A two-week, four-city Europe itinerary can take me fifteen hours to research and build — comparing routes, checking which connections actually work, finding the hotels worth your money and skipping the ones that just photograph well. The design fee covers that work before I start. And it's credited back the moment you book, so if we move forward together, it never really existed. If you take the plan and go elsewhere, I've been paid for my time. Either way, it's fair — and I'll never spring it on you. You'll know about it before I open a single tab.

Q: Groups of 8+

$100 per traveler , also credited back. Group trips are a different animal — wrangling eight-plus people's dates, budgets, cabin preferences, and dietary needs, then keeping everyone in the loop without the group chat descending into chaos. The per-traveler fee covers that coordination, and like the design fee, it's credited back in full when the group books. Everyone pays it, everyone gets it back — no awkward "who covered the planning" math among friends.

BOOK MY FREE 15-MINUTE CONSULTATION

A grand cruise ship navigates the serene Geiranger Fjord in Norway, surrounded by majestic mountains.