If You Want to Be a Tourist, Don't Book a Trip With Me
If you want to be a tourist, don't book a trip with me.
I'm not going to spend this post explaining the difference between a tourist and a traveler. That's been covered. There are a hundred blog posts out there with the same stock photo of a woman in a wide-brim hat staring at a map, ready to walk you through it. What I want to talk about is something nobody else is saying out loud.
When you book a trip with Maison d'Amies, you're telling me you trust me. I don't take that lightly and quite frankly, I think about it more than you'd guess.
“When you book a trip with me, you’re telling me you trust me. I don’t take that lightly.”
My Normandy 2026 group, we got this photo in one shot. Mostly because we were ready for lunch.
Here's What That Trust Actually Looks Like
The itinerary is high level, on purpose. I tell you the shape of the day, not the minute-by-minute. Travel can be messy and I'd rather adjust in real time than hand you a schedule that might change.
I catch what you never see. A shop closes for a holiday nobody told me about. A heatwave rolls in and the afternoon plan stops making sense. I fix it. Most of the time you never even know there was a problem, because you're not supposed to. You're supposed to be having lunch.
I feed you things outside your comfort zone. Not just a good restaurant reservation, but something you'd never have ordered on your own. Some of you will hate it (I see you brie noir…). Most of you will find a new favorite food you didn't know existed three days ago.
I curate what you'd never find, or build, yourself. That's the actual job. Anyone can hand you a list of restaurants with good reviews, but I’ll take you have lunch with my friends. You’ll meet their dog, they’ll fill your glass with champagne from their own fridge, and you’ll love every second of it.
I introduce you to things that stretch how you see the world. That one is harder, and it's the one I think about the most.
The Tarot workshop in Avignon, a look at a card game French families have played for generations, long before it became something else entirely.
What Happened in Avignon This Week
I had a moment this week that made all of this click into focus. I'm in Avignon right now with a group. Part of the week was a workshop with a local Tarot expert, and I knew going in that this one could land differently depending on who was in the room. So I worked closely with Chelsey ahead of time to build it carefully.
This wasn't a reading. Readings were optional and entirely separate. The workshop itself was a talk on the history of Tarot as a French card game, played by families for generations, its tangled history with the papacy and the French Revolution, and how it eventually got picked up by the occult. Tarot has deep roots in France. I wanted my guests to see that.
Two guests decided in the moment not to participate, because it went against their religion. That was exactly the right call for them to make, and exactly why I build in the option to step back from anything I plan. I never want a guest sitting through something that conflicts with what they believe.
What stuck with me afterward wasn't their choice. It was realizing I'd never actually said this part out loud before people book: that some of what I plan will sit outside your comfort zone, and I need you to know that going in, not find out live.
So that's what I'm saying now, plainly, before you book instead of after.
Who Should Actually Book This Trip
Come on a trip with me if you're open minded. Come if you're curious. Come if you're willing to try what I have planned, knowing you can always step back from the parts that don't sit right with you. Travel, when it's working, should make you uncomfortable sometimes. That's where the growth happens.
If the idea of a flexible, occasionally surprising itinerary sounds stressful instead of exciting, these aren’t the trips for you. And if you've ever opted out of something on one of my trips, that was never a strike against you. That's exactly what the option was there for.
The chocolate shop was closed for the afternoon. Julien, our guide, had a key so we went in anyway.
If this is what you're looking for, welcome. Explore my 2027 lineup below, and know that I can't wait to meet you.
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the difference between a Maison d'Amies retreat and a typical guided tour? A guided tour hands you a fixed schedule and moves you through it. I build the shape of the trip, then adjust it in real time, so you get the best version of the day even when something behind the scenes changes.
Do I have to participate in every planned activity? No. Every activity has room to opt out. I want guests curious and open, not cornered.
Who is Maison d'Amies not a good fit for? If you want a fixed itinerary with no surprises, or you're not open to trying something outside your comfort zone, this isn't your trip.
