I have planned vacations for countless numbers of travelers during my twenty plus years in the industry, but this one has been my favorite, so far.
A family was referred to me by a friend. We started working on a trip to France for the Summer. While in Paris, the family wanted to visit Normandy. Turns out that two of the young men traveling had a Grandfather who was involved in D-Day. They wanted to visit the beaches as well as the church, St Mere Eglise.
In further conversations I found out that their Grandfather was actually a paratrooper. He was the first in his battalion to jump during the D-Day invasion. With this information we set off to find a company that would enhance the experience in Normandy by arranging a skydive for the boys.
I think they were a little nervous when the airplane had to be started by spinning the prop, by hand. However, from the video I saw they had an amazing experience.
One of the jump guides had even surprised the boys by unfurling the American flag while he jumped with the oldest grandson.
These are the types of experiences that we love to plan, those that can’t be pulled out a tour book, but are customized completely to fit the expectations of you, the traveler.
Certainly this family would have had an outstanding and memorable day simply visiting the landing beaches, the museum and the church to find their Grandfather’s name in the logbook from June 6, 1944. However, by taking it a step further and actually doing a dive in that historic location they deepened their connection to a man whom they had heard stories about their entire lives, the man whom each were named after in some way.
I received this message from the family after they returned home: “This has been a really good time to be together. We ‘did’ about half of what we could have, but we spent a lot of time together. We talked nonstop all the way home, telling stories about the trip. It was fun to hear. You don’t always realize what they are absorbing. I kept a little journal of our plans versus what we did. We ended up spending more time absorbing the culture than ‘doing’ things.”
This is why I do what I do and am so passionate about making sure families actually experience the destinations they visit rather than simply check the boxes. When you are ready to experience the World and the destinations you visit click here and we can get started.
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