This is the part where the typical guide or travel advisor tells the average tourist how much he or she loves Paris and promises to show you why. But I am not your typical guide and advisor, and my clients are not average tourists.
What distinguishes my clients…
is their curiosity, their sense of discovery, and their willingness to enjoy tastes and experiences both on and off the must-see list. They’re not looking for my Paris dreams. They want guidance in living their own. They are friendly, open-minded people who appreciate the richness of life and of the travel experiences.
What distinguishes me…
is that I’m a good-natured French-American specialist on life in Paris and travel in France and a much-published travel writer, with unparalleled experience in all aspects of travel in France. I am the go-to guy for individuals and travel professionals seeking highly personalized tours and advice and tailor-made events in Paris and throughout France. In addition to my direct clientele I work as an independent contractor for select travel agencies and can assist through them in booking fine hotels with agency advantages.
My route to expertise and experience
I grew up in the suburbs of Trenton, New Jersey. I received a B.A. from Emory University in Atlanta, Ga. In my 20s I worked in a state institution for the mentally handicapped young adults, traveled in Europe, worked in a bar and in restaurants, received an M.F.A. from Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, N.Y., and worked as a journalist for weekly newspapers in suburban New York.
I then settled in Paris, where I pursued my writing. My career as a France travel expert begin in my early thirties when I signed my first contract to write a guidebook to France. Fielding’s France, it was called, and its third edition (1995) received FrancePress’s Prix d’Excellence. Other guidebooks, hundreds of articles about France, audio tours to essential Paris walks, travel videos and more followed. I am dual citizen of France and the United States.
Travel writing and journalism
Over the past 25 years I’ve published five guidebooks, including Paris Revisited: The Guide for the Return Traveler, and hundreds of travel articles, along with essays, short stories, vignettes, videos and op-ed pieces concerning travel, culture and cross-culture.
I’m the director of the travel and culture magazine France Revisited, www.francerevisited.com. You’re unlikely to meet an American who has visited and written about France from a wider variety of approaches than I have.
Check out France Revisited™ to see the scope of my travel writing as well as to obtain information about a wide variety of topics, approaches and destinations in France. You’ll see that my writing work leads me to meet chefs, winegrowers, artisans, elected officials, historians, curators, specialized tour guides, shop owners and many others throughout the year. You can further get to know me before touring with me by visiting the France Revisited Youtube channel.
Travel writing and touring go hand in hand in the audio walking tours that I’ve created for essential Paris strolls, published on the VoiceMap app : The Left Bank’s Most Elegant Paris: Exploring the Luxembourg Garden, The Tuileries Garden: The Royal Walk from the Louvre to the Champs-Elysées and The Champs-Elysées:Place de la Concorde to the Arc de Triomphe.
Tours, Advice & More
Over the years, I discovered the pleasure of personally and directly sharing my knowledge and my contacts with visitors. Designing insightful tours and experiences for first-time or return visitors to Paris or to France and creating unique events and encounters for small groups has become the perfect complement to my travel writing activities.
Just as my clients are selective about whom they choose to hire as an advisor or guide, I’m also selective in preferring to work with curious clients with an appreciation for the richness of life and of the travel experience. Through this mutual selection, I’ve had the opportunity to guide and advise a U.S. Senator, a best-selling novelist, the director of a restaurant chain, men and women with success on Wall Street or on Main Street, an art journalist, a sculptor, numerous Texans and Georgians, doctors from Pennsylvania and lawyers from New Jersey (and vice versa), foodies from California, bon-vivants from Maryland and Kansas, engineers from West Virginia, teachers from New York, Massachusetts and Ohio (and sometimes their students), octogenarian lovebirds from Florida, grandparents with grandchildren, families of all shape and form, honeymooners and anniversary celebrators, war veterans, wine-lovers galore, and many other curious travelers.
This selective clientele comes from throughout the United States, and well beyond. I’ve worked with travelers and travel professionals from Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Israel, Holland, Sweden, South Africa and Australia.
Much of my highly personalized touring, tastings, workshops and activities related to organization, itineraries and consulting are conducted under the France Revisited® brand.
Charitable work
Though I personally conduct tours no more than 75 days per year due to my other activities, I’ve had the honor of assisting charitable organizations in the U.S. by enabling them to offer added-value tours in Paris and the regions of France for charity auctions and for exclusive donor trips relative to cancer, autism, education and the arts.
Lectures and appearances
I’ve lectured extensively in the United States, using stories and insights from my travel, touring and expatriate experiences to reveal how our most rewarding travel experiences are ones in which we find a personal connection with our route or destination.
I’ve lectured about travel beyond the clichés in Paris, travel writing, war touring in France (WWI and WWII), the history of the wines of Burgundy and Champagne, culinary explorations, biking in France and other subjects.
I’ve been interviewed on NBC and MSNBC, on radio programs and in the press.
Your man in Paris
But forget all that. You can simply think of me as your man in Paris, the guy with the know-how, experience and good cheer to help atypical travelers such as yourself enjoy an extraordinary trip to France.
