The Luxury Travel Newsletter You Didn't Know You Needed.
You’ve made it to my little corner of the internet - Hi!
Welcome to the first biweekly newsletter from me, Louisa Gehring, the self-proclaimed Relatable Travel Expert.
Relatable because…I’ve been told I am, time and again.
I am an East Coaster by birth, and a Midwesterner by serendipitous transplant. In between, I’ve lived everywhere from crusty New England to dusty California to the saccharine South. I’ve also held the roles of youngest child, Marine Corps spouse, Mom, leftie writer, right-handed athlete / scissor-user, and armchair psychologist to high-end clients in need of vacation salvation. Between these gigs and my moves, I’ve developed a knack for sharing my thoughts in an approachable way with anyone I come across - be it a Joshua Tree hippie or a Boston sports fan. For me, there is no better feeling than listening to and connecting with people of all personalities.
Travel Expert because… it’s been my life for the last decade.
After cutting my teeth at the Palm Springs Bureau of Tourism, I started the aptly named Gehring Travel luxury travel agency from the launchpad of Brownell Travel’s Mentoring Program.
The first few years of the business were filled with intricate travel jargon, taking on red-flag clients, and praying that all would go as planned for the dream clients I did catch. I learned how to pay business taxes, hire employees, and trust my value whenever I was questioned about my rates (attorneys are the worst offenders, btw).
At some point, amid late nights talking to Asia, early mornings emailing Europe, constant learning, and a nonstop state of anticipatory stress, I found myself with a stable of respectful, globetrotting clients who trusted my recommendations to bring their most important trips to life. In those moments when my favorite clients called me up to tell me how magical their vacation was, there was no better job in the world.
When I wasn’t at my desk, there were travels to the world’s finest hotels, prix-fixe dinners with wine tastings, nightmare client storytelling with industry colleagues (aka free therapy), and lots and lots of ooh-ing and aah-ing on Presidential Suite tours (suspiciously, these are almost always available during hotel inspections). Dare I say, I was good at my job, and though I worked without a day off for 10 years in the name of hustling, building my business, and pleasing others, I reached heights I had never imagined, and even had frilly industry awards to prove it.
Life was a beautiful, crazy, nonstop whirlwind. And then, COVID forever changed the world.
{With this sentence, I’m saving you from scrolling through a too-long paragraph about the very real emotional trauma that COVID brought to the entire travel industry.}
In late 2021 - month 19 of relaying travel entry requirements to clients who would eventually cancel their trips, to be exact - I realized that I was pretending to like the hamster wheel of the ‘new travel normal’ instead of actually liking it. That was a huge problem for me, because I can’t do something I don’t believe in. And just like that, I decided to pull back from full-time travel planning.
The luxury travel industry is like the Hotel California, though, and not just because of mirrors on the ceiling and champagne on ice. People can never really leave once they’re here - it’s just all so intricate, intoxicating, and fascinating. After all, I still love luxury travel. And I still love connecting with others in a relatable way…just not when I hold the pressure of creating happy clients and executing glamorous trips in an unpredictable world.
All that is to say: my brain is still bursting to share my thoughts on how to plan travel, where to go, and what’s new, in an approachable, non-snobby way. I still plan trips on a part-time basis for family, and I’m still traveling the world when I can. And for the purposes of this outlet, my focus is on sharing my knowledge and insights with you, my soon-to-be loyal readers.
OK, So What Can We Expect, Relatable Expert?
With this Newsletter and on the accompanying website / socials (Insta and perhaps TikTok…we’ll see about that one) I hope to give Luxury Travel a much-needed approachable voice.
By nature, it’s often an intimidating topic. It infiltrates steak dinners with NYC financiers, who declare that one didn’t even go to New Zealand if one didn’t stay at a “Robertson property” (one of several properties owned by the late hedge fund god, Julian Robertson). It oozes into late-night whispers hours over a chocolate soufflé at the Polo Bar, where Beverly Hills curators debate which hotel they prefer at Art Basel.
And yet - my most precious, well-traveled dream clients were down-to-earth, ‘normal’ people who had the means to see the world in the best way possible, and wanted my help bringing these dreams to life. They hailed from Vero Beach, Atlanta, Raleigh, Iowa, Little Rock, Shreveport, Chicago, Birmingham, little old Cincinnati, and beyond - in fact, very few of them were from a fast-paced culture that celebrates checking off countries, Amans, and hot restaurant openings off one’s list for the sake of bragging. These clients appreciated the insight of having a relatable advisor who could share relatable expert travel advice, and I loved giving it to them. Thus, The Relatable Travel Expert was born.
So With This Newsletter, I Thee Promise:
To cut through this clutter of post-pandemic travel noise and share how to find - and plan - true authentic luxury travel experiences. I will offer musings, tips, and perspectives grown from 10+ years of planning travel at the highest level.
To offer advice on how to work with a travel professional (and how to find a good one in the first place), and how to plan a trip for those times when you don’t really need or want professional help (yes - those exist!).
To Build a Community. I welcome any questions (when do we go? when to we plan? best hotel in Paris for luxury but not snooty vs luxury and snooty?). More on that in another post.
To provide unfiltered thoughts on the myriad of “Best Of” lists that pop up as clickbait on every travel website under the sun. And yes - I’ll provide my opinion on those timeless destinations and properties that are committed to a genuine client experience, earning a spot on my lifetime ‘Best of the Best’ list.
To humbly adjust, grow, and change as feels natural.
To provide a trustworthy space with honest, expert, approachable, and absolutely, positively luxurious advice.
Intrigued? If you haven’t already, please subscribe below (I’m keeping this Substack free for now, but please don’t confuse my gift to you with not knowing my worth!). You’ll get a ping from me every 2 weeks in your inbox, but no more. With any luck, you’ll find my musings a helpful resource in your travel journeys.
Also: I’m on insta, and would love to wave to you as you scroll past! Give a follow @therelatabletravelexpert.
That’s a wrap for now - Bon Voyage!