Patron of the Month – The Taucker Travel Blog

As we celebrate 100 years of enriching travel, we want to take this opportunity to thank our guests who have made it all possible with their loyalty and kind referrals to friends and family. Your stories continue to inspire us to raise the bar in everything we do, and reflect so much of the shared joys and friendships we are blessed to experience with you on our travels together. In recognition of our gratitude, we are turning the spotlight on our patrons, showcasing your journeys with us over the years.

August: Dr. Brad Lindsey

“Where in the world is he going next?”

I had the pleasure of chatting with Dr. Brad Lindsey as he was packing for his Tauck trip to Switzerland: Europe’s Crown Jewel, his 45th Tauck trip to date, with three more in the hopper for next year. A noted neurologist who was first bitten by the travel bug during a month-long rotation in Edinburgh, Scotland, when he was a medical student, he has since visited all 50 states, all 50 state capitals, 41 European countries and all seven continents. And he’s not done yet.

For Brad, travel is more than just seeing a destination. It’s about the experiences he has in the places he explores – visiting the Sistine Chapel and viewing Michelangelo’s ceiling fresco, after hours, with just 15 fellow travelers; meeting a Prince and Princess in Belgrade; an intimate concert in a pianist’s home in Florence, driving a Morgan sports car and seeing Katherine Parr’s tomb on his most recent trip to England & the West Country, courtesy of Tauck, reveling in discoveries that capture his imagination, and ultimately inspire more travel.

“I booked my first Tauck tour in 2009 on the recommendation of my travel agent. Back then I was in the process of traveling to all 50 states,” he told me. “I booked Tauck’s Kentucky Derby event, not because of the race, but because I hadn’t been to Kentucky yet.  Though I loved the Derby!”

It was the same for his first trip to Michigan with Tauck, a trip he enjoyed so much that he brought his mother and sister back on a repeat trip so they could experience Michigan too. More trips followed, with Brad booking 4 or 5 trips a year, some as a solo traveler, some with his family and friends, and others with travelers he met on his Tauck trips.

“I love meeting people of all ages, and it’s been interesting seeing the variation of people on the different tours. When I did the Galápagos, for example, it was definitely a younger crowd for the most part. There were other doctors besides myself on the trip with their girlfriends and such. I met Janice, a police officer from California, who became my hiking buddy, and her buddy, Maureen, was my swimming and snorkeling buddy. Janice and I became so close that we traveled on Tauck’s Jewish Heritage tour to Warsaw, Budapest, Vienna & Prague. That was such a powerful, very educational tour. Now, we did opt out of a walking tour because I wanted to see Da Vinci’s Lady with the Ermine, which was hanging at Wawel Castle. One of the local guides who had access took us there on a private excursion, just for us,” he shared.

“I love the special experiences and extra touches Tauck includes. I learn so much from the amazing Tauck Directors and guides whose insights are always very informative,” he said, “But when there is something I really want to do that is not on the tour, I enjoy venturing out on my own to experience it, such as tracking down the paintings of artist Frederick Sandys.”

“When Tauck doesn’t travel to a place I want to go, I try to do it on my own, Tauck style. I have become bolder at it because of Tauck. Traveling with them, I realized that more things were possible, and I have the opportunity to do them because of Tauck. Here’s a good example from my recent tour to England and the West Country. I had always wanted to see Shakespeare. Well, here I was in London with a pre night stay, thanks to Tauck. So I decided to go the Globe and see a Shakespeare performance.”

“Tauck has inspired me to experience things I had always wanted to and turn it into a trip. I pick nice hotels in cities I want to visit, and then sort of tailor the trip between those hotels. Or I craft a trip around an inspiration I have, like the Sandys paintings I went to see in person, or a Hard Rock property I haven’t been to, another ‘collection’ of mine.

He booked a Tauck cruise to Iceland because the Amazing Race was filmed there, enjoying his visit to the Blue Lagoon which was featured on the show.

“It was my first time overseas since Edinburgh,” he explained, “and I was fascinated by it. It just opened me up. It made me realize that I can go anywhere. I went with Tauck to New Zealand for my birthday when I was 40 and that was huge. I came to Wellington a couple of days early and did my own Lord of the Rings tour.”

He joined us on The Art of Living, Barcelona to Paris, finding it “so expansive. We covered a lot of ground and history. I loved that tour,” he told me. The local guides he met on Tauck trips to Greece and Italy “were full of wonderful information, even giving us personal recommendations on places the locals visit.” He had a blast with his best friend on The Best of Ireland, citing the gregarious friendly people they met. “We arrived for our tour early so we could go to the National Leprechaun Museum and the Hard Rock,” he shared, adding that “Ireland is one of the most courteous countries I’ve ever visited.” He had the “best food ever” in Morocco, a birthday trip he booked because of the James Bond movie, The Living Daylights, that was filmed there. Essence of Japan and his trip to Norway were “fabulous.” He loved Antarctica and hopes Tauck offers another Arctic trip to Svalbard in the future. “I would love to see the musk ox. I would love to just be in the Arctic after being in Antarctica; that would be a huge bucket list trip. I still have all my gear from the Antarctica trip so I am ready to go!”

He took his mother on Hidden Gems of New England to see the foliage, on our Belgium & Holland river cruise to enjoy the tulips, and on England, Scotland and Wales to show her his old haunts in Edinburgh when he was doing his rotation there. He cruised the Danube on Budapest to the Black Sea to indulge his fascination with Dracula, delighted in discovering the mythological and historical delights of Scandinavia, and is taking his friend Missy on Tuscany & Umbria, a tour she chose as a gift from him.

He met two ladies from California on Tauck’s former Culturious Tuscany and Cinque Terre tour who share his love of travel. They enjoyed it so much that they traveled together on Provence and celebrated their January birthdays on our Panama Canal & Costa Rica cruise. “That was an awesome, small ship cruise,” Brad recalled.

Where in the world is he going next?

“I booked Tauck Bridges Mystical Peru because it is a more active way to explore Peru. I am going on A Week In… Piedmont, where I am looking forward to seeing Turin with Tauck. I plan to arrive in Italy early so I can see the living chess game in Marostica, near Venice, where they play a living chess match every two years. It is based on a legend that dates back to the 15th century,” he said, having learned about it from a Tauck brochure listing a Culturious tour to Venice and Verona years ago.

“I keep all my old Tauck brochures and reminisce about all the awesome tours I took over the years. I use them to get new ideas about more places to go,” he explained, adding that our brochures for him are like “looking through a Christmas catalog. I read them all.”

“I want to do Singapore and Bali, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand. The only Africa I’ve done is Morocco, but I have signed up for the Zambia tour, because I did a book report many, many moons ago about Dr. Livingstone. I grew up with mutual Omaha’s Wild Kingdom so I want to go on safari.” An avid photographer, he wants to zoom in and take pictures of leopards, lions and Cape buffalos. Egypt is on the list for Africa too, as are Namibia and the Botswana.”

“Romantic Germany is on my radar for a future Oberammergau performance, Brittany and the Loire Valley are slated for their historic sights, and I have to schedule in Northern India & Nepal for the adventure of it,” he added. “I do hope Tauck opens up more Italy tours in new regions as well, because Italy, to me, is the addiction. I have taken 12 or 13 tours there and want to do more.”

As we ended our conversation, I wished him a safe trip to Switzerland, with many happy new experiences.

“I have planned one of my little side excursions when I arrive there,” he told me. “I’m going to deviate from Lugano on our free day and drive over to Milan to eat at Hard Rock because they have one now.”

So, where in the world is Dr. Brad Lindsey? The real question may be: where isn’t he headed?

July: Shirley Dorn

“The journey never really ends”

One of our oldest Tauck guests, Shirley Dorn, will be celebrating her 102^nd birthday this August, as we continue toasting the centennial anniversary of our first Tauck trips in New England and Canada back in 1925. Like us, Shirley has spent a lifetime exploring the world, pursuing a love of travel that never gets old. I had the pleasure of speaking with her recently, taking special delight in the memories she shared about her trips around the world, including her 8+ Tauck adventures that remain as fresh and fun as they were when she experienced them, testimony to their enduring magic. “Those were the happiest years of my life,” she told me.

As we talked, it became more and more apparent that those memories have truly kept her young at heart. She began our conversation by stating that she received two Tauck brochures recently, and kindly asked that she be removed from our mailing list. The reason for her surprising request brought tears to my eyes.

“I can’t tell you how excited I am just thinking about traveling, but when I got your gorgeous, beautiful catalog, I actually would cry. It depresses me that I can’t do this anymore. And I try to talk to myself and say, be so happy for what you did do. And I am, I’m very grateful to have traveled the world. I only wish I were younger so I could travel forever.”

Having been to all seven continents, she was a treasure trove of stories, happily shared and eternally cherished.

“I’ve been on about eight or nine Tauck trips. I think the first trip I took was about 25 or 26 years ago. I went alone. In fact, I’ve always traveled alone. My first trip with Tauck was to the Canadian Rockies. I flew to Seattle, and from there, the tour started in Vancouver, and it was wonderful. And then, I think about two years after that, or one year, I began taking the river boat cruises, and I thoroughly enjoyed them. My first riverboat cruise was on the Danube, and I believe the last one was Prague.”

She can’t travel on oceans she told me because of seasickness and bouts of vertigo. But she always found river cruising “delightful,” noting that she could see land from both sides of the boat, and didn’t feel any motion. She preferred booking cabins on the lower deck, finding them more affordable and always enjoyable.

“I booked my trips about a year in advance to make sure I got my desired accommodations” she added.

“My last trip was your 28 day Grand European riverboat cruise that took me across the continent. Now, many of those cities I had already been in, but I wanted to take a longer trip, and that was what I did. That was when I was 90.”

What did she like most about traveling with Tauck, I asked.

“I enjoy the personal attention. I felt very comfortable being by myself and I’ve taken other cruises and I made wonderful friendships. I never felt uncomfortable being a lone traveler. Everyone was very friendly to me, and I have to tell you that it got to the point the last cruise I took, I think, was from Prague, and we were given the option of having dinner the last night in a local restaurant or on the boat or something. I know there was a choice too. And believe it or not, I had people asking for me.”

As a solo traveler, she told me she was not one “to cling to one couple and have them think, Oh, here she is again. No, I know enough not to make a pest to myself.” We both shared a laugh about that wise piece of advice, as she reminisced about that last cruise.

She lost her camera on that trip – and with it all the photographs she had taken along the way – she recalled. Relieved to have purchased cruise protection, she filed a claim to cover her loss, remarking that she couldn’t get over how fast the insurance company reimbursed her.

“There was a couple from Atlanta, Georgia, traveling on the ship,” she said, adding that she really hadn’t had any prior contact with them. “He was a retired doctor, and word got around that my camera was stolen. He came over to me before the trip ended and took down my name and address. After I returned home, he sent me a video of the cruise, a movie really, that looked so professional I couldn’t get over it. It started out with a marquee and the cast, and I wasn’t in one picture, but it was beautiful. I also got one from a couple on one of my Tauck trips from Alaska. I didn’t have a camera so they sent me copies of their photos. The woman was native to Wisconsin, and she would come back to visit once or twice a year. She would fly to Chicago and drive to Wisconsin, and she always stopped to see me.”

The people Shirley met on her trips with us hold a special place in her memories.

“I also met people from New Zealand. I just love that. I get excited even thinking about it. To me the pleasure, aside from the sightseeing and the history, is the people who are from all over the world.”

“I’m happy, thrilled that I did what I did when I did and I’m a wonderful spokesman for Tauck. Oh, I tell everyone, if you’re going to take a trip, do it with Tauck.”

I shared how referrals like hers were an important part of the history and growth of our 100-year-old company, and were testimony to the way we feel about valued guests like her.    

“Coincidentally, I was on a cruise when it was your 75th anniversary – and I still have the candy dish you gifted to us displayed in my living room,” she said. “I always book a cruise during my birthday, because I liked to travel in September or the end of August. Tauck gave me a beautiful scarf for my birthday, a gift I still cherish today. No matter when I traveled with your company, I was always treated lovely, with ‘an anything you want’ attitude.

“I never met anyone on your ships who wasn’t wonderful. Anything you needed was there for you. I should be on the payroll as marketing, because I’m always touting Tauck. But please… tell your company not to send me catalogs anymore.” It was a small request—but it carried the weight of something much larger. I promised her I would, my heart catching in the quiet that followed. Because that moment, more than anything, captured what makes travel unforgettable: not just the places we go, but how deeply they stay with us. Long after the luggage is unpacked and the brochures stop arriving, the memories remain—vivid, cherished, and undimmed by time. They grow more luminous with each retelling, proof that the journey never really ends.

June: Suzanna Parker

“For the artist’s eye, travel is a boundless muse”

Whether it’s a work of art or a photograph, a picture truly does speak a thousand words. The beauty of a picture lies in its ability to convey emotion, transcend time and connect generations. It’s how it makes you feel, how it captures a memory you don’t want to forget and how sharing it makes the experience timeless.

Tauck guest Suzanna Parker, an art student at the University of Michigan, and her father, a professional photographer, not only visually captured images of their three-generation trip to Northern Spain in May, they also brought the journey to life through their creative lenses – Suzanna with watercolor sketches of village plazas, paradors and daily life, and her father with striking photographs that framed the soul of each stop. Together, their art became a shared family album unlike any other—one that tells the story of connection, culture, and discovery across generations.

Her dad’s photos inspired Suzanna’s love of art, she told me, adding that they often trade off their hobbies.

“He’ll teach me something, and then I’ll teach him something. When I saw the pictures he was taking on our trip, I told him that his photography was inspiring me and I decided that I needed to get a sketchbook. We were in Barcelona, right at the beginning of the trip. I found an art store, bought a sketchbook, and some watercolors, and just started painting.”

“When we were walking around the different places we visited, he would take a picture of something that looked nice. So I’d take a photo too, and then paint it. It was really fun to look at his photographs and compare our work.”

For the artist’s eye, travel is a boundless muse, enticing with changing light, vivid local color, and captivating moments that speak volumes about daily life, past and present. Suzanna remarked how beautiful the sights they saw were and how all of the old buildings caught her attention.

“I’m really inspired by the architecture and the history. It’s so old and feels really different than what I am used to seeing at home. I wanted to document that.”

Painting as she traveled from place to place ­­– she created at least one painting a day – was a fun, stress-free way to keep her art practice going, she said, explaining that she really enjoyed creating art for herself, at her own pace, instead of rushing through a class assignment.

The architecture in Barcelona is a stunning blend of history and imagination, ranging from Gothic to Modernism. One the city’s most famous native sons, architect Antoni Gaudi’s work struck a chord with this aspiring artist, who “loves Art Nouveau and curvy, whimsical buildings.”

Having been to Barcelona myself and similarly wowed by the medieval artistry in Barri Gotic and Gaudi’s fantastical spaces, I had to ask which of the city’s architectural sights captured her attention the most.

“La Sagrada Familia was the most amazing cathedral I have ever seen. I started to paint it but it was so detailed that I didn’t get to finish it,” she shared.

That’s so funny, I thought, because Gaudi didn’t finish his work either, now going on 140 years since he started it 1882. Cathedrals in Europe are nothing if not masterpieces of opulence and design, where soaring spires, gilded altars, and intricate stonework converge to elevate the spirit and astonish the eye and many took centuries to complete. Luckily, that’s not the case for traveling artists like Suzanna, who was able to finish her art on the fly.

After they left Barcelona, they headed to the small town of Zaragosa, where Suzanna continued her watercolor renditions. Her painting of the famous pillared cathedral, one of two in the town, serves as a pictorial reminder of the charming square where it is located. So too do the street scenes she painted in the Basque country of San Sebastian and the French village of St. Jean du Luc, the rural farm locals she loved in Cangas de Onis, and the ancient paradors and the modern hotel she stayed in, including the Parador de Leon and Marques de Riscal, capturing the architecture and ambiance in pastel colors that reflected the serenity of their settings.

While every day brought her a new inspiration, it was her time with her grandfather in the historic city of Santiago de Compostela that manifested multiple pieces of art – including a painted snapshot of local performers in the square and the little shell that many visiting pilgrims have on their backpacks – along with a lifetime of precious memories.

Her grandfather, an 8-time Tauck guest, took Suzanna and her family on their trip to Spain, one of three multigenerational Tauck adventures they shared together.

“My grandpa was so funny when we arrived in Santiago de Compostela. He was determined to walk the three-mile pilgrimage route along the Camino de Santiago. So I did it with him at a pretty slow pace, but we made it,” she said, with palpable pride and admiration for her beloved grandfather in her voice.

Curious about her favorite overall trip experience, I wondered if it was traveling with her family she enjoyed the most, immersing in the Spanish culture through the activities she experienced or actually following her passion by documenting her journey in works of art.  

Not surprisingly, she responded from her heart.

“It’s so hard to choose; all of it was so incredible. I loved learning about the history of Spain, it was just so cool and our Tauck Director Mitchell had so many fun facts about it. He really did his research about his tour and I loved hearing about his own experiences being there,” she told me, enthusiastically adding that he commissioned her to do a painting of Santiago de Camino for him.

“But I think that the quality time I spent with my family, especially with my grandpa, was the best part of the trip. He lives in Kansas, so we don’t get to see him as often as I wish. It was really special to spend two weeks traveling with him. I am so fortunate to be able to travel when I’m young. That’s something that my grandpa was really adamant about. He told me that he’s just really happy that he could give me this experience as a young person because he believes that being able to travel and learn things are among the most valuable experiences you can have.”

As is sharing them with the people you love like Suzanna did, which, in my opinion, is travel’s winning trifecta.

May: Marilyn Lehew and Family

“…memories of a lifetime all over the world…”

“Two of my favorite trips were ones I experienced with my sister Shirley and her husband Bob,” she shared during our recent conversation, offering her fond perspective of her family’s history with travel. “We had just left England and were on our way to the battlefields at Normandy. My brother-in-law lost a cousin there during the war and he was anxious to pay his respects at his gravesite in the American Cemetery. He mentioned this to our Tauck Director when we first arrived in France, explaining that he would like to visit his cousin’s grave in Normandy while we were there. I remember watching them leave on this special mission as the rest of us returned to the boat after visiting the D-Day beaches. Our Tauck Director personally escorted Bob to the cemetery, making his long-awaited wish come true.”

One story inspired another as we talked, testament to the staying power of enriching travel experiences. Eager to hear more, I listened as Shirley continued with another one of her favorite travel moments.

“We were traveling in Japan, arriving one day early with Tauck’s Gift of Time. Just after World War II ended, Bob was stationed in a small town in Japan, about 50 miles from Tokyo. While he was there, he would play baseball with the local kids, one of whom he had hoped to see again. We took a taxi to the town where Bob’s memories lived on, stopping at a little restaurant for lunch. Bob brought out his old photographs from 1946 and showed them to the people in the restaurant. They could not believe his pictures. He told them about the boy he had played baseball with every day, who, at the time was about 14 or 15 years old. Bob remembered his name and shared it with them in hopes someone knew of him or his family. It didn’t ring a bell with the people at the restaurant, but the restaurant staff offered to look the name up in the local telephone book. Just a few minutes later, a taxi pulled up to the restaurant, and out walked the boy Bob played baseball with. Turns out he is a taxi driver in that town and now, 60 years later, the two old friends had the opportunity to meet again.”

As travelers ourselves at Tauck, we always talk about the lasting connections you can make through travel, whether it’s a place you dream of seeing again, culinary treats you’ll never forget or memories of the people you meet along the way. Shirley, who has been to all seven continents, would like to see the Taj Mahal again.

“I brought a piece of the Taj Mahal home with me,” explained Shirley, who told me she bought a memento of this monument to love when she visited India decades ago. “It’s made of white marble and has gemstones in it. Each time I look at it, I marvel at it.”

Isn’t that wonderful, I thought to myself. That’s what travel does. The sights you see have a way of becoming places in the heart that transport you back to your visit. It’s part of the magic of travel, and for avid travelers like Shirley and her family, it reminds them of the times they shared on their trips together.

Marilyn recalled the last “wonderful” trip she and her sisters experienced with their late mother, Ruth. They were on one of the six Ponant cruises they took with Tauck and they became fast friends with the ship’s captain, Captain Lemaire. Capt. Lemaire invited them to his cabin for a glass of wine or champagne. He would always ask Ruth to dance with him. Her mother was truly delighted, she told me.

“My sister Shirley, ‘the knitter,’ would knit clothing for the Captain’s children and Capt. Lemaire would send thank you notes. His son later became a Captain on the same ships,” she recalled, adding that Shirley has made a book of the 41 Tauck trips she has taken. “Shirley would knit washcloths and give them away saying ‘Wash your dishes with these and think of me!’ Many of Tauck’s Tour Directors were gifted these washcloths.”

“One time we sailed along the Italian coast and we were in the southern part of Italy. There was an art village on top of a great big hill,” she said. She was talking about Ravello, I mused, recalling my own blissful memories of my visit there.  “I bought several pieces of art there – ceramics only 1.5-2.5 inches tall with goats. Some of the ship crew brought back some special cheese from there – mozzarella di buffalo – and served it that evening back aboard our Ponant ship. It exploded with flavor!” 

Her recent trips have been closer to home. One of the last trips she took with her both of her sisters was Yosemite and Sequoia: John Muir’s California.

“I brought three baby Sequoias home with me,” she shared, literally keeping her memories of that trip alive and growing. “You have to keep them planted in the pot for at least two years,” she explained and plans to plant them in her hometown of Franklin this year.

A devoted gardener, Marilyn was headed out to her garden after our conversation. I had more questions, of course, wanting to relive her journeys – and a few of mine – through the tales she told. But she had a question for me before we said good bye.

“Have you ever been to Nashville?” she asked. “We live in Franklin, just 24 miles south of Nashville. It’s a historic town, with a key Civil War battlefield, the bloodiest of the war, I believe, and many storied buildings.”

I had not visited Nashville yet, but what she said next inspired me to put her hometown of Franklin on my bucket list.

Turns out, Marilyn and her husband Calvin save historic buildings, keeping their legacy alive for future generations. They have purchased, resurrected and preserved the town’s old factory and many of its centuries-old buildings, opening restaurants and businesses that have helped the town and its enduring history thrive as a must-see destination.

Speaking with her about her family and their Tauck trips together was a gift that underscored the impact travel has on our guests. Learning about the philanthropic and historic legacy she and her husband have created on behalf of their own community had an equally important and palpable impact on me, making our Tauck connection more priceless still.

April: Mike and Eloise Murphy

 “Adventurers at heart”

Mike and Eloise Murphy are adventurers at heart. Avid travelers, they have explored the world together for decades, favoring cruises over land journeys and wildlife over museum tours. Before they knew about Tauck, they sailed to their chosen destinations aboard big ocean liners that were less customer-focused than they liked. They turned to Tauck after their travel agent recommended they take a look at our trips. Their first Tauck trip, Kenya & Tanzania: A Classic Safari hooked them on Tauck, becoming their all-time favorite Tauck travel experience and keeping them captivated enough to experience this same journey four times.

“We really liked the itinerary and saw a great variety of animals every time we went. The whole trip runs very well, and we’ve always liked the people that we met there. Plus, the tour directors have always been very good,” Mike told me, adding that they traveled to Africa with Tauck every two years for 10 years, joining us on Botswana, South Africa & Zambia as well. “We like all the locations we visited as well. I personally think the Mount Kenya Safari Club is one of my favorite places on the planet. It’s just a great place to kick back for a couple days. We normally go horseback riding there, and they used to have some dogs there that liked to go on walks with us.”

“It was definitely a different experience every time we went, even though we traveled to Africa more or less at the same time of year, in the June and July timeframe. The weather at that time of year is good, and the bugs you hear about are relatively minimum,” he shared. 

Except if you wear black, I learned, like one young man on one of his safaris did, attracting all the flies to him with his dark shirt, sparing the rest of the group from contending with them. Mike, a retired “fly boy” (pilot) himself, nicknamed him “fly,” a name the young man happily claimed, further enhancing the camaraderie that’s inherent on safari.

Listening to his stories transported me back to my own safari experience. I share Mike’s feelings about Africa and its wonders, admittedly envious of his many return trips, and still dreaming of reliving my time in Kenya. Not only was I mesmerized by the animals we encountered, napping lion families, cheetahs on the hunt, gentle giraffes, trumpeting elephants, barking zebras and more, I was equally moved by the Maasai, whose always smiling faces belied the challenges of life in the bush.

“We visited a local primary school on our last safari with Tauck. The children sang and danced and put on quite a show for us. They were pretty amazing. My wife, Eloise, and I were so touched that we gifted them a donation. Others in our group followed suit, anteing up a total of $930 that went towards the purchase of a truckload of school supplies, soccer equipment and the like. That felt really good.”

Will you be going back to Africa with Tauck again, I asked? 

“I’ll never say never, but it’s a pretty long way to go from California. We will, however, travel with Tauck again and are taking the Iceland cruise in June, our 17^th Tauck tour. We like the way Tauck takes care of all the details,” Mike told me, sharing that “Tauck fits our desires perfectly.” 

Aside from their Africa safaris, cruises, both riverboat and small ship, are their favorite ways to travel. They have sailed with us to the far reaches of the world in Antarctica, their 2^nd favorite destination by the way, and cruised with us aboard Treasures of the Aegean, Treasures of Spain and Portugal, and The Blue Danube among others, often traveling with like-minded friends they met while sharing their mutual love of travel.

As we were ending our conversation, Mike told me that he watched the video we have online about The Tauck Story. He was surprised and delighted to see the old photo of the Wigwam Restaurant that Arthur, Sr. took his first guests to on our trips along the back country roads of New England in the 1920s.

“My family used to go there too when I was a young child. I even have of a photo of my sister and me, at 5 years old, standing in the front of the Wigwam. Sure brought back a lot of fond memories,” he shared.

Memories like Mike’s are so much a part of the magic of travel and one of the reasons why we often long to revisit those places that touch our heart. We’re beyond thrilled that Mike and Eloise have made their way back to some of their favorite places with us making more lasting memories along the way.

March: Linda & Chris John

 “It’s easy to fall in love with travel.”

It’s easy to fall in love with travel. Whether you embarked on a road trip through the bucolic landscapes of New England like Linda and Chris John did on their first Tauck trip or traveled to Italy on a dream vacation in 2008, where priceless experiences played out in a pageantry of treasures difficult to replicate anywhere, the memories you make can be truly life changing. 

I had the delightful opportunity to chat with Linda after returning from my own unforgettable week in Florence with Tauck, sharing stories about palaces and people that are the stuff of real-life fairy tales. Hers is a love story worthy of the movies, scripted with big screen settings, a talented cast of characters, history-making scenes, surprising acts and moments of breathtaking suspense that keep you totally engaged in the outcome.

As she tells it, “My long-time boyfriend, Chris, and I went on Tauck’s Classic Italy tour in 2008.  We were just about to start building a house together, so I wanted a good vacation before we started the long process.  When we were in Florence, our tour director, Jennifer, told us about a medieval theater show and dinner that took place at a beautiful palace. Chris signed us up right away. When the show started, one of the staff picked him to participate in one of their shows. As he appeared on stage dressed as a king, another staff member pulled me on stage, unwillingly I might add, to be part of the act.  That’s when Chris proposed to me, whipping out a ring as he did so. I remember thinking the ring looked real, so I stood there for a few minutes wondering if this was part of the show or a real proposal. I took so long to answer that Chris finally said ‘you don’t have to answer now.’ But I did and said yes. Later, Chris shared that he had gotten the ring through all the metal detectors at the various airports, Had it not, he said the  proposal would have happened in the airport instead of Italy. Since our 15-year anniversary is coming up at the end of the year, we are hoping to go on another Tauck tour since this is where it started.”

“Traveling with Tauck is great way to experience all that is special about the destinations you explore” she told me, citing the good food, the great hotels, and the caring Tauck Directors and bus drivers who make each trip memorable. Now that she and her husband have completed building the dream home they started after returning from Classic Italy years ago, they plan on joining us on more trips. On their wish list is our Treasures of the Mediterranean and Legendary Scottish Isles cruises and Costa Rica, but not before they return to Italy where their amazing proposal took place.

I was thrilled to learn that the happy couple is booked on Bellissima Northern Italy this year, where they will visit Milan, the Italian Lakes, Bologna, Venice and more, with a two-night stay in Verona, where Romeo and Juliet declared their undying devotion to one another. Which seems a most fitting journey for this modern-day tale of eternal love, don’t you think?

February: The Siegle Sisters

 “How you gonna keep ‘em down on the farm after they’ve seen Paree?”

A popular hit created on the heels of World War I when US soldiers were returning home from Europe, “How you gonna keep ‘em down on the farm after they’ve seen Paree?” could well apply to the Siegle sisters, longtime guests who have, to date, logged in 63 Tauck trips.

Farm girls born and raised in Iowa, their first Tauck trip took them, coincidentally enough, to Paris. Their family, hardworking farmers all, did not have time to travel when the girls were growing up, given the daily chores that kept them busy at home. Once they started traveling with us, nothing could keep them down on the farm for long.

“We heard about Tauck from two widowed ladies we knew from church. We thought if they like it and it’s good enough for them, then it’s good enough for us.”

That recommendation turned into a lifelong love affair with travel for the sisters, the more adventurous the better I learned after chatting with them, with small ship cruises among their very favorites. Among the many voyages they have enjoyed with us, they braved the cold on our cruise to Antarctica where they warmed up to the penguins and marine life they encountered. They circumnavigated the land of fire and ice with us in Iceland, gamely soaking in the thermal delights of the Blue Lagoon. They explored the Norwegian fjords and the Scottish Isles aboard our “lovely” Ponant ship; indulged in the Treasures of the Mediterranean and the Aegean on idyllic cruises they’ll long remember; transited the Panama Canal and met the Guna people in the remote San Blas Islands; and discovered the exotic sights of the Arabian Peninsula and the antiquities of Egypt with wide-eyed wonder. Most recently, they joined us aboard Cruising the Great Lakes: Chicago to Toronto, revisiting places they explored with us on Michigan’s Lakes & Mackinac Island back in 2006.

Whether by land or sea, Phyllis and Arlene choose Tauck because of the great care they receive and peace of mind they experience, noting “how thankful we have been for the trust and security we always feel.” But it’s our uniquely interesting itineraries – polar bears in Manitoba, lions, rhinos, giraffes and more in Africa; giant tortoises, playful seals and blue-footed boobies in the Galápagos; Yellowstone in winter – and exclusive cultural experiences they can only have with Tauck, that kept them coming back for more. “Each journey enriched our lives and far surpassed our fondest dreams.”

“Gratitude is essential to living a full and happy life which certainly applies to travel. Each and every Tauck tour is a metaphor for life. We feel extremely and bountifully blessed to have found and appreciated Tauck tours and family. What the precious privilege of cultivating a lifetime of joy, beauty and spiritual growth that have been the paradigm of our life. A sincere thanks to Tauck.”

With loyal guests like Arlene and Phyllis, whose stories and memories are truly steeped in the attitude of gratitude and in the magic of travel, the pleasure is all ours.

January: Sue Werner

70 Tauck trips and counting…

A dedicated solo traveler, Sue Werner has saved 70 group pictures from her Tauck trips, dating from 2019 all the way back to 1987 when she traveled with us on Southern Charms: Savannah, Hilton Head & Charleston. Sue, who likes a good party just as much as we do, has also attended just about all of Tauck’s events, joining us more than once on annual events like the Kentucky Derby, Run for the Roses; our New Year’s Eve gala, A Celebration of Roses in Hollywood and the Jazz Event in New Orleans. While she doesn’t have group photos of those experiences, “you can’t easily fit everyone into one picture,” she has lasting memories of the good times she shared with everyone in attendance.

With so many trips under her belt, I wondered how she chose them and if she had a preference for a mode of travel.

“I like it all. I enjoy the river boats, but I like the land tours too and especially enjoy the comfortable motor coaches Tauck uses. Usually, I just choose a destination, knowing that no matter where Tauck goes or how we travel, Tauck is going to take care of me.”

Wherever she chooses to explore with us, the draw for Sue is a well-rounded mix of culture, scenery and wildlife. South Africa, An Elegant Adventure appeals to her and is on her bucket list as are Essence of South America and Essence of Japan. She also has been dreaming about Grand Australia & New Zealand, something she hopes to do in the future. The Christmas Market cruises are favorites and she has put both the Belgium and France holiday cruises on her wish list.

She is not done traveling with Tauck yet, even though she joked that she will have to live until she is 150 to take all of Tauck tours she is interested in! What keeps her coming back is what Arthur Tauck Sr. had in mind 100 years ago when he founded the company.

  “All I want is a congenial party. We shall be just one happy party, properly chaperoned, out for a real good time…”

“The trips are a lot of fun. Tauck does an amazing job. They put a lot of thought and effort into them, and you have nothing to worry about. They take care of things that you wouldn’t even think about, and then you’re just free to experience the destination, free to enjoy it and do what you want. They have a nice even balance of tour time and free time on every trip.”