Russ Head Biography

My name is Russ Head.  I graduated from the University of Georgia with a history degree in 1973.  As I approached graduation, I decided that I wanted to travel around the country to see the places I had studied in my courses.  This resulted in a five year period I call the "experiential extension" to my academic education. To finance this experiential education, I worked for five years in seasonal resorts in Maine, Michigan, Montana, Florida and Massachusetts. This period was life changing and a rich time of spiritual and psychological growth. I used my days off to explore the region I was in and, in between seasons, I would take long rambling road trips home to explore other areas of the United States.

When I started this travel agency I began to travel extensively in Europe and this too was a rich and exciting time of personal growth. As a result of seeing so many wonderful places and experiencing so much, I decided I wanted to lead tours to the places I had been and share them with others.

Travel has provided a vast spiritual reservoir for me that allows me to enjoy life more and more each year.  I believe the best travel is more than a list of sights seen. Good travel can be a life experience that can enrich the traveler and make him or her more interesting and more interested in life. The best travel affects the way you think, the way you cook, or the way you design that new garden or extension to your house. I hope you will come travel with me and let's explore life and lands together.

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How I Design a Trip

My intention is to design travel experiences for people who do not wish to travel on their own, nor do they wish to travel with a large tour group. My groups usually have from twelve to twenty people. We travel often as the locals travel, and the traveler has the sense of exploring the area without the homogenizing effect brought on by large numbers.

I feel the design of a trip is my personal art form and creation. I love art and literature, and I approach the design of a trip in much the same way a writer creates a story or a painter paints a picture. I want my trips to tell the story or paint the picture of a region or place we are exploring.

I begin the process by seeking to get to know the area as well as possible. I go there, travel to the cities and countryside, and let the essence of the area sink in. At the end of this learning process, I think through the "composition" of the trip from a physical and spiritual perspective. Once I have done this, I begin the design of the itinerary.

When I design the itinerary, my guiding concerns are pace, tempo, location and experience. While I may have traveled to ten places, I try to determine which five tell the essence of the region's story and give the greatest visual and spiritual experience. I would rather experience and immerse myself in five places than "see" ten places at a hurried and frantic pace.

Once I have determined the sites to be seen, I then give attention to an itinerary which allows us to see the region at a tempo and pace which allows us not to just see the area but to experience it as well. I try to build in blocks of time when we explore together as well as free time which allows individuals to make exciting discoveries on their own.

In the end I try to create a tour which not only allows a person to travel through a region but to experience it, and allow the trip to affect the traveler's daily thoughts and lifestyle.

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1. Size - Most of my domestic tours take a maximum of 14 clients in two 15-passenger vans. My European tours usually take 14 to 20 people and no more than 24 people.  My New York trips are the only tours that take large numbers. The smaller the size of these tours allows us to be more spontaneous during the day. The group size also gives us more flexibility in our choice of hotels and restaurants.

2. Itinerary - My trips do not go on the premise that more is better. I usually spend multiple nights in an area. This allows you to develop a relationship with the town in which you are staying. I choose a few key sites and try to spend more time at them rather than seeing a lot of sites at a fast and furious pace.

3. Hotel Locations - I try to book my hotels in the city center so the client can walk to important sites and restaurants. Some agencies choose hotels out of town to save money leaving the client bound to the hotel or obliged to buy optional tours to get into town.

4. Focus on Walking - We explore most cities by walking and using local transportation. In Paris and New York, we explore a different section of the city each day usually reaching our starting point by subway. These daily walks allow us to see a city in a way not possible when you are moving by in a large motor-coach which is restricted to big city streets. I want you to see it, touch it, smell it, and feel it so that when you return home and someone asks you what Paris is like you will respond with certainty rather than some vague memory from the back of a passing bus.

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