The Origin Story
Everyone deserves to take their dream trip. Some of us just need someone to make it happen.
A few years ago, I took my parents to Ireland. My dad had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s, his health was declining, and we knew that the window for a trip like this was closing. My siblings came too. I planned everything: Dublin to Galway, with the help of travel professionals.
We stood at the Cliffs of Moher on a grey Irish afternoon, and I watched something come over my dad’s face that said, “At last.” Our family name is Quinn. This was his ancestral land. He was finally standing in it.
That’s the moment I understood, really understood, what travel can do. Not the logistics of it. Not the hotels or the itinerary. The thing underneath all of that. The reason it matters.
That trip also taught me something practical: we had a private driver who took us to places we never would have found on our own. And because every detail was handled, I wasn’t managing. I was present. Fully, completely there. With my dad. At the cliffs. In the moment that mattered most.
That’s what I build for every client. Every time.
I didn’t grow up wanting to be a travel advisor. I grew up wanting to be Indiana Jones.
My Story
The exploration. The discovery. The sense that the world is full of things worth going out of your way to find. I grew up between two cultures — my father’s Irish heritage and my mother’s Vietnamese roots. My dad lived in Saudi Arabia for years, my parents were based in Germany in the 70s, and we had friends from all over the world. All of this meant I understood early on that the world was bigger and more layered than any single story could hold.
I studied literature in college, which meant I spent years living inside the places that great writers made permanent on the page. When I finally stood in Trinity College Dublin and found James Joyce’s words from Ulysses posted around the city of Dublin, it was like the pages became real. That feeling never gets old. Neither does standing inside a place of extraordinary faith: seeing Michelangelo’s Pietà in Rome was one of those moments where you stop breathing for a second and just let it be what it is.
That’s the thing about the great trips. They give you moments you couldn’t have scripted, in places you can’t quite believe you’re actually standing.
I’ve spent a month in Russia on a Fulbright-Hayes grant, learning the language, navigating the Moscow Metro by heart, wandering the onion-domed cathedrals of St. Petersburg, and sitting in the Bolshoi Theatre watching Carmen performed exactly the way it was meant to be performed. I’ve climbed to the Parthenon with my husband and kids, stood in the ruins of Delphi after years of studying Latin, and watched my eight-year-old son race my husband on the original Olympic track. I’ve sailed around Norway and Iceland learning about Vikings, and eaten a hot dog from a street cart in Reykjavik because Somebody Feed Phil told me to. And Phil Rosenthal was right.
I eat everything: street food and five-course tasting menus. I’ll eat the dish that represents a culture best, and grab the reservation that takes six months to get. I grew up on pho from my mother’s restaurant. My anniversary dinner at Capa at the Four Seasons in Orlando has become a tradition. Both of these meals represent who I am, and neither one contradicts the other. If anything, that’s the whole point: the duality of woman.
My husband is a scientist and a professor. I’m a former English teacher. Between the two of us, we have strong opinions about almost everything, and a shared belief that learning is essential, whether you’re in a classroom or a ruin or a kitchen you’ve never been in before.
Our kids have inherited that. They’re both musical, both curious, and entirely comfortable either at a five-star hotel or in line for Space Mountain. They are, in other words, exactly the kind of travelers I plan for. And they love club-level service as much as I do.
I believe travel doesn’t just show you somewhere new, it shows you something true. About a place, about the people in it, and about yourself. The right trip at the right moment, with the right guide, has a way of doing that quietly and completely. You don’t always realize it’s happening until you’re standing at the edge of something, whether it’s a cliff, a ruin, a stage, a bowl of something extraordinary, and you feel it.
But planning a trip shouldn’t get in the way of your life.
My clients come to me because they have the dream but not the hours, or because they’ve tried to plan something themselves and ended up with a good trip when they wanted a great one. I take care of everything, from the first conversation to the moment they land back home. They just show up.
The trips I plan span eight categories and seven continents.
African safaris. European tours. Luxury rail journeys. Ocean and expedition cruises. River voyages. Luxury resorts and hotels. And, of course, Signature Disney Experiences, which I take just as seriously as the rest, because being on Main Street can be bougie, too.
The scale is different. The standard is exactly the same.
As a Signature Travel Network member, bookings through me come with preferred access to more than 1,300 luxury properties worldwide, including exclusive amenities, upgrades, and on-property recognition that simply aren’t available when you book direct.
Quintessential Travels is an independent travel agency operating under the Traveluxe brand, which means every trip is backed by the resources, relationships, and professional structure of an established host agency.
I work with the best in the industry, including destination specialists, hotels, resorts, tours, and more.
Those partnerships ensure a seamless trip, and one that’s full of wonderful delights. Working with them creates more than a trip.
It’s the private driver in County Clare who knew to stop at a castle that wasn’t in any guidebook. It’s knowing which camp in the Okavango Delta puts you in the right place at the right time of year. It’s the difference between a trip that was lovely and one that was defining. That knowledge comes from years of genuine curiosity, and the kind of research that doesn’t feel like work because you didn’t have to do it.
If any of this sounds like what you’ve been looking for in a travel professional, let’s talk.
There’s no hard sell and no obligation. Just a conversation about the trip you’ve been thinking about, and what it could look like when it’s done right. I love this part. It’s where the adventure starts.
One conversation. No pressure.