So who are guys really?

 We know what we do is a little bit different, and when you do what we do, you get a lot of questions...  Here at Adventures To Tuscany, we always tell people: "What makes us different, makes all the difference in the world."  So our guests often ask us: "what is it that makes you so different?"   

Hopefully you’ve already read and know a little bit about us from our website and our introduction of ourselves on this Blog.  So this post focuses on who we are, how we got here, why we do what we do, how we travel, how we choose who to work with, and why we do things the way we do…

We thought we’d lay out for you our Code of Ethics that’ll let you see, transparently, what it is that we’re up to, how our little company works, and what our mission & our goals are for our small boutique expedition company.

First, some basics. We’re not travel agents... We're full-time Expedition-Tour Operators, guides, travel consultants, travel writers and expedition leaders... This isn't a part-time gig we do on the side once a year... Our teeny-tiny boutique & specialized expedition company is incorporated and this is what we do full time, and like most small business owners, we work at it 365 days a year and we've been running these expeditions for 25 years!  

          Goals of Our Travel Blogs & Expedition Operations

What we try to do is:

• Share our travel stories, travel tips, and photos
• Inspire you to travel and visit the places we go
• Provide you with quality resources & information to help you plan your trips
• Give back to the world in at least some small way
• Generate an income that lets us keep doing the above four things
• This last point is the one we’ll focus on in regards to our Code of Ethics.

Our Mission

At Adventures to Tuscany, our goal & mission is to create Expedition-Style International Tours that totally exceed your expectations in every possible way. It starts with our experience... We've personally been touring Europe for over 40 years and we're in our 25th year of organizing our Tour Groups. We're honored & proud that so many of our guests who have traveled with us, choose to do it again, and again... and sometimes again & again!... We know our success depends on providing our guests with the very best value and the most unique travel experience they've ever had. We work hard to do that and we hope you are already recognizing that! Our hope is that are guests are impressed enough to tell their family & friends... and we hope they'll consider traveling with us again... If we can improve your experience in any way, please let us know. 

How We Generate an Income
Like most self-employed people, we make money in several different ways and these can differ a bit each year. But here are the primary ways we earn our incomes and support ourselves.

Our primary source of income is our boutique Expedition Operations. For the last 25 years, we personally research, design, curate and market  Expedition Style Tours to just two destinations; Tuscany, Italy & Provence in The South of France. We strive to market totally unique, authentic & immersive, escorted & guided experiential adventure expeditions.

We do not make any commissions from any airlines, hotels, restaurants, attractions, wineries or activities that we recommend, but we do get small referral fees from only two of the vendors we recommend; InsureMyTrip Travel Insurance, and AutoEurope.com Car Rentals. Purchasing travel insurance or renting a car from one of our links may earn us a small referral fee, (if you use our exclusive links) but it NEVER costs you anything extra. We only recommend vendors and services that we believe are both relevant and good quality. We do not personally recommend any service we have not used ourselves. And when we use these services, we pay for them, just like you do. We again, only work with brands that we are excited about and genuinely believe in.

Our Code of Ethics:

• At the very core of our ethics is integrity; And integrity is the core of trust... and to us this means acting with honesty and fairness. It's doing the right thing even when no one's looking.  We call it "Our Golden Rule Philosophy".  It's our foundation for self-respect and a positive reputation. Our guests rely on us, and we want our word to hold weight.
• We will never recommend a product or service that we don’t believe in ourselves.
• We will only market tours & expeditions, that we genuinely believe are unique, alternative, immersive and of the best possible value.
• We will only work with brands that we believe in and are relevant to you
• We do not work with third party destination management companies that operate mass-market tours. 
• We'll never allow the components & activities of our Tours to be dictated by others – we control all the components of our Tours and our Villa accommodations. Our loyalty lies with you, our guests.
• We limit & always disclose clearly if we receive referral fees from a vendor or service provider that we provide a link or recommendation for.
• We are proud to be a long time, invited member of the NTA (The National Tour Association) and adhere to the NTA's high standards & The NTA's Professional Code of Ethics. 
• We have been running our Expedition Operations for 25 years, and our company is legally incorporated.  
• Like most companies, we hire and pay for professional services like accounting, website development, advertising, computer maintenance, healthcare insurance,  office equipment, trade association memberships, travel insurances, business consulting and  Professional Tour Operator's Liability Insurance.
• We give back to the areas we work in by leasing locally owned properties, hiring local Chefs, Tour Guides, Musicians, Cleaning Staff,  etc and we support local Grocery Stores, Markets, Butchers, Bakers, Wine Stores, Restaurants and Wine Estates, etc. 
• We support the Villages we home-base in by paying all local permit & licensing fees and our guest's individual Daily Tourist Taxes.
• We subscribe to the National Tour Association's Code of Professional Ethics to strive for the honest & truthful marketing of Organized International Group Travel.

What does all this mean 

• Well, it's quite simple actually; we believe in both Karma & The Golden Rule
• And these two concepts intersect in their focus on the impact of our actions
• The Golden Rule focuses on empathy and reciprocity. (ie: treat others how you'd like to be treated, creating a more positive and harmonious world.)
• Karma focuses on cause and effect. (Our actions, good or bad, have consequences for us, encouraging self-reflection and responsible choices.)
• Both principles ultimately nudge us in a similar direction: above all else, act fairly with kindness and consideration for others. 
• For us, they provide different angles on the same basic truth: our morals, our ethics & our actions have the power to shape our experiences... and ultimately our world.   
• That's it....    it's as simple as that... we've found that following these ideals works for us.

Privacy Policy
We respect and protect your privacy. We will never share your personal information you provide us unless specifically agreed upon.

Hope you guys are getting excited about France!  We certainly are!  We're so close now, you can almost smell the cheese!   We've already started packing!

while John Mayer has had relationships with dozens of celebrities, (including Taylor Swift, Jessica Simpson, Jennifer Aniston,  Cameron Diaz, Kim Kardashian, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Mandy Moore, and Natalie Morales among many others) and there are  equally as many rumors about who he wrote this song about, he actually has recently admitted he wrote it about his high school sweetheart