Deb Summers Travel Design

02/01/2025

After a whirlwind year capped off with a cancelled vacation and a replacement vacation sidelined by All the Germs, it was nice to coast into 2025 with lazy days of rest and recovery and an impromptu dinner party with friends. May the last days of your winter break be full of restoration-- whether that's from adventures around the globe or from quiet family dinners -- and anticipation for an excellent year ahead.
If you're ready to plan your next adventure, I still have a few months with open spots in 2025 and am booking cruises and guided trips into 2026 and beyond. Happy New Year!

27/12/2024

Originally I had planned an amazing trip to Morocco and Paris for our holiday break, from fossil hunting in the Sahara to a scavenger hunt in the Louvre. An unplanned surgery put long haul flights and desert treks out of reach (thankfully I bought insurance! Always buy the insurance!), so we pivoted to something much closer to home (cue the "there's a Morocco in EPCOT, guys!" jokes) and easier on the body. is one of the most calming and beautiful family resorts I have had the privilege to experience, and it is my stay of choice . The staff, the suite, the dining... Annie even loves their kids' club more than Disney Cruise Line's 😱. Thanks to germ season, we did not get to Cirque du Soleil's Drawn to Life or the EPCOT Candlelight Processional (a MUST if you're in Orlando around the holidays) or to try ' recommendations at Bull n Bear as planned... but we did sneak in some moments of fun before the Daddy-daughter germs hit, and Owen and I even managed to save the galaxy and dine in space.
As 2024 comes to a close, I hope you've had plenty of fun moments amongst all the noise and hiccups of life, and I'm happy to help you plan the fun for 2025, whether that's trekking through the Sahara or sitting poolside at your favorite close-to-home resort.

02/12/2024

November and December are busy months for my clients, and 2025 is filling up quickly. I would love to help you plan your next great adventure. Where to next?

03/11/2024

I am so proud of .r.summers for building an amazing team to bring world-class heart valve care to the Hampton Roads community. Thanks to and 's auction, we had a beautiful dinner by Chef Larry Adler in our home with the team physicians and our cherished neighbor, a leader in bringing the best of healthcare to Hampton Roads. Everyone enjoyed 's wine choices, and I was especially appreciative of .booth.92 's help and the last-minute consult Polly provided (because my decorating skills are Ze.Ro. and hers are 👩‍🍳💋). Cheers to the future of structural heart care in Tidewater!

17/10/2024

Bookings open Oct. 22! If you want to stay at Helios hotel inside the actual park, and/or you want to visit Epic AND the other Universal Orlando parks (which are amazing, too), I can help you put together an amazing vacation starting next week! If you're interested in VIP tours and Express Passes for Epic, get your name on my list and I'll let you know as soon as I do!

It’s five immersive worlds. One amazing theme park. Universal Epic Universe opens May 22, 2025 at Universal Orlando Resort.

Visit the link to learn more: http://spr.ly/6185qnlIW

28/09/2024

Ireland is a magical country. Really, that's the best word. It's beautiful and full of life and mystery and story and song. We couldn't pass up the opportunity to turn a work trip for .r.summers into a work trip for us both! We started in Dublin , a 5* hotel with a rich history and fantastic food and beverage outlets. We hit a few highlights in the city, including the Long Room at Trinity College and dinner at Patrick Guilbaud. Then we moved to Galway for Matt's conference, and I worked from the hotel and did a day tour of the Aran Islands and Cliffs of Moher. We are now nestled in the most relaxing, 800-year-old countryside castle you can imagine. Everything about our stay has been utter perfection, including the standout staff. We visited Cong village and drove part of the today and are now relaxing at the spa. One night to come at another luxury spot in Dublin, , and then back to our babies, who don't even know we are gone thanks to !!!

27/08/2024

My best is 6 today! She is everything I could never have imagined would be possible. She is fierce and confident and funny and particular and thoughtful and adventurous and brilliant. Somehow I get to be her mom. That is true magic.

09/08/2024

Active adventures for tulip season!

02/08/2024

Our second port on the Big Island was Kona, and wow. Wowwwww. You're just riding along in your Uber, surrounded by lava rocks and the most beautiful beaches you can imagine. It really looks like theyve just carved through some freshly cooled lava and made a little road here and there. So cool.

After a group tour the prior day, we split up today. graciously hung out on the boat with the kids (because NCL kids clubs are not open during the day on port days 🙄) while .r.summers and I toured , .martin reeled in some big ones and .booth.92 went PARASAILING?!?! 😱 As an affiliate of , I am a Four Seasons Preferred Partner and can offer exclusive perks and promotions to clients, so I met with the sales team, toured several jaw-dropping suites and enjoyed a beachside lunch. I would absolutely recommend this property to anyone, kids or not, visiting the Big Island. Let me know if you want perks

31/07/2024

Magical details released! The Wizarding World of Harry Potter™
Ministry of Magic™ opens 2025 at Universal Epic Universe at Universal Orlando Resort.

Learn more: UniversalOrlando.com/harrypotterministryofmagic

29/07/2024

Our next island was the Big Island. Our first of two ports on this island was Hilo, and we got really lucky with great weather. We took a small group tour of a few area highlights plus . I love that folks with limited mobility can definitely still experience the highlights of Kilauea, which was still smoking from a July eruption, and Mauna Loa, but if you're into active pursuits, there are great hikes, too. Banyan drive had tons of amazing trees planted by famous folks like Babe Ruth, and Rainbow Falls was beautiful. The landscape of this island definitely feels like it just popped out of the ocean. Black lava rocks everywhere! Seeing the Earth still in formation is amazing. My photos don't do it justice but I would hate to go to Hawaii and miss this amazing island! Next up: a tour of the Four Seasons Hualalai!!

27/07/2024

Our second and third days in Hawaii, we were docked in Maui. More cruise ships should dock overnight, IMO. It was so nice to get two days on each island! The first day we had planned a private tour to visit the Iao Valley and watch the sunset at Haleakala National Park, but wildfires shut down the summit, so we pivoted to the Road to Hana (a perk of private tours -- you get to choose!). That road is WILD. Over 100 blind curves and 50+ one lane bridges. But really cool sights along the way, including black sand beaches, famous banana bread and shave ice, a waterfall for swimming, a lunch stop for awesome huli huli chicken and a beach full of ENORMOUS Hawaiian green sea turtles (look closely, they aren't rocks!!). Tip: DO NOT DRIVE THIS ROUTE YOURSELF. it's downright dangerous. Our tour guide was a Hana native, and he was so good none of us even got car sick, which is super common on this route.

After a 10 hour tour day, we slept hard and then some of us were up early the next morning. A key to multigen trips -- not everyone has to be together all the time! .r.summers & went scuba diving, , Charlie, Owen and I snorkeled in an extinct volcano crater (did you know you can get seasickness WHILE IN THE WATER SNORKELING?! new achievement unlocked...), .martin checked out the and the rest of the crew hung by the ship's pool and took advantage of the drink package!
We all came together for dinner that night. Tip: splurge on the specialty dining package that gets you unlimited specialty dining. The service and food in the specialty (read: upcharge) restaurants was world's better than the main dining rooms (I expect it's designed that way...)
Next up: volcanoes, y'all!

25/07/2024

Getting 12 people from the East Coast to Hawaii, mostly using airline miles, was a fun undertaking 🤪 Our family of 4 chose to fly ORF-MSP-SAN, arriving late Thursday night, and grab an airport hotel room. Then, we flew Hawaiian Airlines SAN-HNL the day before our cruise embarked. Two notes:
1) NEVER fly in on the day of your cruise, if you miss it youre out of luck
2) Most HA flights do NOT have wifi 🤯 I learned this after take off, before I had even downloaded my Kindle book 😭
We grabbed a cheap hotel in Waikiki and had dinner at the gorgeous House Without a Key (I wish I had checked out their rooms, the hotel is 😍).
Everyone made it in later that night, and early the next morning we were off to . A couple of tips here: 1) get Arizona memorial tickets ASAP when they open online. The reservations are only $1 each but if you wait for standby, you may not get on the shuttle. 2) get there as early as possible. The crowds build substantially as the day goes on.
Then we all Ubered back to the hotel to get our bags and meet our transport to the cruise port. Boarding was easy and pleasant, and though our balcony room was much smaller than your average Disney balcony room, it was fine! Since we had a large group I had worked with NCL's groups department to make dining reservations so that we could all eat together our first night. And the ship headed off to Maui!

22/07/2024

When .r.summers had the idea to take the grandparents to Hawaii about 15-18 months ago, the complexities of the trip immediately became apparent. How do you create a once-in-a-lifetime trip for a group of East Coasters traveling 10-20 hours each way, from ages 5-65 of varying budgets, interests and mobilities, and get them to see as much of the 137 islands of Hawaii as possible without a) feeling like they missed something major b) becoming completely exhausted c) spending half your trip in airports?

We toyed w several island/hotel combinations but ultimately went with the ease of the only large cruise ship berthed in the US, the NCL Pride of America. Though it's not my fave ship or line, the ability to visit 4 Hawaiian islands with 2 days on each island without unpacking & waiting in the airport half the trip makes this ship incredibly popular, and it was a sold out sailing. We booked in March 2023 for our July 2024 cruise, and the price never dropped. It just climbed over time (so if you're planning to cruise in 25/26, it's not too early to reach out).

Then came the hard part. Finding pre & post cruise hotels, flights from 3 different airports on 7 different airlines, mostly booked with points, balancing the high cost of Hawaii in general w the desire for customized tours. I flexed ALL of my planning muscles for this trip, and in the end, 12 friends and family:
🇺🇸 Visited &
🐠 Snorkeled/dove in a volcanic crater & w sea turtles & seals
🏝️ Relaxed on the beach with some endangered Hawaiian monk seals
🏞️ Swam in a waterfall on the Road to Hana
🚁 Helicoptered over the Na Pali Coast & Waimea Canyon, probably the coolest experience of them all
🌋 Explored black sand beaches & lava tubes
🗿Learned about several Pacific Islander cultures at an authentic luau in an amazing tropical garden
🏎️ Parasailed, slingshotted, UTVed & sportfished across several islands
🦖 Nerded out over the many movie sites on Oahu and Kauai
And a whole bunch more I'm too tired to recall at the moment.
More granular detail to come, but for now, that multigen trip you're dreaming of? It's worth the effort, and I'd love to help.