Hi, I’m Julie!

I'm a travel planner and advisor with over twenty years of travel industry experience and expertise, specializing in responsible, positive impact tourism. My extensive travel experiences include solo adventures and living in wonderful places like France, Portugal, and South Korea. I'm also a long-time vegetarian, now mostly vegan, and I speak French, Spanish, and a little Portuguese.

I'm committed to promoting purposeful travel to less traveled destinations, supporting community-oriented tourism, minimizing travel's negative impact to the environment, and facilitating meaningful and memorable experiences. I conduct thorough research, partner with reputable organizations, and provide travelers with tailor-made travel experiences that cater to their personal travel interests, goals, sustainability comfort level, and budget.

WISE travel, empowering Women to seek Intentional, Sustainable, and Experiential journeys, is something I'm passionate about. By embracing responsible travel practices and pursuing more intentional and meaningful experiences, we can have a positive impact on both our personal lives and the wider world.

I hope you'll join me on this wise travel journey!

Image of woman holding tray of homemade pasta

Mission and Core Values

My mission is to empower female travelers and their travel companions while promoting the well-being of the environment, communities, and cultures through the implementation of sustainable tourism best practices.

I conduct business with high standards of ethics, honesty, and integrity.

I value and support diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility and treat everyone with respect, dignity, and fairness.

I am committed to your interests, goals, and needs, providing excellent customer service from start to finish.

Travel Manifesto

Focus on doing good, not harm.

Practice responsible travel that sustains communities and the environment.

Travel with intention.

Focus on a more mindful, intentional approach for more purposeful travel.

Strive for balance.

Don’t pack too much, try to do too much, or expect too much.

Stay open-minded.

Resist the urge to judge and remain open to the beauty of difference.

Value quality over quantity.

Take the time to get to know and appreciate the people, culture, and community you’re visiting.

Give back.

Consider what you can do to show support and boost the local economy.

Experience something new.

Learn a local craft, explore some of the local cuisine, or try a new outdoor activity.

Practice kindness and respect.

Leave every place you visit as good as or better than when you arrived.

Giving Back

At Mindful Explorer, we recognize that travel has an impact on the planet, which is why we've partnered with Sustainable Travel International in an effort to make our trips more carbon neutral and balance out our carbon footprint. Our carbon offset program funds essential projects that advance global climate action.

How It Works

For each personal trip or group trip you book through Mindful Explorer, we contribute 1% of the trip cost to the purchase of carbon offsets from Sustainable Travel International, and you receive a certificate verifying the purchase. The dollars we invest are distributed across a portfolio of verified climate projects.

What types of projects does our carbon offset program support?

Through our partnership with Sustainable Travel International we support three types of carbon offset projects that actively fight climate change in a number of ways.

Forestry Projects: Trees absorb carbon as they grow and store it in their biomass. When forests are destroyed, the carbon they were storing is released into the air. Forestry carbon offset projects prevent existing forests from being lost and restore degraded forest areas.
Energy Projects: Energy carbon offset projects reduce reliance on climate-warming fossil fuels. These projects may generate clean energy, such as wind or solar power; convert waste into energy; or reduce fuel needs through the distribution of energy efficient devices.
Blue Carbon Projects: Certain coastal ecosystems, like peat swamps and mangrove forests, act as massive carbon sinks. Blue carbon projects conserve these ecosystems which also play an important role in protecting coastal communities from the impacts of climate change.

How do you know these projects are really making a difference?

Sustainable Travel International carefully vets every project in their portfolio via a rigorous due diligence process to ensure the emissions reductions are verified and credible. In addition, Sustainable Travel International seeks out projects that create added benefits beyond CO2 reductions and contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). For instance, projects may create local jobs and livelihood opportunities, strengthen indigenous land rights, improve hygiene and sanitation, or protect endangered species.

We are proud to partner with and support Sustainable Travel International's carbon offsetting program and projects!