The WAY you choose to see the world, CREATES the world you see

I get teased a lot about the smile...
you'll get used to it!

A few of you know us personally...  and a bunch of you have been on our expeditions in the past... some of you have met us briefly... but some of you are brand new to us and we've never met before... So we'd like to tell you a little bit about ourselves so we're not complete strangers when we first meet in Tuscany!

We're Tommy Harpster & Terese Gatta... We've been married for 29 years and we live in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania with our little dog Baci Amore & our two cats Zizzie Gelato & Beatricce Berardo (aka BB)...  

we got these two little Calico's
Zizzie & Beatricce from a shelter...
they're 5 years old & sisters!

Both Terese & I spent the best part of our careers in the corporate world, Terese in the Travel Industry and myself in the Broadcasting Industry...   After graduating from Penn State, I ended up spending the bulk of my career working for Media Groups, running groups of Radio Stations in various markets until the Radio industry deregulated and ultimately consolidated...  Which is what led me to start our small Boutique Expedition Company ~ Adventures To Tuscany

Terese spent her entire corporate career, over 40 years in the Travel Industry heading up Product Development,  as well as Sales & Marketing efforts as a VP for several large international Tour Operators including Travel Impressions and American Express...  and for the last six years as VP of Sales for the luxury French Cruise Line,  Ponant...  until just six months ago when she retired from corporate life and hectic travel schedule to take a well deserved rest and join me at Adventures To Tuscany as our VP of La Dolce Vita!

this is our little girl Baci Amore...
she's a Bearded Portuguese Fleabag 
and she loves to ride in our Jeep with
the top off! 

This year we celebrate our little Boutique Expedition Company's 24th Anniversary! It's been an exciting & outstanding couple of decades for us! And a lot of our guests ask us: How'd you get into this?  So Terese and I both have been avid travelers for our entire adult lives...  I took a multi-year hiatus to travel around the US before I graduated from college, ultimately living out on the West Coast, before I came back East to finish school...  40 years ago,  I was one one of those kids that strapped on a backpack, bought a Eurorail pass and started traveling throughout Europe having read Rick Steve's famous book "Europe Through The Back Door"

Terese started working in the wholesale travel industry right out of school,  and as a Product Development executive, started traveling internationally to put together product & itinerary for the companies she worked for...  And over the decades, as she rose through the ranks of the Travel Industry, she ultimately served as VP of Travel Sales & Marketing for companies like American Express and most recently as VP of Sales North America for Ponant Cruise Line. 

we hope you're up for a fun adventure!

So with our somewhat insatiable wanderlust backgrounds, it should come as no surprise that we've come together to found our tiny "off the beaten path expedition company."  Having traveled to so many countries,  we knew immediately that the charms & quaintness of both Tuscany & Provence would be the perfect destinations for our Expeditions...

If you've traveled with us before, we're truly flattered and honored that you're joining us again as our little Adventures to Tuscany family continues to grow... If you're brand new to us, we hope by reading these BLOG postings over the past few months, you're starting to get a feel for the personality of both us & our Expeditions...  and with this posting, maybe have a bit of a feel for us as your hosts as we work pretty hard to distinguish & differentiate ourselves from all the mass-market Tour companies out there... We like to say: "What makes us different, makes all the difference in the world". Once you travel with us, we can only hope you'll agree!

this song kind of says it all...