Make Your Next Trip Extraordinary

David and Sheila Cahnman hiking the Perito Moreno glacier in southwest Santa Cruz Province, Argentina.

Travelers David and Sheila Cahnman hiking the “magnificent” Perito Moreno glacier in southwest Santa Cruz Province, Argentina.

We just completed a wonderful 14 day trip to Argentina planned by Paul & Lucinda. They suggested four different locales that represented Argentinian highlights where we could tour, hike, bike without being too strenuous, and also have time for my passion— sketching. The trip started with four nights in Buenos Aires including a private architecture tour and Jewish sites tour with very knowledgeable guides. I loved the Japanese garden and Rosedal in Palermo. We then went for a few days of sailing, hiking and biking in Bariloche which was very similar to the Bavarian Alps. Not a “must see,” but very pleasant. Next we headed to EOLO resort in El Calafate and the magnificent Perito Moreno glacier. Make sure to spend a full day hiking there!

Our last stop was Peninsula Valdes : Rincon Chico, the 8 bed lodge and conservation area, is a 3 hour drive from the Trelew airport. The 3 days we spent there were a cross between a safari and the Galapagos. We especially enjoyed when our hosts took us four couples to see 600,000 Magellanic penguins nesting on their private property.

Paul and Lucinda’s company communicates through their own app, which listed updates to our itinerary and also boarding passes etc. Two minor glitches in transportation arrival were handled through the app: in one case they negotiated a full refund for late arrival at a tango show, and in the other we received complementary massages. Also was impressed that all our flights throughout the country were direct and did not require a return to Buenos Aires like many other fellow travelers.

We (mom and 2 boys, 10 & 13) are just back from our wonderful trip to Argentina planned by Lucinda Paxton & Paul Irvine. We could have not asked for more, and the only “problem” we experienced on the trip was not agreeing on where we want to travel next with the support of a WOW List trip planner.

Lucinda & Paul put together a thoughtful, balanced itinerary with a not very detailed brief and just under 2 months of prep time. We visited Buenos Aires, the Ibera Wetlands, and San Antonio de Areco and stayed in lovely properties in each location.

This is my first time using such a service and while I enjoy planning my own travel, I simply could not have put together this trip and its details—like our light aircraft flight to Rincón del Socorro on Ibera—on my own.

We (my husband and I) went on our first ever trip to Brazil in June/July 2024, a three-week adventure, using the expert services of Paul and his team. Normally, I plan our trips, but when our destination is a bit “off the beaten path” and I am less confident about my abilities on logistics, I happily surrender the planning to the experts. This was such a destination and trip.

From the first contact, Paul added significant value. I had very particular ideas about what parts of the country we wanted to visit and how many of them to stack into our 3 weeks. Paul helped us choose locations that were “right” weather-wise for the time of year we were planning (Brazil’s winter), as well as ones that made sense logistically. He also suggested a couple of locations I hadn’t considered, and they were brilliant. Without Paul’s advice, we likely would have chosen to visit more places than made sense (with the resulting rushed and ultimately unsatisfying experience) as well as booking into some lodgings that, although are very highly “rated,” might not have met our needs and desires as well as the lodgings Paul chose for us, all of which were perfect. Along the way, we received welcome notes from Paul’s team, as well as a bottle of sparkling wine and fruit at our last stop.

We ran into a bit of a hiccup between our second to last and our last stops, resulting from weather preventing us from catching a couple of connecting flights. We received timely help from the team’s head of operations, who helped us to secure a last-minute hotel room at the São Paulo airport Marriott as well as replacement plane tickets for the flights we missed. This particular situation unfolded over the course of an entire day and into the night, and though it was stressful, it could have and would have been much more of a production had we not been working with Paul. His company also assisted us in collecting the documentation we needed to obtain reimbursement from our travel insurance. All of this was made much easier for us, especially given the language barrier (we do not speak Portuguese and many of the suppliers we were dealing with had Portuguese as their first, and in some cases only, language).

I also want to point out how important the wonderful guides and drivers were to the enjoyment of our trip. Each of them was fantastic and tailored to our stated interests. I would hire each and every one of them again if/when we return to their geographic area(s)—Rocco, who drove us from the São Paulo airport to Paraty, from Paraty to Rio, and helped to guide us on a rainforest hike in the Mata Atlantica; Ricardo, who took us on a fabulous “highlights of Rio” tour as well as a birding hike in the Tijuca forest; Stefan, who was our private guide for our 4 days in the Pantanal and introduced us to the fantastic bird (and other wild-) life there; Eduardo, who drove us back and forth between Porto Seguro and Trancoso, regaling us all the way with funny and interesting stories; and Maisa, who took good care of us in São Paulo and offered wonderful sightseeing tips even though she was only hired to drive us between the city and the airport.

I now have two experiences with Wendy Perrin WOW List experts and I am convinced that for that extra-special trip planning, this is the way to go!!

Anne Marie Seibel and family in the Brazilian Amazon.

Anne Marie Seibel and family in the Brazilian Amazon.

We just returned from an incredible trip to Brazil planned by Paul. We had our children with us, ages 19 and 16. Paul helped us plan out a trip that balanced the wonders of the Amazon with the big cities of Rio and São Paulo. We also made a stop in Paraty.

Our guide in São Paulo, Maissa, picked us up at the airport after our overnight flight from Atlanta and conducted a tour crafted to our interests. We stopped at a local market, saw the famous murals, found a shop to buy organically grown coffee, visited a street where only musical instruments were sold, and checked off key historic monuments. She also saved the day the next morning when our flight time changed to an earlier time and she helped us all the way until security to be sure we made it.

The Cristalino Lodge in the Amazon was nothing short of magical. Our guide Rafael was a walking encyclopedia of knowledge about the animals and plant life all around us. He skillfully guided us, along with our boat driver who knew the river like the back of his hand. The 50-meter towers were both highlights and challenges for those of us scared of heights. But, being above the top of the rainforest canopy to watch the rainforest wake up was worth it. Food and facilities at the lodge were excellent and we left with a deep appreciation for the work being done to preserve the Amazon.

In Rio, our guide, Ricardo helped navigate cloudy weather to adjust our two-day plan on the fly. He received a call as soon as Christ the Redeemer was out of clouds and we beat the crowds up to the top. The weather held out for our WOW Moment of flying by helicopter over the city. Rain disrupted a planned hike, but we replaced it with two tours that were a hit — the Maracanã soccer stadium and Carnival World. Both ended up being a welcome opportunity to get a feel for culture in Rio and we thoroughly enjoyed them.

Our highlight in Paraty was an in-home cooking lesson by Yara Castro and Richard Roberts. They welcomed us into their home with lessons on history and food. We stayed at the beautiful Pousada Literária de Paraty.

We were thankful that Paul’s team made wonderful hotel and restaurant selections in each location and their app was easy to use.

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