about/us

Stacy Earl

Travel advisor and literary retreat host

Stacy Earl is a licensed travel advisor and a literary retreat host. She runs a small travel company of her own, so she knows this world from the inside. She has also spent twenty years in marketing and business development, getting real people to notice, trust and choose. She has led marketing at a consumer rewards app, a company that ranked #11 on the 2024 Inc. 500, and at a heart-health platform and a national healthcare brand.

She has built websites since 1999, back in the pure HTML days, and she holds an executive MBA from Johns Hopkins. The MBA comes up far less often than this: she will read your trip page and tell you the true thing about it.

On this site, Stacy writes about booking, money and terms, going solo, cruises and small group trips.

Guides by Stacy

• Adventure travel for women: how to choose a tripAdventure travel for women explained: the kinds of trip, women only or mixed groups, how to judge difficulty, and what to ask leaders and hosts.
• Solo group trips: joining a group trip on your ownSolo group trips explained: what it's like to join a hosted trip alone, what to ask about rooms and costs, and how to settle in fast.
• Group cruise guide: a whole ship, part of a ship, or a group bookingA group cruise can mean a whole ship, part of one or a group booking. How packages and prices work, which cruises suit groups and what to ask.
• Group travel for seniors: choosing by pace and accessHow to choose group travel for seniors by pace, access and what each day asks of you. Trip kinds, travel clubs, solo travel, insurance and questions to ask.
• How to plan a group trip, step by stepHow to plan a group trip: decide who it is for, choose dates and a place, set a price per person, handle deposits and keep everyone informed.
• Literary tours: trips for book loversWhat literary tours are, the kinds on offer, whether you need to read first, who leads one, what a day looks like and what to ask the host before you book.
• Small group adventure tours: what to check before you bookWhat small group adventure tours are, how to judge the activity level, what to ask about guides and kit, and options for women and older travelers.
• Small group tours: why a smaller trip can suit you betterWhat small group tours are, how small is small, how they compare with large tours, what affects the cost and what to ask before you book.
• Solo travel companies: how to judge oneHow to judge solo travel companies and hosts: the kinds, rooms and prices, who runs the trip, reading reviews, terms to check and warning signs.
• Senior solo travel: pace, rooms and what to settle firstSenior solo travel on a group trip: how it works when you arrive alone, choosing by pace, rooms, what to settle before you go and what to ask the host.
• Solo travel for women: group tours that make it easySolo travel for women on a group tour: women only or mixed, what to check about the host and the plan, rooms, and what to ask before you book.
• Themed cruises: how they work and what to askWhat themed cruises are, the themes on offer, how a music cruise works, what is included and how to tell if the theme is really the point of the week.
• Group trip insurance and cancel for any reason cover: what to checkExplains what group trip insurance and cancel for any reason cover are, how group travel insurance differs from your own policy, and what to check.
• Travel with strangers: what a group trip is really likeAn honest picture of traveling with a group of strangers: the first day, how a group forms, time alone, rooms and what to ask the host.
• Vacations for singles over 50: group trips to considerVacations for singles over 50: what a singles trip is, what "over 50" on a listing tells you, the kinds of trip to consider, rooms and what to ask first.
• Women's group travel: the kinds of trip and how groups formWomen's group travel explained: the kinds of trip, how groups are put together, joining with friends or alone, and how to check who runs it.
• Writing retreat: the kinds, and what to ask before you bookWhat a writing retreat is, the kinds on offer, what a day looks like, whether you have to share your work and what to ask a host before you book.

Also writing here: Anna VanAgtmael and Robert Earl. See every guide.