Barbara began her professional travel consulting career in 2007 as an outside agent affiliated with a local travel agency. That same year, Barbara, along with business partner, Myriam Bouchard, opened Hudson Valley Traveler, a receptive tour operator dedicated to clients wishing to visit the Hudson Valley of New York. In 2012, Myriam and Barbara determined that the time was right to join both ventures into one effort. The result is the global division of Hudson Valley Traveler – Hudson Valley Traveler Worldwide. In 2014, Myriam decided to move on to other interests and now Barbara has a new business partner, husband Don. It was a natural transition as Don, too, is an enthusiastic traveler and prior to Hudson Valley Traveler, Barbara and Don were partners in another successful business for 28 years.
Barbara is an avid traveler and knows from first-hand experience, many of the places her clients seek to travel. The year 2000 opened new opportunities for Barbara and Don and they began to explore the world and travel in earnest. No less than a dozen road trips have seen them visit nearly every State in the U.S. and Eastern Provinces of Canada, 15 National Parks, as well as Mexico. They have also cruised or flown to Hawaii and Alaska and many islands in the Caribbean as well as Ireland, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Gibraltar, France, England, Scotland, Wales, Croatia, Greece, Morocco, Israel, Vietnam, Germany, Austria, Czechia, CNMI, Sweden, Denmark, throughout Norway, Cuba, Thailand, Dubai and Egypt with plans for many more destinations in the near future.
In addition to experiencing many of these exciting places herself, Barbara has also been certified by the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) as a North American Destination Specialist. She has also earned specialist designation for Las Vegas, Cancun, and Disney and several individual world-acclaimed resorts. Barbara has assisted clients in planning trips to exotic places such as an Amazon River Cruise in Peru, a Polar Bear excursion to Churchill, Canada, an African Safari to the Serengeti as well as more traditional vacations like Disney, Las Vegas, Aruba and everything in between.
With a life-long background in the service industry, Barbara understands and implements the philosophy of client satisfaction. Hudson Valley Traveler is committed to service every client in a professional manner through experience, expertise, research, integrity, attention to detail, courtesy, respect and follow-through and follow-up.