Tour guides develop a preference for certain destinations. As a local tour guide, with 20 years in the making, I have one: The eastern region of Cuba.

The trio that was entertaining us at “La Ferminia” restaurant got emotional when a member of our tour stood up, walked to where they were and handed over a bag containing guitar strings. “This, said the lead singer, is more important than the tip we could get from this whole month”…

AmaTierra is one of the first yoga and wellness centers in Costa Rica. Owners Bob and Jill Ruttenberg told CCJ that one of the reasons they chose Costa Rica as the site for their center was “because of its friendly and helpful people…

Summer travel is in FULL swing! Our recent journey to Italy with Eleven Winery took us from Milan in the North, through Piedmont and Genova to Emilia Romagna, and ended in Siena and Florence in Tuscany. Italy in the summertime, post-pandemic, post-flooding, and during an excessive heat wave (we just made it out before it got really hot), is not for the faint of heart! As with every tour, we learned a lot and will make a few adjustments to the planning of tours of this kind…

Since 1998, Cross Cultural Journeys has offered in depth cultural experiences in Cuba. During this time we have built meaningful relationships with local organizations, NGOs (non-governmental organizations) artists, musicians, entrepreneurs, doctors, architects and everyday citizens. This is what makes our journeys there so special.The arrests picked up both sides, and some even non-violent protesters will face as much as one year in prison…

CCJ and CCJF has at its core to always support the local communities we visit. Angermeir tells us about one of the first projects we sponsored: "For many years CCJF supported the women weavers of Omunity, a project started by Putu, a Balinese woman living in Sudaji, a Balinese village at the base of Mt. Agung. Her husband, ZanZan is the former manager of the Arma Resort in Ubud, where we worked with him on the Quest For Global Healing conferences…

Our Cuba travel group on the dock in Cienfuegos Bay, November, 2022.I am deeply sad to learn about CCJ Journey Leader and "co-pilot" Robert Bush's passing. My heart goes out to his family and everybody who loved him in is local community in Charlotte, NC. Robert was a special human being who had chosen Cross Cultural Journeys as his international travel companion for the past decade…

Over three years ago, my son was performing in an all-nation orchestra in Orlando, Florida, over Thanksgiving break. I had been to Cuba in 2011 with the Washington State Bar Association and thought, as long as I was going to Orlando, I might as well investigate how easy it would be to take my son to Cuba for a short trip. I contacted Cross Cultural Journeys, a Bainbridge Island tour company specializing in trips to Cuba. That conversation led to plans to take the high school jazz band to Cuba in April 2020, with fundraisers and lots of planning. Unfortunately, Covid canceled our trip.

As you plan for your travels over the holidays, or your mid-winter sunny getaway, here are a few tips to keep in mind, weather you travel plans take you domestically or internationally:

Dear Traveler,

I hope this finds you safe and healthy wherever you are! Sorry for the long radio silence - we took a self-imposed summer break in July, partly because we didn't have much new to report in the current world of travel. At least not in the world as we once knew it. We are in an ongoing transformational process, and it takes a little bit of time for each of us, depending on where we are on our path, to integrate what is actually happening, on the global, community and individual levels. It takes a bit of time to come to a realization that we are actually all deeply connected. It is a more a 'felt sense', than something we can see with our eyes. What am I talking about? Well, from the chair of a CEO of a purpose travel company, I reflect a lot on what it may mean to those of us who love to leave the comfort of our homes, to take on the outer adventures in far away lands.