About
Hi, I'm Bettina! Many call me B. I am a Northern California girl by birth, raised in the San Francisco Bay Area with summers spent in the high Sierra Nevada mountains. I went to college in Connecticut and grad school in New Jersey and Pennsylvania before moving to the the Bluegrass state of Kentucky, where horses and distilleries dot the landscape. It's been home for over 30 years now. I am warm, outgoing, adventurous and positive! I was a high school history teacher for 26 years, and that experience has translated directly to how I approach guiding and tour management. I can't help it - I look for the human connection in everything I do. Whether it's the changing of the guard in Arlington National Cemetery, watching humpback whales breach from a Puget Sound Ferry, or emerging from the Zion Tunnel to see the giant cliffs below, I still choke up when I see a travel experience touch my guests' soul. It's the best experience I can imagine, and it informs all. my work. In between trips, you can find me looking for beautiful water spots, where I can swim, hike, and boat. Or walking sections of the Camino Santiago in England, Spain and Germany. In my time at home, I'm leading distillery tours, reading, cooking for friends and family, and working on my newly-revived embroidery skills. While I'm currently tour directing only in the US, I am very interested in adding international itineraries to my repertoire. I'm a native German speaker with extensive destination knowledge in German-speaking Europe and would jump at the opportunity to introduce guests to my favorite places in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. Let's go explore the Advent Markets! From my years of teaching Ancient History and leading student groups to Greece, I also have extensive content and local knowledge of mainland Greece that I am eager to share. Want to find the sacred caves of the Acropolis in Athens, or bathe like Spartans in the hot springs at Thermopylae? Let's do it! I'm excited to meet you!
Hobbies & Interests
Reading, cooking, swimming, boating and walking through wild water!
Fun Fact
My first job was at age 14 as the cook for a kayak school!
Destination Experience
Tour Experience, Washington DC and Northern Virginia, Lexington, KY and Bluegrass region including KY Bourbon Trail, horse farms, Louisville, KY CTA, Colorado Rockies : Denver, Grand Junction, Durango, Colorado Springs, National Parks and Monuments, Painted Canyons of the Southwest: CO National Monument, Arches, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Grand Staircase/EscBryce, Zion, Gardens of the Pacific Northwest: Portland, Seattle, Victoria, Vancouver, Cruise Experience, Mississippi, Cumberland and Ohio Rivers including New Orleans, Natchez, St Louis, Des Moines, Louisville, Cincinnati, Great Lakes including Mackinac Island, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Additional Destination Knowledge, Domestic, Northern California: San Francisco Bay Area, Monterey, Gold Country, Yosemite, North Carolina: Asheville and environs, Civil Rights Trail: Selma, Montgomery, Birmingham, Savannah and Charleston, International, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Mainland Greece and islands of Mykonos, Andros, Paros, Turkey: Istanbul, Capadocia