Debbie Rackard Travel

Cruise the Danube with me. You can even play pickleball🎾 and mahjong🀄️
🚢✨ A NEW WAY TO EXPERIENCE THE DANUBE ✨🚢
Sail the Danube in style aboard the brand-new AmaRudi on AMA Waterways’ Magna on the Danube river cruise from Vilshofen to Budapest! 🇩🇪🇦🇹🇭🇺
📅 May 23–30, 2027
📍 Vilshofen → Budapest
This incredible itinerary combines the beauty, history, and culture of the Danube with the elevated experience of a brand-new ship featuring:
🎾 A full-sized pickleball court (yes, really!)
🍽️ 4 restaurants on board
🏰 ALL excursions included
✨ Exceptional service and luxury river cruising

Ask me where to stay in Napa, and I won’t even pause. Neither will most sommeliers and chefs, by the way. The answer is the same.

Auberge du Soleil began as a restaurant in 1981, on a Rutherford hillside covered in olive trees, and the rooms came later. The Michelin-starred restaurant remains the heart of the property, and the terrace looks straight down the valley over some of the most famous vineyards in America.

A few reasons clients return: the adults-focused calm, the hillside spa, and a location that puts you 10 minutes from more legendary tasting rooms than you could cover in a week.

Napa deserves a proper stay. Get in touch and let’s start planning!

“Wellness travel isn’t really for me.” I hear it constantly, usually right before I change someone’s mind. A few myths worth clearing up:

Myth one: it’s just spa days. Modern wellness travel includes sleep programs, longevity diagnostics, fitness retreats, and medical-grade health assessments at some of the world’s top resorts.

Myth two: you have to give things up. Plenty of programs come with exceptional food, wine with dinner, and zero judgment. Wellness and enjoyment are not opposites.

Myth three: it requires a dedicated trip. Some of my best results come as a layer: two spa days built into a safari, a sleep program at the start of a long Asia itinerary, a few days of movement and recovery after a busy city stretch.

Myth four: it’s only for wellness people. The skeptics tend to come back the most converted.

Curious what this could look like on your next trip? That’s a conversation I’d love to have.

Wrote off Punta Cana as all mega-resorts and swim-up bars? I did too, once. Then there’s this place.

Eden Roc Cap Cana, a Relais & Châteaux property inside the gated Cap Cana community, is built around freestanding suites, most with their own private pool, spread through tropical gardens a short ride from a swimmable, white-sand beach club.

Golfers, take note: Punta Espada, the Jack Nicklaus signature course with eight holes along the Caribbean, is minutes away and consistently ranked the best course in the region.

The practical part matters too. Punta Cana’s airport has nonstop flights from most major U.S. cities, so you can be at the pool by early afternoon.

Big Caribbean ease, boutique Caribbean feel. Message me to start planning.

The whole family, one roof, zero hotel hallways. Private villas are how my favorite families do the festive season, and the best ones are booking right now.

A villa solves what hotels can't for multi-generational trips: everyone together under one roof, a private chef instead of restaurant reservations for twelve, space for the grandparents to nap and the kids to run.

Where I'm sending families this year: jungle villas in Costa Rica with monkeys in the trees, catered chalets in the Alps with ski-in access, staffed oceanfront estates in Cabo, villa compounds in Hawaii where three generations can spread out, and private safari villas in South Africa with their own guide and vehicle.

Festive villas require the longest lead time of anything I book. The question worth asking at the dinner table this month: where does the whole family want to wake up this holiday season?

Of everything I book, this is the trip I get the most questions about. Fair, because fewer people have stayed here than climb Everest in a season.

White Desert operates the only luxury camps on the Antarctic continent. You board a private jet in Cape Town, land on a blue-ice runway about five hours later, and check into a camp of just a handful of heated pods with a private chef.

The days are unlike anything else I plan. Ice tunnels, gentle summits, champagne picnics on the ice, and the option to visit a colony of thousands of emperor penguins. Some guests even continue on to the South Pole itself.

The season runs November through January, and with so few beds on the entire continent, this books out far ahead. If Antarctica is the trip, this is the way to do it. Message me to learn more!

Want the Tuscany you’ve seen in the movies, without a single tour bus in sight? I know exactly where to send you.

Borgo Santo Pietro is a restored 13th-century villa in the Val di Merse, south of Siena, surrounded by 300 acres of organic farmland, gardens, and vineyards. Nearly everything on your plate comes off that land, and the estate even produces its own skincare line, Seed to Skin, used throughout the spa.

My favorite afternoon here: a short drive to the Abbey of San Galgano, where a real sword in the stone has been embedded in rock for 800 years.

Twelve guest rooms, one working farm, zero crowds. This is the Tuscany clients ask me to find. Reach out, and I’ll plan it.

With the year more than half over, now's the perfect moment for a quick travel check-in. A few questions worth asking right now:

Holiday travel: dreaming about Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Year’s somewhere special? Those trips are booking now, and the best properties fill first.

Fall trips: September and October are two of the best months to travel. Crowds thin out, the weather stays beautiful, and rates often improve.

Next year’s big trip: safaris, Japan, Antarctica, and other bucket-list journeys often need 9 to 12 months of lead time.

The trips that feel effortless are almost always the ones planned early. Wherever the rest of your year is headed, let's talk it through.

Bring the golf fanatic, the beach lover, the kid who won't leave the water, and the one who just wants to do nothing at all. This resort somehow keeps all of them happy.

The Ritz-Carlton Maui, Kapalua sits on the island's northwest coast, just above D.T. Fleming Beach, regularly ranked among the best in America.

For the golfers: the Plantation Course right next door hosts the PGA Tour's season opener every January, so you're playing where the pros play.

For the kids: the Jean-Michel Cousteau Ambassadors of the Environment program turns them into junior marine biologists for the day, with reef snorkels and hands-on conservation included.

And for everyone in winter, humpback whales cruise this coastline, often close enough to spot from the resort itself.

Hawaii works year-round, but the best rooms don't wait. Reach out to start planning.