Marc Patry, founding and managing director of CNH Tours, gives a 30 minute presentation on the trip to Provence, in the south of France – being planned for 20 Sept – 4 Oct 2025.
Uh welcome all um I see we have people joining up uh some people have been on for the few minutes already enjoying uh well I hope you were the the slides show these are pictures of mostly my wife Heather took when we were in in provance last October and early November I
Looking at the slideshow now and I see there are a lot of stones the stones are a big part of building in provance but we it seems we have neglected to also take more pictures of Nature and and uh culture uh but we’ll we’ll we’ll see a bit of that
In the slideshow coming up so in the presentation coming up so welcome uh it’s um I’m going to try to look at a few faces here I’m seeing I’m seeing you all now that’s great and some of you uh perhaps I I will recognize recognize your names if not
Your faces because I don’t get to see much of of our of the people that travel with us but uh welcome those are names I I recognize and even some family members hi Joanna and uh and others and some names of people who’ve been traveling
With us before so there I see Sue and constants so um welcome and perhaps instead of just going on uh aimlessly here I’ll start my presentation this presentation I hope will last maybe 30 or maximum 40 minutes and uh at which point uh I will leave it open for
Questions and if you do have questions you can put them in the chat uh and and I’ll get to them as we go along so this presentation is is to cover a little bit of um cl to tell you a little bit of why at least I think it’s special and uh to
Tell you a little bit about the the trip that I’m about to publish on our website I’m just finalizing the final detail with the Villa owners to make sure everything is clear so um here we go um so okay this is the structure of my presentation I’ll I’ll basically go over
These topics why P where is p in case you’re wondering a very tiny bit of history of course people hundreds of people have written phds on various aspects of history of pance but we’ll cover it in about two minutes um also I’m not seeing my screen because I’m
Blocked by this but the itinerary will be following while we are traveling are the Villas we’ve booked we’re about to book and our trip philosophy I think when it’s important it’s important when someone organizes a trip to come at it with a certain perspective otherwise you’re just
Throwing a whole bunch of things in a bag and U you end up uh you know having a trip that has no over arching approach and so I’ll share with you what what we’re trying to do with this trip but first of all where is provance
Prov east of France I’m sorry um right here in the down on the Mediterranean I’m having difficulty is connecting here okay there it is now if you blow up that part of France we call this a region in France the uh the administra administratively France is divided into departments or kind of like
States in the states and provinces in Canada but they’re grouped together in regions the regions don’t have that much power but they give a certain uh they do have a certain overarching role so the region of pav is located here there’s mountains the Alps to the East and then
The lowlands to the west and then you have the coast the Alps kodur is that part of the provance or I wouldn’t even call that provance that part of that region that is all along the coast very very busy highways all built up and then you have P house which is perhaps uh
Because it’s not on the sea it’s not so built up in as you see in the Cod so P I’m I’m will’ll be visiting three parts of provance three regions of provance luon which is the most rural one and then also ven so we’ll go over that in the next couple of
Minutes so for bit of History I think uh It’s always important I think to know the context of places you’re visiting it gives you more pre appreciation and and of of your visit uh the uh so that you uh you get into a bit more of the Mind
Trip I I’m always very keen on making sure or encouraging our guests to get on the Mind trip sure it’s just so much fun to taste the good food and enjoy the the the the Landscapes um and and meet the people and and but it’s also it’s it’s
Fascinating to try to get into the the whole you know the whole history the dimensions of of the place you’re visiting so part of that is a history so this part of the world I mean the earliest people we know living there were the kelto larians um who were were
Living in that part of France the Greeks came along and established U trading ports in Marill and marilia it was called back then so the Greeks were there before the Romans but the Romans arrived in the about 121 BC they turned it into their own a province it was
Called the province of Rome it was the first Province outside of Peninsular Italy so they ended up calling it our Province and that’s why today even it’s called Province we’ll be spending time in this part of the Roman province and you’ll notice it’s along some of the major transportation axes so this uh
Which means that we will see during our trip a lot of Roman vestiges which I’m a bit of a Roman history buff so I always find that in interesting so here’s a famous P the longest the highest the best preserved Roman aqueduct in the world we’ll be spending some time there
And uh this is me last fall this is a Ford over a creek the part of the Roman roads built over 2,000 years ago this is just the edge of the Ford it’s much wider than that but it’s covered with dirt and Roman armies march here on the
Way to Spain um and then Romans you know they had their time and then the things broke down and the viig Goths came along and rampaged through the whole area and they basically broke down the the order that the Roman Empire had established there uh so part where visiting is here
And so the early 400s is when it was overrun by the Visigoths and uh and then there was a whole all kinds of other uh Power bases that came through during that time in the following years one group after another uh I can to name them the marians the Franks the sarens the
Carolingians and then the Normans from Normandy and and the Norseman were there as well so it was a period of chaos and instability and led to uh uh the construction of um uh fortified hilltowns and defensive castles so there’s still a lot of that there so you have a lot of hilltowns
That are fortified in that part of the world U but then uh some type of order came along the Holy Roman Empire established itself and the trading resumes and uh bit of peace prosperity and that’s the period where lots of churches were built so you know visiting Europe there’s always the you know
Always there’s so many churches and Cathedrals and of course we’ll have a chance to pop in a couple of them but we won’t be making this our sole Focus I I want to reassure you there’s only so many churches one can visit now of course you’ll always end up having a bit
Of free time during our trip so if you’re particularly keen on this because some people are justifiably if you’re keen on churches there’s a lot to see a lot to understand then you’ll have a chance to maybe pop in a bit more than than than that we are we have planned on our
Agenda so the popes established themselves there in the 14th century in aino and the there was a bit of a Schism there in the the Catholic church so for about a hundred years they were there they built uh their Gothic Palace there the largest one in Europe today um and
Uh they had lands there the pap States it’s what they called the cont V that’s part of the the region we’re going to go visit on our trip um so very important development there and just as and the side we’ve probably you’ve probably all heard of the P there’s a song and that’s
Where it is and this is a very old engraving here and even back then and probably four or 500 years ago it was still in pieces is the bridge it’s much even less less whole than it is in that picture today so it becomes French in the 15th
Century then we have more peace prosperity you know relative of course there’s always a lot of skirmishes going on back then so I’m going to hop in now right now and tell you about our our itinerary um and my Tiner is is is uh focused on not spending much time in the
Bus in the transport you know the last thing I want is to have you get on a bus and spend an hour and a half you know on a bus there’s nothing more tiring than that So the plan is to do a maximum with a few minor exceptions a maximum of 30
Minutes at any one time in a bus so that um you’re you’re spending more time exploring enjoying uh being amaz rather than sitting in a bus looking out a window so I put here below a scale to show you the kind of distances we expect
To be uh um covering during our trips so our first stop will be in the lubero for five nights four full days and you can see from one end to the other of of the area will be visiting you’re looking at barely 30 miles or 50 kilometers even
Less so uh you know you won’t be spending hours in the bus but within this circle here I have to tell you you could spend a year and not run out of things to see and do so uh don’t feel that uh you’ll be we’re we’re short
Changing you don’t feel that oh you know there’s so much to see in P there so many of the cities and places why are we spending so much time in in it’s constricted area well I think that’s because there’s a lot to see there if
You take the time to look and then you won’t spend your time on the bus all day long so four or full days there and this is the kind these are the little towns in the region that’s where Heather and I spent um five weeks last fall we were
Right close to Mel Mel was walking distance from where we were staying um these are all beautiful little towns but beyond little towns there’s lots going on there uh there’s beautiful Village markets so we’re going to be see going to a Village Market on the market day
These are just places you can either partake in the market and look around or just sit down and have a cup of coffee a quasam and just watch the the the comings and going the people it’s always very pleasant um we will be going to and the the uh colorful uh ochre
Waries there um God is a classic when I lived in France when back in the early 80s God was just a sleepy old town with no interest I’d visited it but now it’s where you know the Rich and Famous go and buy their secondary residences uh so
These are the kinds of places we’ll go visit and each one of the uh three regions we visit I’m we’re planning a uh at least one opportunity to go for a moderate hike in the Hills so maybe no more than three miles or five kilometers
Like an hour an hour and a bit um and to stretch your legs this will always be an optional thing to do so these are some of the things in luberon the ochre quaries the sank ABI which is a classic this is a classic Place uh that uh you
See in all the pictures um this is the village of G with the liberon valley down in the in the distance the font of plues um this is a it’s a bit iffy this place in terms of visiting because it is quite a a tourist attraction think Niger Falls props not
As as big as Niger Falls so it’s the kind of place we’re going to visit in the morning first thing we’re going to go there in the morning before people arrive and we’re not going to go on a weekend because the locals go there as well so I’m planning it so that you
Visit these kinds of places as much as possible when there’ll be fewer people there um oped this is a very close to where we were staying last fall um so after spending time there we’re going to move on uh via a we’re going to leave in the morning and we’re
Going to go to AO and spend time there we’re going to visit the the Pope’s Palace and we’ll have some free time to H about this famous Town um and after that well there’s a p it’s a world heritage site of course there’s the the
Pond so it’s a great town to visit you can walk up there’s some GES Gardens and uh nice place to relax that’s the the Ron River um so we’ll spend that day in aen and then we head down to liel iselp South Alp is where you find a city of Al
So let’s see what’s going on in ISP so we’re going to be staying about where the the word Villa is is indicated um I’m I’m just now talking to the owner of that Villa we’re just finalizing the details on breakfasts and whatnot um and from from there it’s not a far drive at
All to Al and Al is a is a another world inheritage sites where this impressive Roman architectural remnants it’s also where Van go spent a year and a half uh trying to establish an artist Colony he moved down there what was it 18 oh I should know that I just read the book
1889 around that time and hoping to establish an artist Colony but bang go was a very um he was a very uh fragile person mentally and uh it didn’t work out you’ve heard the story of him cutting his ear off and whatnot so in the reading list I provided there’s a
Book called van Go’s ear and I just finished reading it in fact it was fun I enjoyed the reading it was like a who done it a a woman who did a lot of research looking at all kinds of sources to really piece together what happened
In Al uh so I recommend it if you’re interested in that kind of thing so Le provance is a famous uh another famous town and it has become a bit touristic so it’s another place where we’re going to aim to go visit on a weekday and in
The morning uh it’s still worth visiting and this is where they also have reconstructions of Roman catapults and whatnot and I I was there with my kids and I had a great time I have to tell you uh so so these are the kinds of things we’ll see of course there’ll be a
Hike um and uh this is where most of the olive growing in France takes place the the biggest Olive growing area of France although France is not a big Olive grower this is where it happens so that’s is LP type of little hike we could do and there’s I couldn’t
Help but put some of these pictures in go feel free to um ask questions in the chat um in the B house there were mining uh uh there’s a big quy there and the big mines and uh they transformed that into one of these big um uh places where
They project images of artists with the beautiful sound and light uh even some uh animation they’ve worked into the images and uh I visited that last fall and I was touched I was touched I’m a bit of a cynic I get to become a cynic
As I get older but I still things things still touch me and this one did I really appreciated it it was well done um this is Al so World here site the arena the river again the rone um so after our four full days in Al we’ll switch Villas once again we’ll
Head off but on our way on our way to the next Villa we’re going to stop at PAB and we’re going to visit this this another world heritage site the P gal which is the gal Bridge it’s uh both a bridge and aqua now it does no longer
Works as an aqueduct but it’s just a fantastic and a very impressive um AR Roman site uh and since I last visited this place which is maybe 10 or maybe more 12 years ago they put up a f what Ian is a very good interpretation Center to help you um better appreciate what
Went on there the building and uh so I think it’s going to be very much worth visiting so after stopping at pondal we’ll continue on to our Villa over in the cont ven this is the pap state it was a paple state until fairly recently like 200 years ago or 300 years
Ago so um uh very interesting now this is where you’ll have a lot of the um a lot of the big Vineyards right the Kon sh B ven Jas vakas these are all big Vineyards and we’re going to be there precisely when the V are taking place the Harvest
Is taking place so we’re going to have a chance to see all that in action uh which is always fascinating to do our Villa will be just the one I’m looking at is just here Northeast of K and very practical for short date trips look at the scaling in
16 kilometers so we’re looking at maybe 30 kilometers or 20 miles from shaton to the Villa um and uh always pretty close and up up to the very top here there’s a town called ven which was a very important Roman Roman town and U and we’ll be dropping by there as well seure
Susette are some of the most beautiful villages in France great place to St for lunch stretch your legs go for a little coffee um Dantel de or the beautiful Hills jaged white Hills um interspersed with Vineyards I we’ll be taking a little hike there as well so that’s a picture of Dante
Susette see you’re getting into some rugged country here right you’re you’re you’re away from Theon River Valley and moving East towards the hills now you’re not in the Alps just yet but moan 2 is not far that’s the big well we’ll see for the picture and then the Alps are
You know you’re just going to if you drive another hour and a half you’re starting to get into the lower Alps so here’s Ven and I here you go Moon 2 for any of you out there who maybe follow cycling your cyclist Moon 2
Is usually uh on the to the F it’s one of the more grueling climbs for the cyclists so there it is and so the Harvest of course uh I’m sure we’ll find a time to taste some wine in fact we’re planning on a visit to a Vineyard and or wine
Cooperative in each of the three regions will’ll be we’ll be going to so you’ll have a chance to uh whatever taste some of the wines understand the differences and we’ll be encouraging you as well to um you know if you want to there’s a wine you think you like we have with
Dinner to just you know take a bottle with you and we’ll have it with dinner and arange another world here to site uh one of the biggest best preserved Roman theaters out there and now let’s talk about our Villas um I I’ve been looking at F
Villas a lot when we were when I was in in in the region with hea in October we visited several Villas we’ve talked we’ve spoken to many uh agencies that rent Villas we’ve approached um owners and uh so we’re always looking for a villa that can host
That has at least eight bedrooms because you’re going to have a tour leader with you so there’ll be 14 of you plus a tool lader so at least eight bedrooms and each with their own sweet bathrooms with their you know whole kits so you all have your own little room not little
They’re pretty big sometimes and some some piece in a very comfortable setting uh each of the Villa will have a heated pool so you’ll be going there 20th of September to the 5th of October I was there in fall from I arrived on the 4th of October to the 8th or 10th of
November and I went swimming and was where I stayed it was a a friend of mine who lent me his house a nice house nothing too uh crazy but he had a nice pool and it wasn’t heated and it was kind of chilly at the beginning of
October even though the weather was very warm uh so we’re going to make sure the Villas we got they have heated pools and the owners all say well it’s going to cost a little bit more to keep it heated well let’s do it because um you want to
Make sure you’re comfortable in the water uh it’ll be very nice to do that and and by the time by by mid and September the weather’s still nice and pance when we were there in early October it was warm you know it was almost two hot uh it was a bit unusually
Warm but typically the weather is fine um so these are the kinds of bedrooms were in these Villas I mean these are pictures of the Villa we’re going to be booking one of the Villas and the allues and some common rooms so there’ll be nooks and crannies to sit down quietly
Or or to have a chat with your fellow Travelers this is a villa in the luberon we’re looking at we’re about to to book uh indoors oh there’s a question in the chat there I’m just GNA have a quick look Lasco cave about that Lasco caves
Is in a different part of France I’m sorry it’s probably they’re probably 400 kilomet 300 miles away so uh it’s not going to be possible in in this trip but if you want to do an extension it’s certainly uh easy to do and we can talk about
That um so uh more bedrooms uh this is what you can expect now we’re not looking at you know fstar luxury hotel but we’re looking at well-appointed rooms that will be comfortable and quiet and with their own Suits now this is the Villa that is in the Alp so there you go
A lot of outdoor spaces uh so these are these are original buildings right I we looked at Villas that have been some rich German person had built his new Villa in the south of France tried to recreate this charm of an old style Villa but it
Looked brand new and it had it just had no soul so we we passed on those um The Villas will be um I’m just saying that there’ll be a light cleaning service every day but this is not a hotel so don’t expect your beds to be
Made every day and your towels will be changed every day so it’s like we’re renting someone’s big house and you’re going to have a room in the house so you’ll be expected to uh you know if your person who likes to make your bed you can make one you make it but
Otherwise uh no one will be coming in to make your bed every day but Linens and new sheets and whatnot so how about evening meals um I met when I was there I looked around for a chef and I met veronic Paro this is the woman you
Seen this picture and and that’s her uh brother uh veronic has been doing this kind of thing for many years I I we chatted I went to her house she she uh invited me over we had a long talk she is uh she does this for a living when I
Was talking to her she she was about to set off to Morocco because her brother had got a a big contract to prepare meals for this group of people in Morocco so she’s heading out um he makes all kinds of meals from Mediterranean from from North African to Greek Italian
And French so uh I made I said I want to make sure and and the plan is to have her and her team prepare the meals in all three of the Villas so I said I want to make sure you don’t repeat the same meal during the 14 days so people will
Be the 14 meals people will have during the course of the trip so all that is planned so uh she will come with her team well she will come at one of the Villas but her team will go to the other Villas and prepare ha meals there so the idea is
You come home after a long day um I think I’m getting into the trip philosophy here but you’ll have time to relax you’ll have time to wind down maybe go have a nap go for a swim uh and then at six o’clock uh there’ll be the
Apparo uh and and the chef and home will provide a small light apparo little finger food and maybe a little cocktail uh and then at se during that time also you can just to see how how the chef is working in the kitchen have a chat U providing different Cuisines and uh we
Will be providing wines for the meal um when I was visiting vonck she she mentioned this wine I was just over at this guy’s place and tasting his wine he had a really good wine it was only n EUR you know so I went over I checked it out
And so it’s the kind of thing she does as well so she select the wines and she’s not into the expensive wines but there’s so many wine producers there it’s quite easy to find well priced good win so she’ll be doing that for us and um can’t see what was hidden here
So what are the guiding principles for this trip I I I said I had some here they are buil-in versatility the whole idea here is that you know we’re all adults and sometimes perhaps we want to take a break or we want to do our own thing so
It’ll be easy to do that the plan here is that every morning we’re going to have a little bus comfortable bus um and it’ll be leaving at 8:30 and uh we will’ll take us on our morning’s activities and at lunchtime the bus will take us to a nearby small village or
Town where there are a few restaurants and whatnot cafes and you’ll have an hour and a half to two hours of your own time so during that time you walk around check things out find a nice little restaurant have a leisurely lunch and and after all that at a set time you
Meet with the bus again and we enjoy our our afternoon activities now let’s say I don’t know maybe that morning you’re you’re tired or you rather do something else you can stay at the Villa you don’t have to join it because at lunchtime the bus on most days not every day the bus
Will come back to the villa and pick you up if you say okay I’m just going to stay at the Villa but I’ll I’ll just do the the afternoon activities the bus will come back and pick you up at lunchtime uh and same thing in the afternoon if you’ve done the morning
Activities but you want to take the afternoon off perhaps we’re doing a hike and perhaps that’s not your thing you can take the bus back to the villa and relax by the pool and enjoy yourself so the idea is to provide you with activities in the morning in the
Afternoon um but uh have give you as much as possible not always possible uh the chance to say I’m going to take the break this morning I’m going to take a break this afternoon and I like to say one more thing as well it’s possible to
You know if you say listen I’ve always heard about such and such a place I’m particularly fascinated about this it’s not in the itinerary but I do want to see it it’s possible to arrange for a taxi to take you there um and these are things we can discuss you’re going to
Have a tour leader who’ll be there to facilitate such things some of us have passions I I wanted to see I don’t know a an almond an almond uh processing facility and maybe there’s there’s one there you’ve always heard about and we can you could we can help arrange a
Visit on on your own time for that kind of thing so that’s built in versatility comfortable Villas you know you you’ll be uh you know no matter how much we try to go easy on you in terms of going out in the daytime and checking things out when you come back you’re
Going to be tired you don’t want to relax so we want to make sure you’re in comfortable Villas you have a comfortable room comfortable bed you can find a quiet space uh so that’s important and also having the meals at the Villa because I think uh again after
A long days sometimes it’s a bit much to have to go out again to restaurants in the evening and uh so these these catered dinners will be very relaxed and you’ll you’ll never be far from your room if you want to you know talk till midnight with your the guests around the
Table or you want to excuse yourself and go back to your room you’ll have that option or even an evening swim um again as I said earlier we want to have don’t we don’t want to have you in the buses all day long you know these trips where you all you remember is
Being buses all all day long we’re going to try to minimize that as much as possible we’re also trying to make sure we get back by 4:30 and each afternoon so this Sun at that time of year the sun’s going down at 7 7:20 um so you dve there 4:30 you still
Have several hours of daylight which is great again for relaxing pool or whatnot uh you’ll have a tour leader so you’re going to be accompanied by a tour leader I haven’t found them yet and I haven’t really tried very hard it’s still a year and a half out so there’s
Plenty of time but of course in a tour leader I’m looking for someone who’s who can help for me a tour Leader’s got too big r one is is a fix he or she is a fixer any issues any problems they know what to do to fix it um and uh and
Number two they help you uh enjoy your your your visit as much as possible to facilitate if you want to do something different uh you you’ve lost something or forgot something they’ll make sure all that uh is taken care of for you uh they of course have to be bilingual they
Have to be enthusiastic um and uh a fun person so that’s the kind of people I’m looking for um so you’ll have your dedicated tour leader by Lal yes and of course we’ll be relying a lot on local guides the tour leader is not a guide the tour
Leader you can’t expect the tour leader to know everything about everything of the places you’ll be visiting that’s why we’ll be relying a lot on local guys perhaps one to take you on the walk one of the hikes another one to guide you through some of the old towns who know
The history and whatnot so we’ll be relying a lot of local guys as well and of course we’ll be including as I said a Market Day in each of the regions we visit we’ll spend at least a couple of hours in the markets so they’re very
Colorful and uh it’s I think one of the most one of the fun things to do there where there’s people and activity right not just looking at stones or or historical sites what time in the morning do you anticipate the day’s beginning yeah that’s James and Joyce from Alaska uh
Yeah as I I mentioned 8:30 in the morning is what we expect to be hitting the road uh and uh we’ll be providing breakfasts uh in the Villas so you know those early bird people have a couple of hours in the morning if like me I would have three hours every morning for
Leaving at 8:30 uh and those who sleep in well maybe that’ll be hard anyway we’ll figure it out um so and uh as I said occasional optional hikes and trying to avoid busy times in the crowds so the old approach is is don’t wear you I don’t want to wear you
Out I don’t want to run you ragged so uh there you go that’s the philosophy so 15 days 14 guests five Lu three luxury villas uh these are the dates now this has been firmed up uh and the price as I said I’m still tweaking a few things but it should be
Pretty close to that it should be pretty close to that I don’t think if it should not be any it could be less it could be a bit more but I don’t think there’s a more than a $100 variation on the price you see there um this will include 14
Nights in your luxury villas with all Suites pools Etc breakfasts and cater din now the breakfast will vary from a one day I’m asking for a light Continental type of breakfast you know fruit nothing hot but the next day we’re going to have some hot stuff like eggs and whatnot so
Um the local transport will be in a Mercedes minib buus I’m talking to that I talking to the bus people and they’re guaranteeing this is 19 passenger bus plenty of room uh dedicated tour leader with local guides and includes engines to sites and museums so what doesn’t in
It does not include your international travel or any transfers we can help with that I mean it’s quite easy you know you’re going to start your trip at let’s say The Villa in in luberon so the nearest place to get to perhaps Is AO which is easily accessible by tgv from Paris or
You can fly to Marseilles um you can even take a taxi from marsill airport probably 100 1220 EUR take it right to the door um but these are the kinds of things we can also help arrange once you’ve uh decided to go on the trip we don’t provide lunch so the whole idea
For lunch is that you’ll have some free time in a beautiful little place to wand out if you like that if you’re the kind of person who likes to have an hour and a half lunch it’ll be perfect if you like a quicker lunch then you’ll have
Time after lunch or before to wander around and poke your noses into different places in an independent manner of course you’re tour leader will always be with you to help out and tips in France tips are not a big deal right in Europe uh we will offer uh tips for the
T leader there it’s a big job 247 for two weeks and uh we will encourage you to leave a tip with them um so that’s it that’s my presentation it lasted well barely half an hour so um I hope uh oops um hope that was good perhaps Now’s the
Time if you got any questions uh if you want to sign up for advanced notification um to be honest with you I think yeah this’s room for 14 people but the way we’re doing this we’re going to be we’re booking three Villas so we’re going to have actually three group
Groups of 14 people three groups of 14 each will be starting at a different Villa and after five days they will rotate between the Villas because these Villas we can’t book them for just five days at a time I had to book them for two weeks so that kind of forced me to
To uh to uh have three groups of 14 so um if you want to have some of you you if you’re you’re probably already on my list of advanced notification but if you’re not get on our website at that that web address and you can sign up and
As soon as I cross the last te and Dot the last ey and finalize that price and uh create my booking form uh I’ll I’ll share that with you the day it happens I got a couple questions in the chat here what is a single supplement yes uh
That’s a good question first of all i’ I’ve people who’ve already signed up to be notified I’ve asked how many people you would anticipate traveling with and there’s quite there’s maybe half a dozen or eight people all women who are saying they’re traveling solos and so I did
Reach out to them and ask would you be willing to consider sharing if if you if that’s an issue for you of the price and U some of them said yes so we’re going to look into that when the time comes if if they if they see if they actually do
Want to book otherwise a solar supplement it’s going to be a lot because I’ve got a lot of fixed overhead cost right I mean if it’s not as if uh if I there we’re using one person instead of two in a bedroom it’s going to be cheaper the Villas come at a fixed
Cost the bus comes at a fixed cost the tour leaders comes at a fixed cost so uh I’m anticipating the the uh solo price to be like right now it’s 7,100 let’s say for person share that would be 14,200 solo price is probably going to
Be closer to 12,000 maybe a bit less I don’t know I haven’t calculator but that’s the extent you know I know it’s expensive but that’s the way these trips are built it’s just hard to to uh to do it otherwise um we can talk uh thanks Mark well you’re welcome tomorrow
Charlotte Jill what what are some of the optional add-on Adventures before after the 14 day tour well how much time do you have Jill um this is France I mean you know Peter M I encourage you to read his book a year in P um uh listen we can talk about that we
Can talk about that what do you like do you like nature do you like are you a foodie do you like history uh you know depending on what your interests are you could tailor all kinds of add-ons you can if you want to go visit the or head off into the Alps etc
Etc um yes the of course the beds for solar Travelers will be split into twins that’s that’s goes without saying Jill says all of the above thank you so much yes how to make sure we are in the group our friends are in well that’s a very
Good question and I will when it when you when it’s time to book you tell me who are I and I in the booking form I’m asking I’ve already set up a booking form asking are you traveling with anyone else here and I’ll make sure you’re in that group that’s
Good so how we doing here um any any other questions maybe what I’m going to do now maybe should I dare to unmute you all and have a big coffy here what do you think I’ll try uh and of course you know of course we are uh this is finished so if you’ve
Got other things to do feel free to u to wander off I won’t be hurt um hold up unmute I’m not sure how to mute all he I don’t know how to unmute you there you go maybe you can unmute yourselves if you like I think you’ll have to unmute
Yourselves if you want to talk yeah yeah I see that and perhaps I will also stop sharing and now we can see each other there you go hey so any questions you’re muted Paul everyone everyone’s good Mark there was another question there was another question that popped
Up it was around you know with some of your other um Adventures you guys have already planned some before and after things that we can tack on um are you guys looking into doing that with this trip as well I could we could I mean anything’s possible right um and and perhaps the
Best thing to do is uh I don’t know if what I what we propose will be the game changer whether you want a book or not not or perhaps we wait till people have booked and then we propose some things sayy what you guys prefer and uh we can
Have a bit of a menu um it’s uh how you know you want to spend five days in Paris you know and uh or Leon uh you want to spend time working in a Vineyard picking grapes so um those are all kinds of things so I I
Think the best approach there is to see uh See the takeup on this trip right I’ve got a lot of interest I have to be honest with you and I hope that translates itself into bookings and once you know if I get a good feel for that
Then we can invest some time and and seeing and I’d like to offer like sometime in Paris Paris is an expensive city but hey you know I’d like to offer some time there you people could tell me I could put up a little bit of a menu
What would you prefer in terms of an add-on etc etc yeah I see you have a a guide book right behind you of Paris your bookshelf Joanna oh yes I have I’ve been there so many times now well you could be our tour leader you could be our tour leader No so Mark Mark um we’re flying as you know from Alaska and so we would like to spend four or five days in Paris before that’s what our plan is already so there’s something that could be added on ahead of time that’s a good idea a good
Idea get over the jet lag and all that and get into the French frame of mind and U Paris is a good place to do that um so I I could do that I lived in Paris for 11 years and uh you know I I love it
I love I love it and uh you know it’s a we could do that sure and of course the thing is you know many of you props will say I can visit Paris I don’t need Mark to help me visit Paris I don’t know maybe you know like Joanna but uh for
Those of you who perhaps uh you know would mind some suggestions we could certain L uh put something together uh nice talking to James and Joyce James and Joyce went with the galpagos with us in Antarctica as well so uh thank you there you go nice to see
You any other questions out there how many of you think maybe this is something you might want to do without commitment yeah I know Joanna you’ve been uh Paul yeah great yes uh that be lovely I I think I might even want to lead one
Of these you know it’s fun it’s a nice part of the world and I really enjoy going there the the the man who uh a friend of mine who lent us his house last November October November I just got an email from him and today Mark uh
We’re gonna be away for three weeks in April early may you want you want to come again I said Dan you’re just angling goodies right in front of my nose Out Of Reach because I can’t I’m too busy this this time around but that’s a nice part
Of the world um yes Jill you’re welcome for the presentations yes just people are saying thank you in the chat there uh what else can I say uh do look at the reading list and uh the the I also have a few little movies uh you’re
Going to have a look at if you haven’t done that they’re all I think pretty accessible uh the one I I really like um is the man who planted trees right you can find that on YouTube Fairly easily it’s a short animated film but it really
Gives you a sense of the the hard life in the more rural areas of this part of the of of of France back in the uh early 1900s a very lovely story brings literally brings tears to my eyes um and I just finished reading the the Mango’s ear which I mentioned
Earlier very well written it’s a woman it’s a British woman who lives in the south of France and she has she had nothing to do she say oh I’m going to go res this thing and just on her own she spent years digging up all kinds of archival material doing all kinds of
In-depth research chasing down every loose end and she was able to reconstruct bango’s life in Al in the in the 18 late 1880s uh the whole event who you know he delivered his cut ear to to some woman who was she was she a prostitute who was she why did he go
There and his effort at trying to establish the artist colony and uh so uh you know was I found it well written and fascinating so it was very good the the beauty of putting together these trips for me at least is it it forces me then
To go look for these kinds of things and then and then uh basically try to engage and learn more about them through literature and movies that it’s very pleasant thing to do so again have a look at the reading list it’s not complete and the year in P I’m sure some
Of you have heard of Peter M in his book the year in provance very funny very pleasant read easy to read you know he little five page chapters of all 1990s he’s retired and he builds he buys this old beat up Farmhouse he tries to restore it all and it’s all his
Adventures of the locals and oh they’re all funny personalities apparently the locals weren’t very pleased at what he wrote you know because he’s kind of making fun of everybody in a pleasant way though and he basically got run out of town you had to move but it’s a it’s a pleasant yes Nas
Are you raising your hand for a question I just wanted to ask I’m not sure if I got this right so um Al together how many people will be on this trip 14 so it’ll be a group of 14 so not a big group I was thinking should it be 16
Let’s not be too big here and uh the ship we using Galapagos a lot is a sambon and it’s a 14 passenger ship and so it’s a nice it’s a nice size I think and um yeah as I said there’ll be the plan is to have three groups of 14 so
Each will be each will start at a different we have three villas for two weeks right so each group starts at a different Villa so all together then they be 42 people is that right yes but they’ll never see each other you’ll never see the other groups so you never
On a bus with each other no no no no no no because you’ll you’ll the one group will start in luberon another group will start in Alp and another group will start in the cont and then they switch you know blo so they never quite uh see each
Other okay I was saying these these Villas I have to book them for one week at a time and uh and I wanted I think one week in the Villa switching to another one is I thought it would be more practical to um to do it that way
Yeah so where you where are you talking from n i I’m in Toronto OH Toronto okay very good I I kind of assumed a lot of people were from Toronto I was bit surprised that there somebody from Alaska actually yes no I think we have people from all
Over Canada United States here yeah yeah yeah maybe you can write you can write in the chat where you’re from so that we can uh we can all get an idea if you like yeah the other thing I wanted to ask actually you mentioned a lot of things
About movies and things where are these pieces of information if you go to the website on on our provance website um uh there’s a on there’s a menu it says reading list and reading and watching list and you’ll see it there I’ll share I’ll write down the website right here
Okay uh www. cnh tours.com oops El right there so hold on how’s that working did it go yeah we have people from Vancouver Island Seattle California so it’s uh it doesn’t seem to be oh no I’m I’m sending it to everybody here right there you go got the got the email
Right the website right there um so um what else can I say the I just like to add that the the book the year in provance the author Peter Mel who he made Millions off that book okay they made movies you know he he wrote another
Year in pance to he just he went on a roll with that book and uh so he he ended up writing a book also called I think it’s called Confessions of a French Baker and so he wrote it with a French Baker that he really liked and it
Turns out that the woman who was going to be our Chef she was she’s the ex-wife now of that Baker so um she uh she told me how she’s cooked for Peter M the author of this book she knew him he’s passed away now but um so the little
Connection there you know but it’s a far it’s a nice part of town the the the vineyard that uh Mrs p uh sent me to to look at these wines the uh the guy in charge he was a real local character but he spoke a wonderful English and he’s telling me how John
Malovich you probably heard of John malovich the the actor he’s got a place just down the road he said yeah me and John malovich John malovich says I got good wine says he says you should try to you should sell your wine in New York
And I’m going to help you I’m going to help you get your wine sold in New York so uh he said yeah we worked for two years we G to New York shows bringing wine what a headache it’s it’s exactly what he said he went said John malovich is not a good wine
Salesman so you know the he’s this this this guy from The Vineyard is classic personality you would have seen in the Peter mail book you know that kind of guy was chatty full of stories yeah an issue with the link oh I’m sorry uh the link to the website I just gave
You Northern Wisconsin on Lake Superior yes cage oh I forgot to put the tours it’s cage tours.com let me try that again it’s a type on my part www. cnh tours.com there you go that should work sorry Richard I see you there Leeland where you where you at Richard Whitby iseland you’re Whitby
Island in Washington one of the the uh the uh what do you call them the gulf Islands not the gulf Islands the what do you call them there is that it h it’s one big island uh you’re thinking about the San Juan Islands that’s right no
Just to the north of me okay very good my wife had this from Victoria so yeah yeah yeah Richard was on with us on the G it’s all right great Samba I’m talking to the uh one it was one Sal your guide at the time was
He the guide ju no oh Juan we did a a road tour uh Mercedes had set up and Juan was the driver interpreter on that oh it must have been another one then another one I don’t remember Ricardo Marcus Marc okay all right the owner is
One and he’s also one of the guys and I’m talking him right now or you you were setting up a a group departure for Antarctica or that wouldn’t interest you because you’ve been already but them and Juan wants to be our tour leader and he’s he’s done seven he’s done seven
Tours to um Antarctica already he’s Leed seven Tour St Antarctica so so we’re just talking to him about that right now I’ll give you a Shameless plug the galpagos is one of the best trips we’ve ever taken not I’m happy to hear that uh um toally agree James and I have told so
Many people that saying it was a trip of a lifetime just m magical from sunrise to sunset every day it was amazing I’m glad to hear that I’m really glad to hear that we leave uh April 23rd for our trip down to keto and then the GPO so thank you for sharing that
That’s awesome now your expectations are too high real high not that good not that good it is better than it was it was better than any other trip we’ve ever taken and we you know I it was one I would actually repeat and there’s not a
Lot of trips I would repeat but that one by by day three or four we were exhausted and it didn’t matter we had to just get up and keep pushing because every day was so exciting and so different and yeah when they’re banging on your door at 5:30 in the morning okay
You gotta get up what sure yeah that’s good that’s good I’m glad well I hope you shouted out for the mountaintops in Alaska um we it’s amazing we I think we have a disproportionate amount of people from Alaska coming to on our trips I don’t know why you
Know there’s not that many people in Alaska yet proportionately I think uh we have a lot from Alaska so it’s great we had a lot of folks ask us why the heck would we go to Antarctica if we lived in Alaska they didn’t quite realize northern southern hemisphere in time
Yeah yeah it’s the summer that’s aric summer sure thanks very much Mark I’m gonna because I’ve got a pack I’m actually traveling tomorrow morning really early so oh okay well thank you for spending time with us okay all right nice to meet you you know where to find us yes okay all
Right uh how I have no how many people are still L this call 15 so I guess I’m not seeing everybody’s faces here there’s Christina Christina is with us in and Africa last year right you’re um you’re on one of the sanan islands aren’t you or you have a place there no
Right now but we do have a place up on orc so very good great great nice to see you again we it was great to to get to know you on our trip in Africa yeah we had a fantastic time really nice it was it was good it was
Good I remember the Africa trip it’s what it’s got me thinking you know because you do sit around a lot they when you’re um visit doing on safaris and uh that’s why I worked I worked into our crypto some hiking you know even though even in pance we’ll be standing up
Standing up a lot you’re walking around a lot when you’re visiting the south of France you’re not just sitting looking out of a window right um so uh even even though we’ll be walking around a lot I’m also working in a couple of hikes and that’s in response to what I felt was
Lacking on our trip to uh in this in okavango so um I know you uh Jim as well you guys are big uh big hikers and things yeah you know we did do the I did do the walking Safari that what’s that uh I did The Walking
Safari one morning but I would not go out for a hike on my own no not a chance yeah I understand understand I I see I see other names like suam and lingma those are names that are very very familiar to me and uh but I’ve never met you and so I’m glad
You’re here tonight as well uh Christina you’re one of the few people I’ve met I think uh I see I see Kelsey my colleague who’s here so she’s listening in thank you Kelsey working late at night some of you probably have interacted with Kelsey Bradley you don’t you can show yourself
Kelse if you like or Sue I have a yeah I just I’m sitting in the dark I guess but I’m here hi everyone okay okay well you’re saying I don’t pay you enough you can’t pay electrical bills very funny I can turn it on for a second
Year but it’s just uh unless I turn my screen up there we go hi everyone wow wow has some very nice relaxing lighting going on right now just to kind of decompress I guess for the week some of you know Kelsey yeah and Joanna’s married to Heather’s cousin or something
Like that right Joanna is correct yes yeah probably a second cousin I’m not sure how they’re related but something like that right so great and uh it’s good to see everybody listen I don’t know uh we can keep on chat oh I see more messages let’s see if it’s worth any questions
There many thanks okay okay everyone’s has to run that’s fair enough one will one lead the Antarctica group well it’s on our it’s going to be on our website in the next couple weeks I’m just putting it together that will be the end something like the 20th of February
2026 um and we have a group tour it’s going to be a cage tour with a cage tour leader who’ll be making sure that everything’s going well for you and uh and there’ll be you know because you’re you’re in a group and get a bit of a
Group discount as well for the cabins so that’s another little advantage and you also be traveling with the senior sour kind of people like we see here interesting people who are switched on curious and uh willing to maybe get up at 5:30 in the morning yeah so you’re Antarctica trip
Is go uh does he go to South Georgia uh no it’s not we’re doing that’s the problem with Antarctica right you have to choose you can’t you have to choose so South Georgia would usually includes fauland South Georgia the peninsula and it’s a 21 day trip and it starts to get
Expensive so I’m just afraid if I pose that as a as a group tour I won’t be able to fulfill my qu I need at least 12 people right I’m afraid I won’t be able to reach that and uh so you’re group so you are you joining a big ship or
Something in in uh for Antarctica yeah the I the we’re we’re we choose smaller ships I mean they’re a lot bigger than Galapagos the small ships are bigger than the the biggest ships in in Galapagos so the ship we’re looking at we’re booking is a Greg Mortimer it’s
130 passengers it’s going to take on and uh that is about almost as small as it gets for Antarctica and the reason is that you’re not allowed to disembark more than 100 people at a time time so if you have like 200 people or 300 people it becomes a logistical nightmare
So you might have 100 people disembarking and they’re there for a couple of hours an hour and a half but then the weather changes and they have the ship has to leave because ice is moving in and the other people don’t disembark so it gets complicated and uh
So with 130 people you’ve got maybe 100 disembarking 30 that are going on on Zodiacs exploring uh you know the ice flows or whatever so you have a much more versatility so that’s why we’re choosing a small ship and we’re going to do the Antarctic Circle so we’re going
To do an extended Peninsula trip the peninsula trip is usually like 10 or 10 or 11 days this will be like 13 days so a bit longer get all the way down to the um below the Antarctic Circle and the towards the end of February early March
It’s getting towards the end of the season in Antarctica but that’s when there’s less ice so you can get further south and there’s a lot of whales too that time of year so uh that’s uh that’s one of the you know the the thrills going that time of year I’m trying to
Read comments as we go along here but it looks good yeah I’m kind of interesting a South Georgia only trip I can find because I have been to all three I’ve been to Antarctica South Georgia fulong Island my my feeling is is too short each place too short I want to
Focus on them please espe South Georgia oh you like to just go to South Georgia and spend time there because if you go to austri you need a really long trip to really enjoy all exactly exactly um well you know what it’s worth looking into if
You want to explore this and I can uh put you in touch with our colleague Kevin Samson he’s our Antarctica expert he’s he worked 18 years down there 18 seasons and you can explore that with him he might help you find a trip that might just do South Georgia or one that
Spends more time there right yeah so let me know reach out to link and um let me know we could um look into that my battery is showing that it’s going to die I’m not plugged in here I had to move aside for U for this I might
Just I might end up disappearing any moment so don’t be insulted if I if I just do that any more questions out there oh kelse in the dark it looks very eerie it’s really not that dark here it just I’m sorry it does look very eerie though yeah
Are we good shall we call an end to our talk call make call it a day yes okay Jill I know you’re not Jill but it’s the name I see there okay and uh and same with Robert there um Steinbach yes nice to see you and Susan I think
We’re exchanging notes today Susan about the uh the solo thing so I hope I answer your question there and listen I’m gonna shut this down now since we’re hardly anybody left nice chatting with everybody and uh do reach out and if you got questions take care and how do I
Turn this off here we go take care good night folks thanks Mark yeah you’re welcome