I’m Nicole Damiano, CTA, VTA—the founder of Adventures We Seek and a Concierge Travel Advisor with Favorite Grampy Travels.
I help families and multigenerational groups plan international trips that feel exciting, personal, and realistic for the people actually taking them. My specialties include Europe, Asia, and family-friendly ocean and river cruises.
Many of my clients come to me with an idea they are excited about but quickly realize how many decisions are involved. Where should they go? How long should they stay? Which hotels make sense for their family? How will they get from one place to another? Which experiences are genuinely worth their time and money?
That is where I come in. I bring the destinations, accommodations, transportation, experiences, and pacing together so the entire trip works—not just the individual pieces.
Before becoming a travel advisor, I was a teacher. Travel became a major part of my life after a friend invited me to Venezuela for my first international trip. From there, I traveled through Israel, Egypt, and the Caribbean before moving abroad to teach in South Korea and Japan.
My now-husband and I later eloped in Thailand, backpacked through Southeast Asia, and spent five months traveling around Europe in an RV. Today, we are raising three curious children and continuing to explore the world together through family travel and worldschooling.
I have now visited more than 60 countries and traveled with toddlers, teenagers, friends, couples, and several generations of family. Those experiences shape every trip I plan.
I know that a successful family trip is not simply a list of beautiful hotels and impressive activities. The pace needs to be realistic. Everyone should have something they are excited about. There should be time to enjoy where you are—and enough flexibility to slow down when your family needs it.
I can help with:
My approach is personal, practical, and honest. If I do not think something is worth your money, I will tell you. If another destination would be a better fit for your family, I will say so. My job is not to convince you that you cannot plan travel yourself. It is to offer the experience, research, problem solving, personal support, and full-trip perspective that make the process easier.
Through Adventures We Seek, I share my family’s firsthand experiences, destination knowledge, and belief that seeing the world helps us become more curious, connected, and confident.
As a Concierge Travel Advisor with Favorite Grampy Travels, I also have established agency relationships and professional booking resources supporting my clients behind the scenes.
You work directly with me throughout the planning process. I learn about your family, understand what matters to you, and help you make confident decisions from the first idea through the journey itself.
If you are thinking about an international family trip, a meaningful celebration, or a cruise everyone in your family can enjoy, I would love to help you decide where to begin.
Favorite Adult Vacation Spot – A new country, a place where the kids can roam and experience and we can watch them absorb and learn from everything around them
Favorite Family Vacation Spot – A River Cruise, European, Asian, African… I am not picky
Favorite Adventure Experience – My husband and I backpacked Southeast Asia for 3 months and it changed my life and the way I see the world.
Favorite Winter Destination – I’m definitely not a cold-weather girl, so my favorite winter destination is basically… anywhere warm. My dream “winter” weather is more like April 25th — because it’s not too hot, not too cold, and all you need is a light jacket. And if you caught that reference, then we’re already friends.
Israel and Egypt came after that, then the Caribbean, then I moved to South Korea to teach. I went back to Korea a second time. After that we lived in Fujigaoka, in Japan. Living in a place is a completely different thing from visiting it. You find out where people actually eat, which train to take when the one you wanted is full, and how much you can get wrong before somebody kindly corrects you.
Now I travel with my husband Adam and our three kids, Gavin, Jake and Avilene. Poppy the Cavapoo comes when she can. We renovated a school bus so we could take North America slowly. In May 2026 we sold the house and moved the whole family to Europe. We are still here.
That is the part that makes me different from most people you could hire. I am not planning your trip from behind a desk in the suburbs. I am doing the same thing you are doing, with three kids and a dog, in countries where I did not always speak the language.
Twenty four years of this taught me that the hard part of family travel is almost never the destination. It is the flight times. It is the ages of your kids. It is the afternoon when everybody falls apart at the same time, and the gap between a trip that looks good online and one that actually works for the people going on it. That is the part I am good at.
I have planned more than 300 trips. Japan is the one I am asked for most, and I lived there. Germany, the UK and Ireland after that. Ocean and river cruises, South Korea, Costa Rica, Scandinavia, Spain, France and a lot of first big international trips for families who have never done one together.
I also write. Adventures We Seek is where I put everything I know, country by country, so families can read for as long as they want before they ever talk to anybody. It is a library and full of travel inspiration.
As my client, here is the kind of thing I will tell you. In Copenhagen, if the weather is good, go down to where the locals are hanging out by the harbor and jump in. Jake did. It was awesome. Just make sure you are near a ladder so you can climb back out.
I am a Certified Travel Advisor and an ASTA Verified Travel Advisor. I would rather your kids come home having talked to somebody in another language than having gotten a good tan. We can usually do both.
Complete the form below, and let’s start talking about your perfect getaway. I will contact you shortly to schedule a 15-minute complimentary consultation.
*After an initial complimentary 15-minute consultation to get to know you, yout travel style, and the destination that excites you most, a non-refundable planning fee may be required to begin the planning process.
