Great insight from a family travel icon

Amie and family.

One of the greatest things about being a family travel writer is having the opportunity to meet and talk shop with other family travel writers whom I have respected for years.

Like Amie O’Shaughnessy, who founded a family travel agency named Ciao Bambino in late 2003 after a year-long international travel sabbatical with her husband. O’Shaughnessy added a blog component to the company in 2007, and her blog now is widely considered among the best in the biz. (I could spend a paragraph listing all the awards the site has won but awards mean nothing to me; on Amie’s site, content is everything, and that content is fantastic.)

Given her two-pronged expertise, Amie is IMHO one of the most knowledgeable family travel experts in the marketplace today (especially on the subject of Italy). I also consider her a friend. The two of us serve together on the board of the Family Travel Association. We both were in Montana earlier this year. We’re lined up to work together on some big-time projects in 2016.

As much as I’ve interacted with Amie over the years, I’ve never had the chance to sit down with her and talk to her about the origin of her company.

That’s why I enjoyed the Travel Age West Q&A with her that published earlier this month.

I’m not going to rehash the Q&A for you on this page; you can click through and read it in its entirety in TAW. The bottom line: There are family travel experts for everyone. I specialize in advice and insight but stop there. For more serious assistance, for an expert who can help you and your family conceive, plan, and book a trip, check out Amie O’Shaughnessy. And tell her the Wandering Pod sent you.