From planning family road trips at age eight to becoming a sought-after luxury travel advisor, travel planning has always been in Shari’s blood. Growing up in New Jersey, she mapped out elaborate family vacations with her younger brother, and a sense of adventure that has never left her.
What began as a lifelong passion has grown into a thriving career that has exceeded even her own wildest dreams, built on genuine love for travel, deep expertise, and relationships with the world’s finest hotels, cruise lines and tour operators.
Today, Shari operates Inspired Escapes Travel as a proud member of Virtuoso, the world’s leading luxury travel network, and is recognized as a Travel + Leisure A-List advisor. She specializes in honeymoons and romance travel, family and multi-generational trips, and accessible travel for clients with special needs, bringing the same extraordinary attention to detail and deeply personal touch to every itinerary. She listens carefully to every client, learning what moves them, excites them and matters most to them, and uses that understanding to curate trips that feel entirely their own. From the Amalfi Coast and the Greek islands to Japan, Thailand, and East Africa, from expedition cruises in the Galapagos to the grand hotels of Europe, no two itineraries are ever the same.
What truly sets Shari apart is her passion for family travel and the transformative power of exposing children to new cultures. The secret weapon is always private tours and experiences, where something extraordinary clicks and memories are made that last a lifetime. She has traveled extensively across six continents, experiencing firsthand the destinations, properties and moments she recommends to her clients every day.
Her clients trust her not just because she knows travel, but because she loves it, and it shows in every trip she plans.
Most Memorable Travel Experience: One that will stay with me forever is a family trip to Thailand, where we visited Kanta Elephant Sanctuary outside Chiang Mai. We spent the day making vitamin patties by hand to keep rescued elephants healthy, feeding them, walking alongside them, and bathing with them in the river. Watching all four of my children, ranging from eight to twenty-three years old, connect with these gentle giants in the most pure and instinctive way was one of the most profound moments I have experienced as both a mother and a traveler. It is exactly what travel can be at its very best: joyful, educational, and deeply meaningful. These animals had been rescued from the logging and tourism industries, and knowing that our presence and dollars directly supported their care made it all the more powerful. I will never forget that day, and neither will my children.
Travel Tip: When traveling with children, do not underestimate them. Lean into culture, history and the unfamiliar — they are far more capable of absorbing it than we give them credit for. The secret weapon is private tours and experiences. When a guide speaks directly to your child, at their level, about the elephants they are feeding or the ruins they are standing in, something extraordinary happens. The experience becomes interactive, personal and educational in a way no group tour can replicate. These are the moments children carry with them forever. Plan itineraries where there is something meaningful for everyone traveling. The trip will be richer for all of it.
How Do You Define Luxury Travel? Luxury travel is not about the thread count of the sheets or the number of stars on the door. It is about how a trip makes you feel. It is the private guide who brings a ancient ruin to life for your ten year old. It is the restaurant no one else knows about where the chef comes out to greet you. It is the suite with the view that makes you stop mid-sentence. It is a rescued elephant eating out of your child's hand in Chiang Mai. True luxury is the feeling that every detail has been thought of, every moment has been considered, and all you have to do is show up and be present. That is what I work to create for every single client, whether they are honeymooning in the Maldives, exploring Japan with their family, or sailing the Greek islands for the first time. Luxury looks different for everyone, and my job is to figure out exactly what it looks like for you.
If Your Personality Was Depicted in a Property, Which Would You Be? If my personality were a hotel, it would be Borgo Sant'Andrea on the Amalfi Coast. From the outside it looks like a sandcastle carved into the cliffside, dramatic and breathtaking, yet the moment you arrive it wraps around you like a warm embrace. It is stunning without being showy, deeply considered without feeling overdone, and rooted in a sense of place that is entirely its own. The mid-century Mediterranean design feels timeless rather than trendy, the beach club is joyful and relaxed, and every detail has been thought through with genuine care and love. It does not need to announce itself because it does not have to. It simply is. That is how I try to approach my work. I want my clients to feel the care and thought that goes into every itinerary without necessarily seeing all the work behind it. I want their trip to feel effortless, personal, and exactly right for them. Deeply personal on the inside, soulful and warm on the outside, and absolutely impossible to forget. That is Borgo Sant'Andrea, and I hope that is me too.
