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Hello.
We look forward to meeting you on tour. Before we do, here's some background on who we are.
We're a married couple living in Los Angeles. We've been together since 2010 and have an out-of-this-world son that we love dearly.
Our story, like yours, is an American story. Let's call it a North American story, since we get to spend a lot of time with Canadians who have their own origin tales to tell.
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Essly was born in Singapore. She grew up hearing her father's stories about his precarious childhood under Japanese occupation. After working for Singapore Airlines for several years, Essly immigrated to the United States in the 1990s. Cuisine is her specialty and Essly dedicates her time on tour to ensuring that you discover the best dining that each region has to offer. "Leave no pastry untried," is her motto.
Mickey is a California native whose family immigrated from Devon and Somerset to Massachusetts in the 1640s, from East Sussex in the 1700s, and then overland to California in 1853. His ancestors have served in just about every American conflict since 1776.
Mickey attended a half year of high school in Germany, a full year of college at the University of Munich, majored in European History and International Affairs, speaks fluent German, and has lived and worked in London, Amsterdam, & Hamburg for much of his career. Extended stints in Egypt, Turkey and China are layered in there somewhere as well.
Our fascination with history, cuisine and travel has taken us across a tremendous amount of Europe and Asia. We've traveled both independently and for business. We've also been on great tours, mediocre tours, and tours that were mostly aiming to sell us a carpet. Granted, some of those middle eastern carpets were very, very nice.
In addition to a 25-year corporate career in tech for the entertainment industry, Mickey has been taking clients through Europe on private tours since the mid-90s. Always with a focus on history, food, and exciting places to stay.
We consider it a privilege and a joy to help bring you to the places your family members served in WWI and WWII. We want to help you have an incredible time doing it.
Some of our World War II Stories...
Mickey's grandfather Dan was shipped to the Philippines in September of 1941. He was a Master Sergeant mechanic in the 19th Bombardment Group at Clark Field tasked with keeping B-17s in the air. More than two thirds of his 26 bombers were destroyed by the Japanese on Dec. 8, 1941. Dan and his surviving crew kept the rest flying combat missions as American forces retreated south to Australia. He served in the Dutch East Indies, Papua New Guinea and Australia for another year until the end of 1942. It wasn't easy. One example of what Dan went through is revealed in an entry from his personal diary, on December 7, 1948 that reads as follows ,"Seven years since Clark Field. Still nervous."
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Another grandfather (bottom right) was a navigator Captain named Phil who also signed up before Pearl Harbor. Phil guided bomber squadrons to Africa, Europe, and Asia. To wind up the war, on August 30, 1945, he buzzed the Japanese Imperial Palace in a B-29 at 1,000 ft. Phil was on a mission looking for P.O.W's. A letter home reads in part,"Hundreds of blocks of Yokohama burned flat, and I mean flat. There's no place for anyone to live. Boats sunk everywhere. Prisoners were supposed to signal us, but there was no sign of anything. We zoomed around everywhere and couldn't find a thing. We flew for a time in formation with Navy pilots, who were all over. They had a hard time keeping up with our B-29, even the fighters. And talk about warships in the bay! They're all in there for the signing."
What a couple of legends. We can't wait to meet you on tour and hear about your family.
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