Gina Rader
Gina Rader
Italy Expert & Travel Designer in New Orleans, LA
I’m Gina and I am from the Greater New Orleans area. Ever since I was a little girl, my mother would always say that one day she wanted to visit the town her grandparents came from. Both my parents are Italian and I’ve always shared that dream with them! I’m happy to share that our dream came true, which is when my passion for traveling started! I’m a strong believer in the fact that traveling enriches your soul and opens your mind. Travel is the only thing you buy that makes you richer. Do you have a dream trip in mind? Let me plan your dream adventure!
My top tips for first-time travelers to Italy
- Avoid trying to see everything in one trip; focus on 3-4 cities or a single area for deeper cultural immersion.
- Leave room for free time to discover “hidden gems” and explore independently.
My favorite “must-sees”:
- St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, the largest dome and basilica in the world.
- The picturesque countryside of Tuscany for its serene beauty.
Advisor Reviews
★★★★★
Gina Rader was my travel advisor for a recent trip to Sicily from April 24-May 8, 2024. I could not have asked for a better planner! I told Gina the areas of interest for me, namely Palermo, Contessa Entellina, & anywhere in between.
My idea was to travel the countryside, avoiding the big cities as much as possible & interacting with the local people in their regional areas.
I was not disappointed. Gina planned & coordinated, from start to finish, an excellent trip in more ways than I could ever imagine, including wine tasting at one winery to staying the night at another and even a cooking class! The accommodations were above par & the food was, well, I’m Sicilian - awesome!!
If you’re looking for a travel advisor that will go the distance in planning your dream vacation where you don’t have to lift a finger doing any of the planning, definitely contact Gina Rader!!
★★★★★
Gina Rader put together a truly unforgettable, once-in-a-lifetime trip to Sicily for my father, my husband and I. She listened carefully to our desires and designed an itinerary that perfectly matched our interests. My father requested to find the home and flour mill of his maternal grandfather and then have an overview of the island. Gina connected us with Vivere Slow, an organization in Contessa Entellina, where we met Anna & Nino. They picked us up from the Palermo airport, stopped along some places on the west side to tour and eat while eventually making our way to Contessa Entellina. Anna was able to locate our ancestral line and also found living relatives which we met with. We were also able to visit the ancestral home and flour mill of my great grandfather. It was truly amazing and unforgettable. From there we mostly followed the coast all the way around the south, east and north arriving back in Palermo. We had many amazing tours in various cities and towns and also toured 2 wineries. Gina truly went above and beyond with her attention to details, her knowledge of the areas and exceptional service. All accommodations were top notch. We felt completely taken care of throughout the entire process of planning and executing. She provided us with a list of tips, points of interest in each place, emergency contact numbers, local weather app, recommendations, how and where to exchange dollars to euros, etc. We could not have asked for a better agent, and I highly recommend her to anyone considering a trip. Gina made our dreams into reality, and it was virtually a stress-free planning process.
★★★★★
My husband and I had the Italian honeymoon of our dreams, and Gina truly was an integral part of that. We had never been to Italy before, and the thought of planning our own trip amidst the wedding prep chaos felt a bit too monumental. Boy am I GLAD we had Gina’s wealth of knowledge and guidance. She worked hard to make sure we had everything we needed. She worked within our budget, which was pretty conservative, and I couldn’t believe how many amazing things she was able to fit into our itinerary. We were able to do 4 cities in 12 days, and squeeze in a little day trip to St. Moritz, Switzerland. It was a huge help to have someone set us up in nice safe hotels, and handle the logistics of transportation between cities. That alone removes so much stress. She created a beautifully balanced itinerary for us, that gave us enough free time to explore the cities at our leisure, while making sure we didn’t miss out on anything important. A lot of the popular monuments and tours must be booked well in advance, and with her help we were able to see so much, and didn’t have to stand in long lines to do so either. Gina really went above and beyond to personalize our trip just for us. For example, I don’t drink, so instead of wine tastings, she set us up on a vespa tour in the Tuscan countryside. We also loved her restaurant and shopping recommendations. She had regular video calls with us in the months leading up, making sure we knew everything we needed to know, and had all our tickets and vouchers organized for us in the app. Once we were in Italy, she kept herself available and checked in on us regularly. We barely ran into any snags, but she was always there to help us with any confusion or mishaps! Gina we can’t thank you enough. We had the most amazing time.
★★★★★
After reaching out to Gina Rader about our long awaited Anniversary trip to Italy, she set out to make it the most memorable occasion. From getting to know our thoughts & goals to securing special touches throughout our tour of Italy! From the hotel rooms with special, one of a kind views, to champagne, wine, fruit & chocolates to greet us, we sensed the time and effort she put in to make our trip unique to us! The planning of our travel by boat, train, transport service, rental car & tours were smooth sailing & easy to navigate. We are so happy to have had her caring touch put in to our first European vacation & highly recommend her expertise of creating an Italian vacation of a lifetime!
★★★★★
Just returned from a 3 week vacation planned by Gina and Travel Byrds. It was an amazing trip to Southern Switzerland and Northern Italy. The agenda developed for us was so detailed and specific to our needs and what we wanted for this trip. The app was easy to use and kept us on task with all of our documents needed to be organized. Look up Gina with Travel Byrds shes easy to work with and you will have a wonderful vacation!
★★★★★
Gina with Travel Byrds is amazing. She is very patient and answered all of our questions. She worked hard to make sure all of our arrangements were exactly what we wanted and worked swiftly to get the Itinerary completed. Their app is really nice as well which helps keep track of your schedule of events. Can’t wait to travel more with Gina and Travel Byrds!
★★★★★
Shout out to Gina Rader for making our Italy trip so amazing. The be term “trip of a lifetime” gets thrown around a lot, but with Gina’s help our trip truly was. Gina started with zoom calls to understand us, likes, dislikes etc. she handle arranging everything from transportation, hotel accommodations, restaurant recommends and even reservations. Her attention to detail on the front end made the trip stress free. Finally, during the trip she was available for support and last minute changes we wanted to make. I highly recommend her!!! Thank you Gina!
★★★★★
Gina Rader planned my trip to Sicily. She researched and planned all the towns I wanted to see. She suggested a pasta making class, which I did and I felt like I was experiencing the Sicilian culture. Gina is very knowledgeable about Italy bc of her own experiences spending time in Italy. I would definitely recommend her to plan your trip. She makes your trip easy and very enjoyable.
★★★★★
I planned my first trip to Europe with Gina. I ended up doing one week in Rome and one in Florence. She was able to meet all my needs such as authentic Italian food, local shopping (I wanted to shop where the locals did), small towns nearby ( ended up seeing Sienna - highly recommend) and art museums/galleries. It was important to me that I soaked up all the art I could. My hotel in Rome was booked right by a Banksy exhibition and the other nearby the Jeff Koons exhibition in Florence. She listens and I can’t wait to book my next trip with her.
★★★★★
Without Gina Rader’s expertise on my trips to Italy I would not have the awesome experience of a lifetime traveling to this country!! Look forward to many more trips planned by her! Highly recommend using her as your travel planner!
★★★★★
Gina designed my trip to Ireland. She is thorough, very organized, and detail oriented. I would definitely let her plan another trip for me again!
★★★★★
Gina helped us plan our trip to Italy. She was so knowledgeable about the area and had so many wonderful tips for us. We couldn’t have planned this without her.
★★★★★
Gina Rader was our "travel arranger" for a two-week extravaganza trip throughout Italy for our family of 10. She was amazing! Gina arranged every detail for our movement through, and accomadations in, four cities. She informed us of all the details and updated us regularly through texts and a travel app. Gina made herself available while we were in Italy, even though we were 7 hours ahead of CST. We highly recommend Gina!
★★★★★
We just returned from an 11-day cruise to Italy, Croatia, Greece, France, and Spain with a pre night in Venice and couldn’t have done it with out the help of our travel agent, Gina Rader. She is very attention to detail and meticulous, and didn’t miss a beat! She handled everything, from booking our lovely hotel in Venice, water taxis, train, private drivers, cruise details…she even made us dinner reservations at one of the best restaurants in Venice! She had so many tips as far as what to pack and bring …so many details that i wouldn’t have known. I felt comfortable texting or calling her with any questions. She always got right back to me and had the answer. I especially loved the app that she has you download, that had all of our travel plans , flight schedule,, transportation , travel documents, travel tips, in one convenient place. I highly recommend Gina and Travel Byrds, and will definitely use them (her) again to plan our next vacation!
★★★★★
Gina Rader was fantastic to work with when planning a trip to Sicily with my sister. We gave Gina our budget and our ideas on where to visit and she came up with a great itinerary for us. We received our itinerary with links to important information which was perfect. All we had to do was click and we had everything we needed. We met a few times face-to-face online to discuss the entire trip making the process more personal than just emailing back and forth or just talking on the phone. Gina gave us options for hotels in each place we visited and set up tours with guides who were amazing. We were also set up with drivers so that we did not have to worry about how to get from one place to the next. We did not have to worry about anything until our plane flight was delayed three hours causing us to miss our connection. Gina helped us reschedule another connection right away alleviating that stress immediately. Our trip was amazing! I would recommend Gina to anyone needing help with planning a trip! Her attention to detail and communication skills are outstanding!
★★★★★
Having Greek Heritage with an interest to travel, my husband and I contacted Gina Rader with TravelByrds to help plan a trip to Greece and Italy. Gina embraced the opportunity to provide us with an itinerary worthy of a once in a lifetime adventure. Gina's selections of lodging, excursions, transfers between locations were detailed and exceptional. We have complete confidence that our late summer trip will be everything we could hope for thanks to Gina, truly a great first step if travel to Italy is in your future. Stephanie Jacob Daigle
★★★★★
We just returned from an ll-day cruise to Italy, Croatia, Greece, France, and Spain with a pre night in Venice and couldn't have done it with out the help of our travel agent, Gina Rader. I highly recommend Gina and Travel Byrds, and will definitely use them (her) again to plan our next Vacation.
★★★★★
Gina at Travel Byrds has scheduled two amazing trips for us. Very detailed and easy to work with. We have really never used travel agents and have always scheduled trips ourselves but this process is much easier, you dont have to worry about every little details its done for you. Plus there is an app with a detailed itinerary to follow. They make it so easy.
★★★★★
Gina Rader was fantastic to work with when planning a trip to Sicily with my sister. We gave Gina our budget and our ideas on where to visit and she came up with a great itinerary for us. We received our itinerary with links to important information which was perfect. All we had to do was click and we had everything we needed. We met a few times face-to-face online to discuss the entire trip making the process more personal than just emailing back and forth or just talking on the phone. Gina gave us options for hotels in each place we visited and set up tours with guides who were amazing. We were also set up with drivers so that we did not have to worry about how to get from one place to the next. We did not have to worry about anything until our plane flight was delayed three hours causing us to miss our connection. Gina helped us reschedule another connection right away alleviating that stress immediately. Our trip was amazing! I would recommend Gina to anyone needing help with planning a trip! Her attention to detail and communication skills are outstanding!😃
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