US TEAM

Ms. Ning Bond
Founder
Location: Austin, Texas
Formerly an Information Technology manager for a Fortune 500 company based in San Francisco, California, founder Ning Bond is a passionate traveler who brings a personal touch and intimate knowledge of places to Well Arranged Travel. “I truly believe the world will be better if everyone travels and learns about other people and cultures,” says Ning.. “I feel very much at home in France and especially Italy.  I enjoy and frequent the very same places where we take our clients.”

Ning jumps at the challenge of meeting the special needs of her diverse clients, offering customized itineraries or an alternative hotels, for example, or suggesting alternate activities if the planned itinerary doesn’t suit a group member.  She tries her best to accommodate her clients needs.  She once arranged to drive a family of seven from Paris all the way to their cruise ship dock in Dover, England! She and her staff along with her service partners will do everything possible to take care of their clients.

Well Arranged’s trips run so smoothly in large part because of Ning’s thorough due diligence in selecting staff and service partners.  She is frequently in Europe, spending several months a year in Italy and France inspecting hotels, restaurants and meeting with her team members. She also makes sure is remains connected to her clients.  “I talk to many of our clients especially those participating in our small group tours and women-only tours, making sure they are a good match for the tours we offer.  I have turned away those who are not a good fit for our style of traveling,” says Ning.

Jacqueline Cotrell
Office Manager - Travel Consultant
Location: Austin, Texas
  Jacqueline, a Texas native, has lived in many different parts of the US and now makes her home in Austin.  A graduate of The University of Texas with degrees in Interior Design and Architecture, she spent 20 years in commercial design.  Now she is starting a second career in the travel industry, working with clients to create trips to see all of the fantastic art and architecture of Europe that she came to love while she was a student.  “I have a lot of fun helping people plan – whether it’s their office interior or a special vacation.  I just love making the plan come together”, says Jacque. 

Lei Flygare
Bookkeeper, Office Assistant
Location:   California
Lei, Ning's sister, has happily joined the organization to take care of some of the company's back office operations, including payroll and general accounting.   Ning is thrilled to have her come on board, taking her away from her busy home life with the children. "I had been away from the corporate world for quite some time and I'm happy to be back working with Ning.  It's fun to be a part of an exciting and growing organization. I am very proud of what my sister has accomplished", says Lei.

TEAM ABROAD

Mr. Luca Renzini
Director - Italy & France Operations    
Location:  Florence, Italy
Languages:  Italian, French, and English
A graduate of the University of Florence in languages, Luca Renzini hails from Umbria, though he has lived in Florence for the past decade. He has lived in the U.S., Mexico and France, and has worked on tours all over Europe for Well Arranged Travel. 

In his free time he works as a referee for the Italian soccer league and travels the world. “At the age of 27 I realized I was allergic to office work and decided that being a tour manager could have been the only way not to have a boring life... I was right! I adore my work especially because I get the chance to interact with people from all over the world, eat wonderful food, discover new places and improve my language skills,” says Luca.

Luca is assisting Well Arranged Travel in their operation in Italy and many parts of France. He helps recruit the best service providers to join his team. He also assists the US staff doing proposals, managing scheduled tours and acts as the point person for emergencies abroad.  He still occasionally leads or escorts one of our non-private, small group tours in Italy and France.  He conduct tours of Italy, France and other parts of Europe in French, Italian or English.

Antonio Passaro
Tour Guide  - Expert Guide for Pompeii, Herculaneum, Paestum
Location:  Campania, Italy
Languages:  Italian, English
A graduate in English Language and Literature at the University of Naples, Antonio has been an expert tour guide for the region of Campania since 1996. Clients are likely to have him conducting tours of archeological sites like Pompeii and Herculaneum as well as the walking tours of places like Naples, Sorrento, Capri, Amalfi, Ravello and Positano.  He was born and still lives in Benevento, a beautiful little town near Naples.  After few years guiding large groups, he soon realized that his mission was working with small groups and private clients, interacting with them and helping them to fully understand and experience the beauty of the places they are visiting.

After tourism, Antonio’s second love is music. A classical guitar player (and a rock musician in his younger days), Antonio plays in a duo with a clarinet and saxophone player. Antonio also spent over a year in London working in partnership with London Weekend Arts College. Antonio has two wonderful children, Andrea and Adriano, from his wife Alessandra.

Brigitta Schrepfer
Tour Manager, Tour Designer & Consultant     
Location:  Florence, Italy
Languages:  Italian, French, English, and German
You will be in good hands with Brigitta Schrepfer, a licensed tour manager and local tour guide for the city of Florence.  She leads Well Arranged Travel's women's tours in small groups in Italy, Switzerland and Austria.  As a licensed Florence tour guide, she conducts private walking tours of Florence and private museum tours of Uffizi, Accademia, Pitti Palace and more.

Before finding her niche as a tour guide, the multi-lingual Brigitta was a language instructor, whose students ranged company officers to private groups. Originally from Switzerland, Brigitta came to Italy for a vacation in her early 20s and never left… especially since she married an Italian man. She keeps a home right outside Florence, where she raised her two daughters, one of whom now resides in Australia and the other in Asia.  During her time away from work, you may find Brigitta in India in an Ayurveda clinic for those wonderful massages and cleansing treatments.

In addition to her work as a tour manager in Italy and local licensed tour guide for the city of Florence, Brigitta also helped Well Arranged Travel design itineraries in her native Switzerland.  Brigitta conducts tours of Italy or Switzerland in German, English or French.

Gresi Pitino
Tour Guide and Manager
Location:  Rome, Italy
Gresi Pitino, a licensed tour guide to Rome and an Official Vatican tour guide, has 25 years’ experience in tourism and has received training from some of the best living art historians and archeologists in the Vatican.  She is an expert Vatican tour guide with extensive knowledge of the Vatican and Rome's history. 

  “I love studying and learning more and more every day,” Gresi says, who loves to share her passion and penchant for Italian art, history and culture with travelers.

Gresi conducts Well Arranged Travel's private walking tours of Rome as well as museum tours. She is an expert tour guide in Rome and Vatican.  You are likely to have her if you book one of our private walking tours of Rome, our private Ancient Rome tours or our private Vatican tours.

Raffaele Pitari
Tour Guide - Italy
Location:  Florence, Italy
Language:  Italian, English, Spanish and French
Raffaele Pitari was born in the small Umbrian village of Sangemini. “Both of my parents' families are from that village - in other words half of the population are my relatives,” Raffaele quips. “My grandfather -- my hero -- is a farmer. He used to produce wine and is still producing extra virgin olive oil. I got the passion for good wine and good food from him.” Raffaele, who has worked in tourism since he was a high school student, loves to share the pleasures of his native Umbria – aka “Green Italy”– with travelers.

Raffaele knows his country well. As he is passionate about food and wine, you are likely to find him conducting tours in many parts of Italy – Tuscany and Umbria; the Parma, Modena and Bologna areas; and Northern Italy, particularly in the Piedmont wine region famous for Barolo, Barbaresco, Alba, and Asti. Travelers will enjoy hearing about his many travel stories and life experiences over a glass of Sagrantino di Montefalco or Orvieto Classico and a hearty dish of pasta.

Raffaele is an excellent tour guide in Italy who speaks several languages. He conducts private tours of Italy in Italian, Spanish, French and English. 

We are proud that he consistently gets high marks from all his clients.

Paolo Di Gangi
Driving Guide - Italy
Location:  Rome, Italy
Language:  Italian, English

Paolo has been in the travel and transportation business for more than 25 years.  He currently resides in Rome.  Having lived in both Florence and Rome for many years and being a driver guide for many years, Paolo knows Italy inside and out. 

He is likely to be the driver who will take you on your day trips from Rome to Tuscany to cities like Siena and Montalcino or to Umbria's many beautiful cities.  He also takes care of Well Arranged Travel's clients based in Rome doing day tours to Amalfi Coast, Pompeii, Sorrento or Naples.  He also takes care of our clients, whose cruise ships dock in Civitavecchia, and want private tours of the Vatican and Rome.  He is also likely to take you on a private tour if our destinations include Lake Bracciano, Ostia, Tivoli or Villa D'Este.

He consistently gets great reviews from his clients.  He is kind, very conscientious and works very hard to please his clients.  "I believe that the client's comfort is of utmost importance. I work to provide the best service available," says Paolo.

   Other Valued Contributors:

Sunni Chapman
Art Director  |  Web & Print Media
Location: Grass Valley, California
With her degree in applied art & design, and her numerous years of design firm experience, Sunni opened her own company, Bella Fiore Art & Design in 2003. Bella Fiore was founded in the belief that form should not simply follow function, but that form should lead function - giving way to the greater influences of arts in commercial media. Sunni began her firm with the hopes to extend high-end design standards to small and like-minded businesses. Since then Bella Fiore has grown to cater to small and midsize businesses throughout the United States, and looks forward to including international clients into her portfolio soon. Sunni is proud to have designed and developed Well Arranged Travel's new marketing collaterals and website and continues to oversee all design related materials and website maintenance. Sunni aspires to do more work for wonderful people, travel as much as possible, and to savor more of life's little blessings- one journey at a time.

April Thompson
Writer
Location: Washington DC
April Thompson is a Washington, DC-based writer, entrepreneur and consultant whose work has appeared in dozens of books and magazines. She has traveled in some 30 countries, including France and Italy, and worked in Guinea, Tanzania, India, and Egypt. She recently completed a dual Master's in Business Administration and International Development, and currently works several days a week as a consultant for RugMark, a organization that certifies child-labor-free rugs from South Asia. In her free time she plays snare with Batala, an all-woman, Afro-Brazilian percussion group, and enjoys running, boxing, reading, dancing, and most importantly napping with her Guinean wonder-mutt, Quatorze.