about
March 16, 2010 at 8:29 pm
Travel Expert. Storyteller. Extraordinary Experiences. I am a storyteller and Hip Travel Mama is my story. It is my guidebook to share and inspire others with the things that fuel me, and reminder to live each moment as if I am creating my story. HipTravelMama.com is a place to inspire other moms to live an extraordinary life and get out and experience all the world has to offer. It is my commitment to my husband to celebrate the life we are building together, live authentically and a promise to my children that I will lead by example. It is a daily reminder that I am the author of my story and no one else can write it for me. What is your story? Hip Travel Mama’s mission is simple. To inspire families to travel well, create and live their own story and seek balance and joy in this crazy journey with kids. Often, we find our center in the simple luxuries of life such as travel, great style, great food and of course, the occasional extraordinary glass of wine. Anne Taylor Hartzell, (a.k.a. Hip Travel Mama) shares hip tips and inspiration for making every trip an extraordinary adventure. Anne and guest experts and contributors review luxury getaways, unique accommodations and activities for families in popular destinations. Hip Travel Mama also hosts events that celebrate the joy of travel including great food, wine and style. HipTravelMama was recently recognized as one of the Top 25 Family Travel Blogs of 2011 from Babble.com.
About Anne Taylor Hartzell, HipTravel Mama
Anne Taylor Hartzell, a.k.a Hip Travel Mama, is a travel expert, travel writer, mom of two, trained storyteller and an experienced speaker and spokesperson with a passion for inspiring families to create unique travel experiences together. With more than 15 years experience building technology and travel brands, Anne Taylor Hartzell is often bubbling over with ideas to engage with consumers, the blogging community and social media to tell their story. Anne’s travel tips have appeared on The TODAY Show, CNN.com,Conde Nast Traveler, KING 5 News, Budget Travel, The New York Times, Good Morning Texas, ABC Dallas.
Spokesperson for hire
Need a travel expert travel expert that has been in the trenches? Anne Taylor Hartzell is a trained speaker and broadcast media spokesperson with a passion for style and discovering hip places to travel, stay, eat, shop and do. To connect, email anne [at] hiptravelmama [dotcom]
Hip Travel Mama is a social media and marketing expert and a frequent guest speaker on the topic of PR, social media and personal branding including the 2010 Luxury Travel Expo and the 2011 TravelBlogExchange. Email anne [at] hiptravelmama [dotcom] to learn more, or visit Anne Taylor Communications.
HipTravelMama focuses on four areas of luxury family travel
Our focus is not on the quantity of trips you take with your kids, but the quality of your family’s travel experiences. There are as many styles and outstanding resources on traveling with kids as there are families. What you will find here is just a bit different:
- Hip Tips: Tips for luxury travel with or without kids, ideas for fun trips and luxury destinations
- Hip Hotels: luxury hotel reviews, hip hotels that are kid friendly and unique
- Food and Wine: Regionally inspired family-friendly recipes, global culinary experiences and wine picks for parents
- Luxe Style: Stylish and functional fashion for mom, family and the home, plus travel related products
Our Community. Travel planning starts in our community, and with people with whom we have shared experiences, interests and budget. Often our best vacation ideas or advice comes from a neighbor, a colleague, a mom at school, or a parent on the playground. HipTravelMama is a community of hip travel writers, moms (and the occasional hip dad) who love to travel, are willing to splurge a little (or a lot) on exceptional experiences and are eager to share with other families. Sophie Vander, Luxe Style Contributor Sophie Vander is luxe style contributor for HipTravelMama whose LBK (life before kids) was as editor of various travel and lifestyle publications in Australia, including the Virgin Airlines in-flight magazine. Now a mother of four munchkins (ages 16 months to 8 years), her passion for travel continues as her “who says you can’t?” attitude takes her family across continents to explore everything the world has to offer. With four girls, her house is an ever-changing style hub, and her obsession with affordable luxe has expanded to include fashion for little people. Sophie is also owner of Seattle-based Sophie Vander Communications which specializes in travel, home, and style editing and writing. Visit her blog, Curatorial + Co.
Fiona VanAlstyne, Luxe Food & Wine Contributor Fiona Van Alstyne is a food and travel writer with a passion for eating, contemporary entertaining and boutique travel. Growing up in Europe, she has travelled extensively and worked her way through France, Germany, Latin America and the US in technology and finance, each part of the journey adding to her knowledge of food and global culture. With a reputation for creating magical dining and entertaining experiences for children and adults alike, she believes there is no better way to connect with family and friends than over great food and wine. She now continues to travel with her family and is excited to share her ideas with the rapidly growing HipTravelMama community! Fiona also writes about food at ediblesociety.com which has been featured in Saveur Magazine’s ”Best of the Web” and “Sites We Love”.
Michele Conrad, Contributor Michele Conrad is full-time working mother of 3 (8 and twin 3 year olds) that loves an organized, healthy and fabulous looking meal each evening. She thrives on bright, flavorful and seasonal ingredients and isn’t afraid to try out new recipes each week. Best part of her the day is arriving home, pouring a glass of white wine and making dinner with her family while the chaos erupts all around. Each of her kids have nightly duties: table-setter, stirring captain and the special job of grabbing herbs or veggies from the garden before all sitting down as a family for that special meal each day. Michele keeps all her weekly meals posted on her blog, Conrad Family Weekly Dinners. She hopes to inspire families that meals can be easy and delicious when planned ahead. Michele loves to travel, whether it’s taking her family to her one of her favorite destinations in Carmel or Santa Barbara, a romantic getaway with her husband to Lanai, Hawaii, or a girls weekend away to Miraval in Arizona. She loves to search and plan ahead to find the best farmers market, shopping and of course the best place to enjoy a lovely meal.
Editorial Policy We want you to know that honesty and authenticity are the core of our recommendations. HipTravelMama may from time to time review a property, product or recommend a travel service that inspires our readers to travel with their family. Periodically, we may also take trips that are sponsored by a travel company, airline, hotel, tourist attraction or consumer product. If a trip or product was sponsored or paid for, we will disclose that information within the post or review and provide an authentic and honest opinion about our experience. Photos courtesy of Fernstrom Photography.