Meet Suze

France Ever After is wholly owned by Suze Douglas, a resident of Scottsdale, Arizona and an enthusiastic Francophile.   As your tour operator, coordinator, and director, she will guide your French adventure.  She is passionate about introducing travelers to the culture, cuisine and history of the regions we visit.   You can relax knowing that you are accompanied by a professional who manages the flow of events…is a problem-solver, should one arise…and will be a friend who will help transform your trip into a truly memorable journey.  After graduating in mechanical engineering and working for a large company in that capacity, she decided that there was more to life than widgets and gears and went back to school to earn an advanced degree in French studies.  While being a life-long traveler to France, she enhanced her knowledge and love of the country by perfecting her language skills and learning about everything from de Gaulle to Dom Pérignon.   In a nod toward her engineering background, she explored the question of why France is not well known for their scientific contributions and discoveries in her thesis entitled: La France…c’est plus que des baguettes et du Beaujolais !  (France…it’s more than baguettes & Beaujolais!)  Suze has been leading tours to France for the last 12 years and continues to be amazed by its deep history, its culinary wonders, and, especially, its inhabitants.

In praise of small group tours ~

Many travelers who are accustomed to planning every detail of their vacations are delighted when they realize how stress-free a small group tour can be.   France Ever After tours are limited to a maximum of 8 travelers.  For those who would rather enjoy a nice glass of wine than to pour over maps of France, find hotels and make dinner reservations… a small group tour is the perfect solution.  This is not a new millennium version of the movie “If It’s Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium” where a group of hapless tourists visit nine European countries in a few weeks.  This is life in the slower lane where each moment and each morsel is savored. 

An interesting statistic from the National Tour Association states that “a typical two-week tour of Europe involves 300 financial transactions.”  YIKES!  If you let Suze do the planning, here are just a few benefits you’ll see:

• You will NOT have 300 financial transactions… unless you go way overboard on gift purchases.  In fact, you will rarely need your wallet!

• If you do not speak French, you do not need to enroll in a Berlitz course!  Your host is fluent in French and will help you with any language difficulties that arise. 

• If you like to enjoy a glass of wine (or two) with your meals, you will not have to worry about driving yourself back to the hotel.

• Do you know the best farmhouse restaurant in the Dordogne?  Or the oldest market in Paris?  Suze does.  And she is constantly on the prowl for new restaurants, sight-seeing activities and local French folks who contribute to the flavor of her tours.

Suze will welcome you and your fellow travelers as a party of friends travelling together, as opposed to a large group of tourists.  To see what past travelers have said, you may click on the “Our Tours” page.

Bon Appétit!

The enjoyment of dining is a delightful and integral part of travel.  That’s why unique restaurants that offer a true taste of each region that you visit will be selected for your dining pleasure.  The French call this le goût de terroir and it is what makes dining in France so memorable.   We only choose restaurants where our small group will blend into the local clientele….we are NEVER the “big American group”.

Once you are in our care, all activities, entry fees, tips, and taxes are included in the tour price. In addition, all meals are included while you are in the countryside. In Paris you will have two dinners on your own, which Suze will be happy to arrange for you.

While in the countryside, Suze drives our own 8-passenger minibus for the daily trips. This allows us to choose the most beautiful routes that the big tour buses cannot navigate!

We only tour in May, June, September and October. Gardens are in bloom, the weather is usually warm, but rarely hot, and the sites that we visit are much quieter than during the congested tour-bus months of July and August.

In order to provide personalized service to every client, our groups are limited to no more than eight travelers