Meet our Team!

We have an outstanding team who develops, leads and co-leads our trips. You will enjoy spending a week with them! They each bring special experience and passion, and their involvement always makes our trips better.

Blog post: European Experiences: It Now Takes a Team

	Kathy Wood Owner, Co-Founder, President Trip Leader: Luberon, Alsace, Normandy, the Cotswolds, Cornwall, Chianti, Puglia, and The European Christmas Experience. In addition to developing, managing, and leading trips, Kathy personally manages our marketing, sales, finance and accounting. She especially enjoys the personal contact with our travelers and using her experience to help them with their plans. Born in Munich, Germany, Kathy grew up mostly in Maryland and spent four childhood years in Melbourne, Australia. She has a BA in English and History from Tusculum University and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, leading to a 27-year corporate career. She spent 17 years as a Vice President of Human Resources for two different companies, taking a family sabbatical in Europe in 2004-2005 and developing the initial plans for European Experiences. After returning from Europe, and in addition to her work with European Experiences, Kathy spent 10 years on the faculty of the business school at the University of Tennessee teaching international business and human resources. During her time at UT, Kathy developed an expertise in understanding cultural differences and working across cultures. She took early retirement from UT in June 2016 to focus full-time on European Experiences. She’s now led over 170 European Experiences trips. A passionate European traveler, her recent travels beyond Europe have included Turkey, Morocco, China, India, Australia, New Zealand, Mozambique, and South Africa. Learn more about Kathy: Forbes.com: Turning A Passion Into A Boutique Travel Business: Don’t Think, Just Do (October 2022) JourneyWoman.com: How Shifting Into A Career in Travel at Midlife Changed Everything (April 2021) Kathy has also been involved on several internet travel sites and taught a popular class in UT's non-credit program for several years, "Planning Your European Vacation." You can find a list of Kathy's online European travel articles here. She's a member of the Advisory Council of JourneyWoman, the world's leading website for women travelers 50+.
	Charley Wood Co-Founder Emeritus & Advisor After Charley and Kathy launched European Experiences in 2006, Charley led 119 tours between 2006 and 2019. He mostly retired at the end of 2019 but continued to co-lead some tours in the years after COVID. Charley fully retired in early 2025, but he’ll join groups from time-to-time as a special guest and will support Kathy and the team behind the scenes. Charley has always enjoyed writing and has published several travel mysteries set in areas where our trips are based. He’s most proud of his book Struthof – Mountain Hell, set in Alsace, mostly in the difficult years of World War II. Read Kathy and Charley’s Reflections on Charley’s retirement on the Slow Travel Tours blog.
	Jennifer Dugdale Vice President Trip Leader: Mediterranean Provence, Riviera Hillsides, Morocco, Portugal, Return to Mediterranean Provence, Paris Experience, Inside Paris, Inside Bath Jennifer joined our European Experiences team in the “pandemic year” of 2020 and first connected with our travelers through the excellent Virtual European Experiences she presented in 2020 and 2021. Since 2022 she has developed and led seven outstanding new tours for us. The Portugal Experience will be introduced in September 2025, and she’s now completing the development of Return to Mediterranean Provence, which will launch in 2026. Originally from California, Jennifer has a BA in English Language and Literature from the University of California – Berkeley. Growing up with a French grandmother, her parents traveled to France every year and brought back tales of Michelin starred restaurants and family-owned wineries. It’s no surprise she ended up following a career in group tourism and incentive travel. Jennifer has traveled extensively around the world. While raising her family, she lived in England, the Middle East, and France, and has made her home in Provence for 20 years. She founded the leading gourmet walking tour in Aix-en-Provence and started a similar business in Bath, England. She also started and managed a small group tour business for a media company focused on France, including tours for women. Jennifer is especially passionate about food and wine; she has a special certification as a wine professional and has worked in a wine chateau. She is fluent in French. And most importantly for our travelers—she is a skilled and creative tour designer and leader, and she delights in sharing special places and other cultures with our groups. .
	Drew Fedorka Vice President - Operations and Special Projects Trip Leader – Inside Lyon. Co-leader: Alsace, Normandy, Périgord, Cornwall Drew joined European Experiences in late 2022. Most of his responsibilities focus on administrative operations and special projects stateside, but he's also involved in leading and co-leading trips in France and Cornwall. He developed and leads our new Inside Lyon trip, which launched in 2025. Born and raised in Connecticut, Drew later moved to Florida, where he attended the University of Central Florida in Orlando and earned both a B.A. and an M.A. in History, with special focus on European history. Returning to the northeast, he started a PhD in French history at New York University in 2016. He received his doctorate in 2024. His dissertation focused on France’s social and economic transformation after World War II and its sometimes-fraught encounter with American cultural and business influence during the period. Drew’s passion for European travel started early. When he was seventeen, he participated in a summer college preparation program at Cambridge University. In the years since, he has returned to Europe regularly and for increasingly lengthy stretches. One of the most rewarding aspects of his doctoral studies was the extended periods he spent in France – about two years in total. During that time, he traveled widely across Europe, fostering meaningful connections and gaining a deeper appreciation for the French art de vivre (the “art of living”). He’s fluent in French. In addition to his work with European Experiences, Drew has led historical walking tours in New York City.
	Kelly Wood Trip Development Specialist Trip Leader: Périgord, Inside Bordeaux. Co-leader – Normandy, European Christmas Experience. As the daughter of founders Kathy and Charley, Kelly grew up with the company and has been actively involved with European Experiences since its start in 2006. After joining several early European Experiences groups, Kelly co-led two Luberon trips with Charley in 2014, was a key part of our research team for the Cotswolds, Périgord and Alsace and led the development of The Normandy Experience. In recent years she's co-led 12 trips, including our Christmas trip and the Périgord, Alsace and Normandy trips. She's now the trip leader for The Périgord Experience and co-leader for The European Christmas Experience and is developing and will lead Inside Bordeaux, launching in 2026. She’s working on a new trip, The Scotland Experience, that we hope to offer in 2027. She also handles a variety of special projects for European Experiences. Kelly received her B.A. in International Studies from the University of Chicago and joint Masters’ degrees in International/World History from Columbia University and the London School of Economics. She’s currently a PhD candidate at New York University, studying Modern European and French History. Beginning at a very young age, Kelly has extensive experience living, traveling, studying, and researching in France and other European countries, including a year in London for her master’s program and three years living in Paris for her dissertation research. Her master’s thesis focused on issues relating to the re-integration of Alsace into France after World War II. Her dissertation focuses on veterans in France after World War II. Fluent in French, Kelly attended the elementary school in Bonnieux when her family lived in Provence in 2004-2005. She's also studied Italian and German.
	Kristin Meador Co-leader - Chianti, Puglia, Scottish Highlands and Islands, Heart of Scotland Kristin joined our team in July 2025. She has participated in developing our new trips in Scotland and will also co-lead our trips in Italy. (Before joining our team she was with us on trips in Alsace, the Cotswolds, and Bath.) Kristin and Kathy met in 2012, when Kristin was in an international business class Kathy taught at the University of Tennessee. Kristin received a BS and MS in Accounting and is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) with experience at a Big 4 accounting firm. In 2018 she started her own accounting firm, Gradient Accounting. With a team of four employees, they support about 50 small businesses through advisory, bookkeeping, and tax. Kristin comes from a very traditional Italian-American family. Her love of travel developed during her university studies, when she spent six months in London while exploring Europe. She took a gap year after leaving public accounting and was able to travel Eastern Europe and Latin America extensively, honing her travel experience and skills and cultural understanding. Over the last several years she’s worked remotely three to four months a year, and she’s now traveled in 28 countries.
	Christian Linke Co-Leader - Luberon Christian joined our team in late 2021. He brings great knowledge and enthusiasm for the Luberon and offers important caring and support for our travelers. Christian was born and raised near Leipzig in the former German Democratic Republic (East Germany). During his time in the military, he was involved in two peace keeping missions in Sarajevo and Prizren/Kosovo. Later he moved to Canada where he met his Canadian wife, Kim. Inspired by the movie "A Good Year," they relocated to the Luberon in 2007, where Christian now owns an estate management and holiday rentals business. He loves the Luberon at all times of year, especially in the spring and autumn when we welcome our Luberon Experience groups. He also shares his passions for photography and the Luberon through his Instagram page, Living in Provence. Christian is fluent in German, French and English and also speaks some Russian. He and Kim live east of Apt in the beautiful village of Viens.
	JP Lichtlé Co-leader - Mediterranean Provence, Riviera Hillsides, Undiscovered Mediterranean Provence, and Portugal JP Lichtlé joined our European Experiences team in 2023. Born in the center of France, JP (short for Jean-Pierre) grew up in a small Solognot village where his aunt ran the local restaurant. At 14 he started his chef’s apprenticeship and quickly followed his sister to London, where she was working as an au pair. He spent ten years in various French restaurants in the Capital, finishing his career in a top London hotel. His academic ambitions led him to a BA in modern languages at Birmingham University where he lectured in advanced French and theater. Later, JP created a translation business, raised three sons, and moved to Aix-en-Provence. After living back in France for 25 years, he now lives in the Algarve in Portugal, where he continues his translation work and enjoys working with our European Experiences groups. In his spare time, JP enjoys cooking for family and friends, home improvement projects, and trips on his Harley Davidson in Provence. He is bilingual in French and English. Our travelers appreciate his international experience, language skills, food and wine expertise, good humor, and safe driving.
	Charlotte Bloch Co-leader Morocco, Paris Charlotte has a BA in Philosophy, Psychology and English Literature from Birmingham University in the UK. Born in Brunei, she spent her childhood and adolescence living in Borneo, Malaysia, West Africa and Australia. She has traveled extensively within these countries, but has also been fortunate to visit various parts of India and Nepal, culminating in an intrepid week’s horse-back and camping trip up the Himalayas. Some of her fondest memories are of summer camping holidays through Europe, especially developing a love for France. So, with her husband and children, Charlotte moved to Aix-en-Provence in 2007 and spent 13 wonderful years there. As a result, she is fluent in French. While in France, Charlotte worked for a travel company, organizing tailor-made holidays to Zanzibar and East Africa. She also worked as a tour guide for ‘Tastes of Provence’, bringing to life the history, food and culture of Aix-en-Provence for her clients. Extensively traveled, Charlotte is passionate about the food and culture of the world’s fascinating places and loves sharing these experience with others.
	Vincenzo Di Modugno Co-leader - Puglia Vincenzo joins our groups for most of our day trips in Puglia and offers valuable (and fun) insights into the culture and history of his native region. Born and raised in Bisceglie, a lovely town near the Adriatic sea, Vincenzo has many passions: art, history, architecture, and agriculture. He owns an olive grove and is involved in a project called “social vegetable garden,” where participants learn how to grow organic vegetables in an urban area. However, Vincenzo’s greatest passion is music. He was only 10 when he bought his first vinyl record and then bought his first DJ set at age 17. One of his favorite bands is Creedence Clearwater Revival. (We may even sing on our bus as we travel through Puglia!) Vincenzo graduated from the University of Bari with a Masters Degree in Technical Translation. He is an interpreter and translator in English and Spanish languages. He has been a licensed tour guide and tour manager since 2010, both in the Puglia and Basilicata regions. Because of his passion and curiosity for these two regions, he attends many lectures on history, art and archaeology.
	Zoë Corbett Co-leader - Cotswolds Zoë was born in Cheltenham, the ‘capital’ of the Cotswolds. After living in London for several years, she returned to the Cotswolds and now lives in Blockley, the village where scenes of ‘Father Brown’ are filmed, with her partner Mark and their dog Milo. Zoë and Mark ran a village shop and Airbnb business in a Cotswold village for six years before Covid. Mark and Zoë then set up a private car hire business and worked with Kathy to provide transportation for our Cotswolds groups in 2022. We were delighted when she joined our team in 2024 . Zoë has traveled the world as a freelance Event Manager and speaks good French. She most recently worked as a host during the 2024 Paris Olympics. In her spare time, Zoë can be found in the kitchen trying out new culinary delights or walking Milo in the Cotswold countryside. Her dream is to retire to the South of France!