OUR GUIDES • BUTTERFIELD & ROBINSON
Erin & Stef
Marcos & Denis
“The value added by our more than superb, amazing guides Alex and Abby made the cost of the trip worth every penny.” –Amy Sadoff
ABBY VAN OERS Fitness expert by day. Fine Belgian beer aficionado by night. Proud Dutchy. Hidden talents: Renaissance dancing, speed skating, sheep shearing. AGUSTIN CALVETTI 50% anthropologist. 50% hotelier. But also: restaurateur, trekking guide and polyglot. Oh, and blues guitarist. ALESSIO FRANGIONI Gifted carpenter. Restores aged Italian homes. Don’t need any cornices fixed? He’s also a trained veterinarian. (Handy when the camel breaks down.) ALEX GRAEFE Berliner who loves all things Tuscan. Spends his winters biking in New Zealand. Preternaturally kind-hearted. Has reportedly driven a stray dog home after it joined his walking trip. ALEX MALLORY Can cook “the best quiche of all time” for groups of 40. Does an effortless front flip (he learned it in China). Skis the Swiss Alps like a pro. Also, uh, very modest. ALICE VAN DER VOORT Can jabber away in six international tongues as though possessed. Works with schoolchildren in Laos. Dances on tables in Italy. ALVARO DIEZ Our super-athletic Spaniard. Member of his university triathlon team. Has run more marathons than anyone can remember. When not splashing water majestically onto his own face, prefers travelling off the beaten path by two-wheeled conveyance. AMINA ABDELJAWAD Six-language-speaking Swedish adventure-seeker. Loves to get down. Not just to the depths of Lake Malawi (she’s a seasoned diver), but on the dance floors of Andalucia too. ANGELO SCIMIA Has been spotted in Barcelona, Amsterdam, Paris, Rome, London and his native Italy. Still unknown: address of the top-secret gourmet restaurant he manages. ANTHONY KING Windsurfer. Marathon runner. Free-diver. Forest trekker. Around-the-world cyclist. Suspected adrenaline junkie. ANTHONY WEERSING Dwells in Hawaii living out the American dream: occasionally escaping to Japan. Knows traditional woodworking. Still gets giddy about Japanese culture and cuisine—hence his twinkling eyes. CHRIS GOODWIN Decided he’d rather be scaling Table Mountain in South Africa than playing solitaire in a plush corner office. Many B&R trips later, still terrible at solitaire. (There’s a lesson in this.) CHRISTINA NICK Rehabilitating cheetahs in northern Namibia. Or showcasing her worldrenowned sculpture at an art show in Hungary. Or... CHRISTOPHER LITT Stir-crazy cyclist. Has ridden clear across Canada. Conquered roads in France and Switzerland. Former pedicab driver. Don’t tell him we told you. CLAIR ROGERS A historic Piemonte village on idyllic Lago Maggiore, loved by Hemingway and overlooking Switzerland. That’s not a B&R trip. It’s just where Clair lives. No wonder we adore her. DANA QUINN A high-octane insurance consultant in a former life. Many, many B&R trips later, she’s savouring the slightly slower life in southern France. DANE TREDWAY Wandered from Cape Town to Katmandu. Returned to Toronto for a mild-mannered life of writing and photography. (Also: spelunking, skiing, scuba diving, trekking.) DANIEL BOWER Biked, snowboarded, scuba dived, mountaineered, bunjee jumped and Frisbee-competed across six continents. Still has practically all fingers and toes. DARIUS ARJANG Swaps teaching for guiding each summer. Can whip up the notoriously finicky Sachertorte on command. DEBBIE VANVAERENBURGH Just finished a one-year trip through Moscow, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Philippines, Taiwan and Indonesia. Her fave part? Teaching English to monks in Laos. Also: totally fierce surname. DENIS LUCCANTONI Former Olympian. Still has that golden glow. Spends the winters speed skating, teaching skiing in the French Alps, and being frustratingly down-to-earth. DIEGO GRAU Hails from a small Castilian town. Left a career in biology to join B&R. Says gushy, poetic things like “I found the pure happiness that the path brings you.” DOMINIC GIOSSAN Renaissance man (and possessor of five degrees). Has been hiking and biking in Brazil. Can say “Holy @#$%! Look at that bear!” in English, Spanish, Portuguese, French and Italian. ERIC SPONSELLER Has worked with HIV/AIDS affected kids in
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