When Poe Travel says, “Poe knows the world, the world knows Poe,” they mean it. Take Ellison Poe, who in 2019 alone has already visited four different continents. From a birthday bash in Ireland and a whirlwind meeting in Egypt to a once-in-a-lifetime trip to New Zealand, she’s been on the go. We caught up with her to get the details on her non-stop schedule.
Wow, you’re unstoppable this year. Highlights, please.
Where to begin? In Egypt we got a private audience with the Sphinx. It was incredible to get to see it up close without throngs of people around. We also got a behind-the-scenes tour of the huge, new Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) scheduled to open in fall 2020 in Giza. It is home to the entirety of King Tut’s tomb’s contents, some 5,000 artifacts. We did a hard hat tour and visited the conservation laboratories, which was fascinating.
In Ireland I roamed the countryside with majestic Irish wolfhounds and stayed at Ashford Castle, former home of the Guinness family. We also got to travel back in time at Ballyfin, the grandest Regency mansion in the country, where you can dress in period garb and have a costume dinner party. Who hasn’t wanted to star in their own period piece?
New Zealand was mind-blowing, the natural beauty beyond words. And the food and wine? Indescribable. It was honestly one of the highlights of my life. We made a pilgrimage to the Marlborough region (home to the sauvignon blancs), we saw sheep being sheared, we tracked the elusive kiwi, took amazing hikes, picnicked on a pink beach, took every form of transportation from bat boat to helicopter to ATV and watched herds of red deer leap across the landscape. The two days it took to get back were the longest of my life, but well worth it.
What’s on the horizon?
In the fall I’m traveling to Wales with a small group of family and friends to take a deep dive into Dylan Thomas country. We’re staying on a sheep farm, meeting up with some corgis in Pembrokeshire where the breed originated and visiting scenic Snowdonia, Craggy Worm’s Head Island and The Mumbles. And no, I’m not making up these names.
Then it’s off to Montana, a sort of homecoming because my mother is from there. I’m also going to Ashland, Oregon, to see a production of “Hairspray” and then to Las Vegas for an annual travel trade show. So I’m really covering all the bases from natural splendor and places rich in culture and history to the Vegas strip.
Any general advice for someone considering a trip this season?
The farther out the better, there’s no time like the present and call Poe Travel, of course.
