Chalon-sur-Saône, France (The Hollywood Times) 10/3/26 – Some trips are about the destination. Some are about the food, the wine, the history or simply getting away from everyday life.
And then there are those rare trips that become something much more personal.
My journey through France aboard AmaWaterways’ AmaCello with approximately 15 friends has turned into exactly that kind of experience. We have affectionately called it the “Dayn & John Unifying Experience,” and after traveling together through Burgundy and Provence, I can honestly say the name could not be more appropriate.
Yes, France has been magnificent. The vineyards, ancient towns, churches, food, wine and countryside are everything one imagines.
But the real story of this trip has been the people.
And one person who deserves enormous credit for helping all of us get here, keeping us organized and making the entire experience run so smoothly is our wonderful travel advisor and group escort, Geisha Cumberbatch of La Rosa Negra Travel by Dream Vacations.
This journey actually began long before AmaCello ever left Arles.
Geisha started bringing everyone together weeks before our departure. In August, she organized a special Zoom gathering called the Dayn & John Unifying Experience Pre-Cruise Briefing, giving us the chance to meet one another and learn what to expect before leaving home.
Geisha encouraged everyone to turn on their cameras so we could actually see the people we would soon be traveling with. That may sound like a small thing, but it says a lot about the spirit of this journey.
It wasn’t simply, “Here are your tickets. See you in France.”
The idea was to start becoming a group before the trip even began.
And then Geisha did what a really good travel advisor does best: she stayed on top of all those details most travelers would rather not worry about.
As departure approached, she reminded everyone to complete the AmaWaterways online check-in, review travel documents, reconfirm flights, verify emergency contacts, understand arrival procedures and keep docking information readily available.
She suggested printing the important portions of our guest booklets and keeping them in our carry-ons. She also wisely recommended taking screenshots of critical travel information so we could access it even when the internet decided not to cooperate.
Having now traveled along the river, I can confirm that was excellent advice.
Geisha was there to answer questions before the trip and continued looking after us once we arrived. Traveling internationally with approximately 15 people means there are always questions.
Where are we meeting? What time are we leaving? Where is the ship? What happens tomorrow? Where are we eating?
And, inevitably, “Does anybody have Wi-Fi?”
Geisha handled it all with patience, warmth and professionalism. She has truly been wonderful to all of us.
Our AmaWaterways itinerary, Essence of Burgundy & Provence, takes us aboard AmaCello from Arles toward Dijon along the Rhône and Saône Rivers.
The itinerary promised Roman history, French châteaux, the vineyards of Beaujolais, Lyon’s celebrated culinary traditions and countryside associated with some of the world’s great artists.
It sounded impressive on paper.
Experiencing it is something else entirely.
There is something almost cinematic about traveling through this part of France by river. Vineyards rise along hillsides. Church steeples appear in the distance. Stone villages emerge around bends in the river. Centuries-old buildings sit comfortably beside modern cafés as though this has always been the most natural combination in the world.
France doesn’t simply display its history.
People live in the middle of it.
My own adventure began in Arles, where my driver was waiting patiently at baggage claim, smelling wonderful and looking quite elegant beside his beautiful Mercedes.
I spent just one night at the charming Hôtel Amphithéâtre before boarding AmaCello, and it was absolutely divine.
Arles immediately makes you aware of just how young America is by comparison. Roman ruins stand in the middle of everyday life. You can walk down a street, turn a corner and suddenly find yourself beside something that has survived for hundreds, or even thousands, of years.
Eventually, though, it was time to board AmaCello.
And from that moment forward, I had a new home: Suite 303.
I have a beautiful suite, and I admit I am completely spoiled.
Suite 303 is on AmaCello’s Violin Deck, and having such a comfortable space has made an enormous difference for me, particularly because I have needed to pace myself physically on this trip.
There are days when I join the excursions and go sightseeing.
And there are days when my body tells me I have done enough.
On those days, Suite 303 becomes my own little retreat.
I read. I rest. I answer emails when the internet decides to cooperate. Sometimes I simply sit and watch France drift by outside.
There is something quite wonderful about being completely still and suddenly realizing:
I am floating through France.
Not a bad way to spend an afternoon.
River cruising is entirely different from traveling aboard one of today’s enormous ocean ships.
AmaCello feels intimate. You quickly begin recognizing the crew, and just as quickly, they begin recognizing you.
From Chris and George to Crystal and the rest of the wonderful team, the crew has helped make the ship feel less like transportation and more like a traveling home.
You see the same passengers at breakfast and again during excursions. You run into friends in the lounge. Meals turn into conversations. People linger.
The ship becomes its own little community.
AmaWaterways offers included excursions in its ports, while guests can also explore independently if they prefer.
And one evening, we even had the Gipsy Kings play for us.
Yes, there are definitely worse ways to travel through France.
That flexibility also works beautifully for our group because none of us travels exactly the same way.
Some people want to do everything.
Every tour. Every winery. Every church. Every hill. Every historic building.
I have friends who seem physically incapable of passing an excursion sign without signing up.
Others prefer a slower pace.
And that is part of what makes traveling together interesting.
We may go in different directions during the day, but eventually everyone comes back together.
And that is where the “unifying” part really happens.
Dayn Conrad and John Ehlers are at the heart of this experience.
They brought together a group of friends with different personalities, backgrounds and travel styles and somehow created something that feels wonderfully cohesive.
There are breakfasts when everybody compares plans for the day. There are excursions, afternoon conversations and cocktails.
There are dinners that last longer than expected because nobody really wants to leave the table.
Photographs are passed around.
Stories somehow get funnier every time they are told.
And then there are those tiny moments nobody could have planned.
Those are usually the best ones.
Dayn and John have created an atmosphere where everyone feels part of something, which is why calling this the Dayn & John Unifying Experience feels less like a cute title and much more like an accurate description.
Naturally, you cannot write about France without talking about the food.
France does meals differently.
Lunch isn’t something you rush through while staring at your phone.
Dinner isn’t simply about feeding yourself.
A meal is an event.
There is conversation. There is wine. Another course arrives. More conversation.
Someone orders dessert.
Someone else announces that they don’t want dessert and then proceeds to eat half of yours.
And eventually coffee appears.
AmaWaterways’ dining fits perfectly into that rhythm, with beautiful meals, multi-course dinners and plenty of wine.
It is a very civilized way to travel.
One of the ongoing questions from home was whether I had eaten escargot yet.
Then one afternoon, there it was.
Escargot.
In France.
Naturally, a picture had to be taken immediately.
Apparently, in 2026, you haven’t actually eaten anything unless someone back home has photographic evidence.
But that is also one of the pleasures of traveling, sharing those little moments with the people who aren’t with you.
Traveling through Burgundy and Provence has also changed the way I think about wine.
It is one thing to order a bottle at a restaurant in Los Angeles or Palm Springs.
It is something completely different to taste the wine while surrounded by the landscape that produced it.
You begin hearing about the soil, the grapes, the weather and the generations of families who have worked the land.
Suddenly, what is in your glass becomes connected to everything surrounding you.
Although sometimes the explanation really doesn’t need to be that complicated.
Why are we drinking French wine?
Because we are in France.
That seems like a perfectly acceptable reason to me.
One of the highlights of our group experience came on September 26, when Dayn, John and Geisha hosted us for a special evening at The Chef’s Table.
This wasn’t simply another dinner aboard the ship.
The Chef’s Table is AmaWaterways’ intimate specialty dining experience, featuring a multi-course tasting menu accompanied by wine in a more elegant setting.
Everyone dressed a little nicer.
We gathered around the table.
And then we simply enjoyed one another.
By that point in the trip, we already had shared experiences.
We had inside jokes.
We knew who would be downstairs ten minutes early for an excursion.
We knew who might arrive at exactly the last second.
We knew who wanted wine.
And probably who wanted another glass.
That evening captured exactly what Dayn and John had wanted this trip to become.
We were no longer simply a collection of people who happened to be traveling together.
We had become a traveling family of sorts.
And once again, Geisha was right there helping make it happen.
I keep coming back to Geisha because she deserves it.
There is an enormous amount happening behind the scenes on a group journey like this.
Travelers see the beautiful ship, the room, the meal, the tour bus and the winery.
What we don’t always see are the emails, confirmations, documents, questions, changes, reservations and endless logistics required to get everyone where they are supposed to be.
Geisha made herself available to our entire group.
She prepared us before we left home.
She reminded us about things we might have forgotten.
She guided us through the process.
And once we arrived in France, she was still there looking after us.
That matters.
A good travel advisor makes travel easier.
A great travel advisor makes travelers feel looked after.
Geisha made all of us feel looked after.
And with a group this size traveling internationally, that is no small accomplishment.
Naturally, I also somehow managed to bring a little Hollywood, and a little Palm Springs, into our French river cruise.
One evening, our group gathered in The Lark Lounge to watch a four-minute music video I co-produced called Find Another Girl to Fix.
The project is especially near and dear to my heart because my friend Jennifer Corday wrote it, starred in it and directed it.
The video was filmed at my Palm Springs home, and my voice can be heard during the opening seconds.
The song was inspired by a breakup my girlfriend and I went through about a year ago, which gave everyone a little extra backstory before watching it. There was something wonderfully surreal about sitting aboard a riverboat in France surrounded by friends while watching a project that had been created thousands of miles away at my home in Palm Springs.
And then, naturally, we headed straight to dinner.
Yes, food again.
Because priorities.
The Lark Lounge itself has become one of our favorite gathering places aboard AmaCello, a place to meet, have a drink, talk about the day and figure out what everyone is doing next.
This trip has also taught me something important about traveling.
You do not have to see everything.
You do not have to do everything.
And you certainly do not have to exhaust yourself trying.
Because of an ongoing health issue following surgery, I haven’t been able to keep up with every excursion my friends have taken.
That has been difficult for me.
When you come all the way to France, naturally you want to see France.
But eventually I realized that spending an afternoon aboard AmaCello doesn’t mean I am missing the trip.
It is part of the trip.
I can read in my suite, watch the river and enjoy the quiet hot tub, where my entire body seems to float effortlessly on top of the water while the weather could not be more perfect.
Then I can meet everyone later, hear their stories and, of course, enjoy another dinner.
Travel doesn’t need to become a competition over who managed to see the most things.
Sometimes luxury is simply giving yourself permission to slow down.
And sometimes the view from Suite 303 is more than enough.
River travel also teaches patience.
There are locks.
A lot of locks.
The ship rises.
The ship lowers.
Sometimes the internet disappears.
Sometimes the Sun Deck closes temporarily while we pass beneath a low bridge or move through another lock.
At first, every lock is fascinating.
Eventually, it simply becomes part of the rhythm of traveling along a European river.
And there is something peaceful about that rhythm.
We are not racing toward the next destination.
The destination comes to us.
When this trip is over, I know we will remember France.
We will remember Arles.
We will remember Chalon-sur-Saône.
We will remember the Rhône and Saône.
We will remember vineyards, wine, churches, historic towns and food.
We will remember AmaCello.
And I will definitely remember Suite 303.
But I suspect that years from now, the first memories to surface will be the smaller ones.
Someone laughing at dinner.
A conversation over breakfast.
A photograph nobody realized was being taken.
A story someone told after an excursion.
The Chef’s Table.
Happy hour.
The Gipsy Kings.
Watching Find Another Girl to Fix together aboard AmaCello.
And simply sitting around with people we care about in a country far from home.
That is what makes traveling with friends extraordinary.
Travel is often marketed as an escape.
This trip has felt much more like a connection.
A connection to France.
A connection to history.
A connection to food and wine.
A connection to friends.
And sometimes even a reconnection with yourself.
Dayn and John brought us together.
AmaWaterways gave us a beautiful way to experience Burgundy and Provence.
And Geisha Cumberbatch helped make the entire experience possible, guiding and caring for all of us from the earliest planning stages at home through our journey together in France.
Between the three of them, something happened that cannot really be measured by an itinerary.
Approximately 15 friends came to France.
And somewhere along the Rhône, we became a little closer.
That is the Dayn & John Unifying Experience.
And that may turn out to be the best souvenir we bring home.
À bientôt from France!
Travel Advisor & Group Escort:
Geisha Cumberbatch
La Rosa Negra Travel by Dream Vacations
Cruise:
AmaWaterways, Essence of Burgundy & Provence
Ship:
AmaCello
Route:
Arles to Dijon
gcumberbatch@dreamvacations.com
By Valerie Milano
