FILLING THE NEST LUXURY TRAVEL & LIFESTYLE FOUNDER
FILLING THE NEST
LUXURY TRAVEL & LIFESTYLE FOUNDER
Marla Fowler
Filling the Nest Luxury Travel & Lifestyle Founder, Marla Fowler, is a wife, mother, daughter, friend, dreamer, planner and traveler...living her best life in Louisiana, and just about any place else she can, not afraid of her 50's, and ready to share her secrets to FILLING THE NEST!
Marla has been quoted in The Washington Post, Travel Weekly, and was named the FACE OF LUXURY TRAVEL for New Orleans Magazine. She is well known for her attention to detail and unique approach to planning bespoke travel with a focus on customization and access to the exclusive and unknown.
As a Virtuoso Certified Travel Advisor and proud affiliate of NYC -based EMBARK Beyond, Marla is focused on the luxury travel niche, and is passionate about helping her clients achieve their grandest adventure dreams while being over-protective of their travel investments. She knows it's not always what you know, but who you know, in regards to curating epic and personalized exclusive adventures, and has spent the last twenty years building personal relationships within the industry so she can assure the best possible experiences for her clients. She prides herself on planning each client's adventure as if it were her own, and knows that her connections and access are often the difference between a good adventure and a GRAND one!
When not meticulously planning or enjoying travel with her college sweetheart, personal porter and Filling the Nest Luxury Travel Director of Operations, #poorkent, Marla pours her attention to detail into other passion projects from home renovations and entertaining, to family time and wrangling her 2 fur babies, Basil & Olive. You'll often hear her saying "There is no small!", "Never Say Never!", and "If not now, then When?!" and you can see how she fills her own nest
Just Returned From:
SILVERSEA CRUISE
Alaska & Canada
ROCKY MOUNTAINEER
HERE
Certified Travel Professional &
Destination Wedding Specialist
Unlike many of my colleagues, I was not a born traveler.
Other than the occasional road trip, my parents aversion to flying meant we didn't stray very far, but they did instill in me the passion that there are adequate ways to experience something or some place, and there are memorably superior ways...
and life is too short for option A!
Fortunately for my wanderlust and Option B attitude, I married a seasoned world traveler who made it his mission to get my passport stamped, so my very first flight (and first trip out of the country) was our honeymoon. This happened to coincide with a flight attendant strike resulting in all sorts of hiccups and delays,
but as an apology for our troubles,
we were upgraded to First Class
and presented two lovely glasses of champagne before takeoff.
Since that first flight over thirty years ago, I have been fortunate enough to explore and learn and experience and share
in amazing destinations all around the globe.
I make it my mission to dive in and "live like a local"
and experience something off the beaten and typical path everywhere that I go.
Of course nothing tops the amazing experiences I've had in my own home of New Orleans, where I am a New Orleans Destination and Destination Wedding Specialist, encouraging first-time or even frequent visitors to go
and find the luxury and unique experiences we so proudly offer.
With a second home in Celebration, Florida, I am often right in the middle of the MAGIC,
and this allows me to continue to tweak my
approach to all Disney Destinations (land and sea) because there is luxury to be found everywhere, even while wearing mouse ears.
My travels, and those I've planned for others, have all been out of the ordinary experiences and memory-filled adventures that resulted from many, MANY hours of meticulous planning.
For years, my travel planning was limited to that of a passionate hobby, what I'd try to find time for when I wasn't teaching elementary school or managing an art gallery,
two former stops on my career path.
Then one day, empty-nesting presented itself, along with the opportunity to turn my passion into a full-time profession, and join and contribute to the industry which had brought me so much joy and growth over the years.
And all of this led to the birth of...
Unlike many of my colleagues,
I was not a born traveler.
Other than the occasional road trip, my parents aversion to flying meant we didn't stray very far,
but they did instill in me the passion that there are adequate ways to experience something or some place, and there are memorably superior ways...
and life is too short for option A!
Fortunately for my wanderlust and Option B attitude, I married a seasoned world traveler who made it his mission to get my passport stamped, so my very first flight (and first trip out of the country)
was our honeymoon to St. Maarten.
This happened to coincide with a flight attendant strike resulting in all sorts of hiccups and delays, but as an apology for our troubles,
we were upgraded to First Class
and presented two lovely glasses of champagne
before takeoff.
Since that first flight over thirty years ago, I have been fortunate enough to explore and learn
and experience and share
in amazing destinations all around the globe.
I make it my mission to dive in and "live like a local"
and experience something off the beaten and typical path everywhere that I go.
Of course nothing tops the amazing experiences I've had in my own home of New Orleans,
where I am a New Orleans Destination and Destination Wedding Specialist,
encouraging first-time or even frequent visitors to go
and find the luxury and unique experiences
we so proudly offer.
With a second home in Celebration, Florida, I am often right in the middle of the MAGIC,
and this allows me to continue to tweak my
approach to all Disney Destinations (land and sea) because there is luxury to be found everywhere,
even while wearing mouse ears.
My travels, and those I've planned for others, have all been out of the ordinary experiences and memory-filled adventures that resulted from many,
MANY hours of meticulous planning.
For years, my travel planning was limited to that of a passionate hobby, what I'd try to find time for when I wasn't teaching elementary school
or managing an art gallery,
two former stops on my career path.
Then one day, empty-nesting presented itself, along with the opportunity to turn my passion into a full-time profession, and join and contribute to the industry which had brought me so much joy and growth over the years.
And all of this led to the birth of...
Wishing you
hAppy travels !
Marla
And that is the day a luxury traveler
- and in turn -
a Luxury Travel Advisor was born!
And that is the day
a Luxury Travel Advisor was born!
Just Returned From:
SILVERSEA CRUISE
Alaska & Canada
ROCKY MOUNTAINEER
my current obsession
Champagne! Despite all the pictures of me suggesting otherwise, I didn't discover my love (or tolerance) for bubbles until a couple years ago during a fabulous private tour in the Champagne region of France. Until that time, I avoided my now favorite beverage because it was a recipe for instant headache. I know, tragic! So let's just say I am now making up for lost time!
my favorite destination
Shhh...can you keep a secret? It's ITALY!! But whatever you do, don't tell France, all of the UK, NYC, and especially New Orleans I said so! I fall in love easily, and truth be told, I've never met a destination I didn't like, but I do tend to leave my heart behind most in those places with an abundance of culture tied to history, mystery...and FOOD!
Best piece of travel advice
Quality over quantity every time! It's so tempting to jam-pack an adventure, but that just leaves you with a reel full of pretty Instagram pictures, not very authentic or meaningful memories. Slow down, even if it's your first time in a destination packed with bucket list "must dos", try to find a way to immerse yourself, to learn and experience, don't just watch from the sidelines. Travel changes you. Let it!
favorite travel memory
It's hard to pick favorites, but some of my most unforgettable travel memories include flying in a helicopter and landing on a glacier in Alaska, sailing through the majestic Fjords of Norway, climbing an active volcano in Sicily, and flying a falcon in Scotland, but if I could pick only one, it would be a private cooking class in Tuscany with the sweetest family imaginable. My first (and only) pasta from scratch, and we dined at the family kitchen table once the kids came home from school. They ate up my attempt at translating Italian to English and we ate more than our weight in amazing Italian cuisine and culture.
