Jenny
Serena

I have always had a passion for travel. Growing up, I was fortunate to visit Italy several times, as my parents are from the northern Italian region of Friuli, just north of Venice. I spent a summer there with my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins while I was in high school and still have family in Italy that I try to visit as often as I can. My father’s childhood home is our family home in Italy and remains very special to me.

After high school, I enrolled with Braniff Education Systems, completing a home-study course before moving to Dallas for their residency program. When I returned to Iowa, I began selling vacation travel with some corporate accounts in 1980. In 1983 I changed positions and worked for a meeting and incentive company for two years. After taking a year off following the birth of my first child, I returned to the industry as a full-time corporate travel agent. In 1992 I helped launch a new travel agency, where I sold leisure, corporate, and group air and managed group land extensions both before and after travel. I also handled the Airline Reporting Corporation (ARC) reports and managed the office operations.

In 2012 I left the travel industry to pursue another career but discovered it wasn’t the right fit. I was fortunate that a former coworker—now my manager—encouraged me to return to travel. I am back home and loving it more than ever.

I became an Independent Consultant in 2022 and I am affiliated with 1000Mile Travel Group.

Today I specialize in vacation travel with a particular focus on Italy. I also enjoy designing trips to Europe, the South Pacific, and the Caribbean, including all-inclusive resorts in Mexico and the Caribbean. I am a big Walt Disney World fan and loved my first trip to Disneyland in December 2013; I especially appreciate the original park and its manageable size.

Some of my favorite recent trips include Puerto Vallarta (April 2015), where I fell in love with the mix of ocean and the Sierra Madre mountains; Rome, Vatican Museums, St. Peter’s, Florence (my personal favorite Italian city), Cinque Terre, Udine, and the walled town of Palmanova (June 2016); Cabo San Lucas (April 2017); La Jolla, Coronado Island, and Mission Beach (June 2017); an AMA Rhine River Cruise (November 2017), which took me to Amsterdam, Cologne, Rüdesheim, Strasbourg, Breisach, and Basel; Cortina d’Ampezzo and the Tre Cime di Lavaredo in the Italian Dolomites (September 2019); and a trip to Sedona, Page Springs, and Jerome, Arizona (December 2018). Ireland and Northern Ireland (February 2023) New York City (October 2024) Spain with stops in Barcelona, Valencia, Granada and Alhambra, Cordoba, Sevilla, with a final night in Madrid (November 2024) Rocky Mountaineer/Canyon Railways Denver to Moab Utah and Arches National Park (June 2025). Flagstaff Arizona and Lower Antelope Canyon, Arizona (November 2025). Berlin, Ghent Bruges and Amsterdam to attend the ASTA River Cruise Expo (March 2026). All of these experiences continue to inspire how I help clients plan their own dream vacations.