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Carole Nelson Brown

@mamashack

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I travel/cook/write/makeup and now this: Carole Brown | Travel Advisor Fora Travel (TICO #50027942)
1235 Bay Street, Suite 700, Toronto, ON, M5R 3K4

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Ireland has a way of making time feel generous. Whether you’re travelling with grandchildren, grown kids, or the generation above you, something about this island — its pace, its stories, its willingness to linger — seems to meet every age where it is. I wrote about exactly this for @caamagazine: how to plan a multigenerational trip that actually works for everyone. Link in bio if Ireland is on your horizon. 🍀
#IrelandTravel #MuligenerationalTravel #TravelWriter #IrelandWithFamily #SlowTravel by @mamashack

Day one in Loulé and the glitter has officially entered my bloodstream.

Confetti in my hair. Samba in my bones. Brass bands bouncing off whitewashed walls.

Carnaval here isn’t just a parade — it’s satire on wheels, feathers in motion, and an entire town winking at the world.

Sunshine, sequins, political floats that pull no punches, and grandmas dancing like they invented rhythm.

Portugal does winter differently.

And honestly? I may never emotionally recover from the sparkle. #auburnlanetravel #carnivale #loulé #portugalfestival #traveljournal by @mamashack

What happened to a bit of steak? I only want the turf 🙄 by @mamashack

So many things but I’ll settle for five things by @mamashack

Madrid is calling - I mean, when isn’t Madrid calling? #solotravel #traveljournal #traveladvisor by @mamashack

Few months as a Fora advisor, and here’s where clients have sent me so far: Mexico, Spain, Portugal, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Canada. Packages to insurance, I’m booking the whole trip, not just the pretty part. DM me if yours is next. #traveladvisor #traveladvisorsmakeithappen by @mamashack

My love for Seville is no secret. When I was spending the winter I. The Algarve, I visited so often that I just relocated there for my final month. I've sent solo women who'd never traveled alone, couples on their third trip to Europe, people convinced they'd hate the heat — and it gets every one of them anyway.

People compare it to Madrid, but that's the wrong comparison. Madrid wants to be a capital. Seville doesn't care what it looks like from the outside — it just keeps being itself, orange blossom and all, whether or not you're paying attention.

Once May hits, the heat runs the place, not the other way around. Shutters come down at 2, the streets empty out, and nobody's apologizing for it. You either adjust or you fight it the whole trip. I've watched people resist for two days and then just... surrender. That's usually when the city actually opens up for them.

At this point I've built so many itineraries here that I've basically made every mistake there is to make, so my clients don't have to. This is the Seville I send people to — not the postcard version, just what actually made me love it. Link to the guide's in bio. #traveljournal #seville #traveladvisor by @mamashack

I love Porto. I have never sent anyone here who hasn't fallen under its spell — solo women, first-timers to Europe, people who've never left their own continent, honestly just about everyone. It works on all of them.

Don't get me wrong, Lisbon is great. But every time I go back it's become a little less Portuguese and a little more like everywhere else — same specialty coffee shops, same co-working spaces, same conversations in English you can hear from across the square. Porto hasn't been swallowed by the expat-and-digital-nomad wave yet, and I hope to god it holds out.

It's slower here. Calmer. The city doesn't perform for you the way some destinations do — it just goes on doing what it's always done, and you're welcome to keep up or not. It can take a little longer to fall under its spell than somewhere flashier. But you will. Everyone does.

I've built more itineraries around this city than I can count at this point, which is really just a nice way of saying I've made most of the mistakes so you don't have to. This is the Porto I'd actually send a client to — not the highlight reel, just the places and the reasons that made me fall for it in the first place. Find the link to my guide in bio #traveljournal #porto #traveladvisor by @mamashack

65 years of Nathan Phillips Square covered in art.

Toronto Outdoor Art Fair turns 65 this year — 400+ artists from coast to coast to coast, painting, photography, craft, sculpture, all of it outside, all of it for sale, all of it walkable in an afternoon.

Caught the preview before the crowds. Here’s what’s worth seeing. Jewelry, photography, painting, sculpture, performances and so much more. #TOAF65

📍 Nathan Phillips Square
🗓️ July 10–12
🎟 Free by @mamashack

Hit $10K USD in bookings the past couple months. 🎉

Every single client has been a joy to work with — thank you for trusting me with your travel.

Free planning through end of July. Starting August, I charge for it.

Got adventuring on your mind this month? Let’s talk. by @mamashack

Iceland isn’t just waterfalls and aurora chasing — it’s also five-gaited horses who’ve been doing their own thing for a thousand years, untouched by outside bloodlines. Riding through lava fields on one of them is the kind of moment that makes a trip. If you want an Iceland itinerary built around experiences like this and not just the highlight reel, send me a DM and let’s start planning. I dreamed of riding a tiny Icelandic horse, made that dream come true and shared my experience on Auburn Lane. https://www.auburnlane.com/could-riding-icelandic-horses-be-your-ultimate-thrill/ #iceland #icelandichorse #traveladvisor by @mamashack

My top five things to do in Porto for AMA Insider Magazine. Everyone goes to Lisbon, and although I love that city, there is something about Porto that really gets under your skin ❤️ Is Porto on your radar? by @mamashack