• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
Wandering Carol's

Seeking Elsewhere Magazine

Luxury Travel Magazine

  • Home
  • About Seeking Elsewhere
  • Destinations
    • Asia Travel
    • Caribbean Travel
    • Europe Travel
      • Austria
      • Czech Republic
      • England
      • France
      • Germany
      • Hungary
      • Ireland Travel
      • Italy
      • Spain
      • Switzerland
      • Wales
    • North America Travel
      • Canada Travel
      • Mexico Travel
      • USA Travel
  • Spas and Wellness
  • Experiences
    • Hotel Reviews
    • Romantic Travel
    • Sacred Places
    • Adventure
    • Solo Travel
  • Contact

Truffle pigs wallow in travel

Luxury travel blog » Tours » Truffle pigs wallow in travel
April 9, 2010 by Carol Perehudoff

This post may contain affiliate links.

Truffle pigs travel company
I’m a truffle pig

When I met British-born Jack Dancy last night at a Trufflepig party and learned he was an expert on travelling in France, I told him my boyfriend and I were planning a French vacation this year. “We’ve rented a villa in Languedoc!” I said.

“Where exactly?”

This is when I realized I have only a dim notion of where I’m actually going. “Um. It’s in a pine forest somewhere around Avignon and Montpellier. Near a national park. Oh, and there was a famous book … Don Juan rode there with a donkey. No, I mean Don Quixote.”

“Do you mean Robert Louis Stevenson’s Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes?”

“That’s it! I can’t believe you know that.” That’s when I knew he really was a travel expert, though he chalked up his knowledge of the book by a strange quirk of fate … he’s planning to recreate donkey trip this summer with his friends. Weirdly coincidental or what?

Trufflepig, the company, is a bit of a hard one to define. They call themselves a trip planning company. I see it as sort of a travel concierge service. Depending on what your deepest darkest travel desires are, they’ll arrange your itinerary, tapping into the insider knowledge of their experts on the ground who, for obscure reasons, are called pigs. Even more obscurely, Jack and the other Trufflepig managers refer to themselves as pig farmers and though young-ish and sharp-ish and charming-ish they were mainly wearing tweedy-type blazers and rubber boots at the soiree last night.

Truffle pigs travel company people
We’re truffle pigs

The whole pig motif has something to do with their anti-corporate outlook. And um (I’m going out on a limb here) a trip is like a truffle – meaning that the farmers and their experts, like sensitively snouted pigs, can dig out the best and hidden and er, most delicious, places to go.

The salad that changed my life

And then I guess the customer is the happy connoisseur who gets to eat the truffle. And coincidentally, the whole reason I’m going to the South of France this summer is because of a to-die-for black truffle salad I ate at the legendary restaurant, the Colombe d’Or in the town of St-Paul-de-Vence last year. Once I tasted this salad I knew that I should spend as much time in the South of France as possible.

The restaurant that changed my life

And so I planned this dream trip for June. If I’d known about Trufflepig before I’d spent a million gazillion hours figuring out how to book villas, apartments, flights and rental cars, I could have hired them and put my time into completing my never-to-be-finished travel memoir (that’s a lie, I would have found some other way to occupy my time, like sit on the couch and eat Häagen-Dazs). Surprisingly it’s not as pricey as I would have thought – Trufflepig, not Häagen-Dazs, which continues to be an expensive sin – somewhere around $1,000 to $2,000 on top of trip costs. For someone who hates travel planning or is simply fearful of it, this is certainly a swanky alternative to booking a prepackaged bus tour.

So, if it’s a gargoyle tour of Paris you’re after (someone really did request that and it wasn’t me, though I’m not ruling it out) …

I’m beautiful!

or an itinerary based around Spanish Civil War anarchist cafes (my boyfriend’s idea) or um, a bungee-jumping tour of New Zealand (blech), then … dare I say it … sooooeeee! Let the pigs sniff it out.

Or – if you prefer to steal their travel ideas, or just read some surprisingly entertaining travel bites – check out them out at Trufflepig.com.

Category: Tours

About Carol Perehudoff

A former freelance travel columnist for the Toronto Star, Carol has won more than 30 writing awards and honours. A spa and luxury travel expert, she’s written for top travel publications around the globe.

Previous Post: « The Park Plaza Westminster Bridge is near the London Eye A life of mishaps – Park Plaza Westminster Bridge Hotel
Next Post: William Perehudoff paintings of the 80s »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Lily Brown

    May 20, 2012 at 6:45 pm

    As a Travel Consultant, finally, someone figure it out, Concierge travel planners, very good idea, to work someone that has first knowledge where they want to go for their vacs. one thing though,
    I do know and it’s a fact, one of the “pig farmers” is brother of English actor Hugh Darcy and brother-in-law to American actress Claire Danes. I read all sorts aside travel books!

  2. Michele

    April 10, 2010 at 7:57 pm

    Tweed blazers, sharp-ish and charming-ish – I like the whole Colin Firth vibe they’ve got going on. I’ll bet they have lots of inspired ideas for romantic getaways …I’ll check out their website for sure.

Talk to me! Leave a comment Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Sidebar

Subscribe and you won't miss an article!

luxury travel blogger wandering carol on train

About Wandering Carol

In my 10+ years as a travel writer and columnist I've seen the best of what the world has to offer and written for some top publications around the globe - and now my goal is to bring this expertise to you. For more blah blah blah, visit my
About page.

Connect with me online

  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
Carol Perehudoff published in top media, logos for newspapers and magazines

Categories

How to use this adventure and luxury travel site

  • Use the SEARCH BOX if you’re looking for something specific.
  • Click on the ‘DESTINATIONS’ tab on the top menu to see the countries we write about.
  • The CATEGORIES drop down menu above will point you to places and popular travel themes such as outdoor adventure and solo travel.
  • SUBSCRIBE to keep up with the latest articles and get tips to make your next journey inspiring.

Inspiration

“Who says you can’t run away?”

Share

Copyright © 2022 · Wandering Carol’s Seeking Elsewhere Magazine · All Rights Reserved · Disclosure and Privacy Policy