Tour Leaders, Cristina Taioli and Andro Tartaglia

Cristina Taioli

Cristina is spending her winter in many different ways: she writes articles about her trips for a local newspaper, she’s just received her license to pilot boats (specifically for her work as a scuba instructor, but also just for fun!), she’s also taken short trips to visit friends and family in Ireland and Belgium -- countries most people wouldn’t plan on vacationing to in winter, but still fun to visit for their different culture and lifestyle! In late January she headed to Argentina to visit a friend and his winery in Mendoza, and then she joined the February, ExperiencePlus! Pedaling the Andes bicycle tour as half tour leader, half vacationer! After some more time in South America (perhaps the Patagonian glaciers and the northern parts of Chile and Argentina, but who knows what might strike her fancy....), after that she'll return to Italy ready to start the ExperiencePlus! European bicycling tour season. Hopefully you'll join her on tour in Italy this coming summer and ask her about her Argentinean escapades, or about her scuba diving experiences.

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Andro Tartaglia

Andro left sunny Croatia in mid December to renew his ski instructors license in Italy, but because he was late with his enrollment there were no more spaces available so he decided to prolong his summer and immediately did an about face and headed for the Canary Islands for a week of windsurfing! When he landed back in Vienna the ground was white with snow and it was time to hit the slopes of Tirol. During the winter Andro is based in Soll, a charming village in Tirol, very close to Innsbruck and Salzburg. For the last 8 years he has been working as a ski instructor but this year he realized he really prefers back country skiing more than downhill so knew something had to change. SO this year he’s been working in a ski shop tuning skis, and has managed to negotiate for the perfect working hours; Monday to Friday only 2 hours in the afternoon and all day on the weekends which gives him 5 days of freedom; to explore the mountains in the area, go back country skiing, and just enjoy the mountain! He still teaches occasionally, but as he likes to say: ''I have to save my knees, they need to work for me for many, many more years''.

Though he is happy being a ski bum in winter, Andro is always ready to return to his homeland, Croatia for the summer season, where he'll mountain bike, windsurf, eat nice and healthy Mediterranean cuisine, enjoy the Croatian Islands before he starts to lead ExperiencePlus! bike tours. Spending time abroad has made him realize how nice it is in Croatia and how much he loves to share his country with people who want to explore and discover new places so he invites you to come to join him in Croatia so he can show you all his country has to offer.