Owner & Manager: Brett Naisby started guiding luxury biking and walking tours in France in 1990 for “Butterfield & Robinson.” After two seasons, he returned to Canada to start working for the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs but a few years later he cut short his nascent career to return to Europe in 1994. This time he landed in Tuscany and fell in love with the beauty of the region, and has spent six months a year in the Chianti wine-growing region ever since. In 1996, Brett established active travel companies called "Customwalks" and "Mondo Bike tours," and in 2006 he started "Scooterbella" to offer Vespa tours in the area around his base in Gaiole in Chianti. Over the past 24 years, Brett's three travel companies have run hundreds of trips for thousands of people in dozens of locations throughout Italy, France, Spain, Croatia, Turkey, Algeria, Greece, Slovenia, New Zealand and most recently the Republic of Georgia. Brett oversees all aspects of Scooterbella in a very hands-on way. He continues to research and develop new tours as well as guide several departures a year. He divides his time between homes in Tuscany and New Zealand, where he cruises in style on his vintage Vespa PX 200. (Brett is the guy in the foreground, not the little man standing on his shoulder).
Brett Naisby, Owner-Director, Speranza Travel Ltd.: Customwalks - Scooterbella - Mondo Bike Tours
What makes us different?
1 Our guides
Our mix of North American and European managers and guides allows us to both understand what our clientele want and expect in terms of service while providing them with a trip that benefits from our intimate local knowledge.
Unlike many other companies, our managers and guides live in the areas where we run our trips.
Although we are a small company, we have been enjoying our work since 1996.
2 Experience
Our guides are dedicated to creating both a fabulously fun and an educational travel experience. All of them are accomplished in their own right and are great company on and off the trail. Many have multiple degrees and our ranks include former university professors, business consultants, successful artists (mosaicists, painters, and ceramicists), actors, translators and interpreters, authors, bike racers, and a master sommelier.
The guides are there to look after you, entertain you, inform you and generally enrich your travel experience. They add a lot of value to the tour.
3 Our History
Since 1996 we have overcome currency fluctuations, two Gulf Wars, 9/11, pandemics (S.A.R.S., Bird Flu, Swine Flu), Volcanoes (Eyjafjallajokull’s 2010 eruption), Earthquakes (Christchurch 2011), the Global Economic Downturn AND the dreadful Berlusconi! We are not just an owner-operator operation that seizes up when the owner sprains an ankle. Nor are we a large travel company with huge overheads to cover. We like to keep it simple. There are four full-time employees at Customwalks in addition to our guides. Our livelihood is dependent on the success of our tours and the repeat business of our customers. When you call our toll-free line it gets forwarded to us in Italy. We are here, on the ground, doing what we enjoy and do best: creating unforgettable travel experiences.
