Aster Travel Design is a travel design studio in Portland, Oregon, working with travelers across the United States by phone, video call and email. Write to hello@astertraveldesign.com and a designer replies within one business day, Monday to Friday, 9 to 5 Pacific time.
What to include
Destination or region, rough dates, how many people are traveling and their ages, and a budget range you are comfortable with. If you are weighing two or three options, say so. If you have nothing but a month and a rough idea, that is enough to open the conversation.
Before you write
- Lead time: 90 days for custom Europe itineraries, six weeks for most other regions.
- Design fee: $250 for new clients on custom or multi-country trips. Simple domestic bookings are fee-free.
- Departing inside 30 days: $150 expedite fee, since the design compresses into days.
- Already booked with us: put your departure date in the subject line and we move it up.
Planning something larger? Our events program lists the evenings we host in Portland and the group departures where we hold space.
What happens after you write
A designer reads the message and replies by the next business day, either with a first set of questions or with a time to talk. For that call, bring what you already have: passport names, anyone's mobility or dietary notes, and the trips that went wrong before. Those three shape a route faster than any list of sights, and the first call runs twenty minutes.
What this inbox does not do
Writing here books nothing and holds space in no one's name. We do not answer visa or embassy questions, and a first message is not a quote; it is how we work out whether the studio fits the trip and how long the design would take.