We are Shannon McDonald Tate and Mario Torres and we have operated Scottish Dream Tours for almost 25 years. We were ready to retire, unfortunately the Covid years had other plans for us. The Covid years were rough, but what was even more devastating was that we had lost our dream. Even though 2023 was a rough year, there were two tours that stood out as very different from the others.

We have a tremendous amount of repeat business with Scottish Dream Tours, but both tours were full of almost all new people. We enjoyed these tours in ways we had not been enjoying other tours for a few years and decided to analyze them to see what was so different.

We finally decided it was because there were fresh new eyes taking in everything we were showing them with awe, excitement, and wonder. They took in every word we said and then looked for more. The appreciation level was off the charts, and we once again felt like we were doing exactly what we were meant to be doing. The next few tours made us realize that if we were going to enjoy doing tours again, a big change was necessary. That is how Adventures with Shannon and Mario came about.

The first company we started about 25 years ago was called Scottish Dream Tours because the intent was to only do tours of Scotland. When we started adding on Ireland and then Wales and then some of our favorite areas of England, the name still worked. When we added on Tuscany and Greece we changed the name to Scottish Dream Tours - Scotland and Beyond to cover these areas. Having added so many new places, we knew it was time for a major name change especially as our focus was no longer just Scotland. We were not yet prepared for how much of a change we would make.

We went through about 10 different name ideas and Adventures with Shannon and Mario stuck, but we were not sure how everything would go together or if we even wanted it to. It started basically as an idea which we kicked around for a long time. We would decide that we were going to start a new business with a new name, and then decide that we were done completely. We bounced back and forth so much that we didn't know if we were coming or going. We needed to make a commitment and we were having a very hard time committing.

Everything changed recently when we were in Southern France driving the route for a new tour we were doing. We always drive the route after the itinerary is set just to make sure the timings and logistics make sense. Along our drive we felt like we were on a big adventure and our excitement began to build. With every village we visited we got more and more excited imagining how excited our clients were going to be when they visited them. Our dream ever so slowly and gently started to come back to us, and it was then and there that we finally made the commitment! And now here we are ready to take on the world of touring once again!