Lori Howard ’81 kept a place in her heart for France following her study abroad experience at Oxy. Now she’s curating custom holiday experiences for a growing clientele in the French countryside
给洛里·霍华德的, a typical summer week may outwardly resemble a dream vacation: ambling through lavender fields, 在一座古罗马桥附近野餐, 或者在古色古香的乡村市场购物. In her line of work, however, knowledge of these places is important. As founder and sole proprietor of the tour company Pinch Me Provence, her goal is to provide clients with their ideal holiday in the French countryside, from plein air painting classes to touring vineyards and tasting Provençal wines.
客人们“喜欢走我的路，”霍华德说. “Those are the kinds of experiences where travelers walk away saying, ‘Never would I have seen Provence in this way had I not toured with you.’”
Based out of the small town of Lourmarin—one of France’s designated Les Plus Beaux Villages—Pinch Me Provence’s tours cover the western part of the region made famous in Peter Mayle’s bestselling 1989 memoir, 在普罗旺斯的一年. 从春天到秋天, Howard offers clients a variety of customized small-group itineraries, 包括自助游套餐, 主题度假, and an all-inclusive experience in which she accompanies guests every step of the way. (She also helps visitors navigate some of the less picturesque realities of travel across the southern French countryside: crowded beaches, 狭窄的道路, 偶尔的铁路罢工.)
但霍华德, 主修外交和世界事务，辅修法语的人, is happiest when sharing parts of the region that aren’t always promoted in guidebooks. 利用她的当地知识和社区关系, 她的行程中经常有隐藏的瑰宝, 比如她最喜欢的面包店, 一座鲜为人知的历史建筑, 或是春天漫步在樱花树间.
“I enjoy meeting local people who are investing in the heritage here, renovating an old family chateau or bringing back a winery from years of neglect,霍华德说. “我一个季节可以去同一个地方12次, 而是因为我从别人的角度看问题, 每次我的看法都不一样.”
Pinch Me Provence is the natural culmination of Howard’s long-standing desire to explore and experience lesser-known regions of France, 这个决定影响了她上西方学校的决定. “I didn’t want the ‘expat abroad’ student experience in Paris or another large university city with many Americans,她说。. “我想了解法国人.在她申请大学的过程中, Howard was drawn to Oxy’s program at the Université of Perpignan in southern France, 靠近与西班牙接壤的pyrsamnsames山脉, 最后在大三的时候出国留学. Thirty years later, her decision would have a profound, if unexpected, impact on her life.
“Little did I know then how perfect that program would be,霍华德说. “我想让自己沉浸在法国的大学生活中，这很成功. There were no other American study abroad programs there except for Oxy’s, 所以我能够融入法国社区. 我交了一些最好的朋友，并坠入爱河.”
尽管她的法国情人, 帕斯卡·贝隆, 在她大四的时候去了霍华德大学, he returned to his home country and Howard moved to Arizona after graduation. 在她的职业生涯中, 她经营一家法式面包店, 获得了MBA和MHSA学位, 从事过医疗保健相关的市场营销和教育工作, 并监督了一个高中生的外国交换项目, but she always cherished fond memories of her study abroad experience. “我在心里留了个地方，希望不知何故, 在某一时刻, 我会住在法国,她说。. “但我不确定这将如何实现.”
The opportunity presented itself when Peron reached out to Howard more than three decades after their initial meeting, 两人在大学回忆中重燃了爱情. 他们异地恋了好几年, in 2015, 他们在法国结了婚, 霍华德搬迁的地方. 她兼职做项目经理, 大学英语讲师, 企业英语培训师, 成人英语家教, all while hosting groups of friends and family members eager to explore the rolling vineyards and lavender fields of Provence. 霍华德带她的来访者去她最喜欢的地方, 市场, and farms where guests could taste wine and cook traditional French food together.
“我偶然成为了一名导游，”霍华德说. 她估计, 在她移居法国后的头五年里, she and Peron provided informal tours to approximately 45 groups of guests.
The experience encouraged Howard to turn her accidental role into a professional reality. 她创建了一个假期计划网站, 从81年的平面设计师琳达·沃伦那里委托了一个标志, 并于2020年1月正式推出Pinch Me Provence. Ten weeks later, the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated global lockdowns and severe travel restrictions. She credits her loyal social media following and the desire for virtual, vicarious experiences with keeping her business alive through the worst of the pandemic.
“Guiding social media followers around Provence in the virtual realm—that’s when people started to believe that they could tour with me and walk in my steps,霍华德说. “我的很多业务仍然是那种口碑营销.”
Since tourists were allowed to return to France in 2021, Pinch Me Provence has flourished. In 2023, 霍华德接待了四组奥施康定校友, 包括朋友, 夫妻, 还有一对母女. “自从服用奥施康定后，能看到他们的生活真是太神奇了, 会议的配偶, 孩子们, 和朋友一起分享我们的回忆,霍华德说. “我们有了很好的重新联系.” She’s also visited California to reunite with two other Pinch Me Provence groups.
她说:“我不只是引导和关上门. “I leave people with a wonderful memory, and that’s the most important part.”
Her business isn’t the only way in which Howard stays connected with Occidental. In 2014, she and her “eight Oxy besties” endowed the Sister Circle Class of ’81 and ’82 Scholarship, 哪个学校每年为一名或多名学生提供经济援助, with preference given to women who are the first in their families to attend college. 灵感来自霍华德的家人:她的祖父, 从未上过大学, 还有她的母亲, 谁是她家里第一个参加的, 创立并管理伦纳德·廷格尔基金会, which funded a variety of educational programs; Howard managed the foundation after her mother’s passing in 2009. 当霍华德搬到法国的时候, 地基被溶解了, and Howard seeded the Sister Circle scholarship’s initial endowment with her portion of the foundation’s final grant.
“这是一个回馈社会的好机会，”霍华德说. “这表明你不一定要成为一个大捐助者, 它展示了奥施康定的美丽, 那就是人们保持联系.”
Howard hopes to become even more engaged with the College now that she and her husband are splitting their time between Provence in the spring and summer and Phoenix in the winter.
“I credit my time at Oxy for the amazing chance connection that led me to my life today,她说。. “Being brave in 1979-80 and again in 2015 were the richest decisions of my life.”
