Meet Harper

I started with questions. Then I realized they could change the journey.

Harper’s World began with the things I kept noticing—the questions hotels and guides did not expect from someone my age, the details everyone else walked past and the moments that made travel feel like more than simply being somewhere new.

I have grown up traveling with my family, seeing how the same place can create completely different questions, memories and points of view. Harper’s World is shaped by three generations—me, my mom and my Nana—working together to help travel see younger guests differently. I am not here to pretend I know everything. I am here to keep looking closer.

34 countries and counting Traveling since age three Three generations
Harper standing beside a world map display while traveling
Harper as a young child standing in front of an ornate circular doorway in China

In Harper’s words

The best part of travel is usually not the thing everyone told you to photograph. It is the thing that made you stop and wonder.

I notice when someone speaks directly to me instead of only to the adults. I notice when an activity was really created for someone my age—and when it was simply added to a family list. I notice the plaque everyone passes, the person who remembers my name and the small detail we are still talking about after we get home.

What I notice

The details that tell me what a place is really saying.

A beautiful place can still make someone feel invisible. Sometimes the smallest interactions reveal more than the biggest amenities.

01 · Who gets seen

Who is spoken to directly

A hotel can welcome a family and still forget to welcome the younger guests standing inside it.

02 · What gets missed

The detail everyone walks past

I am usually the person reading the plaque, asking why something matters or wondering what is down the side street everyone else skipped.

03 · What stays

The moment we carry home

The memories that last are often small: a conversation, a flavor, a person who remembered your name or the moment a history lesson suddenly became real.

Harper at age three with personalized cookies prepared during her first major trip to China

Where it started

I fell in love with the feeling of belonging.

My first big trip was to China when I was three. I did not understand luxury hospitality yet. I only understood how the hotels made me feel.

The staff spoke to me, remembered my name and found thoughtful ways to include me. I was not treated as an extra person in the room. I was treated as a guest.

As I grew older, I began noticing how unusual that could be. Some beautiful hotels created extraordinary stays for adults while barely acknowledging the children and teenagers beside them. That difference became the beginning of Harper’s World.

“I did not just fall in love with travel on that trip. I fell in love with the feeling of belonging.”

Three generations

My point of view is shaped by the people traveling beside me.

Harper’s World is shaped by three generations with three distinct roles. Andrea created the travel-industry foundation through I Travel Group and La Famille. Desiree brings travel strategy, brand direction and the perspective of Harper’s mom. Harper brings the next-generation voice the industry too often overlooks. Together, they are working to change how family travel is understood.

Harper

Harper

The next-generation voice

The questions, observations and honest perspective at the heart of Harper’s World.

Desiree Palmer

Desiree

Harper’s mom · Travel and brand strategy

Harper’s mom, bringing travel-industry experience, brand direction and the parent perspective behind each journey.

Andrea Wolter

Andrea

Harper’s Nana · Travel-industry founder

Harper’s grandmother, whose work building I Travel Group and La Famille created the foundation that opened the world to their family—and made Harper’s perspective possible.

In the conversation

Harper’s perspective is being heard beyond Harper’s World.

From what Gen Z expects from hotels to the future of meaningful family travel, Harper is bringing the next-generation viewpoint into the wider industry conversation.

Featured in Luxury Travel Advisor

4 Things Gen Z Wants From Hotels

Harper shared an honest Gen Z perspective on luxury hospitality, including why younger travelers want experiences that feel personal, memorable and connected to the destination.

The next generation does not simply want to be included. They want to feel considered.

Places that changed how I see the world

Not favorites. Turning points.

Some places stay with me because they were beautiful. These stayed with me because they changed what I noticed next.

Harper at age three during her first major trip to China

China · Belonging

Where being seen changed everything

China taught me that hospitality is not only about what a hotel provides. It is about whether every person in the family feels like they belong there.

Read the story →
Harper walking through the red torii gates in Kyoto, Japan

Kyoto · Perspective

Where history felt alive

Kyoto showed me that the best cultural experiences do not make young travelers stand outside the story. They give us a way to step inside it.

Read the story →
Harper looking across historic Casco Viejo in Panama City

Panama · Curiosity

Where food, history and the future met

Panama reminded me that one place can tell several stories at once—from the food on the table to the ships moving through the water and the skyline beyond the old city.

Read the story →

What I am still curious about

The world is not a checklist.

These are not boxes I need to race through. They are experiences I hope will teach me something I could not have learned at home.

  1. 01

    See the Northern Lights from Iceland.

  2. 02

    Learn directly from artists and makers in South Korea.

  3. 03

    Explore more of Africa through wildlife and conservation.

  4. 04

    Perform in a theater production somewhere abroad.

  5. 05

    Keep seeing the world with my family—and keep building Harper’s World across three generations.

Keep exploring

See what I noticed next.

New stories, hotel observations, cultural discoveries and the questions worth bringing into the next journey.

INSIDE HARPERS SUITCASE