Sojourner Tours

SELF-LOVE FOR WOMEN Transformative French lifestyle trips for women which restore the joy of living through the Slow Movement philosophy while supporting local communities.

FIND THE TRIP THAT FITS YOUR STYLE

Dates arranged on demand

Groups are limited to eight guests so you can visit authentic places, stay in charming boutique hotels and eat in the real restaurants where locals dine.

THE CREATION OF SOJOURNER TOURS

Sojourner Tours is a reflection of the identity of the founder, Lisa Gustavson, her life and her values. So, to understand Sojourner Tours is to understand how Lisa came to be so French, developed such a profound respect for food, farmers, artisans, chefs and other producers as well as what drew her to the formal study of foreign cultures (anthropology) why she has such a reverence for the strength and well-being of women.

Our story begins with how the founder became French…

LONG AGO IN THE APPALACHIAN FOOTHILLS:

New Years Eve 1968: Lisa Gustavson’s mother and father with her father’s brother and his French wife.

1968 FRENCH FAMILY

France became part of Lisa’s family many years before ‘76 when she would be born.

As the story goes, Lisa’s grandparents took their children on a Mediterranean cruise during which her teenaged uncle fell head-over-heals for a stunning French girl. Following a storybook romance, they married and started a bi-lingual family in Ohio.

As a result, Lisa grew up with holidays filled with French chatter and French ways of her aunt. But, no one anticipated the unfortunate turn of events that would bring her French aunt and uncle to take Lisa in when she was a teen…

1976 A FRANCOPHILE GRANDMOTHER

Lisa was born in the town where her father’s parents lived. From birth she forged a tight bond with her paternal grandmother spending every Wednesday and Sunday at “grandma’s house”.

Lisa’s grandmother, a Francophile, was an intrepid traveler who spoke often to Lisa of her dream that grandpa (a professor of European History) would take a sabbatical when Lisa reached high school so they could take her to France for a year.

Baby Lisa & Grandma

Lisa & her mother

1981 A RESILIENT MOTHER

Lisa’s parents divorced when she was five. Her father had suffered from a mental breakdown which left him disabled and though her parents loved each other deeply, Lisa’s mother had to make the difficult decision that it would be healthier for everyone in their little family of three if she and Lisa’s father didn’t live together. From 5-14 years old, Lisa’s resilient mother endeavored to raise her as a single working parent which was especially challenging with the tight finances and erratic schedule of her R.N. nursing position.

1976-1987 CULTURAL OPENNESS

On a tight budget and in need of childcare, Lisa’s mother was clever and resourceful.

Graduate students were moving to her hometown from various countries abroad to study at Ohio University and the economic disparity between China and the USA meant that students from East Asia were arriving with little to nothing. Lisa’s mom ingeniously bartered a room in her home for babysitting. As a result Lisa was raised with the help of a succession of two brilliant Chinese women who were studying toward PhDs and the husband of the latter who gained a visa to join her.

Lisa’s childhood memories include drawing at a desk next to the studious women who were preparing for their doctoral classes pouring over thick text books, preparing things like egg rolls and shrimp chips, and fashioning kites out of wire hangers with newspaper.

Lisa with Dr. Tong, Xiao Xin and another grad student from China.

Lisa in Chinese Pigtails (2nd grade)

Mom’s little baking helper: Lisa age six.

Lisa’s paternal grandmother

1981-HOMEMADE & HOMEGROWN = LOVE

Lisa’s mother passed down her grandmother and great-grandmother’s baking secrets.

Lisa’s maternal grandmother had seven children and by the time Lisa came along they’d had children and grandchildren such that Lisa had about 40 cousins and second cousins. Her grandmother always had two freshly baked pies on the counter so she was ready to serve a slice to anyone who might drop in. She also continued to farm a huge “victory” style kitchen garden right up until through her seventies. At the end of every visit to grandma’s house, Lisa’s grandmother would send Lisa and her mom home with canned green beans, frozen strawberries, fresh tomatoes… always saying “None of my children will ever go hungry!”

Lisa’s mother passed on the knowledge of baking and vegetable gardening passed down from mother to daughter in that family for generations.

1984-1985

Lisa discovers her childhood hero, Sojourner Truth, in the 4th grade Ohio History curriculum thanks to her teacher, Mrs. Barcikowski, who emphasizes significant figures in the fight for women’s equal rights.

The lesson on the “Ain’t I a Woman” speech given by Sojourner Truth at the Akron women’s convention and her walk across the States would stay with Lisa and inspire her forever.

Lisa’s homemade crepes

1980s TEA PARTIES

Lisa’s love for hosting manifested itself early with progressively complex tea-parties. Throughout her childhood and early teens, Lisa thrilled at using her baking skills to create high tea gatherings complete with flower arrangements and paper top-hats for her gentlemen guests.

1986 FRENCH LANGUAGE & CULTURE

When Lisa reached 10, her grandmother enrolled her in an after-school French club where Lisa began learning French and made her first French crepes.

 

One of the many tea-parties Lisa created for her cousins and grandparents.

Lisa next to her aunt & family in front of her aunt & uncle’s home

1991 LIVING CHEZ AUNTIE

When Lisa reached high school her mother succumbed to illness and her father’s brother and French wife warmly accepted Lisa into their bi-lingual home.

Lisa’s aunt patiently supported her efforts to master French, teaching and practicing with her daily.

1992-1994 AN EXCELLENT EDUCATION

Lisa graduated from the best private boarding school in Ohio. Lisa’s aunt and uncle enabled her to attend Western Reserve Academy where they taught. Lisa studied French with her aunt and took a class on French Literature with her uncle.

She would go on to get a BA in French and Anthropology with a minor in photography from Bennington College then an MA in International Studies from Ohio University and an MA in Anthropology at the University of California Santa Barbara.

Lisa, Miha & Tyronne WRA graduation

Lisa working in a pre-school in Vermont

Lisa working in a head-start program in Arizona

Lisa with her room-mates in Nova Scotia

1992-1994 INTERNSHIPS

College Winters: Lisa’s college closed during the winter for an internship quarter. Lisa had several teaching internships and spent a winter in Nova Scotia sharing a suite with francophone women from Madagascar and the Democratic Republic of Congo while collecting folktales from French-speaking Acadian storytellers.

Summers: Lisa had no home to which she could return. One year she earned room and board working as a counselor for a Girl’s Vacation Fund camp where women’s empowerment was at the forefront of the work culture. That summer Lisa hitchhiked with several other councilor’s to the Women’s Rights National Historical Park. Another year Lisa earned room and board as Bennington colleges first intern on the Community Supported Agriculture farm that came to be called “The Purple Carrot Farm”.

Bennington College’s CSA farm

Lisa with a group of Girl’s Vacation Fund campers


A TRADITION OF GUIDING BEGINS:

1996 France

Lisa’s paternal grandmother, who was never able to fulfill her dream of taking Lisa to France for a year during high school, offers Lisa a junior year abroad in France. Lisa spends a year studying in what will turn out to be her future husband’s (Sojo guide Francis) hometown: Besancon.  While studying at the university, she shares an apartment with other foreign students, including two women from Japan.  When one day an Irish friend invites a young French fellow to a party: Lisa meets Francis.

Francis takes Lisa hitchhiking across Ireland. Lisa then backpacks around Europe on her own and makes a special trip to Sweden to meet distant reltives..

Lisa’s sister-in-law, & boyfriend with France & Lisa

1997 A LONG DISTANCE RELATIONSHIP

Lisa returns to Vermont to finish her studies and Francis does his obligatory military service in Germany.

1998 USA

Francis and Lisa are accepted in Master's programs in Ohio. Lisa takes extra classes to complete the International Studies program in one year.

1999 Swaziland (Southern Africa)

Lisa spends the summer in Swaziland at a teacher training college.

Lisa in Swaziland

Lisa in Japan

1999-2001 JAPAN

Lisa spends two years teaching English in Japan and falls in love with the country. She travels from the south to the north and then begins organizing and leading excursions to introduce friends and family to the places that enchant her. She also writes a guide to the Ibaraki region which is published for other foreign teachers.

Francis joins Lisa in Japan for her second year and teaches French and English. 


THE SOJOURNER PHILOSOPHY IS BORN:

2001-2002 China, Southeast Asia, India & Nepal

Lisa convinces Francis to join her for a year of backpacking in Asia.

Spending at least one month in each country, they will visit almost a dozen countries. During the first month in China, they engage in intensive tourism with a focus on visiting the biggest and most famous tourist sights. Hopping from one tourist destination to another, they see all the big sights, are exhausted and realize that they have a lot of great pictures of important places but have learned very little about Chinese culture.

Francis (and Lisa) in Laos

Lisa (and Francis) in India

During the second month, in Vietnam, they begin to ease into "slow travel" and shift their focus toward food and culture.  They are rewarded with richer experiences and more contact with the local people by staying in one place for an extended period of time and taking day trips. They start asking local people and other travelers what they should see instead of relying heavily on a guidebook. They begin choosing restaurants based on how many people are in them rather than how attractive they look. Gradually these methodical changes grow into a full-fledged travel approach, the travel philosophy of "sojourning" is born. By the end of the year they'd: eaten in local people's homes; learned how artisanal products are made; had countless "off-the-beaten-path" adventures; and, were even invited to join a wedding!

Now, Lisa and Francis put "sojourning" at the heart of every itinerary they create both for themselves and for Sojourner Tours.


A PARTNERSHIP IS FORGED, THE FIRST JOINT TOUR

2002 France

Lisa & Francis' Wedding in France

Lisa & Francis' Wedding in France

On June 22, the day after the summer equinox and the official day of music in France, Lisa & Francis get married.  A life-long partnership begins.

Following the ceremony, the couple plans a week-long sojourn based in Besancon for guests who have flown from around the world for the wedding. This first itinerary will later become the basis of Sojourner Tours' signature sojourns based in Besancon (Best Kept Secrets & Off-the-Beathen-Path in the French-Swiss Borderland).

2002

Lisa’s Francophile grandmother, who had always dreamed of taking Lisa to France and who paid for her junior year abroad in France, finally makes it to France to be with Lisa for the wedding!


Fast forward ahead...

YEARS OF INFORMAL TOURS

2002-2008 USA & A BABY (Santa Barbara, California to Austin, Texas)

Francis completes his PhD in French Literature. Lisa has completed a second M.A. in Anthropology and gives birth to their first son.

Francis' father has left the antique business and has opened a hotel which is named "most charming hotel" in eastern France by a major national magazine "Le Figaro".

Francis chooses a tenure track post in the Austin area.

(Images borrowed from JBG)

Lisa puts her PhD plans on hold to focus on being a mother for few years, teaching some French classes at a local university. She volunteers frequently at a Community Supported Agriculture Farm boxing vegetable shares and planting seeds in the greenhouse in a barter exchange against locally grown organic vegetables.

2008ish LISA RECIEVES OFFICIAL FRENCH CITIZENSHIP & A SECOND SON

Lisa & Francis welcome a second son into their lives and continue to informally guide groups in France as the opportunities arise.

2009 FRANCE

The boys in Paris (2012)

The boys in Paris (2012)

Francis begins an annual summer routine of bringing the family to Paris where he can conduct extensive research at the French National Library and teach for an American summer study abroad program.  He is enthralled by teaching the students French history through visits to Paris' major historic sites.

Lisa & Francis add Paris to the list of places where they informally organize itineraries and guide groups.

Lisa & family in Japan

Lisa & family in Japan

2010-2011 JAPAN & FRANCE

Lisa gets a research grant to return to Japan to conduct research for her PhD project.

Francis is granted a sabbatical to complete his first book and accompanies Lisa to Japan to write and care for the boys.

Due to the Earthquake that year, Francis & Lisa leave Japan early.  They spend the next six months in France.

Francis's father opens a second boutique hotel in a former convent.

 


2012-present AUSTIN

Lisa and Francis returned to the Austin area where they’d raise their two boys as bilingual French-American citizens. The boys would attend elementary school at the Austin International School where their education followed the French national curriculum and was taught in French and English with a dash of Spanish!

Lisa and Francis spent every summer in France so the boys could know their French family.

Lisa with Francis and the boys in SoCo Austin


Lisa’s older son feeding the chickens

Lisa’s bee-keeping assistants: her two sons

Lisa’s younger son pulling colorful carrots

2012 AN EARLY INHERITANCE

At 92 years old, Lisa’s Francophile grandmother gives each of her 6 grandchildren $6,000 saying “I don’t want people sitting around waiting for me to die to receive their inheritance. I want the fun of seeing what you are going to do with it!”

Her grandmother lives three more years to see Lisa use $2,000 to begin beekeeping as well as installing a backyard vegetable and herb garden complete with chickens —AND, in honor of her grandmother who’d made sure France and French were part of Lisa’s life, Lisa used the remaining $4,000 to start Sojourner Tours…

Lisa’s son’s pulling French breakfast radishes


SOJOURNER TOURS IS OFFICIALLY INCORPORATED

2012 USA

Lisa decides to open Sojourner Tours.

Oddly enough, the 2011 Japanese earthquake was the catalyst for the creation of our French tour company. We were living in Tokyo because I had a research grant but, immediately following the nuclear incident, it didn’t seem prudent to stay to complete my work. Living through the natural disaster gave me a fresh zest for life that set me on a new career path: launching Sojourner Tours.

I realized that the most marvelous things about life are: family, food and sojourning abroad. So, my mission became making cultural sojourns accessible so that anyone can experience the best life has to offer. For years, people had been urging my husband and I to guide tours abroad and so after doing it informally for years for small groups of family and friends, as well as formally with groups of students; it seemed natural to start a tour company… but not your typical kind. My objective was to offer people the experience of a lifetime with each tour. My husband was willing to help.

Sojourner Tours is based on my passion for travel, cuisine, education, and foreign discovery.

Everywhere we host guests, Sojourner Tours’ philosophy remains the same: I believe that our guests ought to have the finest opportunities to experience the full range of a country’s culture which means hosting small groups in authentic places where they can experience activities that locals love and the luxury they deserve.
— Lisa Gustavson
 

Lisa giving a talk on A.O.C/A.O.P. foods from the Franche-Comte.

 

Lisa with the boys at les Baux-de-Provence while exploring for Sojourner Tours itinerary development.


Seasonal raspberry tart

Lisa manning her bakestand at a farmer’s market

Lisa teaching a cooking class before the pandemic

2020-2023 SURVIVING THE COVID PANDEMIC

When the global pandemic put international travel on hold for two years, keeping Sojourner Tours alive was a real test of perseverance and creativity. Staying true to Sojourner Tours’ focus on high quality, local food -Lisa collected a bunch of family recipes passed down from the women in her mother’s Irish American family, learned in Sweden from relatives on her father’s side, collected while dining in the homes of various in-laws in France and even from neighbors — and she took advantage of Texas’ homestead law to open a farmer’s market bake stand. Customers came from far and wide and she took tremendous joy that the local Japanese community spread the word about her work, that a woman who’d opened a Black-Vegan food business was excited about her work, and that she sold out almost every time! But she also learned that hard working farmers eek out a tight living and her respect for the local producers who Sojourner Tours supports on every tour skyrocketed!


2023 REBUILDING: A NEW TACT FOR SOJO

Rebounding from the Pandemic didn’t just happen by itself. Lisa spent three years seriously doubting and questioning herself. Could she do it? Without large financial reserves, marketing and advertising weren’t an option and Lisa was exhausted from ten years of the unpaid community outreach and donations she’d done to get Sojo’s name out into the community at large -French conversation hours, cooking classes in churches, a lecture series at the Georgetown Arts Center, gifts offered at various school fundraisers, conference tables, wedding vender honeymoon booths… her husband Francis even pitched in teaching several free classes at the Senior University…

Sojo couldn’t be for everyone anymore. With limited time and funds, marketing efforts needed to be extended only to the clientele who most value, understand and appreciate the quality of what this company offers. First Lisa chased a false lead, orienting the business toward a group that wasn’t a natural fit. Things didn’t come together. Sojo was near bust.

It seemed like the handwriting was on the wall. Lisa gave up.

Lisa turned her energy inward, hunkering down and searching herself for answers and direction. She was lost.

Hunkering down, she found her own voice, continued to examine the heartbreaks of her life, got truly grounded in her personal values… and when previous guests began requesting that she open tours because they wanted to continue visiting France with Sojo… Well, that’s how she knew: Sojo needed to be rebranded to specifically reflect her identity and serve women who are seekers like her!

STARTING 2024 TOURS ESPECIALLY FOR WOMEN & WELLNESS RETREATS

SOJOURNERS: AT HOME IN THE WORLD