Our Guides
Every WAI adventure is led by two experienced guides — so there's always someone to answer your questions, share a story, or help you find the best gelato in town.
The People Behind the Adventures
Our guides aren't tour leaders reading from a script. They're travelers who've spent years walking these routes, building relationships with local communities, and learning the stories that don't make it into guidebooks. On international tours, they partner with local experts who bring the culture, history, and hidden details of their home to life.
It's why more than half our travelers come back — and why many say the guides are the best part of the trip.
Scott Isom
Scott has been a walker his whole life. It started as a boy, scrambling along the hiking trails and waterfall paths of Oregon's Columbia River Gorge with his family. It continued through a lifelong fascination with geography, history, and the stories that places hold. And in late 2006, when he crossed paths with WAI almost by accident, the pieces fell into place.
His first tour — Italy, October 2007 — confirmed what he already suspected: this was what he was meant to do. In the years since, Scott has planned and led over 150 WAI tours across all seven continents and nearly 50 countries. He's the person who builds the itinerary, walks every route, and still gets a thrill when a group rounds a corner and sees something that takes their breath away.
What travelers notice about Scott is that he's genuinely happy to be there. Not performing enthusiasm — actually, deeply enjoying the work of helping people experience a place on foot. He knows the history, he's read the guidebooks, and he's also the first person to follow a local's tip to a restaurant nobody's heard of. For Scott, the best moments on a WAI tour are the ones nobody planned.
On a WAI tour to Santorini, a few travelers wandered back late from lunch in the little town of Thira. Scott went looking for them and found them raving about a place called Mama's Kitchen — a tiny local spot tucked near the museum.
As the group sang the praises of the food, the restaurant's owner — Mama herself — approached Scott with a twinkle in her eye. When he mentioned how much his travelers loved her bread, Mama didn't hesitate. She marched over to another diner's table, grabbed a hunk of bread right off a stranger's plate, and pressed it firmly into Scott's surprised hands. "She's not gonna eat it!"
The bread was, as advertised, excellent. Mama turned out to be equal parts Julia Child and the Soup Nazi — a brilliant cook with a sharp tongue and a wit to match. Scott knew immediately: next time WAI came to Santorini, the whole group was eating here. Mama's Kitchen has been a favorite stop on Greece tours ever since.
That's what "safe but not scripted" looks like on a WAI trip. A few late lunchers, a spunky Greek grandmother, and a moment that became a tradition.
Hugo Palma
For Hugo, a trail is never just a trail. It's an invitation — to slow down, pay attention, and let a place reveal itself on its own terms.
He's been doing this for a long time. Nearly 25 years ago, he founded Borealis, an outdoor experience company rooted in the belief that the best travel happens when people, nature, and culture converge. Starting in 2014, Borealis and WAI began collaborating — and over the years, that partnership deepened into something more. Hugo has since joined WAI to bring Borealis's philosophy and his own field expertise into the fold, expanding the range of experiences WAI can offer across all seven continents.
His deepest expertise lives in the Iberian Peninsula. Hugo grew up connected to the landscapes of Portugal and Spain, and when he guides there, you feel the difference. He doesn't just show you a village — he introduces you to the baker, explains why the stone walls curve the way they do, and knows exactly which hillside catches the evening light.
Before he ever led a walking tour, Hugo trained as an Aerospace Engineer — which might explain why WAI logistics run so smoothly when he's involved. He brings a quiet precision to the moving parts of a trip so that travelers never have to think about them.
Years ago, deep in the Sahel near the ancient city of Agadez, Hugo formed a bond with a Tuareg family that went far beyond the usual traveler's exchange. Over shared tea and long silences under a desert sky, a friendship took root — one built on mutual respect and the unspoken language of the horizon.
That friendship became something more when the family asked Hugo to be godfather to their young son. To this day, despite the distance and their vastly different lives, Hugo and his godson stay in close touch — sharing news, watching him grow.
"Travel is not a collection of photos," Hugo says. "It's a collection of souls."
Tim Friesen
Tim didn't choose WAI so much as grow into it. He joined the family business in 2003, spending his summers guiding tours while the rest of the year belonged to Molalla High School in Oregon, where he directed choirs and taught young people the art of singing. For nearly two decades, he lived in both worlds — the classroom and the trail — and found the same thing in each: the joy of watching someone discover something for the first time.
When Tim retired from teaching in 2022, the balance shifted. He jumped fully into WAI — planning tours, leading trips, and yes, managing the office phones. If you've ever called WAI and heard a friendly voice walk you through the details of an upcoming adventure, there's a good chance it was Tim.
What sets Tim apart is his quiet steadiness. He's the guide who notices when someone in the group needs a moment, who knows the historical context of the place you're standing in, and who treats every traveler — first-timer or fifteenth — like they belong. He's been part of WAI longer than most of the current guide team, and that institutional memory shows. Tim doesn't just lead tours; he carries the thread of what WAI has always been.
"People all over the world are truly remarkable," Tim says. "And with WAI, we get to be part of their stories."
On a tour in Ireland, the group was hiking along the Slea Head Peninsula near Dingle when the wind hit 30 to 40 miles an hour — aimed straight at the cliff edge. After a kilometer of what felt like genuinely risking their lives, Tim gathered the group and called for the bus. Even the most dedicated walkers agreed without hesitation.
Back at the hotel, a quieter kind of adventure unfolded. One of the travelers turned out to be a gifted sketch artist. The group settled into the cozy, living-room-like lobby, ordered drinks from the pub, and spent the afternoon taking turns having their portraits drawn — laughing, telling stories, watching their own faces appear on paper.
It was the kind of moment that reminds you what WAI is really about. Not the walk you planned, but the afternoon you didn't.
Scott Burk
Scott loves planes and all things aviation — which may be exactly where his love of travel began. After 34 years as an air traffic controller, he still finds joy in every part of the journey, from departures to arrivals. On tour, don’t be surprised to catch him looking skyward when a plane passes overhead.
Scott loves driving in foreign countries — manual transmission, left side of the road and all. Italian drivers are their own breed: controlled chaos that somehow works. The German autobahn is exhilarating in a different way entirely. He sometimes dreams of taking the wheel of the big tour bus — but mostly he’s content being an Adventure Guide and leaving that kind of driving to the professionals.
Ruth Burk
Growing up in the Pacific Northwest meant a lot of hiking and exploring the great outdoors — which Ruth loves to this day. Then her parents took her to Europe for the first time when she was 10, and she still remembers the thrill of stepping into a completely different country, culture, and language. That love of travel and adventure was ignited, and she’s been exploring the world ever since. As a WAI Adventure Guide, she has the privilege of sharing the best of each destination with travelers — and still gets butterflies when she steps foot somewhere new.
One thing Ruth loves about Walking Adventures is that WAI really does take people off the beaten path. Her ultimate litmus test? When a local guide — someone who has been through the area countless times — pulls out their phone to snap a picture of something unexpected and new to them. That usually happens at least once on every tour, and it always makes her smile.
Todd Jones
Todd has been guiding tours with his wife Chrissy since 2016. When he's not out walking the world with WAI, he's a history teacher — which is exactly why he's so good at this. The same fulfillment he gets in the classroom, he gets in the field: learning new things and sharing the discovery with anyone willing to listen.
Just like in teaching, a tour guide can have the best-laid plans and be forced to pivot on a dime. Last year, Todd's group learned two days before their visit that Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park in Colorado was on fire. A full day — gone.
The scramble to build an alternative turned into one of the best days of the trip. Near the park, they found Marble — a tiny village where some of the world's richest marble stone is mined. The mayor — who also happened to be the café owner and volunteer firefighter — gave them the VIP treatment: a walking tour of the artist-in-residence camp, the historic mining site, and a fascinating little museum.
Sometimes the best moments on a WAI tour are the ones you never planned.
Chrissy Jones
Chrissy's mother likes to say that watching her do life is like watching someone get on a merry-go-round and never get off. She loves active adventures, new experiences, and anything outdoors. But what she values most about WAI is the people — meeting travelers, hearing their stories, and watching their faces when they encounter something breathtaking for the first time.
On a trip to Costa Rica, the group's local guide Oscar — a real character and an extremely talented naturalist — spotted Chrissy getting back on the bus with what she thought was a banana. "Are you going to eat that raw?" he asked. She said yes. He explained it was actually a plantain, and eating it raw would mean spending the rest of the day in the bus bathroom.
She didn't eat it.
But a few days later, on Chrissy's birthday, Oscar had the restaurant present her with a single plantain on a plate — complete with a birthday candle. The group roared.
Jim Brickley
After 30 years in the classroom, Jim figured it was time to do something outside. He contacted WAI in 2014, asked if they needed guides, and — fortunately — the answer was yes. He's been guiding since 2015, exploring five continents and counting, with more walking adventures ahead.
Jim's second-ever WAI tour took the group to mainland China — and it was filled with history, culture, and the kind of moments that stay with you. At the Great Wall, the group hiked to one of the towers on the older, less-restored section and stopped for lunch. It was a gorgeous day — just their group, a packed lunch, and a view that stretched for miles in every direction.
Sitting there, contemplating the centuries of construction, conflict, and human ambition that built the wall beneath them, the group fell quiet. Not every great WAI moment is loud. Some of the best ones are just this: feet on ancient stone, sun on your face, and the weight of history settling in around you.
Kurt Lewandowski
Kurt came to WAI the way a lot of good things happen — one interest led to another. A recently retired college math instructor, he'd already spent over 25 years leading groups on trips to countries around the world, with a special connection to Mexico, where he lived for a time. When he discovered WAI two years ago, the fit was immediate.
Based in Des Moines, Washington — where he relocated to be closer to his three daughters and a grandson — Kurt brings a teacher's patience and a traveler's curiosity to every tour. His wife Therese is also a WAI guide, which says something about what this community feels like from the inside.
On a bitterly cold first day in Québec City, the group set out through heavy snow to meet their local guides at Collège Mérici. The walk took far longer than planned — everyone needed spikes, and the wind cut right through. As the group pressed on across the Plains of Abraham, it became clear the day's route would need to be drastically shortened.
Not one walker complained.
And the reward was worth every frozen step: Old Town Québec's Christmas Village, lit up under a sky full of snow, as magical as anything on the itinerary.
Therese Lewandowski
Therese spent her teaching career learning something that most guides figure out eventually: seeing a place through someone else's eyes makes it better. Years of summer adventures with her four kids taught her that — and she brings the same energy to every WAI tour.
She's newer to WAI but felt the pull of the community immediately. Her husband Kurt is also a WAI guide, and between the two of them, they bring a teacher's warmth, a traveler's curiosity, and the kind of patience that makes everyone in the group feel like they belong.
Therese's defining WAI moment didn't happen on a trail. It happened at the Tucson Rendezvous — a gathering of past and future WAI travelers that happens every five years.
As a newer guide, she hadn't fully grasped the depth of what WAI means to the people who travel with them. Then she watched it firsthand: travelers greeting each other like old friends, checking in on each other's lives, making plans for the next adventure together. These weren't just people who'd shared a tour — they were people who genuinely cared about one another.
"I've found a beautiful community of like-minded, adventure-loving travelers," Therese says. And that's exactly the feeling WAI wants every new traveler to discover.
Your Next Adventure Starts with the Right Guide
Browse our upcoming walking tours and find the destination that calls to you. Questions? Call us — we love talking travel.
Find Your Next Adventure