Meet the True Places Travels
Leadership Team
Cate Caruso
Founder and CEO
Cate is a globetrotter at heart - born to a Navy family and destined for a life of travel. Growing up in London allowed her to deeply explore the UK and Europe, experiencing the region as a local.
Fast forward, and Cate found herself working most of her professional life in the high-tech industry of the Silicon Valley in Account Executive and Project Management roles. Many of her skills from those years are highly leveraged in the deep consultative process she brings to her client work today. Fast forward again, and a sabbatical took her sailing for 5 years and then landed her in the role of an internationally recognized travel professional.
Cate has been tapped for her travel expertise by many high-profile publications including Condé Nast Traveler, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Hemispheres United in-flight magazine and the award winning Virtuoso Life.
In March of 2021 Cate was invited to join the highly regarded Condé Nast Travel Specialist list.
When she is not traveling the world, personally experiencing unique destinations to bring firsthand knowledge to her clients, she can be found in the great Pacific Northwest.
Travel Specialties:
• River Cruising • Worldwide Expedition Cruising • Culture, History & Arts • Food & Wine • Independent Tours • Safaris
Destination Specialties:
• United Kingdom • Australia • Canada • Ireland • Italy • Costa Rica • France • India • Japan • Netherlands • Africa • Iceland • Spain • South and Central America
Melody Hartwig
Director of Client Services
Melody's travel experience began very young as a Navy brat. Born in Hawaii, she also lived in Guam, and moved around Southern California. Moving to new places inspired a sense of adventure and gregariousness in her and she remembers being excited to experience new places and meet new people. That feeling has fueled her travel experiences throughout her life. After college, Melody took her first 6-week tour to Europe and was hooked. She went on to backpack around the world for a year, continuing afterwards to plan and visit various destinations around the world with groups of friends, solo, and with family, in various iterations. Melody loves visualizing, researching, and planning a unique and unforgettable journey each time.
Melody's professional background is in hotel sales and conference services, project management, training coordination, and recruiting in the IT and corporate education space, and now designing custom, leisure travel. Her hospitality roots and process driven work experience aid in the professional travel services she now offers to create seamless and meaningful travel for clients. Providing clients with thoughtful, thorough, and professional consulting and planning services is a natural extension of her own love of travel and paying attention to the details!
Melody is based in Southern California.
Travel Specialties:
• Culture, History & Arts • Family Travel • Food & Wine • Safari • River Cruising
Destination Specialties:
• Germany • Australia • Fiji • Greece • Iceland • Indonesia • Ireland • New Zealand • Spain • Turkey • United Kingdom • California • Hawaii • Austria • Switzerland
Curious to know more about our consulting process? Click here to learn more and get in touch for next steps!