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Kansas City’s Luxury Travel Maven: Barb Wright of Travel Wright with Barb
Embarking on a luxury trip is more than just booking a flight – for Barb Wright, it’s about crafting a personal story. A Kansas City native with travel in her blood, Barb recalls that “travel has always been about family and connection”[1]. As a child she was literally flying across the globe – “my first airline trip was when I was six weeks old, and by age 8, I was flying solo from Kansas City to Florida to visit my grandparents”[1] – and
those early journeys set the stage for a lifetime of exploration. After decades in a sales career she loved, Barb launched her own agency, Travel Wright with Barb, to turn clients’ dream trips into reality[2]. She says she loves “making dreams come true,” especially for couples planning weddings, surprise proposals, and honeymoons – taking the stress off their shoulders “to take that stress off of them is a true luxury for them, and a delight for me”.
Raised here in the Heartland, Barb still carries a local charm with a global perspective. A life-changing safari in Africa taught her that “we’re all one people” despite our differences[3], and she pours that sense of kinship into every itinerary. Every couple or family she serves gets Barb’s full attention. In her own words, she “treat[s] each journey as if it were my own”, drawing on a network of trusted local partners to plan “truly unforgettable moments” while handling every tedious detail seamlessly[4]. For Barb, no request is too big – she jokes that she could even “fly you to the moon if you want – nothing is out of bounds”[5].
From Kansas City to Cartagena: A Travel Story Worth Repeating
Barb’s origin story is quintessentially Kansas City. She grew up tagging along on her father’s sales trips across the country, learning the value of organization and client care at an early age[4]. After years in corporate sales (where she honed her communication and resourcefulness), Barb made her leap into full-time travel planning – “after decades in sales, I founded Travel Wright With Barb”[2]. Her mission was simple: deliver stress-free, meaningful travel experiences tailored exactly to each person’s dreams. As she puts it, inspiring adventure “through personalized destination planning brings me purpose and joy.”[2]
From the start, Barb has leaned on her Virtuoso and Largay Travel affiliations to offer the highest-end service. As a Virtuoso-certified advisor, clients automatically enjoy “insider access to in-the-know expertise, unbelievable travel perks, VIP status, and [an] exclusive portfolio of elite brands”[6]. Through her Largay Travel partnership, Barb taps into curated tools like the Wanderlist trip-planning app and a honeymoon registry – unique concierge services designed to build multi-year itineraries for couples. In fact, Barb often encourages
to look beyond the honeymoon. She helps them sketch a 5- or 10-year travel plan, so that a honeymoon is “the beginning of their adventure together,” not a one-and-done trip. Some clients even plan “renewal of vows” trips or babymoons in the years that follow. Barb sees it as an investment in a lifelong relationship: “I’m not your typical one-and-done luxury travel planner. I invest in you and your experiences. Here’s to our lifelong relationship!”[7].
Barb’s own travel love affair shines through in her storytelling. She vividly recalls how a trip to Colombia ended with an ungoogleable surprise: after a day in Cartagena, one couple found that their local concierge had arranged a handmade cocoa chocolate bar personalized with their photos. “They were presented with a chocolate bar, because Colombia is known for cocoa… And the wrapper had pictures of them at each of the stops where they had been. You can’t Google that,” Barb laughs. These are exactly the kind of personalized
touches she promises. In City Lifestyle magazine she pointedly asks, “You can Google anything, but how do you Google the unGoogleable? That’s where I come in.”[8] Whether it’s clients galloping on horseback through a Colombian river or hand-roasting their own cocoa beans with a local family – and yes, even orchestrating surprise proposals in romantic cities like Nice, France – Barb is there to curate experiences no online booking site could ever replicate.
Curating the Ungoogleable
Barb’s philosophy is all about emotional detail and authenticity. She scours far-flung corners for that perfect vineyard tour, that little-known chapel on the Amalfi Coast, or a private beach picnic on Bali. During a recent interview she mused, “I love making dreams come true. And especially with weddings and honeymoons and even those surprise proposals…”. One story she shared was of a groom who asked her to plan a surprise proposal in Italy. Barb rallied her contacts in Nice and the Italian Riviera to find the ideal spot and photographer, ensuring the moment was captured and remembered forever – another memory no mere Google search could supply.
On the practical side, Barb’s website lists all the services she provides: from trip pre-planning and custom itinerary-building to transportation management and VIP hotel perks[9]. For every client she promises 24/7 support – literally. As Barb explains, “My husband always jokes, ‘Why do they always call at 2:00 a.m.?’ Because there's a seven-hour time difference. While my clients are traveling, I'm available 24/7.”[10] That unwavering availability means if a flight is canceled or a rental car fails, Barb can jump in at any hour as her clients’ personal travel advocate[11]. “When hiccups occur – like missing an airline connection – you call me. As your travel advocate, I can navigate the system to make the immediate changes when needed,” she reassures[11].
This concierge mentality is what Barb means by “luxury with heart.” She doesn’t merely hand over tickets and say goodbye. For example, she recalls planning a trip for a 70-year-old couple with mobility issues. She worked
with hotels and guides to pace the tour perfectly: “This is a 70-year-old couple. One has muscular dystrophy. She moves kind of slowly... This is a family of four with two teenagers... I'm with you from start to finish,” Barb says[12]. Every itinerary is custom-fitted, whether a spa visit is needed midday or extra guides for language help. And because Barb has “boots on the ground,” many of these details come from firsthand experience. She frequently goes on industry familiarization (FAM) trips herself – she mentions returning from trips to Greece and France so she can “learn about the hotels and vet the people who run the tours”[13]. That way, when a Kansas City couple dreams of Normandy or Tuscany, Barb already knows the best guide (“Christophe in Normandy, of course!”) and the coziest inns.
In short, Barb defines a true luxury advisor as someone who goes way beyond a DIY booking. Her clients appreciate that only she can assemble the “unGoogleable” parts of a vacation. “The most wonderful experience,” she says, “is to see [my clients’] smiles when they’re on horseback in a river in Colombia or picking coffee and cocoa beans and making their own hot chocolate.”[5] Those are the moments Barb lives for – and what keeps travelers coming back.
Honeymoon: The First Chapter
Barb devotes special care to honeymoons, viewing them as “the beginning of their adventure together”. Far from a throwaway add-on, she treats a honeymoon as its own unique experience. She often sits down with couples to map out exactly what would make their honeymoon a "wow" trip. In one example, newlyweds-to-be told her, “We want to go to Spain and Portugal for our honeymoon… we like to hike, we like to have food and wine… We want to relax some, but we want to be busy… We don’t know anything about Spain or Portugal. What should we do?” Barb recalls. With that, she assembles a custom itinerary that hits all those notes – from mountain treks to vineyard tours – without the couple ever having to research it themselves. She sums it up simply: “So then I curate the trip based on what they want to do”, turning a vague dream into an unforgettable journey.
Once the honeymoon is over, Barb isn’t done. She encourages couples to keep that travel momentum going. Many newlyweds are already eyeing their next chapters: vow renewals a few years later, a babymoon when they start a family, or annual anniversaries abroad. Barb will even help them set up a multi-year bucket list. One tool she’s excited about is Largay Travel’s Wanderlist app, which lets couples literally save and organize
destinations for future trips. “It lets you dream about where you want to go,” Barb explains, noting she’s seen clients already planning Africa safaris, Asian cruises, and Alaska explorations for years down the line. In Barb’s view, every trip is just the first chapter of a lifelong story. As she says, “Upon your return, it’s time to savor the memories… I’m not your typical one-and-done travel planner”[7]. Instead, her goal is to be the guide, resource, and friend at every step of that journey – from the honeymoon onward.
In Barb Wright, Kansas City has found more than an agent; she’s a travel advocate with a personal touch. Whether she’s sketching a surprise proposal in Paris or plotting an epic family reunion in Morocco, Barb reminds us that travel isn’t just about places – it’s about people and memories. As one client put it after a trip, Barb’s joyful attitude “made the entire experience stress-free”[14]. And that’s precisely the luxury she sells: not glitzy hotels or flashy extras, but peace of mind and lasting joy. After all, with Barb at the helm, your next vacation might just be your best story yet – “the most pleasurable and engaging experience” custom-tailored just for you[15][16].
Sources: Barb Wright’s own accounts and Travel Wright with Barb (travelwrightwithbarb.com)[2][17]; Largay Travel profile of Barb Wright[1][4]; City Lifestyle feature “The Travel Dreammaker”[8][12]; Barb’s interview transcript (Kansas City Thrive podcast).
[1] [4] Barb Wright - Largay Travel
https://largaytravel.com/advisor/barb-wright/
[2] [6] [7] [9] [11] [14] [16] [17] Home | TravelWrightwithBarb
https://www.travelwrightwithbarb.com/
[3] [5] [8] [10] [12] [13] The Travel Dreammaker
https://citylifestyle.com/articles/the-travel-dreammaker
[15] Travel Wright With Barb (@TravelWrightwithBarb) - Facebook
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