Meet Our Team Of Bespoke Travel Planning Experts
Think of us as your well-traveled friends who happen to know all the best spots and love sharing them with you.
Salt & Wind Travel: Bespoke Travel Planning Services
Founded in 2015 by culinary expert Aida Mollenkamp, Salt & Wind Travel is a woman-owned travel planning business with over a decade of experience providing travel concierge services and crafting personalized travel itineraries to the world's most delicious destinations.
Why “Salt & Wind?” Because we’re all about food and travel, and you need salt for food to taste its best, and wind to get an airplane off the ground!
Helping You Travel Better
You deserve to make the most of your precious vacation time. Our stress-free travel planning services do the work for you so you can focus on being in the moment.
Whether it's securing exclusive access to family-run establishments, arranging private cultural experiences, coordinating seamless logistics, or curating authentic local encounters, we handle every detail so you arrive relaxed and ready to explore. To get started, check out our travel planning services!
Our Expertise
Our travel expertise runs deep in carefully selected destinations — California, France, Hawaii, Mexico, Italy, Switzerland, and Spain. Working regularly in these locations means our recommendations are high-quality and our local relationships are genuine.
Each destination is meticulously researched through our networks, each travel partner handpicked through our local connections, and each experience curated to reveal the cultural treasures that make these regions authentically unique.
Our Philosophy
Cultural immersion makes for more profound, meaningful experiences and lasting memories. We're driven by the idea that authentic travel experiences can transform you from tourist to local insider while positively impacting the communities you visit.
Our mission is simple: we curate transformative cultural experiences that connect travelers to authentic destinations through local traditions, insider relationships, and hidden gems that reveal each place's true character.
Our Team Of Bespoke Travel Planning Experts
Founder & CEO
Aida is a food and travel expert, cookbook author, trained chef, and Food Network personality, founder of the travel services company, Salt & Wind Travel. She has dedicated her career to food, travel, and hospitality and has crisscrossed the globe to uncover the best food destinations.
After graduating from the Cornell Hotel School and Le Cordon Bleu Paris, she joined CHOW Magazine, ran the test kitchen, and was Food Editor. Aida then moved to television, hosting the Food Network show Ask Aida, FoodCrafters on the Cooking Channel, In The Pantry on Yahoo!, and the TasteMade series, Off Menu. Her cookbook, Keys To The Kitchen, is a go-to for home cooks who want to become more adventurous.
Aida speaks four languages, has passed the WSET level 2 exam in wines, and has lived across the United States, in France, and Italy. A Californian by birth, Aida lives in Mammoth Lakes and is driven by places that share the creative spirit of the Golden State.
Her favorite places to arrange travel for our clients are Italy's Sicily and Piedmont regions, France's Rhône River or L’Occitane, California wine country, or the Island of Hawai’i. For more, visit aidamollenkamp.com.
Partner & Travel Planner
Kristen is a partner at Salt & Wind Travel. As a filmmaker, digital storyteller, and travel expert, Kristen has spent her career crafting creative content for clients, including Hotel Tonight, Rosetta Stone, Visit California, and Visit Los Cabos.
Kristen earned a bachelor’s Degree in Communication Studies from San Jose State University. She lived on Nantucket, where she learned high-end hospitality while working in food and beverage operations. Kristen has lived in California and Mexico and has traveled extensively through Hawai’i, Italy, and Switzerland.
She melds her love for adventure travel, food, and hospitality to bring a unique perspective to itinerary planning. Kristen is a certified Integrative Nutrition Health Coach. She has passed her Level 1 Exam at the School of Applied Functional Medicine, where she is working toward her Applied Functional Medicine for Coaching™ certification.
Kristen lived in Mexico City for five years and now splits her time between the United States and Todos Santos, Mexico. Her favorite places to plan travel for our guests are Italy's Val D'Orcia region, the California coast, the Island of Hawai’i, and Mexico's Oaxaca region.
Travel Planner
Rachel is an Arizona-born wanderer at heart who eventually settled down to live the pasta-eating dream in Florence, Italy.
Since 2014, she has been working as an Italian culture decoder, writing articles and consulting on all things Italian lifestyle.
Rachel holds a BA in Italian Renaissance Art from Scuola Lorenzo de’ Medici in Florence, Italy, and a Master’s in Art History from Arizona State University.
As of June 2021, Rachel, her husband, Marco, their two Italian-American bambini, and their dog Luigi have split their time between Arizona and Tuscany.
Rachel has Pugliese roots, and she loves planning travel in Central Italy and Puglia. Follow Rachel on social media at The Italianista.
Does Travel Planning Feel Like Work Instead Of Wonder?
In just 30 minutes, we'll shift that energy.
Your Discovery Call is where the stress melts away and excitement takes over — we’ll explore your travel style and the adventures waiting for you. No commitment, just conversation.