À l’Orée des Voyages, a travel planner in the Var: from road trip to travel keepsake

Setting off, discovering, marvelling… and keeping a little trace of the places that have become part of our story. Some trips change us a little: a destination that moved us deeply, an unexpected encounter, a sunset we will remember for a long time, a small beach stumbled upon during a walk.

At MyTomette, these are the stories we love most. The ones that stay with us long after the suitcases are unpacked. So today I wanted to introduce you to a lovely entrepreneur from our part of the world, who shares this passion for travel and for experiences that last: Marie-Léa, founder of À l’Orée des Voyages. And to show you how one evening of her latest road trip in Canada can become a travel keepsake to keep at home, or a travel gift idea for those coming back from a trip.

Who is Marie-Léa, a travel planner in the Var

She introduces herself simply on her About page: “Hello, my name is Marie-Léa and I'm a travel planner.” She lives in Solliès-Toucas, in the Var, just as we live in Hyères, and her love of travel goes back a long way: “As the daughter of expats, I was lucky enough to spend my whole childhood abroad.”

On the home page of her website, she sums up her background: 17 years spent abroad, a Master's degree in Tourism and around forty trips organised, both personal and professional. After a career in hotels, fine food and then communications in the tech sector, she took a Qualiopi-certified travel planner training course and turned her passion into her job.

The name of her business says exactly what she does. Every trip begins, she writes, with careful preparation:

“And that is precisely where I come in, at the very beginning of the project, at the edge of the journey, bringing your dreams of getting away to life.”

À l’Orée des Voyages: the art of travelling without the headache of planning

We all dream of going off to discover the world. But between plane tickets, accommodation, itineraries, activities and good addresses, planning a trip can quickly turn into a headache. What if someone did all that research for us?

That is exactly her job: a travel planner, in other words someone who creates tailor-made travel itineraries. This is how she puts it on her website: “My mission? To create tailor-made itineraries for a stress-free, authentic trip that fits your wishes perfectly.” A romantic weekend, a road trip with friends, a family holiday or a honeymoon on the other side of the world: she takes into account what you want, your budget, your pace and the way you like to travel.

She designs the programme, researches accommodation (several options for each stop, so that you have a choice), transport, activities and good addresses, then sends you her suggestions with the links to book. You keep control of your bookings, but you benefit from her experience and all her research. Enough to set off with a much lighter mind!

Packages for every kind of getaway

What I like about her concept is that it isn't only for people planning a big trip to the other side of the world. On her Les formules page, Marie-Léa offers several ways of working depending on the length and type of stay (prices noted in November 2026): the Coup de pouce, a 45-minute phone or video call for advice on a destination, at €49; Le Temps d’un Weekend, for a short getaway with a single stop, from €156; L’Échappée Belle, a stay with one or two bases to explore from, from €343; and On the Road Again, for lovers of road trips, from €413.

For special projects, she draws up a quote: “honeymoons, hen and stag dos, themed trips, long trips, etc.” She also plans trips for businesses, from team building to business travel.

The little extra I find really lovely? Her personalised itinerary booklet, sent as a PDF (a printed version is available on request, at an extra cost). It includes practical information about the destination, the formalities, a checklist, the day-by-day programme, good addresses and even “An interactive map bringing together all the addresses and sights to visit, so you can see the stages of your trip at a glance.” A real travel companion!

From Canada to Italy, by way of our lovely French regions

Browsing her favourite destinations, you discover the countries where Marie-Léa has stayed for several weeks, several months, or even years. They include Canada (Quebec and Ontario), the United States, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Iceland, Italy, from Naples to the Amalfi Coast, South Africa, as well as Corsica, the Luberon, the Var and many other French regions.

I also really like her blog, where she writes about her family trips and shares her advice: a road trip in Gaspésie, another in South Africa with the family… It is a lovely invitation to escape, even from your sofa, while you wait to plan your next adventure.

Two weeks on the Route des Explorateurs

Her latest travel story gave me an idea. In it, Marie-Léa writes about her road trip on the Route des Explorateurs, two weeks with her family between Quebec and Ontario. She opens it like this: “For those of you who have been following me for a while, you know how much I love Quebec.” This time, the family chose “a road trip off the beaten track”, through the Laurentians, Abitibi-Témiscamingue and the Outaouais.

There are chalets, kayaking, campfires and that “feeling of being alone in the world in the national parks” that she counts among her highlights. At the pourvoirie, an outfitter's camp where they stay for two nights, she writes: “It really is the classic postcard image we have of Canada: a chalet with its jetty on the lake, a rowing boat and everything you need for a campfire!”

Then the road leaves Quebec and follows the Ottawa River, on the Ontario side. In Pembroke, the day ends “with an after-dinner stroll in Waterfront Park and a magnificent sunset.”

Two days later, the family spends the day in Ottawa: Parliament Hill, the Changing of the Guard, the ByWard Market, a walk along the Rideau Canal. And she ends that day with a sentence we wanted to keep:

“The evening couldn't have ended better than with a magnificent firework display over the Ottawa River!”

And after the trip, what is left of all those wonderful moments?

This is where our two worlds meet. Marie-Léa helps you dream up and organise your trip. At MyTomette, we like to imagine what will be left of it a few years later.

Because when you get back, there are of course the hundreds of photos on your phone, the little souvenirs brought home in the suitcase, sometimes a seashell, a museum ticket or a postcard… But above all there are those precise moments you would love never to forget. What if you could turn them into a truly personal travel keepsake?

One evening in Ottawa, three engraved travel keepsakes

Take those fireworks over the Ottawa River. The same moment can be kept in three ways: through the place, through the sky that night, or through the music of the trip. We prepared all three previews with our design tools, exactly as we would engrave them.

The place, for the travel side

On the engraved map of a place, you can see Ottawa, the Ottawa River and Gatineau on the opposite bank. Simply type in an address or paste in coordinates: the map centres on it and the GPS coordinates are calculated automatically. For this example, we placed a heart on Parliament Hill, by the river, and engraved “Été 2026” (“Summer 2026”) underneath, along with the name of the place and its coordinates.

The sky above Ottawa that evening

The personalised star map is calculated from a place, a date and a time: the stars, the constellations, the Moon and the planets, exactly as they were positioned above you. The date of that evening doesn't appear in Marie-Léa's story. So for this preview, we used an example date, 28 July 2026 at 10 pm, above Ottawa. With the real date, the sky is recalculated.

In the reviews shown on her website, a couple whose honeymoon she planned says: “We came back with stars in our eyes.”

The song of the road

Over two weeks on the road, there is often one song that plays on repeat in the car. Her story doesn't say which one: for the example, let's imagine it was “We Are the People” by Empire of the Sun. With the engraved song of your trip, you search for the track, listen to it and choose the part that matters: it is the real sound wave of that part that we engrave, with the title and a few words.

Music also has its place in her travel advice. A family who went to Naples writes in their review: “we loved the recommendations for books, films, series and music, which we used to start drifting away towards our holiday!”

All three are engraved at the same price: €24.90 for a 12 × 10 cm hexagonal tomette, €29.90 for a 13 × 13 cm tile, laser-engraved in our workshop in Hyères on Salernes terracotta. Side by side, they tell the story of the same evening: the place, the sky and the music.

Other holiday keepsakes to keep close

And because every trip is different, there are a thousand ways to keep a trace of it. Imagine a small beach you discovered on a trip to Bali. A place where you spent a wonderful day, far from everything, and that you still remember perfectly. You can have its map engraved, place a little heart on the exact spot, and add a few words: “Bali, 18 August. Our little corner of paradise.” And just like that, a place discovered on the other side of the world finds its way into your home, on a small piece of Provençal terracotta.

You could also imagine the street in Rome where you first met, the beach where you got engaged, a little village discovered in Corsica or the starting point of an unforgettable road trip. A discreet holiday keepsake, but one that says so much.

A lovely holiday snap can become an engraved drawing: a photo of a couple, a landscape or a happy family moment, with our engraved holiday photo. And for those who prefer something more understated, there is our destination GPS coordinates gift, with its name, a date and a few words that sum up the adventure. All our designs are gathered in our personalised travel keepsake collection.

A travel gift idea, before and after the trip

Giving a trip also means giving its planning. Among her other products, Marie-Léa offers a gift card, mentioned on her packages page: a lovely treat for someone who dreams of going away without knowing where to start.

And once you're back, the keepsake takes over. An engraved map, sky or song makes a personalised keepsake gift for friends who travelled together, parents who celebrated a wedding anniversary on the other side of the world or a couple coming home from their honeymoon. You will find them all in our engraved keepsakes collection.

Two entrepreneurs from the South of France, the same wish to tell stories

In the end, that may be what I like most about this lovely parallel between À l’Orée des Voyages and MyTomette. We work in very different worlds, but we share the same wish to create something personal, something meaningful that tells a story.

Marie-Léa designs trips that reflect the people who take them. And at MyTomette, I love turning the small and big moments of our lives into keepsakes we keep close. Two different ways of being part of beautiful stories. And then there is also the pleasure of shining a light on another entrepreneur from our region, sharing her work and showcasing lovely local initiatives.

Getting in touch with Marie-Léa

If you have a trip in mind, a destination you dream of or simply a longing to get away, I invite you to discover Marie-Léa's world. You can write to her or book a free discovery call, and follow her on Instagram as @aloreedesvoyages.

And if you come back with a place, a song or a photo you would like to keep forever, we will be here. Because a trip doesn't really end when you get home: it lives on through the memories it leaves us.

Thank you, Marie-Léa, for your trust, and for these travel pictures. You will find the other people we love working with on our partners page.