About Us
Who we are, and what we’re all about.
Chief of Experiences
Paul B. Sturtevant, Ph.D.
Paul is a professional medieval public historian who has worked in the field for over 14 years. Prior to moving to Portugal, he worked at the Smithsonian Institution for a decade, studying and improving on the experiences of the museum visitors. He has also taught in museum studies, public history, and medieval studies at universities in four countries. His research, including two books and numerous articles, focuses on how the public learns about the medieval past and makes it useful and meaningful in the present. He is currently collaborating researcher at the Institute for Contemporary History at Universidade NOVA de Lisboa.
He also was the founder and Editor-in-Chief of an award-winning online magazine, The Public Medievalist. Find out more about him and his work at paulsturtevant.com.
In other words…
I have a PhD in medieval studies, and I specialize in public history, meaning, how the past is presented to the public. What that means is that I care both about history but also what history means to people (and how those meanings have changed over time). I love being able to interpret the latest and greatest scholarship for people who don’t have the time or inclination to wade through 500 pages of impenetrable academic-ese and connect it with their lives. Doing that is complicated, of course. Especially when a lot of the things you’ll read in guide books and on historic sites were written over 50 years ago (and, in Portugal, sometimes in service to Portugal’s then-fascist government). So there’s a whole lot to talk about beyond just the names and dates of dead kings.
Chief of Details
Arielle Gingold
Arielle Gingold is a logistics maven who has loved to travel ever since she was a child. She has also always loved travel planning and is excited to now be doing for a living something that was once a hobby! In college, she spent four magical months studying art history in Florence, Italy, and is looking forward to creating the same kinds of life-changing experiences for our clients.
Prior to co-founding Stories Abroad Tours, she spent almost a decade creating and leading informal education programs for youth groups and summer camps, and worked for more than 15 years in progressive public policy and politics in Washington, D.C. This experience gives Arielle a keen sense of the modern-day issues that shed light on the meaning of historical events, helping our travelers draw connections between the “then” and the “now.”
Additionally, Arielle served as the National Conference Director for a non-profit in D.C., planning the organization’s first ever national conference which brought together more than 500 people from across the USA.
In other words…
I was raised with a passion for travel. My family believes in experiencing as much of this great wide world around us as possible first-hand, in order to truly understand it. And I have also long had a passion for experiential education—between my formative experiences on staff at summer camp, and the transformative experience of studying frescoes not in the pages of books, but instead on the walls on which they were painted in Italy. I also know from experience (both good and bad!) just how important it is to get the details right when traveling. You just can’t stop my brain from thinking about logistics! I’m excited to create new travel experiences for our clients…and see that their days flow as smoothly as possible!
Want to learn more?