Good Neighbor Podcast: Delco
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Good Neighbor Podcast: Delco
Global Travel Adventures Led By Delco's Former Army Ranger, Captain Joe Sacchetti
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Global Travel Adventures Led By Delco's Former Army Ranger, Captain Joe Sacchetti
Ready to travel abroad with people you actually want around the table? Then this episode of the Good Neighbor Podcast is for you. Listen to host Bob Blaisse's sit-down interview with Captain Joe Zacchetti— the decorated and now retired U.S. Army Ranger whose global mission is Highroads Traveler, his bespoke travel business that leads small-group journeys of 12–16 guests safely abroad and home again.
In this episode, Captain Joe explains how he and his business partner and wife Domenica plan every journey around each group's common interests to gain a bespoke experience of a foreign country and culture through upscale accommodations, the best foods and sought-after places of beauty and history. It's all managed under low-stress logistics, in-country knowledge and language fluency. Instead of rolling with a crowd of strangers on a giant bus, let Joe and Domenica and their tour guides design a seamless itinerary without language barriers and with reservations never snagged without experience and connections.
If you want to understand the benefits of what "going deeper” really means in traveling to Europe: experience Italy beyond Rome, Florence and Venice, into Umbria, Puglia and Sardinia. See a Spain that leans into Basque flavors or Andalusian courtyards, France that trades lines for markets and long lunches, or Portugal, which balances Lisbon energy with Douro calm. Highroads Traveler can take you down that path. Listen in if you’re ready to stretch, and hear how Captain Joe will map that desired, thoughtful adventure across the Balkans—Croatia, Montenegro, Bosnia—and further afield to Vietnam, Thailand or even an African safari on the Serengeti and Masai Mara, with a Kilimanjaro foothill add-on for those craving a touch of higher highroad travel with altitude.
With curation and chemistry for the mission, discover how your own travel group can be led by Captain Joe towards four and five-star stays, zero-bad-meals and in-country traveling that never feels frantic but includes access, safety and the many locations and stories that guidebooks often miss.
If you’re single and love to travel but are ready for the next level, or a couple with friends 45 years or older, with similar travel interests in culture, history, beauty, people and food, your Captain Joe Sacchetti Highroads Traveler journey begins now, with this episode of the Good Neighbor Podcast.
Highroads Traveler
HighRoadstraveler.com
Joe@HighRoadsTraveler.com
610-613-3454
--- About The Show--- Good Neighbor Podcast is a spotlight on local businesses in and around Delaware County, PA (“Delco” ) and Beyond... The executive producer and host, Bob Blaisse, is a community sponsorship advocate, business branding specialist, and publisher of several hometown magazines, including: Newtown Square Friends & Neighbors, Marple Friends & Neighbors and Newtown Edgmont Friends & Neighbors, mailed monthly to more than 12,000 homes in Western Delaware County, PA, and also available for reading online.
Welcome To Good Neighbor Podcast
SPEAKER_00Hello, Doublecomer. This is Michael Barcan. Welcoming you to the Good Neighbor Podcast, where fans of local businesses and their neighbors come together. It's my pleasure once again to introduce my friend and neighbor, our host, Bob Lacey.
SPEAKER_01Thank you, Michael Barcan, for that introduction. And everybody, welcome again to another episode of the Good Neighbor Podcast. And if you've been listening to us for a while, about a year now, you know we're broadcasting here, podcasting from southeastern Pennsylvania, one of the 67 counties of Pennsylvania, the most southeast corner of Pennsylvania. So think about that on a map, just north of the state of Delaware and just west of the state of New Jersey, down in that corner of Pennsylvania, just below the city of Philadelphia. And uh we lovingly refer to Delaware County, Pennsylvania, as Delco. And you've heard me mention in the last several episodes to take a look at that HBO show that's now an HBO Task because it's all about living in Delco, all the towns, all the people, and all the fun that we hear, listening to this accent that you're probably hearing coming from me from Delaware County, Pennsylvania. Our program, the Good Neighbor Podcast, is meant to share a little bit of Delco, talk about the businesses of Delco, the good neighbor businesses. And they're nominated to come onto this program and we talk to them and find
Meet Captain Joe And His Background
SPEAKER_01out why they were nominated. Tonight, I'm very happy to present one of our good neighbor businesses, and it's a Captain. I'm going to find out, you know, what this means, but Captain Joe Saketti is with us here tonight, and uh he is the owner and the founder of High Roads Travelers. So let me bring to the stage Captain Joe. Joe, welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. Hello, Bob. It's great to be here. Thanks for having me. Joe, the first question that my listeners are asking, because it's in my head right now, Captain Joe, High Roads Traveler. This could go any number of ways. Tell me, how close are we actually to traveling? And how close are we to actually a real captain?
SPEAKER_02Well, uh, you're in luck. Uh real captain. I am uh a captain in the U.S. Army, uh, Army Rangers, to be specific. And uh uh so paratrooper, we jump out of planes and rangers have tough missions. You know, they distinguished themselves way back in World War II, and uh I had the the great honor of serving in Desert Storm, and uh I led a led a unit in combat. So um I'm very proud of that title, captain.
SPEAKER_01Well, thank you for your service, Joe. I was gonna say, still active duty, no, not jumping out of planes anymore, right? Uh, but still a captain uh from
What High Roads Traveler Actually Does
SPEAKER_01the U.S. Army and Desert Storm. We could spend episodes talking about that, but we're really here because your business now, I guess post-military life, your business is called High Roads Traveler. And now we know where the connection is a little bit, but let's zero in. Um, are you helping people jump out of planes or are you taking them traveling?
SPEAKER_02Well, yeah, we are taking them traveling, Bob. Now, if someone said they really needed uh to do they really wanted to do something adventurous, uh, we would do that. Uh, but we are taking folks around the world, we're we're taking the high road, uh, and it's something that everyone loves to do. I mean, who doesn't love to talk about travel? And uh when you when you catch up with people and they say that they they've just come back from somewhere exotic. And you know, when you say certain places, Bob, you you have a almost a mystic feeling come over you. Like someone says, I've just gotten back from Rome or Prague or Athens, Greece. It's uh it's really amazing. One of the best things you can do.
SPEAKER_01Well, well, the world is a big place, and yet we've got a captain in the in the US Army, a power trooper, but uh someone with some real live uh you know battle experience taking a group, I assume, on a real live experience to foreign lands. So not too far removed from some of the work of a ranger to kind of uh you know do some advanced work and then to lead a team. Tell me, how big is the team? Are you kind of a you know personal escort for a couple traveling or something, or is this group travel? Or help us understand a little bit more about who gets to travel with Captain
Why Small-Group Travel Beats Big Buses
SPEAKER_01Joe?
SPEAKER_02You've asked a great question because uh we know that uh a lot of times the only way to go uh to a really cool place and spend a couple of weeks there was on the big bus tour. And uh, I mean, they're great, and lots of people have gone on the big bus tour. But uh there are folks that that really want that great travel experience and they want to go it with a smaller, more boutique experience. Uh it just so happens that last year Forbes uh said that the fastest growing segment in travel is something they call small group travel, which is 12 people, 16 people at the max. In other words, enough that can uh fit at a dinner table, or enough that can fit in one Mercedes sprinter van. So imagine traveling with people that are like you, and uh and you if you go with your wife and having uh a wonderful time with five or six other couples, that's really to know them all.
SPEAKER_01You know, it's a small enough group, but that opens up some other questions here because I think those of us who have ever been on group travel, and some people might call that a cruise, or some people might get into a trip to some uh religious pilgrimage or something like that. But you know, you're in a group and maybe there's 30, 60, or more people on that trip. You don't get to know them all. Some people you get to know and you wish you hadn't gotten to know because they're really kind of like the anchor or some like troubled problematic personality that's kind of always talking or doing something or wants to go here and nobody else does. What I'm trying to say, Joe, is when you say um small group, and if we put a number on that, like 15, you know, it opens up in my mind that all 15 could be people I know. Like, are you are you kind of um creating trips and then saying we're only gonna take 15 people, who wants to go, and and they they all are getting to know each other for the first time? Or is it more so, hey, if you're two people, you and your wife, and and you want to travel with 15
The 2025 Travel Hack: Build Your Group
SPEAKER_01people you know, um, start working on it because we'll build this trip around who you know and where you want to go.
SPEAKER_02You just hit on the greatest travel hack of 2025. Uh, did you ever ask yourself the question before you're going on a trip? Gee, I hope I like the other people I'm gonna travel with. Well, the easiest solution that's possible today is easy fix. Put the group together yourself. Come up with some folks, uh ask a few friends, and you know, even if it's not all 15, if you have three couples, say, we're we want to travel somewhere. Uh, and then um uh at High Roads Traveler, we would put together that trip for you. Uh, and the great thing is that it's gonna be a homogenous group of like-minded people. Uh, you know, one of the things that I always thought was a problem was that when you don't get that much information about what you're about ready to do. Um that uh, you know, what are all the places we're gonna see or what kind of uh what kind of events or food we're gonna have. I think just like Julia Childs used to do, she would not only give you the entire recipe, but she would bake it right there for you, in front of you, uh literally saying, you can do this yourself. We want, but of course, everyone uh would want Julia Childs to actually cook it. So it sounds wonderful.
SPEAKER_01I think, Joe, what what the questions that start to come out in people's minds, and and these are the people that are listening, Joe, because while you might be in this Delaware County, Pennsylvania area, southeast corner of Pennsylvania, uh people can travel from anywhere in this country to go anywhere in the world when they're joining one of your trips. So uh listeners, if if you're interested in what you're hearing, keep in mind we're talking to a former and I guess forever, you know, a U.S. Army captain, Ranger, Captain Joe Zacchetti, who is the founder of High Roads Traveler. And and if you want to take a look at uh Captain Joe's website, um, it's HighRodstraveler.com.
Safety, Language, And Local Guides
SPEAKER_01We're gonna be uh asking a few more questions here. And and you know, I'm I'm thinking that you'll want to talk to Joe yourself. So uh if you'd like to call Joe and speak to him, he'll take your call. Here's the number 610-613-3454. Now, Joe, when someone who might be listening says, I'm gonna call this guy. I'm gonna find out if I'm because I can get 15 people. Here's what I really want to do, though. I want to make sure that we're really going to this country. Can we go there? Joe, uh, can somebody come with us who speaks the language? And Joe, tell me, be honest. Have you been there before? Are you worried about us going someplace where you haven't gone? Are you really good at this? Joe, is that a typical kind of a amount of questions that you'll get from somebody that calls?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it sure is, Bob, because I mean people love to travel, but there's a just a little bit of a fear of going to a place that's very exotic. It's potentially amazing, um, but it it's uh it's a little bit fraught with worry because you don't know, which which is why um we travel together, where I lead the tours myself, uh sort of like Joe Perello used to do back in the 70s with the big bus. But now we're going on the small van, we are taking folks to thoughtfully chosen places, and I'm going with them. In fact, so on the on the larger trips, so does the best hostess in the world, my wife Domenica. We uh have the the company together, and um and we've been to the places uh and we know the local folks. And uh in the in many cases, if it's in Western Europe, uh I'm comfortable with the language. I do uh have
Curating Food, Culture, And Experiences
SPEAKER_02the uh the fun faculty of being comfortable in half a dozen uh languages, mostly in European. My family's Italian, I also speak Spanish, some Portuguese, and so the local language and the local guides, which we always link up with there, make it like people are going to someone else's house. It's that personal and uh amazing. And here's the great thing who has time to figure out where the best gelato in Siena is, or where can I find the the best hot spring in Iceland? It would take months to figure that out, and time is precious. So when we have a a high roads traveler tour, uh people just know that all those thoughtfully chosen events, places, food, culture, history, people are picked out in advance.
SPEAKER_01They're on the team. You know, that's wonderful because you've really said that this trip that I might be able to put together with another 13 people and my wife and I, um we can first say, this is where we think we'd like to go. Now tell us what do we want to do when we get there? And and you're already filled with that knowledge. You've you've you've maybe even been there done that. So let's let's create a couple lists here, Joe. The the been there, done that. Joe Zacchetti can't wait to go do it again, kind of a list. Give me the top three or four places that you know are typical and we do this a lot. I'd like to go
Proven Destinations And Deeper Europe
SPEAKER_01back and do it again. I can always do it a little bit better because I keep learning when I get there. Those places, what's what's the common link? And then um, what would be the ones that like, no, I haven't done that yet, but boy, I can't wait. That is that is near term. I this is what 2026 is gonna bring us, I think. And then what would be the Joe Saketti high road traveler, Captain Joe's bucket list of like, no, we're gonna take a trip here before I'm done doing this because that I haven't seen that and I want to. So a couple ideas. If there's listeners out here who want to take trips, what are gonna be the top 10, top 20 kind of places? Wrap them up.
SPEAKER_02Okay, how about Italy, Spain, France, UK, Portugal? Uh, those are absolutely amazing places, they're they're incredible, and our trips are uh geared towards folks that uh this isn't the first time they've been there. And that's really the amazing thing. We we assume that you've already potentially been to of these places in Western Europe. But when we go now, we're we're going deeper. We're not when we go to Italy, we're just not going to Rome, Florence, and Venice. We're we're going to amazing places like Umbria and Puglia and the island of Sardinia. Uh, and it just takes that experience that people have and builds on it. And by the way, if it's the first time, you're gonna have an absolutely stupendous time. And then if you want to get a little more adventurous, because I think you said, Joe, give me something a little more adventurous, um, then people can
Stretch Destinations: Balkans And Africa
SPEAKER_02uh stretch their rubber band, Vietnam, Thailand, Greece. These are amazing places. I love to go there. Uh, I think people will also absolutely love them. Let me add Croatia to that same list because that's getting super popular. The Balkans, an amazing place to visit, Croatia, Montenegro, uh, Bosnia. And um, and if I could get people to you know to get out of their comfort zone, we'd we'd get them to Africa and we go to Tanzania and Kenya, and we do a safari in the Masaimara and the Serengeti. Then we'd slide over just a couple hundred miles over to Kilimanjaro and do a little bit of a climb. And that would be something crazy and adventurous. You could do that.
SPEAKER_01I'm hearing the threat. Yeah, I'm I'm hearing this wonderful kind of bespoke kind of uh attitude of it's it's gonna be unique, but it's gonna be classy. It's gonna be cultural, but it's gonna be fun. And and I gather in the midst of all that is you know, um, food and uh maybe people even want to be inspired by art or or museums or or religious sites or something, all those things kind of get in the consideration pool for creating a unique trip.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, they sure do. Uh, I think when you're uh when you have folks that are 45 and older uh and um and they've done well in life, uh they they they realize that I want to see a few places. And I and I also
Who These Trips Are For
SPEAKER_02would really like to see it in the best way possible with you know in a small group with some other people that are just like us. And we'd love to focus on history, culture, food, and people. I mean, what's better than that? That is absolutely amazing. We want to stay in thoughtfully chosen places, nice hotels, four and five-star hotel, and uh we want to eat absolutely amazing food. Uh, there's so many uh great restaurants out there. I mean, you know, the biggest crime ever, Bob, is when you go on a vacation, you go to another country, and even if you're there for 10 days, if you have one bad meal, there's no reason for it. There's so much amazing food out there. And again, you know, who who has the time to figure out all the best places to go? Um, better to put your trust in in uh in somebody that that knows it and has been there. And by the way, just like Julia Childs gives the recipe, uh, everything that we're gonna do is is out there for people to look at and see ahead of time. And in doing that, it sometimes filters out people that thought, oh my gosh, I thought this might be a kid's trip. We might go to uh an amusement park. Um I'm I'm really I'm exaggerating, but if someone saw that, they'd be like, okay, this isn't the trip for me. It who it is the trip
Crafting Effortless, Full Itineraries
SPEAKER_02for are lovely couples uh over 50 that want to see the world in its best, best light uh and uh and really enjoy themselves.
SPEAKER_01An upscale trip for sure. And and Joe, you've you've kind of uh spoken it well, but I have to get you know get back out here with the listeners to understand. We just listen to what high roads travelers want and can have delivered to them by uh you know, a captain, uh former ranger in the US Army, and and uh meddled desert storm, you know, uh military leader of persons, but now leading trips, bespoke tours, really, but really tours that are being put together um by the travelers themselves with great consulting from Captain Joe, who speaks uh many languages, it seems, and has uh many years of world travel history. I can't imagine wanting to go abroad with anybody but you, Joe, and just for the safety factor, the knowledge factor, really sounds like goodwill. And you know, it's really implicit here. You you really enjoy this. I can hear it in your voice that you really love traveling, but more so I think you really love giving people an experience of travel, high roads, travelers. It's a wonderful mission that you have.
SPEAKER_02Well, thanks, Bob. I uh I used to say when uh people said, you know, what's your the thing you'd love to do most? I used to start that sentence off with, if I had a million dollars, comma, if I had a million dollars, and that statement doesn't hold up quite as well nowadays. Uh but if I had a million dollars, I'd be traveling the world and sharing experiences with people. And the luckily the Lord has blessed me of that I've uh retired from a great career in software and then started uh my my true passion, which is literally taking people around the world. And you know, one thing I love to ask them when we've gotten back, uh they uh I get feedback like, you know, I uh I told people that we took, we we went somewhere for for a week and they said, Did you do this? Yes, did you do that? Yes. Did you ever think about yes? And they're like, How did you do all these things? Uh did you feel exhausted? And the answer always is no, it felt amazing.
SPEAKER_01It
How To Connect With Captain Joe
SPEAKER_01was because we're eating good eating good, laughing, and we had good people on the trip with us. What a wonderful, what a wonderful concept, even and uh what a wonderful business. I can see now why High Roads Traveler was nominated as a good neighbor business uh from southeastern Pennsylvania, but one of those businesses that can serve anybody anywhere in the country. If you'd like to put together your own trip and even just get travel advice from a good guy, Captain Joe here, Captain Joe Sacchetti, is able to share his knowledge with you, and his mission is to help you become a High Roads Traveler. If you want to learn more, please go to Joe's website, which is highroadstraveler.com. And you can even reach out and talk to Joe or email Joe at Joe at HighRodstraveler.com. Call him at 610-613-3454. Joe, I have to thank you for not only being a guest on our episode here today, but thank you for being a good neighbor business in our community. What a great addition to our
Closing Thanks And Nominations
SPEAKER_01community, but really the world as a global traveler, Joe. Thank you very much for being our guest.
SPEAKER_02Bob, thanks for having me. And I hope you and I get to travel sometime. Amen, brother.
SPEAKER_00Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast, hosted by Bob Lacey. This is Michael Barkan, inviting everyone to get on the Good Neighbor team. Nominate your favorite local business to be featured on an upcoming episode by going to gnpdelco.com or by calling bomb at 610 557 3745.