Sherman's Travel

Pulling off a hitch-less family getaway can be a daunting task for any parent – let alone when that parent heads up a multi-million dollar global enterprise as well as a household. Just ask Forbes and Fortune cover-girl Katrina Garnett, mother of three and successful Silicon Valley CEO who’s been finagling family trips to sync with school vacations for 15 years (granted, she probably had the help of an assistant or two). The well-traveled, Aussie-born virtuoso is now sharing her trip planning savvy with the rest of the world with the coming launch of My Little Swans – a members-only, online social network for sophisticated family travel.

Set to debut in 2010, the site is splattered with photos of Katrina and her kids involved in all types of activities in all sorts of exotic locales (from horseback riding in Patagonia to sand surfing in Morocco), as well as numerous at-a-click resources, like Garnett’s own global rolodex of luxury tour operators. Enabling users to share their own travel itineraries while offering all the necessary practicalities to build new trips (MSL even has a certified destination specialist on “hand”), the site design also features nifty tools like a color-coded calendar showing, at a glance, the best times to travel to dozens of cities (by breaking down weather, crowds, and event info). Like-minded “mompreneurs” looking to stay “effortlessly chic” while living out of a suitcase will benefit from Katrina’s personal travel style tips (which pair Purell with an Hermes scarf as must-brings) and be grateful for equally valuable checklists proffering advice on key travel documents and hotel booking.

According to Katrina, no matter where you want to go or how much you have to juggle, “you can do it all, if you plan it well.” While $100/month will get you full access to do just that, limited free content is also available to the public.