Not every travel agency was built by someone who has actually been there.
Tidal & Rare was.
There are two kinds of people in the world. Those who talk about the places they want to go. And those who go.
Nicole Dunlap is the second kind.
She has stood in the turquoise shallows of the Maldives at sunrise and felt the world go completely quiet. She has watched the Northern Lights dissolve over Iceland and understood, in that moment, why some experiences simply cannot be described — only lived. She has eaten her way through Spanish markets, sailed the Greek islands, and fallen completely in love with the wild green cliffs of Ireland.
These are not destinations Nicole found in a brochure. They are places she has been, felt, and carried back with her — so that when a client says "I want something I will never forget," she knows exactly what that means and exactly how to deliver it.
She doesn't recommend places she hasn't experienced. She doesn't book properties she hasn't researched. She doesn't send clients anywhere she wouldn't go herself.
There is a difference between someone who can book a trip and someone who has stood on the terrace of a cliffside villa in Santorini at golden hour and knows — from experience, not a brochure — that this is exactly where you need to be. Nicole is the second kind of advisor. And Tidal & Rare is the second kind of agency.
The world is her inventory. All of it.
Meet Nicole
Nicole Dunlap is an emergency room nurse and the founder of Tidal & Rare. She has spent more than ten years in nursing — nearly a decade of that in the ER, where getting a detail wrong isn't an inconvenience. It's a consequence.
She still works those shifts. Not because she has to — but because that environment keeps her sharp in a way nothing else can. The calm under pressure. The split-second problem-solving. The absolute refusal to let anything fall through the cracks. These are not personality traits Nicole developed in nursing and left behind. They are skills she practices every single day — and brings to every single journey she plans.
You don't survive that environment without becoming a certain kind of person. A problem solver. A perfectionist. Someone who finds the solution before anyone else has noticed there's a problem.
Tidal & Rare was born from one of those moments that could have broken everything, but didn't. When Nicole's special needs daughter lost access to her after-school program, Nicole made a decision: she would build something of her own, from home, around the one thing she has always loved without reservation. Travel.
What started as a solution became a calling. What was born from necessity became something extraordinary.
Today, Nicole runs Tidal & Rare from Amelia Island, Florida — one of the most beautiful barrier islands on the East Coast — designing bespoke luxury journeys for clients who have already done ordinary — and are ready for what comes after. She is currently planning her own destination wedding in St. Lucia, which means she is, as always, living exactly the life she creates for others.
Her vision for Tidal & Rare is simple and enormous at once: a full-service luxury travel agency with a team of world-class advisors, built by a woman who turned a crisis into a calling and never once looked back.
The Tidal & Rare Difference
Most travel agencies present you with options. We present you with a plan.
Your Time, Protected
Every detail — transfers, reservations, timing, contingencies — is handled before you ever leave home. You arrive. Everything else is already done.
Obsessive Precision
Nicole still works in emergency medicine — where getting a detail wrong has real consequences. That same standard applies to every itinerary she crafts. You travel. She handles everything else.
Rare Access
As an affiliate of Trips & Ships Luxury Travel and a member of Travel Leaders Network, Tidal & Rare offers exclusive rates, complimentary upgrades, and preferred status at the world's finest properties.
Who we travel with
Tidal & Rare is for people who have decided that life is too short for average.
Our clients are accomplished. They have worked hard, lived well, and arrived at a point where they want their travel to match the rest of their life. They are not looking for a deal. They are looking for an experience — one that is thoughtfully designed, flawlessly executed, and completely unforgettable.
They range from honeymooners to empty nesters, from solo adventurers to multigenerational families, from couples celebrating milestones to groups of friends who have been talking about this trip for years and are finally ready to take it.
What they have in common is this: they want to hand it to someone they trust and show up to something extraordinary.
That is exactly what we do.
Ready for Rare?
Not every journey makes it onto a list.
Not every trip becomes a story you tell for the rest of your life.
When you're ready — so are we