About Us

Julie Johnson

Co-Owner

jjohnson@azzurrotravel.com

Back in 9th grade, Julie Johnson decided to do her career project on becoming a travel agent. Little did she know that is exactly where she would end up! Julie graduated from San Diego State with a degree in Psychology, then took the quintessential backpacking trip through Europe, then a few years later packed her bags and backpacked through Mexico and Guatemala for a few months. In 1997, Julie decided to turn her passion for travel into a career. Starting out as a travel consultant, Julie rose through the ranks up to Regional Sales Manager. During her tenure, Julie set up and managed a number of large university accounts, organized travel for a number of TV Travel shows, and went on to win a number of awards. After 12 years of growing business for someone else, Julie decided to team up with Simon Jones to develop their own travel business, Azzurro Travel. Julie also holds a degree in Culinary Arts, and loves spending time with her husband Jason and their two children, Logan and Brianna.

Simon Jones

Co-Owner

sjones@azzurrotravel.com

A native of Australia, Simon Jones has been traveling most of his life. In his youth, Simon divided his time between Saudi Arabia, the UK, Australia and the US. Simon attended Newcastle University where he graduated with a degree in Aviation Science and went on to become a commercial pilot and flight instructor. In 1995, Simon flew out of Sydney on an around the world flight with a stopover in Los Angeles, fell in love in with California and the rest is history. Now in the US, Simon got a job with a retail travel business where he rapidly rose through the ranks to become a Director of Sales for the Western US & Canada. Simon now devotes his spare time to his beloved sailboat, the Indigenous, his wife Sommer and their son Larkin.

Marjory Werstuk

Travel Professional

mwerstuk@azzurrotravel.com

Marjory Werstuk is a travel professional who has been working in the industry since 1994. She has traveled extensively throughout the United States and abroad to such countries as Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Mexico, Costa Rica, Turkey, Egypt, United Arab Emirates and the whole of Europe. Her experience has made her an expert in adventure and individual travel as well as business and groups. She is a native of California who graduated from Humboldt State University with a degree in Political Science and Environmental Ethics. After graduation, she backpacked across Europe for six months and fell in love with travel. This led her to a career in travel where she managed offices in San Francisco, Palo Alto and Eugene. Today, she is teamed up with Azzurro Travel and continues her commitment to her clientele in meeting all of their travel needs.

Mariusz P. Szyperko

Travel Professional

mszyperko@azzurrotravel.com

Mariusz P. Szyperko is a travel professional with close to 20 years of experience. A native of Poland, Mariusz moved to Los Angeles in 1981 where he began his career in the retail travel business. Over the years, Mariusz developed his skills as a tour guide and operator, working first with American tourists visiting Russia, Baltic States, Ukraine and Central Europe, then later focusing on inbound tours to the US. Mariusz has conducted tours for both business travelers attending conventions and trade shows along with sightseeing groups discovering the wilderness of American West. His clients included groups and individuals form such diverse countries as Poland, Lithuania, Russia, India and United Kingdom.

Miguel España
Travel Professional

amespana@azzurrotravel.com

Miguel España has worked as a travel agent and tour guide in Asia and America for the past 10 years. Miguel's love of travel has taken him to over 30 countries around the world. Having spent significant amount of time in India, Miguel began to realize first-hand how the lack of education was affecting the country. This propelling him to establish the Global Art Exhibit, which is a US based nonprofit that gives school supplies to primary schools in developing countries and sends teachers to work in four school site in Asia to develop curriculum and pen pal programs between children in Asia and America. Miguel's travel expertise is in exotic travel destinations and volunteer tourism. 5% of all revenue booked through Miguel will go directly to the Global Art Exhibit.