Escape To Shape is the vision of Erica Gragg and Francesco Anchisi, two “gypsetters”* who believe in a sophisticated yet down-to-earth way of living — blending traveling, local flavors, experiences, and entertaining with balance and wellness. Together, the two have successfully married their passions for travel and cultural connections with fitness and wellness, creating a unique and rewarding way to experience the world. Each unique ESCAPE TO SHAPE location provides a perfect backdrop and platform for discerning guests to re-discover themselves while discovering a new culture.
Stateside, Brandon Gragg, also a partner in Escape To Shape, holds down the fort behind the scenes, overseeing many aspects of the bookkeeping and marketing side of the business… and occasionally making guest appearances in locations around the world.
Each location, activity, and menu is hand selected and curated by Erica and Francesco to ensure that guests experience the most authentic and very best each culture has to offer — a blend of cultural “must sees” with an “in-the-know” edge and off-the-beaten-path treasures. Erica and Francesco host each Escape and provide a welcoming and intimate backdrop — similar to visiting a close friend’s private villa.
Past guests have enjoyed African dance lessons in Cape Town, South Africa; trekking horseback through the vineyards in Colonia, Uruguay; experiencing an authentic Berber meal in the peaks of the Atlas Mountains in Marrakech; exploring the architecture of magnificent St Petersburg, Russia with a historian; practicing yoga in the underground cisterns of Istanbul, Turkey; journeying inside a volcano in Iceland; savoring the sunrise over the temples of Angkor Wat in Cambodia, swimming with baby sea lions in Galapagos, Ecuador and hiking peaks & valleys in breathtaking Bhutan, plus much, much more.
All this combined with luxurious accommodations, delicious food, daily yoga and/or fitness classes, hiking, culinary delights, cultural (& shopping!) discoveries, unique activities reflective of the region + lots of laughter.
*Gypsetter: Fusing the ease and carefree lifestyle of a gypsy with the sophistication of the jet set, the Gypsetters are artists, surfers, designers, and/or bon vivants who live and work around the globe. Gypset Style explores the unconventional, wanderlust lives of these high-low cultural nomads and the bohemian enclaves they inhabit, as well as their counterculture forbears, such as the Victorian explorers, the Lost Generation, the Beatniks, and the hippies.
