Active / Adventure
Culinary
Independent
Wine
I was once asked – what type of hotels did you stay in with your family when you were growing up? None was the reply. Born to British parents who emigrated to Canada in the 1960’s all of my earliest travel was to England to see family. Memories of that time are of strong black tea, hard beds, and stuffy living rooms while staying with family around the country. After dropping out of college and moving to British Columbia to work as a ski lift operator, my next adventure came via an exchange program to work at an Australian ski resort, followed up with an overland trip through Africa, starting in the souks of Tangier, Morocco and ending diving in the Red Sea: fourteen countries in total. After earning a Bachelor’s degree in Geography at the University of Victoria, a research fellowship while studying for a Master’s in International Development Planning gave rise to a subsequent overland trip through Southern Africa, from Cape Town to Nairobi where I lived on a pineapple plantation and studied at the University of Nairobi. Those overland trips were often grueling, on roads that barely existed, with countless flat tires, and no luxuries. While they were challenging, they taught me resilience and determination, how to trust my instincts, that strangers are capable of endless kindness and so many other things that have shaped a multitude of my life choices. I attempted the corporate office track but was quickly lured away by the lifestyle of working as a guide for an active travel company. I spent the next five years working and living in Canada, France, Italy, Switzerland, Costa Rica, Chile, Argentina, Thailand, and South Africa. I joined a team formed to hire and train new leaders and became a master in complex logistics and scheduling. It was a career where independent thinking, organization, and attention to detail were a must. Creative thinking and problem-solving were constant. After the birth of my daughter, I pivoted into a personal assistant role for a few families who love to travel and have planned myriad exceptional experiences for them to most parts of the globe. Post-COVID lockdowns, I realized that this is what I want to do – plan incredible journeys and create lasting memories by opening my own boutique travel advisory business.
My favorite trip is always the last one I just took. Each journey, whether, to ski in Austria, bike in Croatia, or relax in Paris is unique and will always have favorite elements. Traveling just with my husband, with family or a group of friends, we always seek out the interesting, what’s new and do it with a sense of adventure!