For whatever reason, lately I’ve been asked during a few conversations how this wee biz of mine all began.
Over the years I’ve whittled down the bio, leaving just the 3-min crux of the story public for passersby to glance on in this busy world.
But.. maybe the long version is interesting? Who knows..
For a long time I worked in another industry.. the exercise industry. It’s fair to say that with my personality I can’t just “do” something; I have to go all in, dedicating everything to it… putting my absolute all in and making sure I am doing something.. well.. remarkable. That’s what happened with the exercise industry. I moved up the ranks, had amazing roles in London, Australia and New Zealand. Eventually I was tasked with managing larger scale gyms, working on their profitability. My final role in the industry was performance driving 13 gyms multi-region.
When I wasn’t managing P&L’s, customer satisfaction and team engagement, I travelled. During my industry tenure I ticked off around 25 countries.
But the industry eventually required all of my time (literally 24hours) and travel became increasingly restricted.
In around 2016 I booked a trip to Nepal and left 5 days later.. solo. I hiked the Annapurna Trail – something i’d always wanted to do. During this trip I felt compelled to rethink life’s direction.
Interestingly, on my return I heard recurring comments along the lines of “whaaatt?? you went there on your own??” as though I was a kind of mad woman! But to me it seemed crazy that there are people who don’t feel able to explore the globe when there are so many amazing places out there!!
So I studied a Diploma in Travel Journalism on the side and started a blog called Alex Chasing Dreams. There I wrote about the places I find really interesting around the world. I thought that through my words people might feel inspired to visit some of them. I thought that some of their barriers might be removed.
Except.. my blog caught more attention than I expected and then I was stuck: I couldn’t actually get people to these places.
So… I went door knocking.
I contacted all the Travel Agency’s I could find basically with a “Hey I’m Alex. I’ve got a ton of business experience and a ton of travel experience.. fancy training me up to be an agent”? A few knock backs, and then voila.. Travel Advocates said yes.
Within days I was on a plane to Auckland learning Airline Reservation Systems and studying Cert 4 Travel & Tourism. My blog site became my website.. a slight name change.. and the rest is history!
What started as a dream to help people see more of the world without limitations, remains exactly that to this very day.
Only now, I can actually design and book the travel experience, stripping back the fat to make the trip as lean on the pocket as possible for the customer.
If you’ve managed to read all this.. you’re probably due a holiday.
Yours in travel
Alex xx