What inspired you to found Welcome to Travel?
We’d worked in travel for a long time and we wanted to enhance people’s experience, specifically when arriving in Melbourne.
Melbourne’s a city that’s different. It doesn’t have the sites such as the Eiffel Tower, the Colosseum, or the Statue of Liberty that you visit to take snaps of. Melbourne is a city you need to discover. And not everyone was doing that as it’s hidden and quirky nature can make that quite difficult.
Leading a group through Queen Victoria Market
We want people to be wowed each day, see the city for what it is, explore different suburbs and areas, and then get out to beautiful surrounding areas such as Mornington Peninsula and Phillip Island. Our itinerary reflects that.
We built on that in a few different ways to make sure we can help with absolutely everything. We organize things people need such as an airport shuttle, sim cards, tax file number, and a bank account. We then help with post-travel, employment, and even help with accommodation options on tour.
What is the mission for Welcome to Travel and how do you work towards that mission on a daily basis?
Our mission is to deliver on things we believe in with people we trust. Every aspect of the tour reflects that from our airport shuttle to our vineyard visit to our hostel. A daily example of that could be in what we offer after our tour.
We’re approached by employers and short-term accommodation providers regularly and could easily recommend places so it looks like we have more options, but sometimes they just don’t fit with what we do and it’s important we stick to that.
Can you tell us about your role as the Director of Welcome to Travel?
We’re a young company so we have to be across everything and that’s something we both love about our roles. One day we could be interviewing people for a role, testing out a new product for the tour, speaking to travelers on Skype, reconciling bank accounts, writing a blog, and updating our Instagram story. Absolutely all over the place.
First Day of Traveling, back in 2010
How have your own international experiences influenced you personally and professionally?
It gives me a better understanding of the people we have joining us and allows me to be a lot more empathetic to their situations. It’s also made me constantly hungry to learn about other people and experience new things. Traveling has also made me more adaptable and flexible to situations.
You had experience working in youth adventure travel in Australia before Welcome to Travel. What lessons did you learn from this work that impact your current work and vision?
The importance of good people and their value to the company and its vision. It’s important to nurture, train, and retain good people. The company I worked for was built on good people and their attitudes, rather than their academic/industry experience.
What should participants expect from Welcome to Travel programs?
To leave one’s comfort zone and fall straight into another through meeting new people, experiencing new things, and laughing a lot.
Telling a group all about the Treasury Building
Why should they choose Welcome to Travel over other providers—what makes your organization special?
As people that have backpacked Australia, we know our travelers better than anyone. As people that live in Melbourne, we know Melbourne better than anyone. Mixing that together with the fact we’ve worked in the industry a long time, it means we’ve been able to create a perfect itinerary for people arriving here.
What does meaningful travel mean to you?
Meaningful travel can mean many things. It can be meaningful to you as the traveler on what is important for you to see. Do you want to see natural beauty and national parks over cities? It can be meaningful to the environment or the local people? Really I’d say taking into consideration all of the above is the ultimate meaning of meaningful travel.
Darryl and I as our best friend’s best man
Why should people travel and experience adventures around the world—and in Australia?
The effects of traveling can only be positive, no-one regresses after travel. You can only expand on experiences and personal attributes and best of all, how much fun is it?!
Australia is a must as it’s many different climates and landscapes make it like five or six countries in one.
What hopes do you have for the future of Welcome to Travel?
Firstly, we want to perfect what we have and ensure every group is wowed on every trip we run. Once we’ve done that we’re keen to replicate that in as many ways as possible.
