5 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK I LAUNCHED MY TRAVEL BUSINESS.

Not the most obvious timing — we were just coming out of Covid restrictions (and yes… the traffic light system still gives me nightmares).

Like a lot of people, that period made me stop and think about what I actually wanted from work. So I swapped a career in marketing and advertising for something I’m genuinely passionate about — travel — and decided to see if I could make it work.

Five years in… no regrets.

But it has got me thinking.

I didn’t fully appreciate quite how hard it would be to build something from scratch in a market like this. Travel is crowded. Everyone thinks they can book a holiday — and to be fair, they can.

But finding the right clients — the ones who value having someone shape the trip, sense-check it, and quietly steer it away from the obvious mistakes — that’s still very much the goal.

Because a big part of what I do isn’t just booking. It’s the thinking behind it — the “this will work better than that” conversations. The bits that don’t always show up on a quote, but matter once you’re actually on the trip.

And it’s not just about making something work. It’s about creating trips to places people have often been thinking about for years — safaris, island stays, multi-stop itineraries where everything needs to flow properly.

There are definitely frustrations.

Conversations that go nowhere after you’ve spent time getting to grips with what someone wants.Quotes that disappear into the void.People who take the ideas and quietly recreate them elsewhere.

It happens more than you’d think — and yes, I do notice.

Every now and then I wonder whether I should start charging a planning fee before I even begin. I haven’t got there yet… but it does cross my mind from time to time — particularly after a week where I’ve been ghosted a few times.

But then…

There are the moments that remind me exactly why I do this.

Taking a slightly all-over-the-place brief and turning it into something that just works. Finding the hotel that fits so well it feels like it was designed for that trip. Seeing it all come together.

And the best bit — always — is when the holiday actually happens.

The messages from the airport.The photos mid-trip.The “that was exactly what we needed” call when they get back — often with a promise to book a bit earlier next time.

That’s the part you don’t get from a booking engine.

Most trips don’t come together instantly. They take a bit of back and forth, a bit of reshaping, and a proper understanding of what someone actually wants (which isn’t always what they think at the start).

But that’s usually where the best trips come from.

So yes — five years in, a few more grey hairs later… still here, still loving it.

If you’re starting to think about a trip and want someone to help you get it right (and avoid going round in circles), you know where I am.