We share the world because we love to travel. That’s a motto of ours at Goway. It’s an operating principle to help us keep who we are front and centre in our work. It also helps us remember that we do what we do in order to make unforgettable travel memories for Globetrotters.
But who exactly are we? If you’ve never heard of Goway before and don’t know what a Destination Specialist is, keep reading because you’re about to find out.
Goway is a private, family-owned travel company made up of Globetrotters who love to travel as much as the people we plan trips for. Our team is organized into specific destination regions, with the members of each department specializing in the countries of that particular region. These team members are known as Destination Specialists. Every Destination Specialist has travelled extensively through the destinations they sell and everyone is constantly travelling to new destinations (when possible) to always learn more about the world.
We help people travel as our careers and go travelling in our leisure. So you can see, we’re a little obsessed with travel. That’s the gist of it, but there’s more to it than that. For our Destination Specialists, travel is both a passion and a vocation. We thought we’d break down some of the main qualities of our Destination Specialists and let some of our team members speak about why they do what they do and what they love about travel. You can learn more about individual team members by visiting our staff profiles, which share some of our travel stories and favourite trips we’ve been on. But keep reading here to learn about the characteristics shared by our entire team of Destination Specialists.
What are Destination Specialists?
Destination Specialists are Globetrotters
Every single person who works as a Goway Destination Specialist is an avid traveller, or Globetrotter, as we like to call them. We’re not talking about people who have only been to the Caribbean and maybe one trip to Europe and called it a day, but people who live and breathe travel. We have chosen a lifetime of travel. We’ve either lived in the destinations we sell, spent months travelling through these regions to get to know them in and out, or even grown up in these destinations. Suffice it to say, we know what we’re talking about and aren’t just working from a manual or off of Google searches (although Google is always useful to learn more).
Every Goway Destination Specialist loves to travel. As Steve Perkins, Senior Destination Specialist for Asia, puts it, “Travel feeds my soul and reassures me that I’m doing exactly what I want to be doing with my life. Seeing the world, exploring new cultures, trying new foods, and meeting new people—is there really anything better?” There was a formative moment for every one of us that sparked our wanderlust. It could’ve been a childhood experience, an adult ambition, or simply the desire to do something new each and every day. But whatever it was, the travel bug bit us and we’ve never recovered. “I’m always intrigued by the different types of cultures we have around the world,” says Bijal Kana, Senior Destination Specialist for Africa & Asia. “I love to see and do new things. It feeds my soul.”
Destination Specialists are relatable
We travel for the same reasons you do. Travel feeds our soul, as Bijal said above, but it also allows us to experience something new each day. “Travel allows me to escape my everyday routine and to learn and experience other cultures. It offers a chance to relax and unwind,” says Cherie Durocher, Destination Specialist for Europe & the South Pacific. We want to cross items off our bucket lists like most travellers, but sometimes we also want to simply relax and get away from it all.
As Kelley Cleaveland, Destination Specialist for Africa & the Middle East, puts it, “Us Globetrotters know that there is a fundamental difference between a vacation and a trip. Usually, my overseas travel involves detailed and rigorous itineraries: seeing and doing as much as I can in whatever time I have for the trip, wringing out every drop of experience possible. But a vacation is for relaxing, going with the flow, and not cramming too much into a single day.” Globetrotters want both: the epic trip and the relaxing vacation. Destination Specialists want to both escape to the calm and familiar and embrace the new and exciting. Does that sound familiar to you? As Lisa Silver, Destination Specialist for Europe, says, “Travel is the education of the world.” It’s a way of always learning and doing more.
Destination Specialists are diverse
We aren’t all made the same and that’s a good thing. Every person has their own strengths and when they work alongside someone else with their own individual strengths, the two combine to make each other stronger. It works like this in life and it works like this in travel. No two travellers are alike and no two Goway Destination Specialists are alike. Our team members come from over 45 different countries, speak over 35 different languages, and have completely different life experiences. But we all work together as one team that wants to share the world with others.
Our embrace of diversity as a team makes us celebrate and seek out diversity in the rest of the world. We want to experience new ways of seeing the world, which is kind of what travel is all about. “I have always felt fascinated with getting to know other places, other cultures, other landscapes, and other ways of living,” says Virginia Dameno, Senior Destination Specialist for Latin America, the Polar Regions & Europe. Put another way: “Travel is the thing that both challenges and fulfills me most in life. It is an endless delight to explore new places, meet new people, and experience new things,” says Kelley Cleaveland. Lisa Guiotto, Team Lead and Destination Specialist for Europe, reiterates this appetite for the new and different among our team: “Travel takes us out of our comfort zones and inspires us to see, taste, and try new things. That’s the exciting thing about travelling: engaging with different people and embracing adventure!”
Destination Specialists are experts
Every Goway Destination Specialist focuses on a specific region of the world. The particular region is chosen based on lived experiences. We’ve either lived in the region we specialize in, or travelled extensively through it, which lets us leverage our first-hand knowledge in the work we do. We don’t call ourselves travel experts for anything. But that doesn’t mean we rest on our laurels and call it a day. Quite the opposite, in fact. We’re always learning more and broadening our experiences. The world of travel is always changing. The past year and a bit have proven this better than anything. So we can’t stop working hard to do better and ensure that a vacation turns out just as our traveller has always dreamed it would. As Sakina Adamji, Destination Specialist for Africa, says, “I want travellers to remember their journey for a long time with many fond memories. Being a part of making this happen is what is so satisfying about working in travel.” Or as Kiran Gill, Destination Specialist for Europe, sums it up: “I specialize in crafting itineraries that will go above and beyond the expectations of the traveller.” We want to do more than you can dream. That’s what expertise looks like.
Destination Specialists are reliable
We’ve already talked about how we love to travel and how we pride ourselves on our travel expertise. We also do our best to be reliable and use our knowledge and expertise to help Globetrotters when bumps in the road do arise. We know that a big part of being a trusted name in travel is delivering when it counts and being reliable when things go sideways. “I want to be your travel advocate, take care of every detail, and provide my personal knowledge and experience in order to craft the perfect trip,” says Virgina Dameno. We’re there 24/7 for our Globetrotters and take every detail of every trip seriously. We also go above and beyond to deal with troubles when they arise. When the pandemic hit, our team worked tirelessly day and night to get our many travellers home to safety. We knew that we had to be there for our travellers when it mattered most. That’s what being reliable is. That’s what being a Destination Specialist is all about.
So get in touch, share your travel plans with us, and let us help you work a little travel magic. We know how important travel is and what it can do to improve a person’s life. Whether it’s your first vacation or simply another in a long line of adventures, we’re excited to work with you and make some travel memories.
David Dalglish, Senior Destination Specialist for Latin America & the Polar Regions, rightly says that “It’s a big world and there is so much to see and learn!” So get out there and see it for yourself with Goway!
23 Aug 2021, 4:01 p.m.
