Humans of Travel

Note to listeners:  We're currently on hiatus until Spring 2025, but we're replaying some of our favorite episodes each week until we return. And you're listening to one of those "encore" presentations right now. Jason Leppert , Cruise Editor for TravelAge West , has a long history onboard cruise ships. From embarking on Crystal Cruises’ inaugural voyage in 1990 to completing his 204th voyag...

Note to listeners: Humans of Travel is on hiatus for the winter, with new, full-length episodes resuming Spring 2025.  In this episode of Humans of Travel — sponsored by Riverside Luxury Cruises — Ken Shapiro, vice president and editorial director, sits down with Jen Halboth, CEO of Riverside Luxury Cruises, for an honest conversation about her career journey and the evolving worl...

Note to listeners: Humans of Travel is on hiatus for the winter, with new, full-length episodes resuming Spring 2025. This is a bonus Humans in the Hot Seat Episode, recorded at SmartFlyer's CORE conference in Lake Louise, Alberta , last month. This episode is released in conjunction with a Trade Secrets episode on email marketing, with SmartFlyer's Kayla Douglas. Welcome to Humans in the Hot Seat...

Note to listeners:  We're currently on hiatus until Spring 2025, but we're replaying some of our favorite episodes each week until we return. And you're listening to one of those "encore" presentations right now. Alle Pierce is an Emmy award-winning host, travel influencer, river cruise ship Godmother and founder of Gals Abroad Getaways , a travel company that designs group trips for like-minded w...

Note to listeners:  We're currently on hiatus until Spring  2025, but we're replaying some of our favorite episodes each week until we return. And this week, we are releasing a new sponsored episode featuring our partners at Collette. In this sponsored episode of Humans of Travel, host Ken Shapiro, Vice President and Editorial Director of TravelAge West, TravelPulse and TravelPulse Canada, in...

Note to listeners:  We're currently on hiatus until Spring  2025, but we're replaying some of our favorite episodes each week until we return. And you're listening to one of those "encore" presentations right now. Most members of the travel industry community know  Samantha Brown as the host of PBS’ Samantha Brown's Places to Love, a long-running television show that allows viewers...

Note to listeners:  We're currently on hiatus until Spring  2025, but we're replaying some of our favorite episodes each week until we return. And you're listening to one of those "encore" presentations right now. Danny Genung, the owner of  Harr Travel, is a former middle school teacher-turned legacy travel advisor and a YouTube influencer in the cruise and resort space operating under...

Note to listeners:  We're currently on hiatus until Spring  2025, but we're replaying some of our favorite episodes each week until we return. And you're listening to one of those "encore" presentations right now. Three years ago, Henley Vazquez created Fora Travel, a host agency that caters to a select group of new travel agents: part-timers, side-hustlers or even those who are just looking...

Welcome to Humans in the Hot Seat, a spinoff series of Humans of Travel. This is Emma Weissmann, Executive Editor at TravelAge West, and your host. Over the coming weeks, we will be interviewing the travel advisors named in the "5 Future Leaders to Watch List," the cover story within the October 2024 issue of TravelAge West . All of these travel advisors, attendees of Future Leaders in Travel, wer...

John Diorio has spent his entire career in travel, from the tour operator and wholesale space to Hotels.com and, most recently, Virgin Voyages . Despite this, Diorio – now the vice president of North American sales for the cruise line — said his relationship with travel didn’t start until he enrolled in travel school at age 19; prior to that, his jaunts consisted of yearly family vacations from hi...

Welcome to Humans in the Hot Seat, a spinoff series of Humans of Travel. This is Emma Weissmann, Executive Editor at TravelAge West, and your host. Over the coming weeks, we will be interviewing the travel advisors named in the "5 Future Leaders to Watch List," the cover story within the October 2024 issue of TravelAge West . All of these travel advisors, attendees of Future Leaders in Travel, wer...

In 1994, before the home-based travel advisor was a popular career choice in the travel industry, Michelle Fee co-founded Cruise Planners, a franchise travel agency model for home-based professionals, that would grow to become a staple in the industry. In this episode of Humans of Travel, Fee will reflect on what it was like during Cruise Planners’ early days — when the first cohort of advisors co...

Grace McBride got her start in the travel industry earlier than most — as an undergraduate at Cornell University. During her sophomore year, McBride worked as a marketing intern for JetBlue, where she helped write marketing and ad copy for the airline. After catching the travel bug, she joined MilesAhead, a travel agency founded by Cornell classmate Rob Karp. But it was an entrepreneurship class t...

Tara Minson refers to InteleTravel , a host agency supporting over 100,000 travel advisors, as the "Goliath" of the travel industry — and with good reason. Not only does the host agency have the largest network of advisors, but she also credits the company with bringing the most new agents into the profession. Recently promoted to President of the host agency, Minson has deep roots in the travel i...

Welcome to Humans in the Hot Seat, a spinoff series of Humans of Travel. This is Emma Weissmann, Executive Editor at TravelAge West, and your host. Over the coming weeks, we will be interviewing the travel advisors named in the "5 Future Leaders to Watch List," the cover story within the October 2024 issue of TravelAge West . All of these travel advisors, attendees of Future Leaders in Travel, wer...

Welcome to Humans in the Hot Seat, a spinoff series of Humans of Travel. This is Emma Weissmann, Executive Editor at TravelAge West, and your host. Over the coming weeks, we will be interviewing the finalists of the TravelAge West Trendsetter Awards , which were created to acknowledge the work of exceptional travel advisors. This year, TravelAge West honored travel advisors in five categories, and...

“I have never been lonely when alone in the wilderness.” So says J.R. Harris, a worldwide adventure trekker and a member of the prestigious Explorers Club , a global professional society of leaders that have ventured to the farthest reaches of the world, and beyond. (Other notable members include Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, filmmaker James Cameron, former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, astronaut Buzz...

Welcome to Humans in the Hot Seat, a spinoff series of Humans of Travel. This is Emma Weissmann, Executive Editor at TravelAge West, and your host. Over the coming weeks, we will be interviewing the finalists of the TravelAge West Trendsetter Awards , which were created to acknowledge the work of exceptional travel advisors. This year, TravelAge West honored travel advisors in five categories, and...

Alle Pierce is an Emmy award-winning host, travel influencer, river cruise ship Godmother and founder of Gals Abroad Getaways , a travel company that designs group trips for like-minded women. Before diving into the travel industry, Pierce built a successful career in broadcast journalism as a local news reporter. During this time, she honed her storytelling and public speaking skills, which would...

Rose Gray, the business relationship director at Fox World Travel , got her start in the travel industry by walking into the agency her family used for their own personal vacations, and convincing them to hire her. At the time, she says that travel advisors were more “order-takers” and less “consultative,” and Gray would spend her days handwriting airline tickets and typing itineraries on a typewr...

Welcome to Humans in the Hot Seat, a spinoff series of Humans of Travel. This is Emma Weissmann, Executive Editor at TravelAge West, and your host. Over the coming weeks, we will be interviewing the finalists of the TravelAge West Trendsetter Awards , which were created to acknowledge the work of exceptional travel advisors. This year, TravelAge West honored travel advisors in five categories, and...

In addition to being a model, actress and licensed therapist, New Yorker Karmia Berry has always had a love for travel. In 2017, Berry decided to merge this love with her more than 25 years of experience working with youth communities by creating  I Am C.U.L.T.U.R.E.D ., a nonprofit organization that aims to empower marginalized youth communities through travel experiences, cultural exposure and m...

Welcome to Humans in the Hot Seat, a spinoff series of Humans of Travel. This is Emma Weissmann, Executive Editor at TravelAge West, and your host. Over the coming weeks, we will be interviewing the finalists of the TravelAge West Trendsetter Awards , which were created to acknowledge the work of exceptional travel advisors. This year, TravelAge West honored travel advisors in five categories, and...

Veranda Adkins , co-founder of the Association of Black Travel Professionals (ABTP) is passionate about making the travel industry more inclusive. In addition to helping run ABTP, Adkins is also a travel advisor with Travel Legacy, and prides herself in coaching entrepreneurs and being an influential speaker. Through her personal website, clients can book a multitude of different coaching tools to...

Welcome to Humans in the Hot Seat, a spinoff series of Humans of Travel. This is Emma Weissmann, Managing Editor at TravelAge West, and your host. Over the coming weeks, we will be interviewing the finalists of the TravelAge West Trendsetter Awards , which were created to acknowledge the work of exceptional travel advisors. This year, TravelAge West honored travel advisors in five categories, and...