EXTRAORDINARY

An avid traveller who has been fortunate to spend the majority of his career working in travel - such a dynamic, fun and rewarding industry! Paul doesn’t have a ‘favourite’ destination as such. Every travel adventure creates its own special moments and cherished memories. If pushed South Africa would be right up there: from backpacking adventures in Johannesburg and along the Garden Route to a more recent family break exploring Cape Town and surrounding areas with its stunning nature, fascinating history, great food/wine and exhilarating wildlife.

Having lived and worked across four continents, Mika is truly a “World Nomad”. She’s currently based in Australia, working as a Senior Brand Strategist for World Nomads and other nib Travel brands. Outside of the office, you’ll find her hanging off various cliff faces or wiping out in the surf as she explores a passion for rock climbing, the outdoors, and the general adrenaline of life. South Africa will always hold a special place in her heart because of the wonderful friendships and memories she made there.

For the past 10 years, Svitlana has worked on projects related to sustainable mobility, circularity and sustainable consumption and production within various UN agencies as well as with private businesses. Currently, she is working as Coordinator of the One Planet network Sustainable Tourism Programme, which objective is to foster the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 12 on Sustainable Consumption and Production in the Tourism sector. Her favourite destination is Bali for its incredible people, vegan food and beautiful nature.

Kendra Okereke is a 29-year-old solo traveller from Los Angeles, CA. She has been solo travelling for 5 years, has visited 20 countries and taken 16 solo trips! She loves to stay in hostels and meet other travellers from around the world. She's also a total and complete hopeless romantic. When she's not travelling, you can find her hosting the podcast, The Rom-Com Room. She's also the creator and moderator of Late Bloomer Support, a Facebook group for people who identify as late bloomers. Whether you're 21 and have never kissed someone or 40 and have never been in a relationship, this is a safe space for people to find support and receive advice. You can find Kendra on IG and TikTok @Ken10hollywood. Her favourite destination is Ireland. She loves the culture, how kind people are and she’s exactly who she wants to be as a person when she’s there. She’s been there 3 times and has visited 12 of Ireland’s counties.

Roi Ariel has been focusing on responsible travel and sustainable tourism over the past decade. Roi manages GSTC's memberships, partnerships, communications, and operations in his current role. This includes working closely with key governmental agencies and influential companies to mainstream and promote adherence to sustainability standards in travel and tourism. He previously worked with UN-ESCAP researching sustainable development and green growth in Southeast Asia, and on sustainability issues with the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA). He also served as the Green Economy Initiative Advisor for EcoPeace Middle East in Israel and a sustainable tourism advisor in countries around the world, including China, Madagascar, and Taiwan.

Taiwan is his favourite destination to travel to, especially after spring when certain areas are filled with hundreds of blinking flashes of fireflies at twilight. It’s also the last chance to get warm and enjoy a natural hot spring in the cooled central mountains or cool down when snorkelling in the tropics.

With over 30 years of experience, Brian Young’s career in the travel sector has taken him from a bright-eyed 19-year-old club rep, working for Club 18-30, to Managing Director of G Adventures across the EMEA region. He loves to travel to Greece and the islands. He loves the culture, the food and the fact you can still get off the beaten track and find amazing local places that have not been touched by tourism.

Nolan Saumure currently works as a digital producer and content creator on a freelance basis. From a small town in Canada called Renfrew, he feels like growing up in a small town where no one leaves is the reason he rebelled and now likes to travel all the time. Because he was infatuated with the travel lifestyle, he felt like the only way to support this healthy addiction was to get a remote job. Having always been into video editing and social media, he developed his skills as a digital producer to become a digital nomad. His favourite travel destination is Mexico. It's a country that has so much more to offer than the beaches it's famous for and if you explore the non-touristy area you'll find an authentic culture like no other.

Hostelgeeks is your gateway to the world’s finest hostels, the 5 Star Hostels. They visit all the top hostels in the world and put them under one roof for you. Together with his small team, Matt has run Hostelgeeks since 2015. Before Hostelgeeks he worked in web development. On the road, you will find him in any good café house, enjoying an iced coffee. In a hostel, you will find him at the Foosball table. You will never hear him counting the countries he has visited, but most likely he’ll tell you how wonderful Vietnam is. Why? Because of its strong and kind people and culture, the beautiful nature, and its cuisine with its tasty balance of aromatics, heat, sweetness, sourness, and spices.

After a decade spent inside a banking office cubicle, Aiden decided to start his life over again and hit the road. From there, he fell into travel blogging and rose to the illustrious position of Senior Editor at The Broke Backpacker! He manages the site’s gear content as well as providing the occasional insightful piece on the lessons and tribulations picked up on the road!

He loves travelling to India because it is everything that travel should be - challenging as hell but also richly rewarding. And of course, it’s huge so there is always so much to see.