January 28, 2025 • 13 mins
Join us on the Good Neighbor Podcast as we welcome the insightful Joslin Roberts from Wonderlux Travels by Nova Vacations. Ever wondered if a travel agent is worth the investment? Joslin uncovers the truth behind common misconceptions, revealing how the cost structure is often misunderstood and how specialized knowledge can transform ordinary trips into extraordinary experiences. After spending five vibrant years in Europe, Joslin has honed her expertise, particularly in European travel, though her skills extend to orchestrating family vacations, group tours, destination weddings, and corporate incentive trips. Her journey, inspired by a blend of international work experiences and her mother's influence in the hospitality industry, adds a rich, personal layer to her professional prowess.
During our conversation, Joslin shares the fascinating story of how she initially shunned the idea of using a travel advisor until the pandemic prompted her to reconsider. She now advocates for the unique value travel advisors bring, such as insider connections and seamless coordination, especially for complex events like destination weddings. Based in Virginia Beach but catering to clients worldwide, Joslin is a beacon of travel wisdom, passionate about making each trip as enjoyable and memorable as possible. Discover how her organizational skills and love for travel make her an indispensable ally for anyone planning their next adventure.
WanderLux Travels by Nova Vacations
Joslin Roberts
757-402-6715
www.novavacations.com/joslin
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Denise Taylor.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Welcome everybody to Good Neighbors Podcast, virginia
Beach.
Today I am with Joslin Robertswith Wonderlux Travels by Nova
Vacations.
Welcome, jocelyn.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Hi, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
You're absolutely welcome, so excited to talk to
you.
I know since COVID I know thelast four years have been kind
of a big boom and people afterbeing locked up for a year and a
half ready to get out and about, how's that going for the
travel business for you?
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Yeah, I guess I'm seeing a huge influx of people
needing assistance with travelsand it just keeps growing and
growing.
And obviously, when you helpone family and then they refer
you to others, it just growseven more.
So, yeah, it's good.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Tell me what your specialty is.
And I know it sounds like youcan do kind of the gamut of
vacations for people.
But what is your specialty?
What do you like to focus on?
Speaker 3 (01:21):
You know I have a wide variety of things that I do
do I do have a specialty inEuropean travel.
I lived in Europe for aboutfive years between Spain and
England, so I do specialize inthat.
But I can do basically anything.
You know.
Do family travel, group travel?
(01:42):
I'm doing a lot of destinationweddings um corporate incentive
trips, anything like that I'mable to do so so do you partner
with wedding um planners?
Speaker 2 (01:56):
How does that work?
Speaker 3 (01:57):
Yeah, so I don't necessarily partner with, I just
handle the travel on the travelside of things so I can get
them in touch with weddingplanners, and a lot of times
with destination weddings, theyhave planners on site at their
resorts.
So you don't really, yeah, youcan bring your own in or they
have one there to assist you.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
So that's awesome.
Okay, so you shared a littlebit about living in Europe.
What made you go into thetravel industry?
Speaker 3 (02:26):
Yeah, so I grew up in the.
My mom worked in thehospitality industry when I was
growing up, so I got toexperience a lot of that within
that world.
And then I was sent to Swedenwhen I was 18 to do a fun trip
to see some family, friends andjust kind of eye opening.
From there, you know just whatis all out there.
(02:49):
I studied in Mexico in college.
For half a year I was in Mexicoand then I had an opportunity
with the advertising companythat I worked for to go help
open offices in Europe, andbecause I spoke Spanish I took
advantage of that and so I wentover there and I was, you know,
(03:12):
just learning how to do businesswithin those different
countries.
But yeah, it just you know Ilove the travel aspect of it,
the organization of it, justhelping people, you know, make
their investment in their traveljust the best it can be.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
So what would be there's?
There's a couple of questionshere, but what would be a
misconception about using atravel agent?
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Yeah, I actually it's .
It's funny my friend hadstarted our boutique agency and
I obviously had traveled all thetime and never used a travel
advisor, and I did it.
It was because it was duringCOVID and I was a little scared
of, you know, planningeverything.
And I went to her because shehad started this agency and I
(04:02):
was like blown away with whatwas a, what she was able to do,
basically, and I thought I kneweverything about travel
basically.
So, right, um, and it's not tosay that you can't travel your
or travel, you can't plan yourown travels yourself.
We just have the ins and outsof, you know, on-site companies,
uh, within the differentcountries that can make your
(04:24):
trip truly special, that youcan't necessarily get just if
you're booking online yourself.
But I think the commonmisconception is this all costs
extremely, extremely more moneythan you would pay if you just
booked it yourself, which I hadno idea.
I didn't realize that there wasalready a.
(04:46):
Whether you use a traveladvisor or not, there's a fee
built into what you're payingalready.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
You don't pay anything extra?
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Yeah, gotcha, that's great.
So you live in Virginia Beach,you work in Virginia Beach, tell
me, but you serve clientseverywhere.
Is that correct?
Speaker 3 (05:07):
Yeah, yeah, I've worked with clients all over the
world.
Actually, I have.
I just booked a trip for somepeople in Germany, england.
I've done a couple of differentcountries, but yeah, oh,
bermuda, I have some clients inBerm, I can help anyone.
I can help anyone whereveryou're at in the world.
I have in spain and I justbooked a trip for some people in
(05:28):
germany, uh, sweden, um, butyeah, anyone can come to me for
help so you live in virginiabeach.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
tell me how you're involved with this community.
I know you haven't lived hereyour whole life.
Yeah, but your extendedfamily's here, is that correct?
Speaker 3 (05:46):
Yeah, we actually I grew up coming to Virginia Beach
in the summertime.
My mom grew up in VirginiaBeach and, yeah, we'd come and
stay with some of our friendsout here and you know I, we just
just loved.
I loved it so much that, youknow, when I got the opportunity
to move out here, I my husbandand I and our little golden
(06:06):
doodle moved out here a coupleof years ago and we absolutely
love it.
So and then also yeah, we have abusiness here in town it's the
cabinet factory, yeah, and so myhusband works there and yeah,
we're just kind of lots ofdifferent family members in town
.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Can you describe one hardship or life challenge being
a travel counselor?
Business owner.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
Life challenge.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Or a challenge with your business that you've
overcome.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
Well, I would say, not specifically this business,
but you know, one of the thingsthat I was tasked to do for the
corporation that I worked for inadvertising, I had to figure
out how to open a business inSpain and you know I was lucky
(07:04):
enough to have, you know, thebacking to support to, you know,
with the right attorneys andgovernment officials and
everything like that.
But I think that was probablythe biggest challenge that I've
ever faced, just withexpectations of working for a
very successful corporation.
And they put all of that, youknow challenge on your shoulders
(07:27):
.
But you know it was, it wasdefinitely the biggest challenge
I've ever had to.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
How long were you in Spain for that position?
Speaker 3 (07:35):
So I was between Madrid, spain, and Manchester,
england, for five years total,so two and a half roughly for
each.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Yeah, okay, well, outside of.
So your, your job in general iskind of everybody's dream.
I wouldn't say dream job, butwhen people are thinking about
you know what's going to behappening in the next three or
four months, everybody's kind oflike what's when's my next
vacation?
And so you already kind of havethat and you're thinking about
(08:04):
that.
What do you do for fun outsideof your current, current job?
Speaker 3 (08:11):
Yeah, I actually, yeah, I played college golf.
So my husband and I went togolf and, yeah, just being
outdoors, and obviously we well,we moved from nebraska to
virginia beach so we were takingfull advantage of being near
the beach.
Um, so we like to go to thebeach and play with our dog.
And, yeah, where did you playcollege golf?
(08:31):
Uh, nebraska, wesleyanuniversity oh nothing was more
educational, but it was.
It was great the big.
Do you guys plan trips?
Speaker 2 (08:41):
golf trips uh-huh, okay, and you're kind of an
expert when it comes to planninggolf trips.
I think at one point you and Italked about a unique
opportunity for the masters andyeah, um, getting a group going
to augusta.
Is that, is that?
Yeah, we have.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
We have all opportunities like that.
I have a group trip.
I actually have aninformational night tonight for
the Catholic Jubilee in Romecoming up here this summer.
Actually, we have lots ofdifferent days through the fall
also, which only happens.
You know it's it.
This doesn't happen every year,so it's, it's a big event and
(09:21):
so I have that set up.
Lots of different groupopportunities we're booking up
until 2026 right now going to beone I'm planning for myself for
2026, because it looks fabulous.
You can sleep out under thestars, they have champagne and
(09:44):
caviar night.
They go into the yacht harbors.
Versus the cruise ports, it's alittle bit different.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
That's your very high-end luxury cruise, is that
correct?
Speaker 3 (09:58):
Yeah, you would be surprised.
Price point it's a great pricepoint for people, I yeah.
I mean, we have all everythingacross the board.
We have different budgets fordifferent clients.
Whatever your budget is, weshould be able to find you
something that will work for you.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
So but that when you in particular, that you were
talking about what are thedifferent cities it's going to?
Speaker 3 (10:22):
Like this one's a very unique one, so we're going
to stop in Virgin Gorda.
I'm trying to think of some oftheir very unique stops.
I can't remember.
The big one is Virgin Gorda,though.
That I'm excited for becausethey say it's like one of the
most amazing places you have tovisit.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
So well, that's exciting, exciting.
So you've got, you're going togo on with people you've booked
on the trip.
Yeah, what about tour typetrips?
Do you help and join groups fortour type excursions?
Speaker 3 (10:55):
Yep, yep, and I am going to start doing some stuff
for Spain, since I live there.
So lots of wine and foodoptions.
I'm a wino and a foodie, sojust anything that you know I
can experience also myself.
So yeah, we'll take advantageof that, and then we do have
(11:16):
another one coming up here.
I do have group space held fora discount for November of 2026
for the Christmas markets.
It's a river cruise on AmmaWaterways and it's going to
start in Budapest and end inVienna, but there's a post
(11:36):
extension to Prague.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
So that sounds like a really nice Christmas trip.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
Yes, so it's basically going to be a Hallmark
experience.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
Yes, Hallmark experience yeah, through the
Christmas market.
That sounds amazing.
Well, experience, yeah, throughthe Christmas Amazing.
Well, thank you so much forbeing here.
Can you give tell us listenerswhere they can find information
about your travel business, yourwebsite?
Speaker 3 (12:03):
You can either reach out to me at 7, 5, 7, 4, 0, 2, 6
, 7, 1, 5.
Or you can email me at Joslinat Nova vacationscom.
And it's J O S L I N at Novavacationscom.
Thank you, and then a website.
Do you want a website?
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
And, yeah, it's Nova vacationscom, and then it's
forward slash, forward slash.
Jocelyn J O S L I N.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Thank you so much, jocelyn, for being here today.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
Thank you for listening to the good neighbor
podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go toGNpvirginiabeachcom.
That's gnpvirginiabeachcom, orcall 757-797-8852.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Denise Taylor.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Welcome everybody to Good Neighbors Podcast, virginia
Beach.
Today I am with Joslin Robertswith Wonderlux Travels by Nova
Vacations.
Welcome, jocelyn.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Hi, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
You're absolutely welcome, so excited to talk to
you.
I know since COVID I know thelast four years have been kind
of a big boom and people afterbeing locked up for a year and a
half ready to get out and about, how's that going for the
travel business for you?
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Yeah, I guess I'm seeing a huge influx of people
needing assistance with travelsand it just keeps growing and
growing.
And obviously, when you helpone family and then they refer
you to others, it just growseven more.
So, yeah, it's good.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Tell me what your specialty is.
And I know it sounds like youcan do kind of the gamut of
vacations for people.
But what is your specialty?
What do you like to focus on?
Speaker 3 (01:21):
You know I have a wide variety of things that I do
do I do have a specialty inEuropean travel.
I lived in Europe for aboutfive years between Spain and
England, so I do specialize inthat.
But I can do basically anything.
You know.
Do family travel, group travel?
(01:42):
I'm doing a lot of destinationweddings um corporate incentive
trips, anything like that I'mable to do so so do you partner
with wedding um planners?
Speaker 2 (01:56):
How does that work?
Speaker 3 (01:57):
Yeah, so I don't necessarily partner with, I just
handle the travel on the travelside of things so I can get
them in touch with weddingplanners, and a lot of times
with destination weddings, theyhave planners on site at their
resorts.
So you don't really, yeah, youcan bring your own in or they
have one there to assist you.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
So that's awesome.
Okay, so you shared a littlebit about living in Europe.
What made you go into thetravel industry?
Speaker 3 (02:26):
Yeah, so I grew up in the.
My mom worked in thehospitality industry when I was
growing up, so I got toexperience a lot of that within
that world.
And then I was sent to Swedenwhen I was 18 to do a fun trip
to see some family, friends andjust kind of eye opening.
From there, you know just whatis all out there.
(02:49):
I studied in Mexico in college.
For half a year I was in Mexicoand then I had an opportunity
with the advertising companythat I worked for to go help
open offices in Europe, andbecause I spoke Spanish I took
advantage of that and so I wentover there and I was, you know,
(03:12):
just learning how to do businesswithin those different
countries.
But yeah, it just you know Ilove the travel aspect of it,
the organization of it, justhelping people, you know, make
their investment in their traveljust the best it can be.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
So what would be there's?
There's a couple of questionshere, but what would be a
misconception about using atravel agent?
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Yeah, I actually it's .
It's funny my friend hadstarted our boutique agency and
I obviously had traveled all thetime and never used a travel
advisor, and I did it.
It was because it was duringCOVID and I was a little scared
of, you know, planningeverything.
And I went to her because shehad started this agency and I
(04:02):
was like blown away with whatwas a, what she was able to do,
basically, and I thought I kneweverything about travel
basically.
So, right, um, and it's not tosay that you can't travel your
or travel, you can't plan yourown travels yourself.
We just have the ins and outsof, you know, on-site companies,
uh, within the differentcountries that can make your
(04:24):
trip truly special, that youcan't necessarily get just if
you're booking online yourself.
But I think the commonmisconception is this all costs
extremely, extremely more moneythan you would pay if you just
booked it yourself, which I hadno idea.
I didn't realize that there wasalready a.
(04:46):
Whether you use a traveladvisor or not, there's a fee
built into what you're payingalready.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
You don't pay anything extra?
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Yeah, gotcha, that's great.
So you live in Virginia Beach,you work in Virginia Beach, tell
me, but you serve clientseverywhere.
Is that correct?
Speaker 3 (05:07):
Yeah, yeah, I've worked with clients all over the
world.
Actually, I have.
I just booked a trip for somepeople in Germany, england.
I've done a couple of differentcountries, but yeah, oh,
bermuda, I have some clients inBerm, I can help anyone.
I can help anyone whereveryou're at in the world.
I have in spain and I justbooked a trip for some people in
(05:28):
germany, uh, sweden, um, butyeah, anyone can come to me for
help so you live in virginiabeach.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
tell me how you're involved with this community.
I know you haven't lived hereyour whole life.
Yeah, but your extendedfamily's here, is that correct?
Speaker 3 (05:46):
Yeah, we actually I grew up coming to Virginia Beach
in the summertime.
My mom grew up in VirginiaBeach and, yeah, we'd come and
stay with some of our friendsout here and you know I, we just
just loved.
I loved it so much that, youknow, when I got the opportunity
to move out here, I my husbandand I and our little golden
(06:06):
doodle moved out here a coupleof years ago and we absolutely
love it.
So and then also yeah, we have abusiness here in town it's the
cabinet factory, yeah, and so myhusband works there and yeah,
we're just kind of lots ofdifferent family members in town
.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Can you describe one hardship or life challenge being
a travel counselor?
Business owner.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
Life challenge.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Or a challenge with your business that you've
overcome.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
Well, I would say, not specifically this business,
but you know, one of the thingsthat I was tasked to do for the
corporation that I worked for inadvertising, I had to figure
out how to open a business inSpain and you know I was lucky
(07:04):
enough to have, you know, thebacking to support to, you know,
with the right attorneys andgovernment officials and
everything like that.
But I think that was probablythe biggest challenge that I've
ever faced, just withexpectations of working for a
very successful corporation.
And they put all of that, youknow challenge on your shoulders
(07:27):
.
But you know it was, it wasdefinitely the biggest challenge
I've ever had to.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
How long were you in Spain for that position?
Speaker 3 (07:35):
So I was between Madrid, spain, and Manchester,
england, for five years total,so two and a half roughly for
each.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Yeah, okay, well, outside of.
So your, your job in general iskind of everybody's dream.
I wouldn't say dream job, butwhen people are thinking about
you know what's going to behappening in the next three or
four months, everybody's kind oflike what's when's my next
vacation?
And so you already kind of havethat and you're thinking about
(08:04):
that.
What do you do for fun outsideof your current, current job?
Speaker 3 (08:11):
Yeah, I actually, yeah, I played college golf.
So my husband and I went togolf and, yeah, just being
outdoors, and obviously we well,we moved from nebraska to
virginia beach so we were takingfull advantage of being near
the beach.
Um, so we like to go to thebeach and play with our dog.
And, yeah, where did you playcollege golf?
(08:31):
Uh, nebraska, wesleyanuniversity oh nothing was more
educational, but it was.
It was great the big.
Do you guys plan trips?
Speaker 2 (08:41):
golf trips uh-huh, okay, and you're kind of an
expert when it comes to planninggolf trips.
I think at one point you and Italked about a unique
opportunity for the masters andyeah, um, getting a group going
to augusta.
Is that, is that?
Yeah, we have.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
We have all opportunities like that.
I have a group trip.
I actually have aninformational night tonight for
the Catholic Jubilee in Romecoming up here this summer.
Actually, we have lots ofdifferent days through the fall
also, which only happens.
You know it's it.
This doesn't happen every year,so it's, it's a big event and
(09:21):
so I have that set up.
Lots of different groupopportunities we're booking up
until 2026 right now going to beone I'm planning for myself for
2026, because it looks fabulous.
You can sleep out under thestars, they have champagne and
(09:44):
caviar night.
They go into the yacht harbors.
Versus the cruise ports, it's alittle bit different.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
That's your very high-end luxury cruise, is that
correct?
Speaker 3 (09:58):
Yeah, you would be surprised.
Price point it's a great pricepoint for people, I yeah.
I mean, we have all everythingacross the board.
We have different budgets fordifferent clients.
Whatever your budget is, weshould be able to find you
something that will work for you.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
So but that when you in particular, that you were
talking about what are thedifferent cities it's going to?
Speaker 3 (10:22):
Like this one's a very unique one, so we're going
to stop in Virgin Gorda.
I'm trying to think of some oftheir very unique stops.
I can't remember.
The big one is Virgin Gorda,though.
That I'm excited for becausethey say it's like one of the
most amazing places you have tovisit.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
So well, that's exciting, exciting.
So you've got, you're going togo on with people you've booked
on the trip.
Yeah, what about tour typetrips?
Do you help and join groups fortour type excursions?
Speaker 3 (10:55):
Yep, yep, and I am going to start doing some stuff
for Spain, since I live there.
So lots of wine and foodoptions.
I'm a wino and a foodie, sojust anything that you know I
can experience also myself.
So yeah, we'll take advantageof that, and then we do have
(11:16):
another one coming up here.
I do have group space held fora discount for November of 2026
for the Christmas markets.
It's a river cruise on AmmaWaterways and it's going to
start in Budapest and end inVienna, but there's a post
(11:36):
extension to Prague.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
So that sounds like a really nice Christmas trip.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
Yes, so it's basically going to be a Hallmark
experience.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
Yes, Hallmark experience yeah, through the
Christmas market.
That sounds amazing.
Well, experience, yeah, throughthe Christmas Amazing.
Well, thank you so much forbeing here.
Can you give tell us listenerswhere they can find information
about your travel business, yourwebsite?
Speaker 3 (12:03):
You can either reach out to me at 7, 5, 7, 4, 0, 2, 6
, 7, 1, 5.
Or you can email me at Joslinat Nova vacationscom.
And it's J O S L I N at Novavacationscom.
Thank you, and then a website.
Do you want a website?
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
And, yeah, it's Nova vacationscom, and then it's
forward slash, forward slash.
Jocelyn J O S L I N.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Thank you so much, jocelyn, for being here today.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
Thank you for listening to the good neighbor
podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go toGNpvirginiabeachcom.
That's gnpvirginiabeachcom, orcall 757-797-8852.
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