Girl Gone Global: Building a Bold New Kind of Travel Brand with A Dose of Travel

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_03 (00:04):
I mean, I really just use Chat GBT.
And one tip that I've reallylearned is it's pretty easy to
come up with that formula, andChatGBT will know it.
So if you need something to goviral, not that virality equals
sales or conversions or anythinglike that.
But if you're looking for brandawareness, you can really just
pump everything into Chat GBT.
I also really like to usesuccessful videos and translate

(00:26):
them or transcribe them and thencopy and paste that into chat
GB, okay, this went viral.
Why did it go viral?
Do it for me now.

SPEAKER_01 (00:35):
Hello everyone and welcome back to Travel Trends.
This is your host, DanChristian, and we're about to
begin a deep dive into emergingtour operators.
We are now in season six,episode seven.
We just had two fantasticcaptains of industry episodes
with Tao Tao from Get Your Guideand then Heidi from EF, who was
just at the ATTA conferencewhere I was in Chile.

(00:58):
I had the most extraordinarytime at this conference, the
pre-trip cycling that Imentioned on our last episode.
And I have just arrived inSevilla in Spain for the Tourism
Innovation Summit.
I'm speaking here over the nextcouple of days.
And I'm really thrilled to bringthis series together now because
I have also just learned inspeaking to Bruce Rosard from

(01:21):
Arrival that we are back onagain for a multi-day tour in
Valencia at the end of April of2026.
I'll be back MCing again.
And the reason I really wantedto focus on this series,
especially after arrival andATTA and then now being here at
the Tourism Innovation Summit,is because I'm incredibly

(01:42):
bullish on multi-day tourtravel, the power of small group
tours to be able to transformpeople's lives.
I've just experienced it againfor myself, and I know how
meaningful this style of travelis.
And so what I wanted to do withthis series is I wanted to line
up three emerging touroperators, three smaller
operators that are havingsignificant growth that would be

(02:04):
beneficial for our globalcommunity to understand.
So we actually have today, wehave Nabila Ismail, who is the
founder and CEO of a companycalled A Dose of Travel.
She's based in New York.
She started as a pharmacist, shebecame an influencer and
ultimately a tour operator.
And of course, the brand namecouldn't be any better.
A Dose of Travel, given herbackground as a pharmacist and

(02:27):
it being the ant antidote to somany things in our life.
She is a real inspiration, andyou'll hear the growth potential
that she has is phenomenal.
She works with a company calledTorsetta, which is owned by a
friend of mine named AlexReagan.
And Alex offered to kindlysponsor this series.
And it's really fascinating forme to see companies like

(02:48):
Torsetta introduce the type oftechnology that didn't exist
before for multi-day tourcompanies to thrive, the
reservation platforms to handleall the back end that a company
like Nabilia is creating with adose of travel and to enable
them to thrive.
So thank you to Alex and theteam at Torsetta for sponsoring
this series.
We're also going to have twoadditional amazing guests.

(03:10):
You're going to hear next weekfrom Lisa Pagato, who's based in
Sydney, and she created acompany just over 10 years ago
called Get This?
Crooked Compass.
It's a fantastic brand name.
I really like it.
Some people may be familiar withCrooked Compass.
They focus on Australianstraveling to really unique
destinations around the world.
This is not for the first-timeadventurer.

(03:33):
These are people that arelooking to go further afield and
love the experience of smallgroup travel.
And then we're going to bring inWill, who's the managing
director of Active EnglandTours.
So we're going to have a fullglobal perspective amongst these
three individuals.
You're going to get a reallyfascinating perspective on three
different emerging touroperators that will highlight

(03:54):
the growth of this category.
And as you'll hear in myconversation with Will, I focus
on the growth potential of thiscategory, which is why many
private equity firms have gotteninto this space because it is an
industry that is poised forgrowth over the next five to 10
years with an average of 20 to30% increase per year.
So if you just do the math onthat, that means you're going to
double your money in five years.
So investors see this as a verysure thing and a safe bet.

(04:16):
And sure enough, those are thenumbers that Will is looking to
achieve.
And I think everyone will learna lot from this three-part
series.
So I look forward to you meetingall of these guests.
And don't forget, just before wekick off, we have our AI summit
coming up next week.
So make sure that you areregistered to join us October
28th and 29th.
Register attraveltrendspodcast.com.

(04:37):
And if you are listening to itafter then, don't worry because
that means that all the sessionsare available on our YouTube
channel.
So you'll be able to check themout right away.
And then, of course, we postclips and highlights on all of
our social channels from theseconversations and we send out a
monthly newsletter that you cansign up for.
And I am traveling to manyconferences in this next couple
of months.
So be sure to reach out.

(04:59):
We have some fantasticincentives to join us at Focus
Right in the middle of Novemberin San Diego.
So check outtraveltrendspodcast.com, our
homepage, to be able to save$250off a ticket to join us at
FocusRight.
And I'll be at WTM in London thevery first week in November, and
we're hosting an event on theTuesday night.
So lots happening here at TravelTrends, but let's jump right in

(05:20):
to episode one of our emergingtour operator series brought to
us by our friends over atTourseta.com.
I'd like now to welcome NabilaIsmael, the founder and CEO of A
Dose of Travel Club.
Welcome, Nabila.
Great to have you on TravelTrends.

SPEAKER_03 (05:35):
Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_02 (05:36):
Absolutely.
You have such an inspiring storyto tell.
And I really want to start fromthe beginning because I find it
so fascinating, and many peopleheard from that introduction.
You started as a pharmacist.
My wife is actually apharmacist, and you all clearly
always.
Yeah, my wife is a pharmacist.
She worked in retail and she'snow moved to clinicals.
So she works in a hospital andloves it, taking care of uh
young kids in a rehabilitationhospital.

(05:58):
So she loves her profession, andobviously you did as well,
becoming a pharmacist becauseit's such an uh extensive
education program you have to gothrough.
And I understand from yourbackground that you you were
traveling throughout that time,and somehow you were able to
combine both of your passionsand ultimately move into travel.
And you've created this reallycool company called A Dose of
Travel, which couldn't be morefitting for a pharmacist.

(06:20):
So I was telling my wife lastnight how much I was looking
forward to our interview, butand I know she's gonna be keen
to hear this.
But tell everyone that has justlearned a little bit about you,
Nabila, um, even though you'vegot such an impressive success
story already.
Tell us a little bit about yourbackground as a pharmacist and
your journey in creating a doseof travel.

SPEAKER_03 (06:39):
Yeah, thank you.
It is a pretty wild one.
I can't say that I thought Iwould ever be here.
Um being a pharmacist is quitedifferent than being in the
travel operator space, but thereare a lot of similarities as
well.
Um, it started off when I wasjust like in college, as really
passionate about travel as onewould be.
Since I did go to school for solong, I had the perks of having

(07:02):
lots of summers off, seven yearsof summers.
So that was the one perk ofgoing to grad school.
So I fit in a lot of solotravel.
I'd been to about 40 countriesby the time I graduated, and I
started to document it all onsocial media.
So my story really started withcontent creation and freelance
journalism.

(07:22):
And then I just got really luckyin the sense where I noticed
that people were online wereasking me for more than just
travel tips.
They were asking if they couldcome with me.
So that's when content turnedinto this movement and a way to
create trips and bring peoplealong with me.
And that's really how just atravel club was born.

SPEAKER_02 (07:40):
Yeah, it's incredible.
And I the part you mentioned toois the travel club, which I want
to get into as well, because Iknow you have private trips and
group trips.
And so one other part that'sreally interesting about your
story is the culturalbackground.
Now, actually, we should justestablish for all of our
listeners where you are today.
Um, tell everyone where in theworld you I'm in Toronto, but
you're much somewhere much moreexotic.
Tell everyone where you'rerecording today and where you're

(08:01):
usually based.

SPEAKER_03 (08:02):
I am usually I'm always all over the place, but
I'm from New York, but I'mcurrently in Bali, um,
Indonesia, which is so beautifulif you haven't been before.

SPEAKER_02 (08:12):
Yeah, it's extraordinarily beautiful.
I lived in Australia for awhile, and I know that's such a
tourist destination for manypeople in Australia, of course.
But I mean super close.
Totally, yeah.
But it's um it's fascinatingthat when I looked at the
destinations that a dose oftravel offers, like Morocco, you
have Japan, you have a great mixof destinations.
But in terms of how you actuallygot to where you are, I think

(08:33):
that is obviously such animportant part that I'm really
keen for our listeners tounderstand, given that we have
such a large global audience ofpeople that are taking
inspiration from conversationslike these to improve their
companies or their career.
And I see so much uh insightthat you can offer to our
listeners based on your journeyand exactly where you've
positioned your business at themoment, because I see so many

(08:53):
opportunities for growth.
But tell us how you actuallymade the leap from influencer to
actually creating and organizingtrips and how that specifically
connects to the culturalbackground and the types of
people that you are marketingto.

SPEAKER_03 (09:06):
Yeah, you know, it was a really long time in the
making.
A lot of times it was justshowing up online, and I think
that was the biggest thing was Icreated a brand presence for so
long before there was any sortof business or any sort of value
coming back directly to me.
I just genuinely love talkingabout travel and my personal
experiences.
And by showing up on like beingtotally authentic and genuine, I

(09:29):
cultivated trust, which I guessis great because pharmacists are
also really trustedprofessionals.
So I feel like I just carriedthat over online and I posted
content for 10 years, then Istarted writing, and I believe
that I got a good following inthat sense where people just
wanted to follow me because Iknew that they knew that I
wasn't selling anything to them,and then there was actually a

(09:52):
specific trend that I hoppedonto on social media.
This is why I I love socialmedia, it could just take one
video to find your tribe andyour community, and that's kind
of how it unfolded for me.
I was lucky where I hopped onthis one specific trend, then
Business Insider covered it.
And what helped me pivot intothis was being able to read what

(10:13):
was coming in from my audience.
I was directly, because I was amicrocreator, was able to filter
in through every comment thatwas coming in, being able to
connect with my community.
And I realized that most peoplewho were following me looked
like me and didn't really haveanyone to look up to in the
travel space.
And that's kind of how Iconnected the dots.

SPEAKER_02 (10:33):
Yeah, there's so much there to unpack for our
listeners.
Obviously, one of the big trendsthat we've followed very much
closely on the show, and as partof my background, and as Nabila,
you kindly mentioned just as wewere kicking off before we
started recording, which isgroup travel, which is set for,
you know, really from myperspective, the next 10 years,
both uh retirees that aredeciding to take group trips,

(10:54):
and also all the youngergeneration, whether it be the
loneliness epidemic, the brandslike Intrepid highlight, even
companies like EF that highlightthe fact that more young people
are abandoning dating sites andgoing on trips so they can
actually find someone they havereal chemistry with.
There's so many shifts inconsumer behavior that are
pointing in the direction ofgroup travel.
But I mean, I know you alsooffer private travel.

(11:16):
But the part that I find reallyfascinating is, you know, when
you mentioned you know travelingwith your tribe, you know,
having been in this uh industryfor more than 20 years and about
15 years in the uh group travelsprace with brands like G
Adventures, uh Intrepid,Kentiki, one of the big things
that we always understood aboutconsumer behavior and why they
were drawn to be traveling witha group is that they didn't want

(11:38):
to travel alone.
They wanted to be with otherlike-minded people.
And there typically had to besome point of connectivity that
would actually encourage them tocome together.
And I think, and you can seethose brands keep offering
different trip styles, as theyoften refer to them.
So they try and figure out whatis it that people are into that
we can create a custom trip forand and explore our new market.
One of the things that you havevery successfully tapped into is

(12:00):
the South Asian community.
So tell us a little bit moreabout that and I guess how
intentional you were from thebeginning to be able to attract
people from the South Asiancommunity to take group travel
trips.

SPEAKER_03 (12:11):
Yeah, like I said, it it was very personal.
I didn't have any intent ofdoing group trips, but when I
started solo traveling myself,it was quite a challenge to get
my family, my community tosupport it, and especially with
my career being so different andnot really conducive to travel.
I did not see representation inthe travel industry myself,

(12:33):
whether it was being a creatoror a journalist.
And that is kind of why I foundthis niche.
But also, again, my audiencekept telling me, hey, wow, it's
so cool to see another girl wholooks like me.
Like, oh my god, how did you getyour parents to let you go on
that trip?
Or how do you do it with as likea Muslim woman?
Or like, what about like dietaryrestrictions?
What about culturalrestrictions?

(12:54):
How do you find these placeswhile you're traveling and like
make sure that it caters to yousafely and in an enjoyable
manner, right?
And so it was just going throughmy own journey and realizing
that like there's gotta be otherpeople who want to do it or are
doing it as well.
Up until like this point in mysolo travel journey, I have

(13:15):
probably met only a handful ofpeople who look like me.
And so I really just took whatwas being fed to me and started
to see, hey, okay, I am a SouthAsian woman who travels.
And if you're also South Asian,you want to travel and your
parents won't let you becausethey say they don't see other
South Asians.
That was really how thathappened.

(13:36):
Um, and it's really simple, andapparently there was nobody else
doing this.

SPEAKER_02 (13:42):
Yeah, no, it's amazing.
That's what I say.
It's such an inspiring story.
And I think one of the things Ijust wanted to highlight to all
of our listeners, when I wasrunning Konsiki USA, we did this
major focus group and we triedto figure out why people were
booking with the brand and whypeople weren't.
And one of the things that wediscovered, and this was uh
overwhelmingly evident as soonas the people in the focus group
kind of revealed theirethnicity, is they actually

(14:02):
highlighted the fact that theydidn't see anybody that looked
like them traveling on thesetrips.
And um, and there was suchwonderful multicultural
diversity, which I'm used togrowing up in Toronto,
especially in the suburbs ofToronto.
And I've got lots of uh friendsthat are South Asian, and and I
think one of the things I'vealways found traveling and
living in other places likeAustralia, the UK, and the US is
often there is a big lack ofunderstanding about

(14:25):
multicultural marketing andtruly having someone like
yourself, because it's verydifferent to recognize an
opportunity and then try andfigure out how you solve for it.
Having someone like yourselfthat's from that community,
passionate about travel, andshows people how to lead the way
and people follow by example.
So I thought this is why I'mlike, I'm so excited for you
with this this business that youbuilt.
The one thing I have to ask youis what did your parents think

(14:45):
of all this?

SPEAKER_03 (14:46):
Yeah, great question.
It has now been three years, sothey've kind of come around.
I don't know whether they tellthat to me like to my face or
not, but they're definitelytelling any South Asian person
about Dorset Travel Club, whichis really, really great and
probably as supportive asthey'll get.

SPEAKER_02 (15:03):
Yeah.
That's great.
Well, especially if it's one ofthose things, like now that
you've become successful, I'msure they can ease up a little
bit on their concerns becausebeing a pharmacy, yeah, this is
a great role.
Um, it's a great career.
And I guess you always have thatto fall back on, but I don't
think you need to worry aboutthat.
Uh, but uh tell everyone alittle bit about the evolutions
in terms of when you startedoffering group trips and private

(15:24):
trips and where the business istoday in terms of the product
and experiences that you offer.

SPEAKER_03 (15:29):
Yeah.
So my first ever group trip wasactually three years ago, and it
was very much positioned as comewith me as an influencer, but
not as a tour operator.
And that was like my MVP or mypilot.
And that was three years ago.
Oddly enough, um, it was toBali.
So it's a very full circlemoment to be back here.
Now running multiple trips toBali.

(15:50):
But I had 15 people sign up, andthis was when I was like a very
micro creator and didn't reallyhave the street cred or the
reputation or even a website atthat point.
Um, but that trip was sosuccessful and really showed me
the power of community andbringing people together and
catering to a market that's notcatered to.

(16:12):
But somehow I still didn't seethe potential of business in
that until like a year later.
And that is when Dose of TravelClub formally formed.
So it's now been about two yearssince they've been running as a
business instead of a hobby orlike an influencer thing.

SPEAKER_02 (16:29):
Very interesting.
And one of the things, too, thatI wanted to ask you, and I just
want to give some context forour listeners.
And some of our listeners thathave been with us since the
beginning of the last two yearshave certainly heard me talk
about the adventure travelcommunity and specifically group
tours and small group when youlook at the history of companies
like G-Adventures and Intrepid,which are both on the cusp of
becoming billion-dollarbusinesses.
And I still remember when theywere$50 million businesses

(16:51):
growing to$100 million, and thewhole idea for them in the very
early stages, because they wereactually had a global
partnership for many years.
But G-Adventures was based inToronto and their whole focus
was Central America.
In fact, Peru and South Americawas their kind of primary
destination with the Inca Trail.
So getting Canadians that wouldbe interested in adventure
travel, ultimately Americans andBrits and Aussies as well.

(17:14):
But really, there's always acore source market and then a
destination that they serve thatbuilds a business.
And I always find in Intrepid,as some of our listeners may
know as well, their whole focuswas Southeast Asia and Thailand
at a time when Thailand was in areal emerging destination, 30
years ago.
And so it's changed considerablysince then.
So each of those brands now havebecome global brands.

(17:35):
They draw from multiple marketsand they pretty much serve every
destination on the planet.
And what's interesting though,when uh I spent nearly a decade
at the Travel Corporationoverseeing all of these global
group tour brands, the key forus was always trying to figure
out how we gain market share innew markets.
And so, given that you're stillrelatively uh in your relative

(17:56):
infancy, I would say, in termsof the overall success I'm sure
you're going to have, tell us alittle bit more about the
current markets that you sourcetravelers from and where you're
growing.
Clearly, you're based in NewYork, so I'm assuming a lot of
the travelers that are choosingto travel with a dose of travel
are Americans.
But are you starting to expandto other regions of the world as
well, given your global profileand social media influence?

SPEAKER_03 (18:18):
Yeah, for sure.
Um, given I've traveled so much,my audience is also very global.
Majority do come from the US,followed by UK, Canada,
Australia, India, given that wecater to South Asian, so a lot
of the Indian subcontinent,Pakistan, um Bangladesh, Sri
Lanka, and then other marketslike the UAE.

(18:40):
So we do get a lot of globalparticipants.
We actually did work withContiki once last year on a
partner trip.
So it was really cool to betalking to you about it.
But I hosted a 50 person trip toThailand with Kontiki, and they
were really impressed to findout that we had such a global
audience book that trip becausethey don't typically get that

(19:01):
kind of booking.
So I remember them sharing thatthey were really surprised that
we had like it was split, likehalf Americans, half Indians,
and a market that they don'ttypically market to.

SPEAKER_02 (19:11):
Yeah, no, it's really interesting to make that
connection because one of thethings that Kentiki needed to
do, and full credit to the teamfor this because the trade
community was not really able tosell youth-branded multi-day
tours.
Most of that business started todry up.
Most of the business started tocome from uh or the real growth
opportunity was working withinfluencers like yourself to be
able to lead a trip.

(19:31):
And so encouraging influencersnot only to travel on Kentiki
trips, that's how it started,but then actually get them to
coordinate their own departurethat they would fill themselves.
So it's really interesting youmentioned about having 50 people
travel with you, and then nowhere you are with your own
business.
And um, so on this topic, uh oneof the things I was also keen to
ask you is as you've made thisjourney between operating and

(19:56):
marketing, um, one of the keysis the operation side of it.
So it's one thing to market, andyou're clearly you're a very
strong marketer.
When it comes to the operationside, how did you embark on that
in terms of like, did you bringin additional people that would
help you with the tripoperations?
Were you all were you learningthat yourself?
And where have you gotten to onthat front?
Because obviously that in and ofitself is has a fair bit of clip

(20:19):
complexity to uh to implementand and operate.

SPEAKER_03 (20:22):
Yes, you can say that again.
It is so different to be on theoperation side of things from a
traveler who's booked thoseservices to like a creator and
to then an influencer.
Um yeah, the operation side isdefinitely something that I wish
more people talked about.
It was definitely challenging,but like you mentioned, I

(20:42):
started working with touroperators as a host.
So that was really when I got tounderstand how tour operators
work.
And I kind of took a differentapproach when I would start then
traveling exclusively only withoperators myself when I was
going on my solo trips to reallyunderstand how they work and how
they operate to then betteroperate myself.
But I would say it's probablyone of the biggest challenges

(21:05):
and a responsibility that likeyou have to fully be ready to
take on when you make that pivotfrom come with me to like, oh,
I'm actually going to run my owncompany.
Um, I don't think I was fullyprepared for that, and that has
been the biggest learning curve.
Um, so yeah, definitely achallenge.

SPEAKER_02 (21:24):
Well, I'm keen to know how you solve for that
because I again this is whereone of those we've come up
against one of those, you know,important uh pain points that uh
sometimes prevents a companyfrom being able to scale.
And it's one of the things thatthe incumbents certainly have an
advantage in.
And when you think about variousbusinesses, of course, you look
at what is your core competencyand what are the areas that you
can either kind of, you know,what do you buy, what do you

(21:46):
build, what do you outsource,and you have to make those smart
strategic decisions, especiallyas an entrepreneur operating
lean and trying to scale abusiness.
And so a lot of these operators,that's one of the things that
they do so well.
They've learned how to operatetrips and then they'll work with
partners that can attract anaudience.
So um, when it comes to, Iguess, the technology side, for
example, uh how did you approachthat?

(22:07):
Because getting people to beable to book, pay for trips, and
then be able to communicate tothem.
And then as the trip operates,there's so many different touch
points with the consumer.
So, how did you ultimately?
I know you use Torsetta, forexample.
Obviously, Alex and the team area great uh supporter and sponsor
of our show.
And um, but yeah, tell me aboutyour journey in terms of
implementing the righttechnology and tools to uh uh to

(22:28):
power a dose of travel.

SPEAKER_03 (22:29):
Yeah, so other than finding great tour operators to
work with, like the systems inplace are definitely really key
and keeping organized and makingsure that it appears
professional and we'recompetitive with all these other
travel companies that you havementioned that are highly,
highly successful.
Tour Seta is a new platform thatwe've just started to use um
because we weren't finding whatwe were, we couldn't find what

(22:51):
we wanted.
And it has been really helpfulin terms of connecting it in the
terms of like connecting ourmarketing, but also using those
tools um to really understandour travel audience, to convert
sales, and then also collectdata from our travelers.
I think that's the biggest thingwhen you're catering to so many

(23:13):
people.
Um, it's really hard to get allof the information in one system
that's organized in a way thatyou can convey that to all of
the different people involved.
And that I think that's wherethe biggest room for error comes
from.
So Torsena has been really,really great so far.
It's definitely an upgrade fromwhat we were doing before, which
was like manual spreadsheets andthings like that.

SPEAKER_02 (23:32):
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah, it's amazing.
And that's one of the reasons Iwanted to do this emerging uh
multi-day tour series, becausethere are so many uh
opportunities still, and you'relike a shining uh terrific
example of that, uh, where thisstyle of travel is so appealing.
And then it's all of a suddenyou have to figure out, okay,
we've got an audience, we'rescaling this business.
How do I scale my operations,scale my technology?

(23:54):
Which is literally why so manycompanies go to conferences,
whether they're focused right orarrival, they're trying to meet
not only technology providers,but also look at distribution
opportunities, which issomething else I'm keen to ask
you about.
And when I think aboutdistribution, obviously the
first thing that most peoplethink about is OTAs, online
travel agencies.
The thing that most OTAs say onstage that I say differently is
they talk about the fact they'rea technology company.

(24:16):
Expedia's always kind ofhighlighted the fact booking.com
is the same.
They're not a travel company,they're a technology company.
And every travel company I'veworked for since the last 20
years, from Carlson Wagonly toLonely Planet to G Adventures
and TTC, none of those companieshave been technology companies.
And they've all and and mosttravel companies struggle with
technology because it's not acore competency.

(24:37):
Their core company is operatingtrips.
And so I've always said, youknow, when how do you see
yourself?
I see myself as a travel companyand running a travel company,
and you need to find the righttechnology providers to work
with.
But one of the things you workwith technology providers for is
distribution.
And the traditional travelindustry worked through trade
channels and still does.
And in certain sectors,including multi-day trips, there

(25:00):
is a huge component of offlinetravel agent booking activity.
So the other thing I wanted toask you in terms of distributing
your trips, clearly you have astrong direct-to-consumer
channel.
You've got strong uh socialchannels and great content.
Is the focus to keep driving B2Cand building in uh direct
business, or are you starting tolook at different partnerships
as well to round out yourbusiness?

SPEAKER_03 (25:21):
Yeah, that's a great question.
That's something that we'redefinitely exploring now, now
that we have like this new techstack that we have implemented
and social media has been big,but obviously it's never great
to rely on one source of umgetting distribution.
Definitely looking to evolve ina way where I can combine the
perks and benefits andpartnerships that are built out
through being a creator.

(25:42):
So working with tourism boardsdirectly to create these really
unique trips with people who arevery much on the ground and know
this.
So we ran a trip to Barbadoswith the with Visit Barbados,
and that was fantastic.
Um, where people got a veryunique experience because they
got to travel with a bunch ofmedia as well, and on top of

(26:05):
that, we were able to rope inpartners like Fenty Beauty.
So I would love to reallycombine the partnerships that
I've gotten with uh being acreator into that to create a
very unique and you knowone-of-a-kind experience, which
is something that you also haveto think about in this space.

SPEAKER_00 (26:21):
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SPEAKER_02 (28:17):
And now, back to the show.
And the one thing I want to askyou about on the product side, I
know I was asking about thegroup trips.
One of the things that I alsowant to ask about is the private
trips, because that's been a bigconsumer trend, both kind of
during the pandemic andcertainly post-pandemic, people
realize that wait a second, Ican actually organize 12 or 15
people and we can have our owncustom trip.
Now, there's a big solo travelmarket, which I'm assuming is

(28:39):
part and solo female travelersin particular, which uh I
presume is probably one of thekey drivers for your group
travel trips, um, which feelfree to comment on.
But I also wanted to ask aboutthe private trips.
And one of the things that stoodout to me in what you mentioned,
Nabila, is the fact that youhighlighted that South Asian's
traveling back to South Asia.
And I find this reallyfascinating because when we look
at some of those traditionaltour operators that have been

(29:01):
around for 50 years, like aTrafalgar, um uh Globus, some of
those big brands, a lot of themare based in uh um English
language source markets andthey're focused on Europe
because ever since World War II,and like this is going back now,
but like the you know, so manypeople wanted to travel, they
had lost connection with theirancestors, if you will.

(29:22):
They no longer had someone inItaly or Ireland to go and
visit, but they had someone,their grandparents were from
there, and they wanted to goback and visit.
And so there was this huge kindof like expat community that was
keen to go re-explore theirroots.
And this is where like we're allhumans, written on our DNA.
We were like, you know, we we wespread around this planet
because we are like our very ournatural instinct is to move and

(29:44):
to explore new horizons.
And that's one of the things Ijust love about travel and
cultural connection.
But the thing I find sofascinating is that strong human
desire to go back to what youconsider to be your roots, and a
lot of that business for thelast 20 or 30 years has been um
the US, Canada, Australia, eventhe UK.
But what I'm super excitedabout, what I'm seeing, is that

(30:06):
we now have like Europe is nowtraveling uh much more a lot of
the some of the most exciting uhtour operator startups like
WeRoad, that's based in Italy.
Um you have OTAs like Civitatusout of Spain.
I see so much and obviously theentire Asia market is so
exciting as well.
So tell us a little bit about uhwhen it comes to the people that
are choosing to take thoseprivate trips and the people

(30:28):
that are reaching out to you tosay, I actually I'm of Indian
descent or Bangladeshi descentor and I want to go back and
explore that part of the world.
I'd love to hear your views onthat.

SPEAKER_03 (30:38):
Yeah, you know, it's kind of interesting.
I thought private trips would belike way bigger for us at Joseph
Travel Club, but because I'vecultivated such a community
focus and presence, our privatetrips definitely don't take off
as much of our group trips.
People are more eager to govisit their homeland together

(30:58):
because of a variety ofdifferent reasons.
Like their family immigrated fora long time ago and have not
been back or don't have a reasonto go back.
So now, like for myself, I wentback two years ago to Pakistan,
but my parents were definitelyagainst me going back.
My wordly speaking of like uhskills are definitely not that

(31:19):
great, so it's very easy to beto stick out.
I think they had a lot of fearbased on the reasons why they
left in the first place, and Ithink there's a lot of reasons
why people don't go back orhaven't had the chance to go
back.
And so I actually prefer to goback in a group with other
people who might be in the sameboat.
Like, oh, I am Pakistani or I'mIndian, but I've never been to

(31:41):
the homeland, and I would liketo go to other people who've
never been either, so we couldexperience it together and not
feel awkward or left out or likethe black sheep.
So private trips definitelyhaven't taken off as much as
group trips.

SPEAKER_02 (31:54):
Well, okay, so that's actually really
interesting.
I appreciate you sharing thatinsight.
That's so um because the onething about group trips, uh,
especially if you're focusing onthe South Asian community, which
again, I just find that sofascinating, the fact that like
the same the same uh story isplaying out where people want to
go back and visit theirhomeland.
So again, it's just like a humaninstinct and desire.

(32:15):
The other thing though, becauseI've got a great friend from um
Bangladesh, and I went to hiswedding, and I I always wanted
to go back and travel toBangladesh with him, and he was
highlighting to me, he's like,Yeah, just don't go on your own.
Like, yeah, wait and come withme.
And also one of my colleaguesthat I worked with in LA for a
number of years, um, who's fromPakistan, and um uh he went back
to do uh the Hajj in in uh SaudiArabia, and um and so and I

(32:37):
always found the culture sofascinating, it's one of the
things that I was also keen toexplore, and he said something
similar to me, is like, yeah,don't go on your own.
And so I've I've both places I'mvery keen to explore.
I've been to India, but I wantto explore more of South Asia,
and I'm sure many of ourlisteners feel the same way.
So when it comes to someone whois not of South Asian descent,
that is then keen to take uh adose of travel trip or go and

(33:00):
see one of those countries thatthey don't have a connection to
aside from a desire toexperience, how do you welcome
them into the community?

SPEAKER_03 (33:07):
We welcome everyone.
Actually, I never startedstarted off to like only cuter
to South Asians.
It just kind of happened, andthat was like the only thing
that really worked and justreally created a niche.
But we welcome everyone.
We've had people of allethnicities and backgrounds come
with us.
And actually, I think there's alittle bit more of a trust
factor as well with me beingPakistani, and if I'm running a

(33:29):
Pakistani trip, they would wantto come with me because I know a
thing or two about Pakistan, orI would like to think I know it,
even though I've never livedthere.
But we definitely have a safespace for everyone, and I think
it works really well.
Um, we've never really had anyissues there, but it is nice to
have primarily South Asiansgoing back to South Asia with

(33:52):
people who are also open-mindedand willing to come with us.

SPEAKER_02 (33:55):
Yeah, absolutely.
Well, now, in terms of newdestinations, here we go.
You know, we're having thisconversation as we head into
2026.
And again, one of the thingsthat stood out to me as I was
preparing for our conversation,checking out your website and
the destinations that you'reoffering.
Japan, clearly, everybody istraveling to Japan.
It is one of the hottest globaltraveling markets.
Um, tell us a little bit aboutthe trips you're building and

(34:16):
planning for for 2026.

SPEAKER_03 (34:18):
Yes, we're definitely working on some new
destinations and are the onesthat I'm most eager and excited
about are I think Uzbekistan up.
I would love to do Georgia.
Um, I don't really do a lot oftrips in Europe, so I I'm
thinking about adding one there.
Turkey has been a big, bigrequest from my community.
Um, and then I'd love to add inIraq and South Africa again.

(34:42):
We ran those in 2024, but wedidn't run them in 2025.

SPEAKER_02 (34:47):
So it's so fascinating.
There's a company calledMesopotamia Tours, and I've um
I've had two conversations aboutgoing to Iraq, and instantly my
family, as you can imagine,their reaction is like, no, not
yet, not right now.
And um, but uh they've heldmultiple trips recently.
And a good colleague of minenamed Shannon Stoll, who
traveled to northern Iraq, uhKurdistan, it was the most
impactful trip he's ever takenhis entire life.

(35:08):
And he and I were actuallylooking to try and go together
to do southern Iraq.
And I think that some of ouraudience, I'm sure, even hearing
you mentioning places likeUzbekistan or even Georgia for
that matter.
I don't think I've got a fewcolleagues that work in the
travel startup community thatare based in Georgia.
And this is where like I love somuch about travel and our world
and culture that um as you startto unpack a destination and

(35:28):
learn more about its history,all of a sudden it becomes not
so mysterious or not so scary.
And all of a sudden, peoplebecome you it's one of the
things I actually always lovedtraveling with kids when I
worked at Lonely Planet for anumber of years.
Both Tony and Maureen hadhighlighted to me, it was really
sweet.
Actually, Maureen specificallyhad highlighted that um when we
were expecting our twins, she'dsaid, you know, having uh kids

(35:49):
is the best time to travelbecause it literally a backpack
can often serve as a means toprevent you from connecting with
a local, whereas kids playing atthe park together, you're
instantly connected to the otherparents and your kids are
playing together.
And I've always so we traveled alot when we have kids.
So one of the things I wanted toask you is like, you know, as
your travelers, I know you havea lot of young travelers based

(36:10):
on the pictures I see on thewebsite, but I'm sure some of
those travelers are gonna starthaving families and they're
gonna like so um have you lookedat continue how I guess uh tell
us a little bit about uh thedemographics of your audience,
you know, how many people areyou know in their 20s and 30s
versus their 50s or 60s, thetypes of people you're appealing
to and and how you're trying toexpand that.

SPEAKER_03 (36:30):
Yeah, so currently we only really cater to people
20 to 45, I would say, andthat's probably because of my
online presence and my travelstyle, which I think is really
important, and that's wherepeople build their trust.
And uh once it comes tocommunity, people want to be
with people in like their samestage of life.

(36:50):
Um, one thing that we arelooking to do is increase our
age gap and cater to potentiallytheir parents or my parents,
which is something I'm reallypassionate about.
I see that they don't travel andthey also have the same reasons
for not traveling.
I don't have anyone to go with.
I now have the freedom becauseyou're all grown up and I would
like to go.
So we are looking, we justlaunched a trip to Morocco

(37:14):
that's 45-year-old plus.
Um but given that I primarilymarket on social media, I think
I would need to get a differentmarketing strategy for this
audience and cultivate it alittle bit longer because I've
been cultivating the currentaudience for years now.
So it would take some time forme to successfully execute on

(37:34):
that.
But we don't plan on goingyounger anytime soon.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (37:38):
No, it's really interesting.
I appreciate you recognizingthat or just kind of sharing
that because the um when youlook at brands, you know, like a
G Adventures that startedintroducing comfort trips, the
whole idea with introducingcomfort was to start to appeal
to those people that sawadventure as being too rugged,
like too adventurous, and thestandard of accommodation was
not going to be up to theirstandard.
As soon as you start talkingabout comfort, wait a second,

(38:00):
it's now you've got myattention.
I like this style of travel, butI want to stay in nicer hotels
and I want to have uh much moreluxurious transportation, those
kind of things.
And um, they have this G Luxcollection now, and Intrepid is
also offering uh much higher-endtrips.
And Explore, which is kind ofthe third in the whole there's
Exodus and Explore,interestingly enough for our

(38:20):
listeners, that are kind ofround out the top four of global
adventure companies that havebeen around for many years.
And Explore worldwide, just inthe last year, has launched a
whole series of uh more luxuryproduct targeting to an older
customer because the one bigtrend, and I do speak about this
a bit, is this you knowgenerational wealth transfer
that's happening with you knowthe baby boober generation

(38:43):
retiring and uh traveling asmuch as possible while they
still can before their kids endsup being their inheritance.
So there's all of a sudden this,you know, this I think the
estimates are like$84 trillionis going to be transferred like
in the next uh 15 to 20 years.
But before that happens, they'retraveling as much as possible.
So I definitely think that is aan exciting market for you to

(39:06):
tap into.
And even just people referringother people to say, wait a
second, did you hear that a doseof travel now actually offers
trips for 45 plus to your exactpoint about people do want to
travel with like-minded people,but there's also a beauty of uh
all-age trips where uh with thisstyle of travel, it's more of a
psychographic than ademographic.
And I can say that now frommyself as I'm in my late 40s.

(39:27):
I don't think myself muchdifferent than my late 20s.
I've got a lot more experience,but I still I still find myself
the same type of traveler.
And so uh I still feel a kinshipwith people traveling of all
ages.
But um the one other thing,Nabil, I really wanted to ask
you and um is when you'reputting product together,
because you mentioned maybeyou're considering Europe.
So when it comes to introducingnot only new destinations, but

(39:50):
uh looking at expanding yourtrip collection, what is it
about a dose of travel whenyou're putting the product
together?
What are some of the theflourishes or some of the things
that you do differently thatmake that experience more
meaningful or impactful?
Is it the destinations withinthe destination?
Is it some of the hidden gemsyou're taking people to?
What are some of the the nuancesof your trip that when someone's

(40:12):
comparing a dose of travel tosomething else that looks very
similar and they're like, oh,this is an eight-day trip for
this price with this company,and then they look at a dose of
travel.
What are they gonna get from adose of travel?
What are your I always thinkabout USP's unique selling
propositions, what are thethings that a dose of travel
does differently that is gonnareally wow those customers and
keep them coming back?

SPEAKER_03 (40:31):
Yeah, it's a great question.
That is something that we'realways trying to stay on top of.
I would say it's a couple ofthings.
We definitely try to pack invalue and get great
accommodations for like the bestprice without um selling them
for too, too high, which is likethe biggest struggle.
But the other thing is thecultural component because we're
so culturally focused as acompany and um community is

(40:52):
another factor as well.
We definitely have a lot ofcommunity-building activities in
the trips, whether it's like awellness experience, a cooking
class, definitely having thingswhere it's very interactive.
Um, not only do we just runregular trips where it's women
only or co-ed, we do singlestrips as well.
And so getting people togetherand having those deep
conversations um is kind of afocus for us.

(41:16):
And that's why we do thesemulti-day tours, because there's
you can build connect you can'treally build connection in one
day the same way you can in likeeight days in a foreign country
with people you don't know.
The other aspect is we alwaysinclude a cultural activity,
whether it's visiting a localvillage or trying something

(41:37):
that's locally made orsupporting locals in general,
and then we always always have alocal team running the trips,
and that's something that wereally stand by.
Um, and then the other perk ishaving my travel
recommendations.
So as a creator and as someonewho has traveled a lot, I always
like to sprinkle like this islike my favorite place that I've

(41:59):
been to, or like you saw this onsocial media, or this was
featured in this publicationbecause I'm obviously very
tapped into social media andpublications with my previous
career.

SPEAKER_02 (42:10):
Well, just on that, actually, that's um a really
great point, which is the socialchannels that you're active on.
I've had a look at yourInstagram account and like so I
I you know for you've postedsome amazing pictures, and I
think that's certainly in eversince Instagram.
It's so fascinating, like thewhole dot-com era, the mobile
era, Instagram, like the wholesocial push, and now AI.

(42:31):
I have to ask you about it aboutAI, because we have our big AI
conference, depending on whenpeople are listening to this.
Either you should register oryou should go and watch the
videos after the event um forhow AI is transforming travel.
Um, but tell everyone a littlebit about your social media
marketing, like the the prowessthat you've developed there.
Like what channel did you starton?
What channels are you mostactive on?
Where are you seeing the mostsuccess?

(42:52):
And how do you manage all ofthat content creation?

SPEAKER_03 (42:55):
Yes.
So Instagram is definitely ourbiggest platform and something
that I'm really proud of.
Given that I have my personalbrand, then I also have the Dosa
Travel Club.
So that has grown to be a prettydecent audience, and that's
where we were able to get mostof our clients.
And then we did hop on TikTok alittle late.
I wish we started a little bitsooner than I would have, but it

(43:16):
was 2021.
So I have grown my platform onthere, and then I'm on
everything LinkedIn, threads, mywebsite, and YouTube.
But those are all pretty, prettyminimal, as you can imagine,
there's a lot to handle.

SPEAKER_02 (43:30):
For sure.
And then so here's a real directquestion I wanted to ask you
that I know a lot of ourlisteners, and I'm always trying
to channel our listeners andthinking about the questions
because I have the privilege tospeak to you as well as many of
our captains of industry, andyou certainly fit that uh uh
extremely well because you'rekind of like a future captain of
industry as far as I'mconcerned, because based on
where you are, it's so difficultto get to where you are.

(43:52):
And this is the one thing I'llsay to you.
Obviously, you need to manageyour business well.
But one of the things I can sayfrom experience, having worked
across many uh multi-day tourbrands, is that it's it's very
difficult to get to your firstmillion in sales, and then
you've got to get to, you know,10 million in sales.
And after that, like there is aum kind of a flywheel effect,
and it's almost like a snowballeffect where, you know, it's

(44:12):
much easier to grow the businessonce you get to a certain size
and scale.
So we would often look atbusinesses that were doing, you
know, around 10,000 passengers ayear was kind of like when a
business could be reallyprofitable, and then you could
really scale, and then you cando more interesting things with
uh businesses of that size, youknow, hedging currency and
foreign exchange and things thatthe way the whole business

(44:33):
operates to really drivesubstantial profits.
And this is exactly why you'reseeing private equity firms
buying up travel companies.
Not only is this a massivegrowth category, and most of the
private equity firms, they'relooking for a 20% uh compound
interest return, which meansthat in five years, they're
gonna have more than doubledtheir money.
And so I'm sure they're gonnacome looking for you, Nabila, in
very uh short, but you need tohang on as long as possible,

(44:57):
build as much value, and maybeeven just decide, you know what,
this is a lifestyle business aswell as a successful, profitable
business.
Um, but what I wanted to ask youabout the social channels is
many of uh people that I speakto, they're struggling to figure
out their social media strategy.
They may have one channelthey're strong on.
And some of the feedback I oftengive, and you may say something
contrary to this, but um, israther than spread yourself too

(45:20):
thin and trying to do too manythings, you really need to solve
for each channel and be reallysuccessful at you rather than
being on five channels withlimited success, my
recommendation is obviously pickone or two and really own it and
really have great content.
What would be your advice toother people, whether other
travel brands or other uhentrepreneurs starting up using

(45:41):
social media to grow theirbusiness?

SPEAKER_03 (45:43):
Yeah.
Well, first of all, I'm reallyhonored that you think that
Joseph Travel Club has so muchpotential in that even
happening.
But to answer that question, Itend to agree with you in terms
of like building on one platformand really establishing yourself
there.
But with AI, which I know youbriefly mentioned, I think it's
really easy now to repurpose andcut up everything that you're

(46:06):
already creating and then easilyschedule that out where it
wouldn't require any more timethan you're using to create.
So create for one platform, butthen repurpose with the use of
AI, and that will just helpcover those bases and you'll see
where it takes off.
But with social media, each eachplatform operates so
differently.
The algorithm is constantlychanging, so it is really hard

(46:29):
to stay on top of them.
But if you could just repurposeit, I don't think we see the
harm in trying that.
And I feel like that's kind ofwhat we do.
It's like it's better to putsomething out there than
nothing.
And if you can just repurposeit, cut it up without leaving
time or energy, might as well.

SPEAKER_02 (46:45):
Yeah, and one of the inspirations that I have
certainly drawn from Mr.
Beast, which uh many people areknow who Mr.
Beast and uh, you know, hestarted on YouTube, and uh you
know, he's got such a big globalprofile now.
But then I've highlighted inpresentations, there's no Mr.
Beast of travel.
I mean, the only travelinfluencer that we had that was
so, you know, we had AnthonyBourdain, you know, writing
books and creating TV shows, andI'm still a huge fan of Anthony

(47:06):
Bourdain from uh, you know, nowanother era.
But um, Mr.
Beast, one of the things that hecertainly does is that he tries
to solve for each channel.
This is what I'm going to do forYouTube.
And then when he goes into a newchannel like TikTok, he tries to
figure out the algorithm, theright formula for content
creation.
And this is like a lot ofcompanies just don't have that
time and energy or resources todo that.
But what you mentioned is reallyimportant, which is coming up

(47:28):
with the right content strategyand then producing content for
one channel that you canrepurpose.
So, any hot tips for ourlisteners on technology they can
use?
Is there any specific platformsyou use to manage all that
social media activity?

SPEAKER_03 (47:40):
I mean, I really just use Chat GBT.
And one tip that I've reallylearned is it's pretty easy to
come up with that formula andChatGBT will know it.
So if you need something to goviral, not that virality equals
sales or conversions or anythinglike that.
But if you're looking for brandawareness, you can really just
pump everything into Chat GBT.
Or I also really like to usesuccessful videos and translate

(48:03):
them or transcribe them and thencopy and paste that into Chat
GBT and be like, okay, this wentviral.
Why did it go viral?
Do it for me now.
And that's really it.
I think yeah, it's like simplethings like that.
But one thing I did learn, whichI think is really important,
virality does not mean anything.
It does take some of the slow,poor performing videos to really

(48:24):
build trust.
So it's okay if they don'tperform really well, keep doing
those ones for your loyal fansand then do the viral ones for
brand awareness.

SPEAKER_02 (48:33):
Oh, that's a great tip.
I think a lot of people justwrote that down.
And so um, and this is where youknow it takes someone with a
certain amount of, well,intellectual curiosity for sure,
and that willingness.
But what you just highlightedabout finding emulating success
and finding why did somethingelse go viral, and then trying
to unpack that and figure outwhat you can do.

(48:54):
Um, we've done a few like top 50people in AI or top 20 AI
startups, and it's amazing justhow much reach those get because
obviously everyone has a vestedinterest in being then uh
highlighting their inclusion inthose lists.
We'll be right back.

SPEAKER_00 (49:10):
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And now, back to the show.

SPEAKER_02 (51:26):
The other thing I wanted to ask you, uh, since
we've now uh stumbled back intothe topic of AI, is how you're
you are looking at thattechnology.
So clearly, ChatGPT, I'massuming you have a paid
account, you must probably havecreated a custom GPT with your
own brand voice.
There's so much um like there'sso many use cases of that
platform.

(51:46):
I use it extensively every day,and I keep coming up against
things and I realize, wait asecond, and then I use Chat GPT
for it.
And I'm just like, like, youknow, I'll give you an exact
example to our listeners is likeyou can download your contact
list from LinkedIn, and um oneof the things you can then,
which LinkedIn prevents you fromdoing, uh, or they try to limit
your access to it.
Um, it takes 24 hours for themto provide it to you.

(52:08):
Um, when it eventually sends itover in a CSV file, uh, one of
the options is to be able tohave all of your connections.
And I wanted to email peoplethat were so I actually I
refined the list, I downloadedmy connections, refined my list
because I wanted to reach out toa few people and I realized that
they didn't have their emailaddress.
Well, ChatGPT can do emailenrichment, and I will give you
three options that they think isthe most likely email address
for them.
And I was like, oh my God, whyhave I not done done this

(52:31):
before?
And like, you know, building aCRM system, like so there's
there's so many exciting uhhacks now to help kind of grow a
business.
So when you think about AI,clearly there's a great
marketing benefit.
Uh the two big use cases fromgenerative AI have been customer
service and marketing.
But where else are you utilizingAI or looking to embrace AI in

(52:53):
the next year to help you growyour uh successful startup?

SPEAKER_03 (52:57):
Yeah, I use it for everything like yourself.
I'm gonna try that chip that youjust suggested.
That's a good one.
Um, I use it a lot foroperations and admin.
So being able to come up withlike SOPs or, for example, email
sequences.
I don't love email sequences,but ChatGBT will help you come
up with it and frame it for you.
So I use it more so foroperations and less so for I

(53:21):
think marketing ideas,generating marketing ideas are
great, but then the actualexecution of it um really
requires like your personalstrategy and your personal
story, but operations and adminin terms of setting up SOPs,
training people, um, negotiationtactics, for example, with like
you know, vendors and thingslike that, sourcing events, or

(53:45):
thing like hotels and just tipsand recommendations.
Um I always give a good firstpass or a sweep on chat GBT.
It's like the bare bones ofthings, but then it does require
some, you know, manipulation andyour own your own skill and
thought as well.

SPEAKER_02 (54:03):
Yeah, for sure.
Now I've got a few lastquestions for you, and I also
want to do um some rapid firequestions as well.
But I would love I I'm keen totalk about where you see the the
uh the dose of travel in thenext whatever three to five
years.
I know it's hard to look too farforward, especially with so many
geopolitical events or umtechnology disruption.

(54:23):
And um, but in terms of whereyou see the business 2026
towards 2030, what what are yourambitions for the dose of
travel?
How do you see the businessgrowing and evolving?

SPEAKER_03 (54:36):
Yeah, I see Dose of Travel Club as a go-to platform
for South Asians um when itcomes to community-led,
culturally immersive travel.
Um we also do a lot of events,so we really are just like a
full-on club where we'repromoting and focusing on
belonging.
So we do events all over the USand get people together outside

(54:58):
of their comfort zone and outthere being curious.
So I would love for it to be astovo house to meets tour
operator, like a membership ummembership, because we have so
many people who are interested.
And at some point, we'd like tobe able to really keep that
tight-knit community as wescale, which is like the one
bread that I have.
Galink um might have us loosenedthat touch.

(55:21):
So building out a membership iskind of where I see it.

SPEAKER_02 (55:24):
Well, it's interesting you mentioned Soho.
So it was my next question foryou is if you can collabor
collaborate with other any otherbrand or organization in the
travel space.
And I asked this questionbecause you know, working at G
Adventures, we worked withDiscovery Channel and then
ultimately National Geographic,and that's been an incredibly
successful partnership for GAdventures and National
Geographic.
And so so much of this travelspace is about collaboration.

(55:46):
And clearly brands werecollaborating with you before
you started having your own uhbusiness and your own trip.
So uh if you could collaboratewith any other brand
organization, what uh who whomight they be?

SPEAKER_03 (55:56):
Oh my god, that's a great question.
Definitely so Alex would be upthere.
I would love to work withEmirate.
Um, I am a big fan of Emirates,um, Marriott, Bonvoy, and a lot
of hotels that I am just afrequent personal visitor of.
Um, I would love to work withTourism Board, Saudi Arabia

(56:16):
specifically, and Oman aredefinitely up there.
Um, there's so many.
The list literally could go on.

SPEAKER_02 (56:23):
And then the other thing, when you look at your
business today and how you'veoperated the last few years,
what would be one of the impactstories?
And that this is what motivatesme uh pretty much every day in
what I'm doing.
I was just like, I love to seethe result of my work,
especially in a way that I'malmost a um a passenger or an
observer.
Like when I when I would do amarketing campaign, if I saw

(56:44):
someone responding orinteracting to it, or something
you've been involved in thatyou've created having an impact
in the world, that for me isalways like the most satisfying
thing.
When you get feedback fromcustomers that have been on your
trips, or um, what has been oneof the biggest highlights for
you that's really inspired youto keep going and keep pursuing
this?
Because I'm you know, there'sobviously been a lot of hard
days as well.

(57:04):
I mean, it's a great successstory, but you're only gotten
there by virtue of overcoming alot of challenges.
So, what would be somethingyou'd point to that an
experience or a feedback someoneshared with you that was like,
this is validation and this ismotivation for me to keep going
forward?

SPEAKER_03 (57:17):
Yeah, oh, there's so many of those moments, and those
are really the only reason Ikeep going.
I think I'll probably just pickthe most recent one that's
coming into my head.
But as I mentioned, I did hostthat 50-person trip to Thailand,
and 50 people is kind of a lot.
Um, you don't really know ifyou'll be able to cultivate
connections and really get toknow a lot of people on a such a
big group trip.

(57:39):
But 25 of them just did areunion trip last week to London
and met up from all over theworld to go hang out, and I
think that was really beautiful.
Not only did they have anamazing time on that trip where
I saw them go from strangers tofriends, but it turned into a
friendship that is still goingon, which usually you kind of

(58:00):
forget about the group chatafter the trip's over.
You think it's when you stayalive and everyone's like, Yeah,
let's stay in touch, Lane.
Stay in touch.
But most of my travelers from mytrips do actually stay in touch,
and I think that's reallyheartwarming and speaks to the
emphasis on community that we weput on the trips.

SPEAKER_02 (58:17):
Yeah, no, it's amazing to me how many people I
still keep in touch with thatI've met over years traveling.
My wife and I did like athree-month European trip on our
for our honeymoon, actually, andwe met a couple in Rome that um
it's funny.
I met um, we met them eachseparately.
We were staying at a hostel inSwitzerland and we met this lady
named Brooke, and then we werein Rome, and we ended up her

(58:38):
boyfriend came over to meet her.
They subsequently becamemarried, and so we saw them, we
went out for dinner with them,and then we ran into them in
Chinkatera, and like, hey wehappenstance, we ran into them a
few times.
We kept in touch, we went to govisit them in in Portland.
We kept in touch all theseyears, but like it's amazing
when you connect with, and it'svery much that like-minded
people.
You were traveling for a reason,and you come you're you know,

(58:58):
you're going through thistransformative experience
yourself, and you make those youknow more deeper connections
with people that you realize,hey, these are people I just
actually like havingconversations with or can really
enjoy a meal with or a glass ofwine, and like and then you keep
those relationships up 20, 25years later.
It's incredible.
So I think I think the magic ofwhat you do is uh, and uh you

(59:19):
know, there's there is hugepotential.
So going back to the what Ishared with you, I'm very much a
firm believer in everything Isee from your business today,
how much growth potential thereis.
And I'm yeah, I'm genuinelyexcited for you, and I will be
you know a champion and verykeen to see your success.
And I'm sure many people willreach out after they hear this
podcast to either travel withyou or partner with you.

(59:40):
And potentially, if you'reinterested in growing into the
trade community, there'sprobably quite a few travel
advisors that would beinterested in in selling a dose
of travel.
So uh that's one of thequestions I had for you on your
expansion plans anddistribution.
Is that a consideration for youto be able to sell through uh
third parties that would beinterested in in promoting and
selling a dose of travel?

SPEAKER_03 (01:00:00):
Yeah, I mean, I'm going to be honest.
I haven't actually thought aboutthat.
So you just raised a reallyinteresting question.
I mean, I'd love to hear fromyou if you have experience on
that.
I don't see why not.
That would be pretty cool.

SPEAKER_02 (01:00:12):
Yeah, I mean, it's it's well, it's just
interesting.
I mean, obviously, I just wantyou to be able to realize that
opportunity.
So, you know, Wii Road is agreat example of a company
that's grown direct-to-consumerand community, but now they're
having great success expandinginto the trade community.
And the trade is having greatsuccess still connecting with
customers.
And they, you know, we look atIntrepid as a terrific example.
The more uh direct-to-consumermarketing they do, the more

(01:00:33):
their trade activity growsbecause people have heard about
the brand and then they go totheir travel advisor or their
travel agent who they'refamiliar booking with.
So there's this is where like Ifind it so fascinating when we
we live in this age of AI andtechnology.
The reality is, and thateveryone is you know freaking
out that um here we go again,maybe travel advisors are going
to be made obsolete.
And they're they're flourishing.
And one of the reasons they'reflourishing is because

(01:00:54):
pre-pandemic it was like anaverage of 18 websites people
would visit before booking.
And now some of the researchindicates it's more like 31.
And people are just gettingfrustrated.
The complexity's gone up despitethe technology improving.
And so it's actually drivingpeople to seek out other people.
They will literally use AI.
This is another thing, andagain, this is all you know,
really sort of emergent,emerging research because um we

(01:01:16):
work with a company calledPropelic, and they just did this
major research project um withum uh both Focus Right and
Arrival to study how AI isimpacting the entire consumer
journey.
But ultimately, one of thethings that stands out is that,
well, one thing is SEO brandsthat rely on that are starting
to struggle because they'relosing a lot of that traffic now

(01:01:36):
that you have AI overviews.
But the interesting thing aboutit is that people arrive to a
brand ready to book.
And this is one of the bigquestions.
They arrive direct to a businessto book as well.
So there's another questionabout OTAs and all of this
because they're the intermediarythat people otherwise did a
Google search.
They hit, well, you know, they'dfind a booking.com listing and
they would book their hotel.
Now all of a sudden, people aredoing their research and they're

(01:01:58):
going direct to that hotel ordirect to that provider.
So another thing that's excitingfor you is that people will find
a dose of travel and they willcome directly to you to book,
but they will also then reachout to their travel agents and
say, I'm ready to book with thiscompany called a dose of travel.
Do you sell it?
There's lots of um opportunitiesfor you, and again, I'm really
excited.
I want to finish with a fewrapid fire questions for you,

(01:02:22):
Nabila.
So if you were not uh I alwaysask people if you were not gonna
do what you're gonna do, whatwould you be?
And literally you've alreadydone that.
You're like, you were gonna be apharmacist and now you've become
you know a travel industryleader.
Um if you weren't either ofthose two things, what would you
be?
What else would you do rightnow?
Like if there was a third generif there was a third um career

(01:02:43):
in your life, what might thatbe?

SPEAKER_03 (01:02:45):
Oh that's that's a hard question.
Maybe a DJ.
Super random.

SPEAKER_04 (01:02:56):
I love music.
That sounds pretty awesome.
And I love traveling fordifferent music, and I love
music from all over the world.

SPEAKER_02 (01:03:03):
So my daughter's at university, she's obsessed with
like she's just discoveredelectronic music and she wants
to go to Ibiza.
And I was just like, oh my god,I can't believe this is
happening.
And um John John Summit isliterally her like a favorite
musician.
She went to a John Summitfestival and was like got on the
screen, and um just she wassharing it on social media, but
yeah, so like it's interestingyou say that because like that
whole um that whole market, likefestivals and like um it's

(01:03:27):
obviously having a major umresurgence, and uh and people
are traveling for those things.

SPEAKER_04 (01:03:32):
But um the other thing obviously Yeah, it brings
people together, totally, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (01:03:36):
And and not like travel, yeah.
And nothing is more powerful tothe human mind than music.
That's something that I learnedat the Forbes travel guide
conference last year, an amazingpresentation about the impact of
music on the human mind.
And you know, you have it's verysimilar because you have a
shared experience, much the wayyou do when you're traveling,
you're having a sharedexperience with enjoying music
with other people that areclearly enjoying the same music,
which is why you feel such astrong kinship.

(01:03:57):
So it's it's fascinating.
This is where like you know,evolutionary biology and and
marketing go hand in hand and umunderstanding consumer behavior.
So you did mention though, Iwant to do these rapid fire
questions, but I'm so enjoyingthis conversation, Abel, and
would love to have you back nextyear and uh to see how your
business has grown as we go intoseason seven and season eight
and 2026.

(01:04:18):
Um, but you said you mentionedyou travel extensively.
So a few rapid fire questions onthat topic, which is um when you
do travel, what is one item thatyou wouldn't leave home without?

SPEAKER_04 (01:04:29):
My noise canceling headphone.
Yeah, they are a game changer onthe special on the slight to
volley.
That was a rough one.

SPEAKER_02 (01:04:40):
No doubt.
So then presumably you have aniPhone with you.
So what would be one of theeither apps or tools that you
take with you that you would,you know, that really helps you
with your travel?

SPEAKER_03 (01:04:50):
Helps me.

SPEAKER_04 (01:04:50):
Oh gosh, I feel like it may or may not help me, but I
guess you're talking to acontent creator, so Instagram,
definitely my lifeline andliterally my business and my
livelihood.

SPEAKER_02 (01:05:01):
And then if there was one other place in the world
you could live for a year, uh,where might that be?

SPEAKER_03 (01:05:07):
Beirut, Lebanon, hands down.
I love that city, yes, so much.
I'm trying to go back.
It's perfect.
The food, the people, thehospitality, the Mediterranean
Sea, the architecture,everything.

SPEAKER_02 (01:05:22):
That's amazing.
I have not been, and uh I dohave some friends from Lebanon,
and it's like, but yeah, that'sthat's fascinating you say that,
especially given the state ofthe world and the Middle East at
the moment.
And um, but that highlights, youknow, as things stabilize like
the opportunity to be able totravel to places like that.
Um so yeah, you're that's that'sa first.
And then um your next personaltravel destination, not your

(01:05:44):
next business destination.
Where is where do you want to gonext?

SPEAKER_03 (01:05:47):
Oh, I've learned the line so much that I don't even
oh, New Zealand.
I want to go to New Zealand.
I've been wanting to do a roadtrip um there.
I feel like it's been a solidmonth there.
Yeah, you've not been?
You've not been to New Zealand?

SPEAKER_04 (01:06:02):
No, I haven't yet.

SPEAKER_02 (01:06:04):
That's where this is probably oversharing, but like
that's where we conceived ourtwins and uh now they're off to
university.
So it's something in the water.
New Zealand is a special place.
We we did the camper van triparound New Zealand for a month,
and um we did a few weeks in theSouth Island and like a week and
a half in the North Island,which apparently is the best way
to do it.
So they're both islands aregreat, but the South Island is

(01:06:25):
much more dramatic scenery.
And we did the whole camper vanthing, so there was something in
the water, but we were uh uh wewere hiking, so we were I'm
gonna share this because this isum uh I've already opened the
the topic up, but this is uhwith all of our listeners who
know that I have twins, and ifthey've you know, have twins
will travel has been our ourmotto ever since they arrived.
But uh when we were travelingfrom New Zealand, I was working

(01:06:46):
at Lonely Planet at the time, wecame back to Canada for visit at
Christmas with the intention ofliving in Australia long term.
And so my friends know thestory, and we may as well share
it with our listeners now sincewe've opened it up, is that um
we um were when we weretraveling around New Zealand, we
were doing all the cooladventure stuff, bungee jumping,
speed boats, and everything thatwe are absorbing and like um uh

(01:07:08):
and every time we were signingthese waivers to be like, yes,
I'm like in healthy and I'm ingood shape, otherwise, no art
conditions.
Uh my wife was always signingI'm not pregnant.
And we had no idea that sheactually was pregnant while we
were doing all these activities.
So we've always referred to themas the bungee twins because we
figure the egg must have spliton the bungee.
And uh that's too good.
Um, but but yeah, they've beenadventurous, so that's my

(01:07:31):
continued inspiration.
But um, but Nabila, that'senough about me.
I've I want to finish off withum tell everyone a little bit
more about how they can find outabout you, learn more about a
dose of travel, and stayconnected and to work with or
collaborate with you in thefuture.

SPEAKER_03 (01:07:46):
Yeah, absolutely.
Um you can obviously find us onour website, www.dose of
travelclub.com and then onsocial medias, it's the same
Dose of Travel Club on bothInstagram and TikTok.
Or if you want to follow me,it's just Brenda Beela Ismail on
Instagram.

SPEAKER_02 (01:08:02):
Amazing.
You are a real inspiration.
I cannot thank you enough formaking the time for this,
especially as it's been latenight for you in Bali.
So despite the jet lag andeverything else, you uh you've
got you know lots of energy andenthusiasm, and clearly you love
what you do, and people are verymuch attracted to everything you
have uh to offer with the tripsthat you've created.
And um, yeah, I couldn't be moreexcited for you.

(01:08:24):
So thank you for making the timefor travel trends, and I look
forward to keeping in touch.
And I definitely encourage allof our listeners to check out uh
ados of travel.co and reach outto Nabila on uh LinkedIn or
Instagram.
But thank you again, Nabila.
Really appreciate joining us.

SPEAKER_03 (01:08:38):
Thank you for having me.
I love talking to someone elsewho's just as enthusiastic about
Pavel as I am.

SPEAKER_01 (01:08:42):
Thanks so much for joining us on the latest episode
of Travel Trends.
I hope you enjoyed episode oneof our deep dive into the world
of emerging tour operators withNabila Ismael, the founder and
CEO of A Dose of Travel Club.
I found her story incrediblyinspiring.
I'm sure many of you did aswell.
So be sure to check her out onsocial channels or their website
to find out more information.

(01:09:03):
And I just want to say thanksagain to Alex Reagan and the
team at TorSteta.com forsponsoring this series, which
continues next week with LisaPagat from Crooked Compass.
I really look forward tobringing that conversation to
you.
And then Will Cannes from ActiveEngland Adventures.
Now, don't forget we post clipsand highlights on all our social
channels, so be sure to checkout Instagram, LinkedIn, and

(01:09:25):
YouTube.
And finally, if you're listeningto this just before AI Summit,
make sure to join us next weekat Traveltrendspodcast.com to
register.
And if you're listening to thisafterwards, don't worry, you'll
be able to find all thehighlights on our YouTube
channel.
Thanks again for joining us.
Until next week, safe travels.

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