Message from Chris Boycott, Managing Director and founder

Back in 1987 when I hatched the idea of hanging out my own shingle and starting my own tour company, it was hard to imagine what the world of travel—or the world in general—would look like in thirty years.

“Small group” and “soft adventure” were new concepts gaining traction, advertising was limited to newspapers and word-of-mouth, the noisy telex machine clattering away in the corner was the best means of long-distance communication, and cutting and pasting an itinerary together actually involved scissors and a glue stick.

It was also impossible to imagine the challenges we would face. Volcanoes and earthquakes were always par for the course, as were infectious diseases and political insurrections.

But terrorism was still a vague spectre on the horizon, and who could have imagined the fallout stemming from the attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001? As we now accept taking off our shoes and discarding our water bottles before boarding a flight as a matter of everyday life, one can’t help but wonder what we have gained and lost, and how these things continue to shape the way of the future.

Challenging times will always be there, and I’m very proud that our staff and family of travellers have been such a resilient, flexible, creative, patient and, in many ways, philosophical gang of positive thinkers.

I like to think that those of us who travel, who keenly seek out “otherness,” who not only accept diversity, but celebrate it, will one day, truly, inherit the Earth. To live, laugh, learn, and love through travel cannot help but make one a better person—a true citizen of the world.

We at Adventures Abroad have always, and will continue to believe in the free movement of peoples and ideas, regardless of where they’re from and what values they hold dear. Moving forward under this ideal is what will see us through the darker days that always seem to lie ahead, and set a positive path for those who follow.

Through the years, I’ve had the honour and great privilege to see my two children, now adults, heading out to explore the world with us, and now on their own. In them and their passion for travel, I see hope for us all. I invite you to join me and the Adventures Abroad family in continuing to reach for this dream through the next 30 years and beyond.

Thank you for your support all these years—see you on the road!

Chris Boycott

Chris’s next trip:
Namibia & Botswana
NA2 | 19 Days | Details