A NEWSLETTER FROM Pryority Travel

I was 13 years old and I was convinced a leather jacket was the right call for England in October.

 

 

That jacket got soaked through almost every single day of that trip. But somewhere between smelling like a wet cow and wandering through the Bury St. Edmunds where my grandmother grew up, something happened. I started paying attention. To the streets, to the people, to the way life looked completely different from anything I'd known growing up in Felton, Delaware.

 

I kept a journal on that trip. I still have it and go back to it every few years. 13-year-old me came home understanding something for the first time: the world is much bigger than your corner of it, and the only way to really know that is to go see it.

Fast forward to 2006. Henna and I got married and went to Greece for our honeymoon. By the time we landed back home, she was already researching the next trip. I realized pretty quickly that travel wasn't going to be something we did every few years as a treat. It was going to be a way of life. And honestly, she was right.

 

The experiences we've had in 26 countries and counting don't just fill a passport. They light us up. They bring new energy and new ideas back home that we never would have found sitting still.

 

Spain. Croatia. Italy. Ireland. Costa Rica. A hundred meals we couldn't have predicted. Roads we didn't know existed until we were on them.

 

We are in Delhi. The four of us, Henna, me, and our kids (who were both under 10 at the time) standing in the middle of a market that was louder, busier, and more alive than anything we'd ever walked into. The colors were overwhelming. The smells hit you before you even realized what was happening. People bumping past you, vendors calling out, noise coming from every direction. There was no quiet corner to retreat to. You were either in it or you weren't.

That market showed me what travel is actually for. Not the landmarks. Not the hotels. The moment when you're so far outside your comfort zone that you stop performing and start being yourself for the first time. When you look over at your kids and realize they're watching the world differently than they did yesterday.

 

That's the moment I decided to build a business around this.

I've spent 28 years in sales learning to understand what people need, sometimes before they know how to ask for it. That skill didn't change when I started planning trips. It just found a better use.

 

If you're here, you probably already know that travel matters to you. You've done the basics. You're past the bucket list phase. What you want now is someone who's actually been there, who knows the difference between a good hotel and the right hotel for you, and who will do the work so you don't have to think about a single thing except showing up.

 

 

And it started with a very wet leather jacket in England in 1992.

P.S. I'm still not allowed to travel with a leather jacket.  Some things follow you :-)

A FEW DETOURS WORTH TAKING

If you’re new here, welcome. I’m Ian, a travel advisor who helps people design trips that

feel personal, thoughtful, and easy from start to finish. I’m really glad you’re here, and I

hope you’ll stick around for destination ideas, inspiration, and stories from the road in

the weeks ahead.