Tristan Smith
Job Title:
Adventure Travel Sales Consultant
About Yourself
My role is to help guide our clients with their holiday choices, providing unbiased information as well as my own travel opinions and experiences.
I have notched up 4 years experience of adventure travel retail, whilst fitting in as many worldwide jaunts as possible. My primary interests are hiking and trekking, but I find time for more speedy and adrenaline-induced escapades such as mountain biking, rafting, kayaking and canyoning. Am also a keen photographer.
What do you love most about your job?
Reassuring our customers that choosing to book a trekking trip is NEVER a bad idea, and talking them through their pre-departure arrangements and considerations. I never cease to be surprised at the lengths some people go to avoid preparation, so I take it very seriously when talking them through equipment, training and safety.
What is your most memorable travel experience?
Being pulled under water on a grade-5 rapid called ‘Big-Brother’, on the River Nile in Uganda. It only lasted around 10 seconds, but felt like hours!
What is the funniest thing that has ever happened on a trip?
Singing the New Zealand National Anthem around a camp fire in the middle of a remote North Thailand hill tribe village.
Where have you been?
Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, North America, Nepal, Slovenia, Spain, France, Germany, Italy, Morocco, Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda.
Where are you going next?
Amazon Jungle.
Best travel tip:
Remember the ‘Seven P’s’. “Proper Preparation and Planning Prevents P*ss-Poor Performance.”
What inspires you to travel?
I am merely chasing fun times, happy memories and new experiences wherever I go. If I become enlightened, educated or informed along the way then this is simply a bonus. But I just want to have as much fun while I still can; to ward off the cynicism that comes with advanced age and maybe one day even translate in written form the nature of the traveler’s spirit.
