major highlight: get to know our founder, emma

Hi there! It has been a little while since I have been front and center, so I wanted to share a little bit about myself and how Major Traveler has grown over the years. We are in the midst of celebrating our sixth birthday and it’s been an exciting and nostalgic exercise to go back and see how much our agency has grown.

First and foremost, it is because of you, your friends and your family who trust my team and I to plan your travels, that we are where we are today. So thank you. Truly, I don’t know how I’m so lucky to work with the world’s greatest and most creative clients – you make my job a dream. Well, there are the less glamorous moments too…don’t worry more to come on those funny anecdotes in an upcoming blog post! 

This post is designed to give you a little bit more insight into me not only as the Founder and leader of Major Traveler, but also an insight into my expertise and what I’ve learned over the years of planning luxury travel. We dive into some frequently asked questions about our work and define ways of working with our clients. I hope this post is inspiring and helpful. If you have questions and have never worked with a travel advisor, please reach out! We’d love to hear form you.

Longtime Major Traveler clients, thank you for it all – I hope we can work together again this year!

XO,
Emma

How did Major Traveler begin? How has it evolved?

I began Major Traveler in 2017 with a simple vision: to inspire, equip, educate and empower clients to travel and see the world. For as long as I can remember, I have believed that traveling is a journey that extends beyond miles – travel is an exploration of the heart and discovery of the soul’s connection to the world. To experience discovery and connection to places and moments, it all starts with an inspiration and a desired destination.

At Major Traveler, we have always kicked off relationships with our clients, with a point of inspiration – what feeling do they want to capture, what adventure do they seek, who do they seek it with? From here, we dive into the fun part – the details. Where to go, when to go, how to go. At this point, the planning process kicks into high gear and we work closely with our clients to nail down an itinerary that excites them, share tips and recommendations on how to make the most of their trip and ultimately equip them with the tools and resources they need to board the plan, start the ignition of a car, or walk onto a boat and GO on the trip we’ve helped to envision with them. 

6 years ago, Major Traveler began with me. Today, I am supported by a team of 8 incredibly talented advisors and a robust network globally of ground suppliers, vendors and hotel partners that sprinkle all sorts of extra magic for our clients, wherever they are in the world. Major Traveler is a seasoned place where experience and knowledge have been harnessed in an effort to bring value, luxury touch points and relationship-driven support to our clients. 

What can I expect as a new Major Traveler client? 

Luxury travel planning is all about the details. I always tell our clients that myself or any one of my passionate team members can handle as much or as little as you would like when it comes to planning and executing their travels. As an agency predicated on excellence in the luxury travel sphere, we are here to customize every detail of your travel experience. That means, we have the capacity and expertise to handle absolutely every detail from the moment you lock your front door to the moment you are cheerfully greeted after your return home by a private driver to drive you back home.

For our clients across the luxury tier, we handle every step of the travel planning process in an exclusive and curated manner. This includes a customized proposal that takes into account everything from accommodations to transportation and activities such as private guided tours, authentic off-the-beaten-path experiences, specialty excursions, reservations, spa treatments and other concierge items etc. that key into a client’s specific interests. We book all arrangements for clients and provide all pre-travel details in a beautifully packaged digital and printed format for our clients to review, ask questions and take along with them for reference on their travels. 

At Major Traveler, how do you define luxury travel planning? 

At Major Traveler, we define luxury travel planning as a highly curated and collaborative approach to crafting unforgettable voyages and experiences. Where once travel planning could have been understood as ‘order taking’ or requests from clients to book and arrange, luxury travel planning at Major Traveler is a completely tailored and consultative process. We know our clients, we understand their needs and we work across our partners and vendors to ensure an unforgettable long weekend, week or weeks wherever their travels take them. For our all inclusive luxury travel itineraries – where the devil is truly in the details – the magic is afforded across 8-14 day vacations. We LOVE a weekend getaway and week-long trips somewhere fabulous, however, our full scope luxury planning comes into play in the biggest ways across longer trips. During lengthier itineraries, we are really able to implement expertise across destination knowledge, personalized accommodation experiences and fill in magical details by leveraging our local partnerships to truly have our guests feeling that once-in-a-lifetime feeling. 

ALL of our Major Traveler clients will experience our expertise and guidance – the difference in the larger, super luxury travel planning experience is a trip’s budget and the client’s desire to have every detail (and beyond) planned and taken care of for them. Across the board, we love to say that “we’ve been to where you’re going, and we loved it!” We pride ourselves – across the team – on knowing the resorts, hotels, cities and countries you’d like to visit. We test out the private chefs, the exclusive local experiences and guided tours in an effort to best guide you on what you and your traveling counterparts are looking for in your specific journey. It is through our personal experience and nurtured relationships with our incredible partners, that we at Major Traveler are able to bring each and every one of our clients, an exclusive experience. 

More About Me

Some of you might know that my husband, Stephen, and I recently welcomed our first child in September – a healthy little boy named Wes. Entering this new chapter of motherhood has had its challenges but on the whole it’s been a blessing to learn, grow and see the world through fresh eyes. I am at the point now – with Wes rounding the corner to 5 months – where I am learning to travel with a little one. More tips on this, soon! My travel schedule looks a little bit different right now with an infant but I am so excited to be working with great clients, gaining inspiration from my team members who are visiting places I love and places I have yet to experience personally…all so that I can continue doing what I love: creating unforgettable travel experiences for you, your loved ones and your family. 

I caught the travel bug early as a child – my parents exposed my brother and I to all sorts of different travel experiences and I took every chance I could to travel with my mom, who is a seasoned flight attendant for Delta Airlines. She’s my go-to travel buddy and I couldn’t be more grateful to have her as a go-to who will travel with me anywhere…she just came with me last month to The Cloister at Sea Island to help me take care of Wes while I was attending a women in business summit!

My type-A personality makes me prone to great organization, a lover of details and I’m generally one who enjoys pushing myself outside of my comfort zone to learn, see and experience as much as I can wherever I go. If you were to ask me my favorite place, I’d have a really hard time nailing that down for you…because it depends. South Africa might be the most special place I’ve ever gotten to spend time but I love the vibrancy and zest for life you can experience in Portugal and Spain, I will never say no to London and then there’s skiing in Aspen or the Swiss Alps – count me in! I also am a repeat visitor to Anguila and the Caribbean more generally. My husband Stephen lived in Asia for a few years when we were first dating so I got to know parts of Asia in new more local ways…it’s an incredible part of the world. My list of where I want to go…very long! I am spoiled by my profession to know who’s opening gorgeous new properties, where the coolest most exclusive experiences are popping up – so my list is long and I love to share it with clients when their destinations match up with some of these new special spots. 

If we haven’t met, please reach out. I’d love to know you and support in planning an unforgettable journey this year!