One Advisor’s Long Day’s Journey into Travel
byDavid Cogswell/
The travel industry attracts a hugely diverse range of people from all over the world and all sorts of backgrounds. But they do share something in common. Few people enter the travel industry strictly to get rich. People throw themselves into travel with their hearts and souls. They join because they believe in travel. It’s not just about moving around from place to place. For some people, promoting travel is a mission. That is certainly true of Mariette Tipton, owner of Great Getaways Travel, of Clermont, Georgia.
对于脚尖,旅行在她的血液中。在她已经旧的东西之前,这是她生命的主要部分,以了解任何不同。她出生于全球意识。当她七岁时,她曾在三大洲生活过。
But although travel was part of her life from the beginning, it did not become a profession until much later. Looking back on her varied career, it is clear that the themes of travel and service were woven together throughout her life.
ru
它始于荷兰,祖先的父母的祖先之家。像欧洲的大部分一样,第二次世界大战后,荷兰在很大程度上陷入了废墟。有很少的住房,玛蒂特的新婚夫妇父母将有很长的等待自己的家。她父亲的九个兄弟姐妹都离开了荷兰,向不同的地方展开,成为全球性的家庭。Tipton有堂兄在世界各地。
玛丽埃特的父亲想把他的家人带到美国。但是对美国移民有限,所以他借此机会在南非的钟表匠上工作。Tipton出生于约翰内斯堡。当她3岁时,她被脊髓灰质炎击中了,在医院恢复过九个月。孤独的经历标志着她的形成年度。
“我的父母不被允许参观,”她说。“我想它塑造了我的独立性质。我真的不记得它。我可能会阻止它。我知道我瘫痪了,不能走路。我真的很感谢,我没有剩余效果。我非常幸运。我是没有任何持久伤害的少数人出来的。“
1960年,她父亲的兄弟能够赞助家人搬到美国。当家庭离开南非时,脚尖是六个。她保留了几个对这个国家的回忆。“在克鲁格国家公园骑海龟是我记得的,”她说。
The children stayed in Holland while Mariette’s father went ahead to America to secure a job and housing. The children spent nine months absorbing the culture of Holland.
“我和祖母住在一起,”她说。“这是在圣诞节的时候。我记得圣尼古拉斯。在荷兰传统中,他带着黑色皮特,肯定是你的表现。“
Nation of immigrants
当玛丽埃特的父亲有序有条件,其余的家庭跟着他到美国,并在印第安纳州埃尔卡特定居。当她开始上学时,她是一个没有说英语的外国人。
“English was my third language,” she said, “after Dutch and Afrikaans. But I found my way and adapted quickly. I had an older brother and a younger sister in the same boat.”
Tipton was drawn toward helping others, and she studied to be a special education teacher at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo and Indiana University in Bloomington. “I was a special ed teacher,” she said. “I worked with children with learning disabilities.”
她在教室里讲过14年,并在聋哑人和盲婴儿工作了12年,脱掉了几年,抚养了她的三个孩子。但旅行继续成为她生命中的强大因素。
“我花了五年时间在波多黎各,”she said. “My husband started a business in Aguadilla on the west coast near Rincon. I transferred there with my children, who were eight and nine. My youngest child was born there.”
She continued working as a special ed teacher in Puerto Rico, and again, when the family moved to Georgia. Then she went into business for herself developing resort properties in Florida, South Carolina (Daufuskie Island), and the highlands of North Carolina. She did that for eight years until the market dropped, and then she moved onto other things.
travel
玛丽埃特的旅行倾向与她在2006年帮助他人的愿望,当一个朋友邀请她加入一个让她回到她出生大陆的使命团队时。她教堂的一群朋友前往赞比亚,而不是转换人,而是带来援助。
“We don’t go with the intention of changing people,” she said. “We accept them for who they are and try to figure out how to help.”
该集团在赞比亚举行危机苗圃。“这基本上是一种采用托儿所,”她说。“它拯救了婴儿,母亲已经死了,他们被遗弃了。我们几次走了几次,建成了一所学前学。来自教堂的一群女性,名叫赞比亚姐妹。它仍然存在。我们四人建造了一所学校。“
该集团在世界各地的传教士工作,包括墨西哥尤卡坦;多米尼加共和国,古巴和巴基斯坦。在那些年内,她还将个人旅程与斯堪的纳维亚,印度和其他地方带走。
Why don’t you be a travel agent?
The more she traveled, the more she wanted to travel. But her husband was pursuing his own aspirations to run a horse ranch, and wanted to stay home and work on his ranch.
“我的孩子们成长,”她说。“我走痒的脚去旅行。我试图鼓励我的丈夫和我一起旅行。我不断地说,“让我们走到这里,让我们去那里。”沮丧,他终于对我说,“你为什么不成为旅行社?'”
这是一个epiphany。“灯泡在我脑海里走了出去,”她说。“我从未想过这一点。他退休为学校主管,并养活了马匹。这是他想做的事。他对离开这一点并不感兴趣。“
The next day, she got onto the internet and started figuring out how to become a travel agent. “A friend of a friend in South Carolina had an agency, and said I could work under her,” said Tipton.
在她练习六个月后,并参加了CLIA会议和许多网络研讨会,她意识到,“我可以自己做到这一点。”2012年,她开始了自己的机构。
逍遥游下
当Tipton发现她称之为旅游顾问时,她生命中的所有轮子都开始单击同步。随着业务的增长,她雇用了三个代理商。两年后,原子能机构在销售中造成了500,000美元。现在正在努力打破一百万。但对于脚尖,旅行仍然是一个使命。
“我总是喜欢世界的公民,”她说。“当我对人的演讲时,我鼓励他们超越建筑,与人交谈,试着了解文化 - 不仅访问城市,还要试图了解一点政治,文化,生活环境。人们从旅行中获得的个人经历是如此有价值。“
作为一个常年的局外人,她自己透视了解并同情来自不同文化的人。“这是我使世界更美好的方式;支持当地经济;不是那么丑陋的美国人;旅行为心脏经验而不是头。我喜欢旅行对人的行为。一旦你去过一个国家,当它进入新闻时,你更加了解。
“It’s good for people to travel. We do need to become more aware, to appreciate what we have.”