Ali founded Activities Abroad way back in 1999 after telling his last boss where to stick his job! Not surprisingly, he woke up the next day and found himself unemployed.

Undaunted, he sat down with a piece of paper and wrote down a list of what he wanted to do with his life. The first two items on the list were: Travel and Adventure Sports. That's where it all started.

His plan to travel extensively was somewhat scuppered when his wife, totally irresponsibly, became pregnant. Not once but twice! Ali now claims that his plan has gone fundamentally wrong as it is his employees rather than himself who get to do most of the travelling these days. Regardless, he has Daisy and Archie (how middle class are those names?) as compensation.

Nevertheless, Ali has managed to mark up an impressive range of destinations over the years.

 

Countries of expertise:

Canada ,  Finland ,  France ,  Italy ,  Norway ,  Portugal ,  Slovenia ,  Spain ,  Sweden ,  Turkey ,  United Kingdom

Barry has been with Activities Abroad since the very start. He has researched, developed and experienced more of our holidays than anybody. What's more, as a single parent, he has tried both our family trips and our adult holidays extensively.

At the last count, Barry has experience of every one of our holidays. It's a tough job!

 

Countries of expertise:

Austria ,  Canada ,  Costa Rica ,  Finland ,  France ,  Germany ,  Iceland ,  Italy ,  Norway ,  Portugal ,  Romania ,  Slovenia ,  South Africa ,  Spain ,  Sweden ,  Turkey ,  United Kingdom

Jo joined Activities Abroad on a one year student placement and found herself in the exalted position of Long Haul Product Development Manager after her graduation. Not bad for a girl whose passion is travel, she now gets paid to do it!

Jo is one of the driving forces behind our Responsible Travel Policy and always seeks to incorporate a local community or environmental project into each new holiday she develops. Her contribution in this area was instrumental in our success at the British Travel Awards where we won the Silver Award for Most Environmentally responsible Small Tour Operator.

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Countries of expertise:

Finland ,  Canada ,  Costa Rica ,  Egypt ,  Iceland ,  Jordan ,  Slovenia ,  South Africa ,  Spain ,  Sweden ,  United Kingdom ,  Morocco ,  Norway ,  France ,  Austria ,  Germany ,  Italy

Steph is another who joined us on a University placement and has thrived in her role as Marketing Manager. Part of that role involves researching, developing and experiencing our holidays and she's travelled a great deal since starting with us here at Activities Abroad. 

Countries of expertise:

Canada ,  Finland ,  Iceland ,  Italy ,  Slovenia ,  Sweden ,  Turkey ,  United Kingdom

We think Jane is principally responsible for running our corporate and incentive trips but as she spends 11 months of the year skiing in Switzerland it's sometimes difficult to tell. Still, she seems to get her work done and still find time to visit some amazing destinations.

 

 

Countries of expertise:

Canada ,  Finland ,  France ,  Iceland ,  Italy ,  Morocco ,  Norway ,  Slovenia ,  Spain ,  Sweden ,  United Kingdom

Amy is our latest University placement student and is thoroughly enjoying getting as much experience as possible from all areas of the company. A highlight of her role has been visiting several of the destinations especially accompanying a large group to Finland over February half term.

 

Countries of expertise:

Finland ,  Italy ,  Norway ,  United Kingdom ,  Austria ,  France ,  Germany ,  Slovenia