Today we’d like to introduce you to Alex Coleman with Here & Now Travel.
Alex, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
My wife (Elise Coleman) and I love traveling. We loved the freedom of solo travel (going where we wanted, when we wanted), but didn’t like the loneliness, isolation, and vulnerability that could accompany it. On the flip side, we loved traveling with friends, sharing the experiences, and having the security of a group… but trying to navigate everyone’s busy schedules, their preferences, and budget constraints made planning and aligning everyone a real headache and a ton of work. So, we decided to create a travel company that combined the best of both worlds. A company that gave people the flexibility of going to their desired destinations at their desired time, without losing the experience of traveling with a group of awesome people.
Has it been a smooth road?
Starting Here & Now Travel has been a wild, incredible, fun, challenging, and exhausting journey. The company is geared towards “young professionals” and that’s with good reason. Elise and I are both working, young professionals who still maintain “corporate” desk jobs during the day, and manage Here & Now at night. It makes for long days, but we wouldn’t trade the experience for anything. Going on our trips with others just like us leads to amazing conversations, connections, and lasting friendships. Getting to build a company that has such a positive impact on ourselves and others is plenty of motivation to keep us going during the long nights.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Here & Now Travel – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of and what sets you apart from others.
About us: We are an adventurous group travel company for young adults/young professionals. People traveling solo or with friends come to our website, pick one of our destinations and trip dates that work for them, meanwhile, 6-14 other young adults/young professionals do the same, then we all go explore together. Led by our local guides native to the destination you’re visiting along with our Here & Now Host who takes care of all the logistics. Ultimately, we handle all the planning and unpleasant tasks of travel… allowing you to fully immerse yourself in a new culture, meet new people, and travel authentically in the Here & Now.
What sets us apart from others: 1. Nothing like this exists in Houston today, which is surprising since we were voted the nation’s best city for millennials! (Source: https://www.houston.org/news/houston-no-1-among-millennials-new-study-finds) 2. We don’t have huge groups. We limit our group sizes to 14 people. We pride ourselves on small group travel and aim to give our travelers a cultural and authentic experience with the destinations we travel to. Smaller groups allow us to interact with the community in a sustainable way along with building stronger connections within our groups.
What are you most proud of as a company?: We support the communities we travel to. Tourism can have major impacts when mishandled. We recognize that and ensure we travel sustainably along with employing locals and keeping our funds within the communities that host us and that we have fallen in love with.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
DIVERSITY! There’s not a city in the country that offers as wide of a variety of experiences in one place. A mundane grocery store run can turn into multiple cultural learnings as you roam the aisles and interact with your neighbors. We absolutely love it and learn something new every day.
Contact Info:
- Website: hereandnowtravel.com
- Phone: (713) 364-5836
- Email: support@hereandnowtravel.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/hereandnowtravel/
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/Hereandnowtravel/
Image Credit:
Shot Maker Media – @shotmakermedia on Instagram
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