Paging through her father’s collection of National Geographic magazines as a child, Ashley became curious about the world. While studying field biology and ornithology for her degree in Environmental Science, she had the opportunity to travel to the Ecuadorian Amazon, where she climbed towers into the canopy, tasted lemon ants, and hiked daily in the rain forest accompanied by local shaman and researchers, to study the biodiversity of the region.

Her love of wildlife and the outdoors has informed many of her travel experiences. She has hiked, camped, and tracked kiwi birds around New Zealand, photographed birds and wildlife in the Galápagos Islands, hiked and biked through Rajasthan in India, saw a lilac-breasted roller for the first time in Namibia, and had the indescribable experience of visiting with waddles of penguins (her favorite bird, if she had to choose) in Antarctica.

Exploring biodiversity and cultural perspectives on these adventures has changed her life and she is passionate about helping others experience the positive impact travel can have through her work at GeoEx.

Becky’s interest in travel was originally piqued while road-tripping across the United States with her mom. Since then, she’s ventured further afield, most recently on a trip to Iceland, where she reveled in seeing icebergs and an active volcano in the same day. Although, if given the chance to live anywhere in the world, she might choose Chamonix, France, where she woke up each day to views of Mont Blanc and paragliders soaring over the town, walked the same streets as the first winter Olympians, and ate some of the best onion soup she’s ever had in her life. When she’s not exploring, Becky enjoys screenwriting, reading, and spending time with her two dogs, who keep her life VERY interesting.

Growing up among the apple orchards and rolling hills of Somerset in England, Charlie was enthralled with the stories her grandparents brought back from their frequent international adventures, as well as her mother’s account of traveling overland from the UK to Afghanistan at the age of 17 as a pre-college adventure. By the time she attended university herself, her path was clear, and she took her first job in the industry while completing a BSc in Business and Tourism. She then embarked on an epic solo adventure around the world, traveling through 17 countries and four continents.

Putting her first-hand knowledge to good use, she took a position at the pioneering luxury travel company her grandparents had traveled with, the now well-established Abercrombie & Kent. She flourished there as a Latin America and Antarctica specialist, expanding her travel knowledge, building relationships, and designing exceptional itineraries during her seven-year tenure.

Challenging herself to become a world-renowned travel expert, she has since helped steer travel companies to greater heights, arranged thrilling insider experiences for guests, traveled to all seven continents before the age of 30, and has consistently been named one of Condé Nast Traveler’s Top Travel Specialists for the past three years. She joined the GeoEx team in 2022.

“Travel really is my world. I eat, breathe, and dream of new adventures that could be had by our guests.” A wildlife enthusiast, she counts watching polar bears hunt on the ice packs of the Arctic Circle, snorkeling with sea lions in the Galápagos Islands, witnessing the migration through Tanzania and Kenya, seeing a humpback whale teaching its calf to dive off the coast of Antarctica, and feeding rescued baby manatees in the Amazon among her favorite travel experiences.

When she is not tempting travelers with new ideas or trotting around the world gathering new intel for them, she enjoys reading and taking walks with her two spaniels and her partner Gareth in the Cotswolds.

Having been fortunate enough to travel around the world from a young age, Daniel has experienced a few of the world’s great wonders, from Angel Falls in Venezuela to the Library of Ephesus in Türkiye. While working towards his degrees in Sociology and Political Science at University of Colorado Boulder, Daniel studied abroad in Ladakh, India, where he realized that travel was a passion that he wanted to pursue as a lifelong goal. His love of travel and exploration grows by the day.

When Daniel isn’t thinking about travel, he spends his time fly-fishing in Northern California or snowboarding the Sierras.

As a Guest Services Manager for GeoEx, Daniel enjoys communicating with travelers and assisting them as they prepare to embark on a journey of a lifetime.

Esther’s 30-plus years in the travel industry kicked off at Pan American Airways in Hong Kong, where she was born and raised. She speaks fluent Mandarin and Cantonese, and loves putting her language skills to work. With GeoEx since 1990, Esther specializes in designing trips that are off-the-beaten-track with unexpected activities, making your travels anything but typical. She also coordinates air arrangements for our journeys to Central and South America, Australia, and New Zealand.

Esther has traveled in China, Southeast Asia, Japan, Seoul, Western Europe, Mexico, Chile, and Bhutan. While at home in San Francisco, you’ll find her walking with her husband and her dog (a golden retriever mix) along the city’s stunning, windswept coastal trails.

Glenn’s first job in travel was at his university’s Travel Center, designing and leading trips for students, faculty, and staff. His first trip overseas was a Beatles’ England trip and after that, he was truly hooked on travel. After college, he moved on to work in the airline industry as a Flight Attendant for those precious travel benefits and overlapped his aviation and travel careers when he first joined GeoEx in the mid-1990s. 

By the time he was 30, he’d traveled to six of the seven continents (Antarctica wouldn’t come until age 53). He has a special passion for African safaris, Japan, and Polar destinations.

He’s been with GeoEx for many years and has worn a multitude of hats during those years, including most recently as Director of Product Development. What he loved most about this role was scouting and creating group trips.

He’s relishing the opportunity to return to a guest-facing role as Guest Service Manager, Premier Access.

Jesse truly fell in love with travel on a college summer program through Southern Africa: "We camped in national parks, slept in huts in small villages, saw landmines and their victims, hiked up mountains, and canoed down the hippo-filled Zambezi," he remembers. "I went scuba diving for the first time and discovered how amazing birds are. It was magic."

To him, travel is the greatest education on earth, allowing us to see the world with our own eyes and build more informed opinions. And he is clearly keen to learn: so far he's explored more than 55 countries. He's met indigenous people in the Amazon, savored Michelin-starred cuisine in Colombia and Japan, and hiked trails in Peru and the Himalaya. His favorite nature-based trips have taken him horseback riding through Patagonia's stunning mountains, spotting leopards in Botswana's Okavango Delta, and flying over herds of buffalo and elephants on a helicopter safari in Mozambique, but cultural experiences also rank high, like the voodoo ceremonies he witnessed in West Africa, and the lovely interactions he had with the hospitable people of Syria.

When it comes to planning journeys for GeoEx travelers, Jesse strives to create unique experiences. "I love when travelers come back excited about their adventure and raving about unexpected moments, such as a surprise bush dinner under the star-lit African sky, or a spontaneous roadside stop at a village market, or warm and open-hearted conversations in a place like Iran that shows the kindness of the people. These moments are the ones that often bestow learnings and create lasting memories."

Sleeping atop remote Mt. Nyiragongo in the Democratic Republic of Congo is just part of a day’s work for Kate, who arranges otherworldly adventures that few travelers have even considered. She contends that, literally and metaphorically, sitting on top of the mountain provides the best perspective on the world below. She’s been honing her craft for decades and exults in each new challenge, earning her such accolades as a Condé Nast Traveler Top Travel Specialist for ten years running.

Kate designs exclusive travel that doesn’t stray into elitist tourism. She’s set up soccer matches for families with local schoolchildren. She’ll schedule a privately curated tour of Johannesburg’s premier contemporary art galleries followed by a foot tour of street art. “The benefit of working with travelers repeatedly,” she says, “is that they become friends who trust me to extend their comfort zones.” She has been leading GeoEx’s customized journeys team, and today with GeoEx Premier Access, attends to the most exclusive private travelers.

Beyond the Ordinary

Kate’s mission is to tailor every trip to meet and exceed the dreams of each client, providing unparalleled experiences, such as:

• A private audience with His Holiness the Dalai Lama
• An evening of entertainment in Oman’s Empty Quarter featuring an incense caravan, followed by overnights in luxuriously appointed, traditional goat-hair tents
• A New Year’s Eve party in the Kenya wilderness with quad bikes, hundreds of Samburu warriors, and a live band
• A helicopter excursion to remote Angkor ruins with a five-course lunch and traditional music at one of the temples
• A cocktail reception and cultural performance with dignitaries in Bhutan
• Private celebrations at the Giza Pyramid and the Library at Ephesus for New Year’s Eve
• Private jet, helicopter, and fixed-wing aircraft journeys across multiple countries (with minimal time at airports, customs, immigration, and border crossings)

A History of Excellence

Shortly after joining GeoEx in 1989, Kate led one of the first groups of top executives to visit China after the Tiananmen Square protests. In 1992 she helped launch GeoEx’s Southeast Asia programs when Vietnam and Cambodia were just opening for tourism, and in 1996 she spearheaded the launch of Africa offerings in seven countries. Overseeing the Africa team, Kate established GeoEx’s presence on the continent, created best practices that have become a model for other operators, and designed compelling, action-packed itineraries in uncharted expanses.

The daughter of a world-renowned biochemist, Kate first observed a person’s power to affect global change when, as a teenager, she attended a global health conference with her father. “The most rewarding facet of my work is when guests are touched and transformed in the field, for example, when they emerge from trekking to see gorillas in DR Congo’s Virunga National Park inspired to aid conservation efforts there.”

Kate has long been working closely with the Disney Company, managing numerous international location expeditions in Nepal, Bali, and East and Southern Africa for the creation of Disney World’s Animal Kingdom, as well as other projects.

With a natural curiosity for discovery, Linda approaches trip planning with an eye toward uncovering the unexpected for GeoEx travelers. She has deep knowledge across Latin America, from Cuba to Patagonia, but her experience hardly stops there. More than 20 years in the travel industry combined with firsthand knowledge from journeys through the Americas, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa give her a well-rounded understanding of the nuances of travel. Having planned illuminating itineraries in all of these regions and beyond Linda says “The more varied the travelers’ interests, the more fun I have building an adventure for them.” 

It helps that Linda is familiar with what intrigues travelers. She spent her childhood vacations in Mexico, where much of her family still resides. Years later, a month-long immersion program in Japan and a six-month taste of the sweet life in Italy showed her that her future was in travel. Her curiosity and appreciation for languages, architecture, anthropology, and food have guided her to continue exploring.