Interview: From heli-skiing to safaris - how Pelorus Travel plans curated adventures

Travel needs to be well prepared, especially when holiday time is wrested from a packed schedule or three generations come together who otherwise rarely see each other. The London-based agency Pelorus Travel specialises in carefully curating such holidays. Their planning style is to first sound out the desired experience and needs, then look for the destination and start the intensive research.

Founders Jimmy Carroll and Geordie Mackay-Lewis were in a British reconnaissance unit together and met on a mission in Afghanistan, but initially went their separate ways: Geordie became COO of a European electronics company before taking a job as managing director of a high-end travel company. Jimmy led a medical research expedition to Mount Everest and worked as a global tour manager for Manchester United. When he met Geordie during a superyacht conference in Amsterdam, he was heading up marketing and communications for creative studio Winch Design.

The choice of gamma destinations

The former comrades developed a concept and quickly knew what they wanted to offer: worldwide trips away from the Mediterranean and Caribbean. Instead, Pelorus focussed on so-called gamma destinations such as French Polynesia, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia - initially with a complete focus on adventure travel and yachting when the company was founded in September 2017. With military precision, they planned heli-skiing holidays in Antarctica with yachts as a base, treasure hunts in the desert and motorised expeditions inspired by the TV show "Top Gear". The Pelorus team now consists of 37 people, most of whom are based in the London office. In addition, there is the director of the yachting division based in Monaco and colleagues in New York, California and those who work on a decentralised basis in Spain and South Africa. The proportion of women in the company is an impressive 77 per cent.

BOOTE EXCLUSIV met Jimmy Carroll during the Monaco Yacht Show, when he had just returned from the Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert. Prior to that, the 42-year-old was in Ibiza with clients. The well-travelled Brit is a frequent flyer and spends more than five months a year on the road on behalf of Pelorus. His partner Geordie did not come to the Principality as he was travelling to Portugal for a wedding. Pelorus has long since broadened its base and, in addition to Pelorus Yachting, is also active in aviation and no longer only realises conventional adventures.

Jimmy, where does your thirst for adventure come from?

My parents travelled a lot, my father was in the military. I was born in Calgary, Canada, and travelled the world a lot until I had to go to school in England. I went to a boarding school, a very traditional institution with school uniforms. I got used to packing up and going away at weekends. It was ingrained back then, partly because my parents were getting divorced and I would either go to London to stay with my dad or my mum in the country.

When did you first set off on an adventure trip?

When I left school at 18 and travelled around the world for a year. I decided to do most of it on my own and meet up with friends in different places. From London, I went to New York and up to Montreal, all the way through Canada, Vancouver, where I tried to ski and snowboard in all the different resorts, and then all the way from Vancouver down to Los Angeles. Then I went to Mexico and travelled all over the Yucatán and Chiapas, back then you could still free climb places like Chichén Itzá, which was great. In Tulum, I slept in a hammock on the beach for a week. I was in Australia and travelled around the west side of Borneo. We also went to Brunei where friends' parents lived and we did a lot of diving. It was the most amazing diving with reefs around oil rigs. In the north of Thailand we celebrated the original full moon parties in Chiang Mai, and in Africa I spent six weeks in Kenya.

Sounds like the road to founding Pelorus wasn't a long one.

After a year working in London, I started studying in the north of England at Newcastle University. This was followed by the Royal Military Academy and a degree in Business and Economics - which sounds good and actually proved useful later, but not so much when I was in the military. I was looking for an opportunity to develop myself further. The leadership and management skills you learn are second to none. This carried over to Pelorus as my business partner is also a former soldier. We started to develop customised trips at sea or on land. We learnt quickly and knew where clients wanted to go next, or put together two or three-year itineraries. Financial managers like that because they know when expenses are coming up. We realised that we could transfer our military mindset to the travel and yachting world and create special trips. We also fulfil a certain need for security, which is particularly popular with Americans.

Where do your customers come from?

One of our biggest customers is German. I travel a lot with my family, we have a lot of fun. At the moment it's actually up to 60 per cent American. 18 months ago it would probably have been around 30 per cent. The concentration of wealth there is higher than ever before, and they want to experience more. Unlike their travel agencies, which are very outdated, we offer a different way to discover new regions and experience things in a way they've never experienced before. I was just on a mini holiday in the Dolomites at the weekend and the Forestis hotel was full of Americans. We introduce many of our American customers to yachting.

The competition among charter agencies is fierce. What distinguishes Pelorus from traditional brokerage houses?

No one has ever approached yachting the way we do with Pelorus Yachting. We are all about the idea of travelling and the experiences that go beyond the actual yacht booking. We don't do normal charters, there's always an adventure involved. At the moment, the yachting part makes up about 30 per cent of our trips. This year we had four yachts listed as central agents, some of them in the Arctic and one in the Galapagos Islands. These are fantastic destinations to introduce new customers who have never chartered before to the yachting market. In my opinion, Indonesia is one of the best places in the world for this. The Mediterranean is amazing, but then the possibilities are limited. Indonesia inspires with wildlife, diving, snorkelling and surfing. But then you go ashore and you have the jungle, beaches and temples. If the dads want to go surfing, we can book pro surfers to accompany them and put together a package for the rest of the family.

How many customers who own or charter a yacht book shore-based holidays with Pelorus?

A lot. Customers who own or charter yachts don't just do it. They like travelling somewhere else. They like skiing or want to gain cultural experience. This is where the strengths of the Pelorus system come into play. We get to know them very well through yachting. In no other industry are more questions asked: about the temperature of the cabin, how they like their coffee in the morning or when they do which sport. Many hotels can learn from the level of service on yachts. The co-operation between Pelorus Travel and Pelorus Yachting and the fact that both teams are housed in the same room creates many synergies.

What dream holiday would you like to design for a client?

One of my favourite trips that we have already designed and that I would love to do again is Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. It's so beautifully remote! Flying deep into the jungle in a helicopter, finding a sinkhole and then getting on a SUP board and going out on it is very impressive. Then there's the contact with the local tribes. And the incredible diving in the Solomon Islands with wrecks from the Second World War, which are only five or six metres deep and are also excellent for snorkelling. But you don't necessarily have to go far afield. Scotland is fantastic! On a sunny day in the Outer Hebrides, you could be forgiven for thinking you were in the Caribbean. The beaches, the crystal white sand and the blue sky. And all the whisky tastings. Or you could drive through the Highlands in classic luxury cars and spend the night in a castle. For both destinations, yachts would be the perfect starting or ending point. I've never been to Japan and will probably spend my big honeymoon there.

How do you get to know your customers?

Much of this has been digital marketing since the pandemic, but mixed with good PR and press. And we reach the majority of our customers through word of mouth. We have a tightly woven network of ambassadors who know a lot of people in high places and are kind enough to introduce us. On Sunday, I fly to New York and meet with customers, we go out to eat and build a relationship. It's the same as a manager who invests time in getting to know his clients better.

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How many customers do you personally accompany on their travels?

One of us is on around ten per cent of all trips. One of the most important factors is the budget. Geordie and I are the main players. And then we have four or five others from our team who can be hosts. All of them must have hosted with Geordie or me before. But that's also the reason why it's only ten per cent. We need more people. At times, three people from the Pelorus team were travelling with customers. Next year there will probably be seven or eight. The standard of service will then not be at gold level, but at platinum level. Sometimes I take photos and film, sometimes we have a full team for this. In January, we are going to Antarctica and have prepared a lot of gadgets: a ship with two helicopters, a multimedia team and scientists on board. For more and more customers, it is important to leave a lasting positive impression at the places they visit. Through our Pelorus Foundation, we work with charitable organisations and provide clients with reports on exactly where their spending has ended up and what this investment has achieved after six months or a year.

In which family constellations are your customers travelling?

Multi-generational holidays are the most common. So grandparents, parents and grandchildren. That is our strength. We also organise trips for men and women. And we organise quite a lot of honeymoons that take couples to Komodo, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Italy or Iceland. We've been on the verge of hosting a honeymoon before. But I don't think they need us that much (laughs).

How much preparation time do your curated adventures require?

We plan the trip, which seven or eight of us will be hosting, over 18 to 20 months. But we also organise trips with three or four days' preparation. Ultimately, it comes down to communication and making sure that the customer understands what is possible within the time frame. With a long lead time, we can organise the right yacht, the right hotels, the right guides and specialists. We do a lot of two-week trips, but on average it's about ten days.

Do you still get excited before travelling for work despite intensive planning?

Always, even if it's back to a familiar place. The best thing is when you plan a trip and then see the customers' faces and smiles up close - or even their surprise. If I could take that away in a bottle and give it to the team that designed these trips and worked so hard on them, that would be great. Because that's where the real magic happens.

How does it feel for you to be travelling privately?

My wife is usually quite annoyed with me. Everywhere I go, I always ask the question: why do they do it like that? I'm constantly analysing and thinking about which experiences could be collected where. That's one of the main reasons why I like going to Burning Man and why I took my wife there. There are no phone connections in the desert, you're cut off from the outside world for six days and you don't look at your mobile phone every 30 seconds. You get used to being sweaty and sleeping in a campervan. Being in the middle of it all and just being there is a really good change for me. Even though I love the luxury of a nice hotel bed or a good meal.

Many people associate heli-skiing with Pelorus. How many more come for the adventure?

Traditionally, everyone knows us for that. Now I ask people: What is your definition of adventure? Because it's very different. A good example is the Ibiza trip I hosted. Everyone immediately thinks of partying. But we experienced real adventure, which included club nights, but also fantastic villa parties, days on boats, lunch arrangements and much more. But that's because we know the clients so well. Then we can tailor it to them, customise it to them. I accompanied an American client and his twelve-year-old daughter to New Zealand in November. It was an incredibly adventurous and instructive trip. We flew everywhere in the helicopter. She was also allowed to steer, sheared sheep on a farm and met with a Maori tribal leader on the North Island. We took a glaciologist and geologist to the glaciers and invited a New Zealand Olympic silver medallist in snowboarding for two days. She taught the girl what it's like to be part of an Olympic team and how to empower women in sport. These activities in themselves were an adventure. But we also rafted down rivers (laughs).

Maximum individual journeys with Pelorus Travel

The company has already realised these holidays:

• Pelorus designed a motorbike tour through Portugal for an 86-year-old motorbike fan, his son, 57 years old and Ironman world champion, and his 22-year-old grandson. When they returned home, they found a map painted by an artist from Porto showing their route and the highlights of the trip.
• One client said that she had donated to a women-led anti-poaching unit many years ago. Pelorus organised her trip to Kenya so that she could take part in conservation activities led by an all-women team of rangers.
• For a family of six who love games, puzzles and escape rooms, Pelorus organised a real treasure hunt through Costa Rica. They chartered a yacht and followed a pirate map along the coast, using clues and local characters to bring the adventure to life until they found the lost treasure.
• Customers interested in craft beer were suggested a visit to a home brewery in Paro, Bhutan, where they met a local brewer specialising in Tongba (a distinct local flavour).