Today's Featured Biography

 
Tom Smith

It all started with a dream to travel. This dream of travel started when I was very young. I wanted to go far beyond the beautiful Rogue River Valley in Oregon where I was born. As a child I would write to hotels, airlines and travel offices asking them to send me their brochures. I started my work as a travel agent very young to the amazement of my family. My dream of travel was realized with my first international trip to the Seattle Worlds Fair and Canada. I was bitten by the travel bug. My English major in college led me to my first trip to Europe, where I studied at St. Peters College at Oxford University. My love of the British Isles has never waned and I usually am visiting there once each year. I think that I have seen almost all the corners of the UK, but I keep discovering new places! That first trip to England and living there allowed me to discover the rest of Europe. As a student backpacker with a youth hostel card and a Eurailpass I truly learned what it was like to vagabond and discover cultures different than my own....a passion that guides me on every adventure. The next year I spent the summer working for my father with his business partners in Japan and I took the opportunity to discover Asia. I was on one of the very first trips by an American into China that year, it was truly like visiting Mars. After graduating from the University of Oregon I decided to move to the east coast. I had a wonderful job where I traveled the United States, but Oregon was my home and I ached for the rivers, ocean and mountains so I decided to settle down. Back in Oregon I also took up my childhood love of the outdoors with climbing, skiing, hiking and whitewater rafting and kayaking which has taken me all over the world and living in Idaho now, the "whitewater state", I am in heaven. I got serious about the travel business and began by training with Pan American World Airways at their training facilities in New York, London, Honolulu and Miami. I then decided it was time to open my own travel agency, Explorer Travel Service in Ashland, Oregon. I was back home and loving the life of living in a tourist town and fulfilling my dream of being a travel agent. I quickly became involved in my community and joined Rotary (I am celebrating my 30th year as a Rotarian!). The travel agency grew over the years and I opened branches and divisions of travel and tour operation. I was able to travel the world and it was my job! My specialities grew and developed and I was able to not only sell travel but learn the art of being a tour operator and lead my own tours. I even took a course at NOLS (National Outdoor Leadership School) in Wyoming where I earned my Wilderness EMT so that I could better lead adventure tours. I started a very successful adventure travel lecture series and met the most famous travelers in the world. I have led trekking trips in Nepal, ski tours to Europe, cultural tours in Southeast Asia, Europe, Latin America and the South Pacific to mention a few. After 25 years I sold my travel agency to an American Express affiliate and was hired back to run the International Department. From there I was offered a challenge to open the Travel Services Department for a automobile corporation with offices in 15 states. The experience of running a large full service corporate travel department with hundreds of business travelers was indeed a great experience. With my move to Sun Valley, Idaho I was hired by Andrew Harper Travel and specifically worked in the villa and yacht program, ran the eAuction program and reservations and the hotel marketing program. It was a great experience to work with exclusive and luxury travel. My home is now Portland, Oregon, truly one of the greatest cities in the USA. Now, thirty years hence, I have come full circle and I am doing exactly what I love, being a travel agent and working with individuals to create unique itineraries and discover incredible destinations. Tom Smith Travel is an affiliate of The Travel Society, a host agency that is a Virtuoso member. Being Virtuoso opens up an entire world of travel and special privileges. I am able to utilize my work experience on six continents and with the finest airlines, cruise lines, hotels/resorts, rail and tour companies in the world for discerning travelers. I look forward to helping you discover this amazing world we live in and share my experience so that you will have that perfect vacation.

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