I Have Served the Wellness Traveller Since 1996
Janne E Salo - JES Travel Design
TRAVEL INDUSTRY BACKGROUND
Hotel Industry
Position: Hotel Receptionist
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Scandic Sunnfjord Hotel & Spa
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Nordseter Hoyfjells Hotell, Lillehammer
Travel Agency Manager
Position: Manager
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Coolangatta Travelworld, Gold Coast Australia
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STA Travel, Gold Coast, Australia
International Group-Tour Coordinator
Main Destinations:
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Egypt
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Peru & Bolivia
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Mexico
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Myanmar & Cambodia
Travel Agencies:
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Meridien World Travel
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Lifestyle Travel & Cruise Centre
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All About Travel
International Tour Operators:
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Travco, Egypt
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Blue Sky Egypt
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Minerva Travel & Tours, Egypt
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Coltour, Peru
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Crillon Tours, Bolivia
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Explora Mexico, Mexico
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Golden Asia Vacation, Cambodia
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Myanmar Voyages, Myanmar
TOUR DESIGN
How Travellers Experience a Destination Comes Down to Tour Planning
Tour Development is a very specific discipline. A Tour product is a combination of tangible and intangible elements, such as natural, cultural and man-made resources, attractions, facilities, services and activities around a specific centre of interest which represents the core of the destination. A tourism product that exceed the expectations of travellers, requires creativity, research, planning and preparation. When the package is priced and sold through distribution channels, we know that it has a life-cycle. My speciality is creating themed journeys and experiences that leaves lasting impressions. I have been designing tours since 1996 and I know from customer feedback that a destination can transform you. It can change your life forever.
Tour design achievements include privileged access to the spiritual and historic sites in Egypt. "All Exclusive" private accesses inside the Great Pyramid, ancient temples, and tombs in the Valley of the Kings. This, to allow our groups to enjoy crowd-free explorations of the archaeological zones outside opening hours. In Cambodia there were back-in-time adventures with a Buddhist Monk in the ruins of Angkor. Same arrangements were made in Bagan, Myanmar. Every itinerary I designed included at least one off-the-beaten-track excursion.
MARKETING
I have been selling holistic group tours online since 2003. Marketing is a critical part of my job. Especially the supply of visual and written content to help make marketing easy and effortless for holistic teachers and tour leaders who distribute the material through their social and professional networks. In addition to the published itinerary, tour conditions and booking form, I create ads, brochures, web-design elements & content that sell trips. Infographics, teasers and mini-stories for social media is another way to attract attention.
Graphic Art Designed in Corel Draw
Graphic Art Designed in Corel Draw
TIMING IS EVERYTHING
Besides booking deadlines and getting the seasons right, I keep and eye on sunrises, sunsets, moonrises, starlight and full moons. Sometimes, a trip is dated to coincide with the full moon at a specific site. Subtle light throws a beautiful blanket of soft colour over landscapes, temples and archaeological sites. It produces the kind of magical atmosphere that every traveller dream of.
Beyond that, the timing of each excursion is carefully planned and so is the pace of the overall journey.
There must be time to absorb and linger. Every place has a story to tell. Some stories are silent. It could be the moon skirting the tip of an obelisk. Or it could be the visual speech of light and shadow dancing over ancient columns. These are very personal experiences, not to be missed.
AUSTRALIAN TOUR LEADERS
For the last 22 years I have created and arranged group tours for many holistic practitioners. Some of them became close friends, like Jo and Marianne.
Jo Buchanan
Jo Buchanan is a published author of four books. Before she retired she worked as a Clinical Hypnotherapist and Meditation Teacher. Prior to that, she was a school teacher in Australian primary and secondary schools, onset tutor for child actors in television and films and she has also taught creative writing and meditation inside maximum security prisons as well as conducted workshops in creative writing for people living with a mental illness and their carers.
Her love of Egypt is infectious! She recently published a book called "The Final Mystery: A Quest for Identity and Belonging" by Animal Publishing.
The Final Mystery is the story of Jo Buchanan's exploration of the notion that our destiny is not set in stone and that we are all capable of creating the changes we wish for. The book goes into details about our working relationship and the tours I created for her.
Jo and I worked together from 1998 to 2011, when she decided to retire.
On a full moon night in October 2007 between 11pm and 01am our group had the entire Karnak Temple all to themselves. As with all special arrangements in Egypt, this special attraction needed much planning and preparation as it was arranged through the Office of Antiquities.
A two hour private access to the Temple of Isis on the Island of Philae was a regular tour feature in Egypt. The group got to experience the temple in the dark silence of dawn, followed by sunrise. By the time the crowds arrived at 7am. Our group was having their breakfast at the temple cafe.
A two hour private access inside the Tomb of Ramses VI at night in the Valley of the Kings was a regular tour feature arranged through the Office of Antiquities.
In Cambodia I arranged for Buddhist monks from nearby monasteries to give onsite meditation classes throughout the archaelogical wonders of Siem Reap.
Jo Buchanan's last tour to Egypt in 2011 with a group of seventeen happy camel-caravan nomads.
Marianne Winter
Marianne Winter has formal training in Bowen Therapy, Professional Counselling, Breathwork, Reiki, Bush-flower Essences and Assessment & Workplace Training.
In recent years she has been giving lectures at the University of Southern Queensland and is currently volunteering at CQ University, Bundaberg.
I began working with Marianne Winter in 2005. She is a passionate traveller and has taken tours on a regular basis to Peru & Bolivia, Egypt, Mexico, Myanmar and Cambodia. I am currently organising a tour to Uluru for her. She keeps her tour groups small and intimate with a maximum twelve tour participants.
On a full moon night in October 2007 between 11pm and 01am our group had the entire Karnak Temple all to themselves. As with all special arrangements in Egypt, this special attraction needed much planning and preparation as it was arranged through the Office of Antiquities.
Marianne Winter's group in Mexico
TOUR DIRECTORS & LOCAL GUIDES
To coordinate an international group tour requires team work. My team is made up of talented and passionate travel professionals. Travel Agents in the office, handling enquiries, bookings and payments. On the ground I have a dedicated network of professional guides, tour operators and ground managers. In Peru, Bolivia and Mexico - I use indigenous guides who offer the kind of life changing, immersive, spiritual experiences that transform a great itinerary into a legendary itinerary. Indigenous guides can uniquely offer personal insights into their ancient traditions and spiritual homeland. In Myanmar and Cambodia, I use Buddhist monks from nearby monasteries to demonstrate timeless methods of meditation.
To create a tour that is unique, that customers will love and remember forever, requires great skill and trade craft. It requires detailed research and planning and price testing before it ever gets promoted. It is my favourite job to do and I have made it my speciality.
Bunuba Land Hand Over Ceremony 2012 in Danggu Conservation Park, Fitzroy Crossing (Photo by Janne E Salo.)
THE PLACES I HAVE LIVED
From 2003 - 2016 I lived on a remote indigenous community just outside Fitzroy Crossing. My hubby worked for an indigenous company called Bunuba Inc. I stayed connected with the travel industry on the Gold Coast and overseas with the blessings of email and dial-up internet. These were happy and productive years and I successfully designed and arranged the tours listed above without being affected by the remote location. The years in Fitzroy Crossing were some of the happiest years in my life and the Bunuba people are now my family.
I was born and raised in Tromso, Norway. I continue to visit my family there on a regular basis. You could say I'm a natural travel expert on Arctic Norway and Scandinavia in general. This photo is from Lofoten, a major tour destination in Arctic Norway.
I spent a year living in Winston Salem, North Carolina and went to North Forsyth Highschool. I got to mingle with Cherokee Indians, visit Florida, Washington DC, Virginia, New York, Myrtle Beach etc.
To create a tour that is unique, that customers will love and remember forever, requires great skill and trade craft. It requires detailed research and planning and price testing before it ever gets promoted. It is my favourite job to do and I have made it my speciality.
The Leela Palace is a floating-jewel on Lake Pichola in Udaipur, India’s most romantic city. Surrounded by water on all four sides, it is a place of Blue Calm and Divine Relaxation, with breathtaking views of the palaces on the lake and the Aravalli mountain range in the distance. At night, its lamp-lit domes rise out of the lake like a fairy-tale. A perfect place to rejuvenate, nurture and balance mind, body and soul while exploring Hindu temples, royal palaces and Rajasthani culture.
FAVOURITE TRAVEL EXPERIENCES
I was born and raised in Tromso, Norway. I continue to visit my family there on a regular basis. You could say I'm a natural travel expert on Arctic Norway and Scandinavia in general. This photo is from Lofoten, a major tour destination in Arctic Norway.
I spent a year living in Winston Salem, North Carolina and went to North Forsyth Highschool. I got to mingle with Cherokee Indians, visit Florida, Washington DC, Virginia, New York, Myrtle Beach etc.
To create a tour that is unique, that customers will love and remember forever, requires great skill and trade craft. It requires detailed research and planning and price testing before it ever gets promoted. It is my favourite job to do and I have made it my speciality.
Right on the steps of the holy river
Overnight in an Arctic ice hotel in northern Norway. The icy retreats with their snow-suites are built entirely of ice, snow and light. Discover the silence of this frozen world. Glide through the glistening snow-clad forests by reindeer-sledge while the aurora flickers and slithers above. Polar nights, polar lights; nothing can break the icy-spell of an Arctic winter adventure!
Sail down the Nile in “Cleopatra Class”. The Jaz Yakouta Dahabiya is one of the finest privately chartered boats on the Nile. Explore the ancient Egyptian temples and tombs in refined luxury and let the Nursing Nile take care of the rest.
Graphic Art by Janne E Salo
SECRETS OF THE ANDES TOUR
This tour was escorted by Marianne Winter in May, 2016