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Our
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Rick
Whiteford
Managing
Director |
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For over three decades Rick has lived, worked and travelled
internationally,
often in some of the world's most out-of-the-way spots. He spent almost five years in the Arabian
Peninsula visiting hundreds of towns and villages from the
Jordanian and Iraqi borders to Yemen and the empty quarter. He has worked in Alaska,
the continental US, the Caribbean, South America and Asia
and has been an avid visitor to more than 75 countries
world-wide. In the past two years alone, he's
travelled to Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, New Zealand,
England, Wales, Norway, Svalbard, Germany, Turkey, Egypt,
Morocco, India, Borneo, Western Malaysia, Singapore, Chile, Argentina,
Egypt and Jordan - many of these several times. As well, he visited
Mali and Timbuktu
three times last year. He's now busy handcuffing himself to his chair! To send him e-mail click
Rick. |
Checking out the ambulance
in Timbuktu |
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Miral
Mousa
Operations Manager |
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Miral was born in Amman
and grew up in Jordan and Egypt, frequently visiting the
West Bank. Her sense of adventure began at an early age
as she travelled to neighbouring countries in the Middle
East such as Turkey and Israel, then built up a solid base of travel experience in Mexico,
the US, various Caribbean Islands and England before joining our Private
Journey teams in Southeast Asia, Southern Asia, the Middle
East, Africa and South America. She has a
wealth of hands-on experience in Thailand, Laos, Vietnam,
Cambodia, Chile, Argentina, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Malaysia, Borneo, Singapore, Northern India
and
the Canadian and Danish Arctic. She's just back from
Egypt and Jordan and is
trying to glue herself to her desk for awhile. To send her e-mail
click
Miral. |
At the
famous
temples of
Khajuraho
in Northern India |
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Lenore
Nilson
Special Travel Advisor |
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Lenore grew
up in Saskatchewan and lived in London, England and Montreal
before settling in Ottawa. She joined us in 1993 and has
travelled the world ever since. She's cycled in Australia,
New Zealand, China, Peru, Holland, Austria and Scandinavia;
rafted in the Yukon; canoed in Brazil; backpacked in
Thailand, Morocco, Malta, Syria and Jordan; trekked in
Nepal; camped and visited in the UK, Europe and North
America. She's also travelled extensively in the Caribbean,
Mexico, Costa Rica and Belize. Lenore has also led our
groups through Indochina as well as Ecuador and the
Galapagos Islands in the past few years. She has also found
time to make several visits to Southern Africa including
Namibia, South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland prior to
leading our Private Journeys through that area. She returned
a few months back from Mali via Southern Africa, Tanzania and
exotic Zanzibar.
She also found time to visit Brazil for a short stay before
travelling up the east coast of Canada from Newfoundland to
the Arctic. To send her e-mail click
Lenore. |
Hiking in the sand dunes of Namibia from the
Desert Express (in the background) |
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Erin Lafleur
Travel Consultant |
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Erin worked in the
travel industry here in Ottawa for six years before being
discovered by the TrailFinders team a few years back. She brought with her an
extensive experience with adventure travel, cruises, package
holidays, coach tours, all-inclusive package vacations,
international and domestic airfares as well as car rentals
and hotels in hundreds of worldwide destinations. During her
travels in Cuba she
especially loved visiting the markets and studying the old architecture. She
also loves Europe, especially
Germany, France, Belgium and the UK. In the past 24 months she's
been to Turkey twice, most recently as tour leader on our
'Egypt and Turkey' Private Journey and has
just returned from Thailand and Cambodia.
To send her e-mail click
Erin. |
T-shirt shopping in Istanbul |
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Sandhya Patel
Tour Leader |
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"Sandy" was born in Kampala, Uganda and grew up in
Africa, England and eventually Canada. Travelling is a
passion that started at an early age. She joined her
parents on their visits throughout Europe and Asia and
managed her very first trip to Egypt while heading to
England to attend school. Sandhya has been covering the
globe ever since with visits throughout much of Canada
as well as the US, Estonia, Holland, Finland, Austria,
Switzerland, India, Italy, Mexico, Cuba, China, Hong
Kong, Macau, Singapore, Bali, Komodo Island, Alaska,
Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, the Yukon, and
Japan. Whew! Sandhya put all this travel
experience to work recently as tour leader
for one of our February Private Journeys through Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia.
For her, the most important aspects of any trip involve
experiencing the culture, interacting with the
people, enjoying the unique cuisine and taking in the
incredible sights at her fingertips.
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Feeling "at home" in China |
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Alex Bissett
Tour Leader |
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Alex is a passionate traveller who for many years
has sought out fascinating and off-the-beaten-path
destinations around the world. He is a keen
photographer and offers courses in adventure travel
and photography through the Ottawa Board of
Education. Alex has travelled throughout India, Nepal,
Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burma, most of Southeast Asia,
along the Silk Road in Central Asia from Uzbekistan
to Pakistan, on the Trans-Mongolian Railway through
China , Mongolia and Russia, Kenya, Tanzania, Mali,
Ethiopia, Morocco, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Turkey and
most European countries. Central and South America
hold a special interest for him where he's visited
Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Galapagos
Islands, Peru, Argentina and Chile including Easter
Island. Scenery, architecture, archaeology and
nature all interest him, but it is the living people
and their diverse cultures throughout the world that
hold his greatest fascination. This year Alex joined us as tour leader
for our Private Journey to Ecuador,
Galapagos and Peru and looks forward to his next
sojourn with TrailFinders in some far-flung corner
of the planet!
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Relaxing "off the beaten track"
in rural Cuba |
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Samith Waidyatilake
Admin and Accounting |
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Sam quietly works away in the background making sure
that all of us don't spend too much money!
Thank
goodness someone can keep
track of all the daily transactions, invoices,
cheques, deposits, bills, international wire
transfers and all the other things that are so
important. We'd be lost without him!
To send him e-mail click
Sam.
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Our Independent Agents
We also have a number of fine
folks who work closely with TrailFinders in Ottawa and Toronto as independent agents.
They have a very loyal
following of personal clients.
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