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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
Iraqi border to 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 65 countries
world-wide on every continent. In the past 18 months alone, he's
travelled to Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, New Zealand,
England, Wales, Norway, Svalbard, Germany, Turkey, Mali, Egypt,
Morocco, India, Borneo, Western Malaysia and Singapore - many of these several times. He
twice visited Timbuktu last year and will be there again
with more of
our intrepid clients in October. Shortly
afterward, in November, he heads for Chile and Argentina and
then back
to Southeast Asia for January and February. 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
TrailFinders. Since then she's continued to add to her list each year as part of our Private
Journeys team in Southeast Asia, Southern Asia, the Middle
East and South America. She has a
wealth of hands-on experience in Thailand, Laos, Vietnam,
Cambodia, Turkey, Malaysia, Borneo, Singapore, Northern India,
the Canadian and Danish Arctic, Chile and Argentina. She's just returned from Egypt and
Jordan and has put the finishing touches on our new journey
through that area in October 2009. This fall and winter she'll be found back in Chile, Argentina and
likely Southeast Asia. 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 year she's
been to Turkey twice, most recently as tour leader on our
'Egypt and Turkey' Private Journey.
To send her e-mail click
Erin. |
T-shirt shopping in Istanbul |
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Jay
McConnery
Travel Consultant |
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As our newest team member, Jay joins us with seven years
of solid experience in the travel industry where he was
primarily focused on travel management and consulting for a
collection of high-profile customers. He now brings that
expertise to TrailFinders. In his
spare time Jay enjoys live music, nature and travel. He has
traveled as an adventurer, extensively in the Caribbean and
Central America and as a musician throughout North America.
Most recently, Jay was tour leader on our Private Journey
through Northern India and shortly leaves for Iceland! To send him
e-mail
click
Jay. |
Zip lining with Kyla in Costa Rica |
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Jessica
Hepworth
Travel Consultant |
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Even though
Jess has returned to university you'll find her in our
office during the summer and occasionally during the week and on Saturdays
during the rest of the year doing
what she likes best - consulting with clients on their
travel plans. Jess joined us a few years ago after returning
from living in the South Pacific and took advantage of the
opportunities to keep on travelling! Her first working trip
with TrailFinders to scout out the transportation facilities
in Northern Europe took her to six countries in nine days
and just after getting back to the office she flew off to
the big apple for a weekend. Later the same year she headed
for Thailand and spent some time with the Palong tribe in
the North. After that she continued to cover a few far flung
North American destinations such as the Bahamas on short
weekends and spent time exploring Peru and Patagonia as well
as taking a sojourn in France. To send her e-mail
click
Jess. |
With a friend Downunder |
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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 earlier this year as our tour leader
for the February 2008
journey 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 your 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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Geoff Ford, Pat Gagnon and Linda Pressman
These fine
folks work closely with TrailFinders in Ottawa and Toronto as independent agents.
They have a very loyal
following of personal clients.
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