Greg Fendler
St. Louis -> Santa Barbara -> Los Angeles -> New Orleans -> Los Angeles -> Boulder
I've been an avid traveler since I was a child. I was blessed with a family who liked to explore the country via road trips; I grew up just off of the famous Route 66 Mother Road. Even though we lived in a "fly-over state", I felt like all parts of the country were in reach.
When college came, I decided to take Route 66 all the way west to California. Later, after I set up my life in Los Angeles--having LAX airport as a travel hub--the world was my oyster. I've visited Italy, Ireland, Scotland, England, Mexico, Canada, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Oman, Indonesia, Bulgaria, and Romania, to name a few.
As a travel operations specialist, my goal is to help streamline my knowledge of coordinating unique, once-in-a-lifetime adventures around the world. If we only get one shot at this life, we might as well see what the world has to offer.
"Travel changes you. As you move through this life and this world you change things slightly, you leave marks behind, however small. And in return, life--and travel--leaves marks on you." - Anthony Bourdain
How did you get involved in travel?
"Having worked in the entertainment industry, the wine industry, and the tourism industry, I realized my favorite part of all of my past jobs was the travel aspect of each job. After starting my own travel company, targeting small business travel, I shifted my focus to travel planning and coordinating full time."
Please share a unique travel experience you will never forget.
"Christmas 2017 -- I surprised my 80 year old Grandmother with 3 gifts: a notebook, a map of the world, and a specialty luggage tag. She opened them up and said "well, where are we going?" I smiled and replied, "wherever you want...as long as it's in another country." Thus began an adventure of a lifetime...
My Grandmother had recently beat cancer, and I decided to surprise her with a trip anywhere in the world. She traveled all over the country, but she had never been outside the U.S. She chose Italy, which wasn't surprising considering how she was a devout Catholic, and I started planning an Italian Adventure: Rome -> Venice -> Tuscany -> Florence.
A thing I realized, very quickly, was that throwing just a little extra money at each problem went a long way. I was traveling with an 80 year old, in another country, just after she beat cancer -- this was not a typical go-go-go adventure. That being said, one of the highlights of the trip was our early bird tour of the Sistine Chapel. Instead of going through the front doors, ending in the Sistine Chapel, we STARTED in the Sistine Chapel. Instead of cramming inside the Chapel with 2,000 people, we shared the Chapel with about 30 people. I, like many others before me, was mesmerized by the ceiling. After a moment, I looked over and saw my Grandmother sitting on a small bench, alone, staring up at the ceiling. She was speechless, and there was an emotional, euphoric event happening inside her mind, body, and soul.
It was the last big trip my Grandmother was able to take. The Covid Pandemic, followed by a relentless return of her cancer, ended her life just a few short years after our amazing adventure.
A lesson I learned: there are a lot of people in this world who want to travel, but they don't know where to start; the idea of planning a large scale adventure can be overwhelming to most people. If you have the ability to go to someone you love and say "I want to take us on an adventure and I'm going to take care of all of the planning", I recommend doing so sooner, rather than later, because you may never have another opportunity.
Time is our greatest commodity. You can't buy time; you can't control time. Don't waste it."