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Product & Marketing
Kathryn Allan: Product Assistant Supervisor
Kathryn previously worked for Zurich Financial Services, but backpacking for a year around Latin America was more up her street and on her return she changed careers and applied for a job at Journey Latin America. She is now our Product Team Leader, and a lynchpin in the department’s smooth running. Kathryn is a keen scuba diver, and has been lucky enough to pursue her interest in an array of exotic locations that includes Belize’s iconic Blue Hole. She remembers the 42m dive as terrifying, exhilarating and amazing – the best experience of all her travels. She also counts taking in the stunning scenery of Mexico’s Copper Canyon and clubbing in Panama City amongst other treasured travel memories, and Chile, Nicaragua and Honduras amongst her favourite countries. She particularly loves the small but perfectly formed countries of Central America for their mixture of Caribbean and Latin culture and their rustic, undeveloped infrastructure, as well as the great food and drink - she recommends Nicaraguan rum and fish from any of the islands.
Kathryn previously worked for Zurich Financial Services, but backpacking for a year around Latin America was more up her street and on her return she changed careers and applied for a job at Journey Latin America. She is now our Product Team Leader, and a lynchpin in the department’s smooth... Read more >
Ileen Baden: Product Assistant
Ileen has worked in Product from the beginning of her ten years with the company, and throughout that time she has seen huge changes in everything from the size of the company to the introduction of computer records. She originally trained as a police officer, but soon found that it was not the career for her and defected to the travel industry. Here, she has been able to indulge her love of Latin American culture and on her travels has fallen in love with Brazil, Costa Rica and the Galápagos amongst many other destinations. Some of her favourite moments from these trips include jungle trekking and white-water rafting, but she also loves the musical beat of countries like Cuba and Mexico. Outside of work, Ileen takes a very active role in her local church by teaching at Sunday School, acting as a fundraising treasurer and even writing a magazine. And as if that was not enough to keep her busy, Ileen is also learning Swahili!
Ileen has worked in Product from the beginning of her ten years with the company, and throughout that time she has seen huge changes in everything from the size of the company to the introduction of computer records. She originally trained as a police officer, but soon found that it was not the... Read more >
Diana Henderson: Head of Product
Diana first joined us as a tour leader in 1987 and since moving to our office during a period of rapid expansion has gone on to shape the Group Tours and Product departments throughout the company’s development. She is now our Head of Product, but back in 1987 Diana’s tour leading days began in Argentina’s lake district, where she had lived for some years, and where she was delighted to be able to indulge her love of skiing almost every day. Although she had originally trained and worked in nursing, Diana’s passion for travel soon translated to a career in the industry and once she began guiding, she was hooked for good. Diana has seen Latin America grow and change over the years and she has always kept her encyclopaedic knowledge of the region up to date with regular visits – there are few corners of it that she has left unexplored. Her long list of favourite destinations still includes the lake district of Argentina, where she first fell in love with Latin America, as well as Ecuador, Brazil, Peru’s Sacred Valley and Ciudad Perdida, a lost city hidden within the treacherous rainforest that lines Colombia’s Caribbean coast. Other moments that stand out for her from her decades of travel are sitting completely alone at Machu Picchu after the last bus-load of tourists had returned down into the valley, and arriving for the first time in a bustling Rio de Janeiro to discover that she could get by with just her postcard of Portuguese phrases for assistance!
Diana first joined us as a tour leader in 1987 and since moving to our office during a period of rapid expansion has gone on to shape the Group Tours and Product departments throughout the company’s development. She is now our Head of Product, but back in 1987 Diana’s tour leading days... Read more >
Isabelle Mazille: Product Manager
Heading up Product for the Andean region is Isabelle, whose upbringing in the French Alps has given her a lifelong affinity with mountainous areas. She loves the people, colour and culture of the Andes, and is drawn to Peru and Bolivia above all, believing them to be the epitome of what people imagine Latin America to be. Isabelle lists trekking in the Andes among her hobbies, which is no mean feat for someone based in London! However she also takes a keen interest in natural health, and loves dancing to merengue. Isabelle travelled the world before joining the company in 1991, when she was luckily taken on despite her interviewer’s reservations over whether she could stick to a job. 18 years of sticking to the job later, her true passion is still travel. She particularly loves the salt flats of Bolivia, the Galápagos, Chilean Patagonia, off-the-beaten-track Colombia and of course Cusco, where she once lived for nine months. She also has fond memories of Suriname, where she was enthralled by the culture of the indigenous Maroons, and Uruguay, where a passing visit once turned into three weeks staying on a ranch playing polo with the locals. Amongst other highlights of her travels are trekking over a Patagonian ice field and along the Huayhuash trail in Peru, taking a three-week cruise around Antarctica, South Georgia and the Falklands while reading ‘The Endurance’, and enjoying the privilege of spending time with the Huaorani tribe of the Ecuadorian Amazon.
Heading up Product for the Andean region is Isabelle, whose upbringing in the French Alps has given her a lifelong affinity with mountainous areas. She loves the people, colour and culture of the Andes, and is drawn to Peru and Bolivia above all, believing them to be the epitome of what people... Read more >
Claire Milner: Client Information Manager
Perhaps the most striking thing about Claire is her love of language: besides speaking Spanish, Portuguese, French, Arabic and German, she also loves to exercise her creativity and natural expressiveness in her English mother tongue, which she can seemingly bend to her every will! It is no surprise then that Claire is our resident writer, responsible for continually finding new ways to evoke the beauty of Latin America both in our brochures and on our website. Her lifelong love of the area is a great help in this task. She has travelled widely, but if pushed to choose her favourite countries she would pick Brazil, where the music and laid-back, gregarious culture held her in thrall throughout the three years she spent there, and Colombia for its incredible unspoilt scenery and low-key tourist industry. She also loves Argentina, especially the wilderness landscapes of the south. Even by our standards, Claire has spent a long time with the company – over 22 years. Much of this was as a tour leader in Latin America: Claire has altogether spent 12 years living in the region. She has gained unrivalled insight into the character of people across two continents as well as to enjoy some adventurous travels in areas where ‘off the beaten track’ is a serious understatement. When hitching through central Peru in the 80s for example, in many villages she was the first tourist any of the locals had seen - and was often mistaken for Princess Diana!
Perhaps the most striking thing about Claire is her love of language: besides speaking Spanish, Portuguese, French, Arabic and German, she also loves to exercise her creativity and natural expressiveness in her English mother tongue, which she can seemingly bend to her every will! It is no surprise... Read more >
David Nichols: Product Manager
David’s early trips to Mexico to visit a relative left an impression that never left him, and he soon returned to Latin America as a backpacker and later a tour leader for Journey Latin America. 15 years ago he joined our London office and can now be found in the Product department where his exceptional ground knowledge and degree in Spanish are put to good use as Product Manager for Brazil and the Southern Cone region. For David, the unspoilt wilderness areas of South America are the continent’s biggest draw. Patagonia in particular stands out to him, while he also loves Brazil’s vast and wildlife-filled wetlands, the Pantanal, and Guyana, where he had the best travel experience of his life sailing up the Maparri River alongside giant otters and boa constrictors and sleeping in camps surrounded by breath-taking rainforest scenery. His favourite country is Chile, which he describes as stunningly beautiful, unspoilt and overwhelmingly varied: a country designed for incredible overland journeys. He also speaks very highly of Argentina, Colombia, Guatemala and Brazil, particularly Rio, and looks back on the first sight of land in Antarctica as one of the most memorable and awe-inspiring moments of his extensive travels.
David’s early trips to Mexico to visit a relative left an impression that never left him, and he soon returned to Latin America as a backpacker and later a tour leader for Journey Latin America. 15 years ago he joined our London office and can now be found in the Product department where his... Read more >
Tom Parrott: Picture Editor
Tom has been working at Journey Latin America on and off for eleven years, starting out at the tender age of 14 by helping out in the post room. As the son of company co-founder Chris, Tom has had the chance to go on some amazing holidays over the years and witness incredible sights such as Rio’s Copacabana beach at New Year, filled with more people than he has ever seen in one place before or since, and an immense carpet of toads covering the mata atlântica in southern Brazil. He loves the atmosphere and sense of community to be found in Latin America, and counts Mexico City, Chaa Creek in Belize and Mexico’s Copper Canyon as his favourite places in the region. Tom has a degree in Fine Art and applies his creative skills to maintaining the vast image bank that has built up over Journey Latin America’s thirty years, handling the progression from slides and film to high quality digital images. Tom also loves taking his own photographs and illustrating, as well as playing in a band in his spare time.
Tom has been working at Journey Latin America on and off for eleven years, starting out at the tender age of 14 by helping out in the post room. As the son of company co-founder Chris, Tom has had the chance to go on some amazing holidays over the years and witness incredible sights such as... Read more >
Jenny Powles: Marketing Manager
Jenny enjoyed a diverse career before joining Journey Latin America two years ago, ranging from marketing films for IMAX and Cineworld to owning her own business. Jenny has a Masters degree in Art History, speaks Italian – fluently when drunk or asleep – and is an adventurous traveller with a giant repertoire of anecdotes from all over the world. She rates Cusco, Rio and the Atacama Desert amongst her travel highlights, and would also recommend a visit to Nicaragua’s Corn Islands, which she describes as reminiscent of how the Caribbean must have been 50 years ago. She is an avid scuba diver when she gets the chance, but will happily settle for fancy dress parties and skiing.
Jenny enjoyed a diverse career before joining Journey Latin America two years ago, ranging from marketing films for IMAX and Cineworld to owning her own business. Jenny has a Masters degree in Art History, speaks Italian – fluently when drunk or asleep – and is an adventurous... Read more >
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