The Homeworker: 'Travel is never "just a holiday", it's precious time spent with loved ones'
Sarah StephensWhen I lost my eldest daughter Violet in 2016 after a sudden and brief illness, we found travel the perfect escape to get some respite from our grief.
Violet’s legacy is important to me too, and was the main reason I started my own travel business.
I fell in love with the travel industry when I began doing freelance PR for airlines back in 2007 and became a Nordics expert. I realised how wonderful the people in travel were, and what a fast-moving and exciting industry it was.
I already loved travelling – both solo, or with family and friends. There’s nothing quite like exploring new places, meeting new people and tasting new cultures.
When I first became a mum, I was very keen that my children learn about the world through travel and had opportunities to experience and absorb different cultures from a young age. My two daughters had both circumnavigated the earth before their first birthdays and got the travel bug, just like their mum.
After losing Violet, visiting new places where no one knew our history and treated us just like anyone else really was the best therapy. With help from family and friends, we escaped the first Christmas without her in this way.
I sadly lost a son almost a year later during pregnancy, so throwing myself into my work doing PR for Icelandair and working alongside their amazing UK team really helped take my mind off things too.
When Covid hit four years later, it spelt a temporary end to my travel PR work – and the escapism that had helped me deal with my grief. I quickly realised the best way to satisfy my wanderlust and sustain my love of travel while we were all grounded was to stay in the industry and become an independent travel agent.
After researching all the options, I joined InteleTravel. It felt like right brand for me – I’ve always been the underdog and a challenger to the status quo – and so Sarah Stephens Escapes was born, so named because – sometimes – escaping can be good.
I understand everyone grieves differently, but some people – maybe your clients and yourselves – might also benefit from travel in the same way my husband Patrick and me did.
I would recommend trying to book adult-only resorts or city/cultural breaks for any couples experiencing the grief of child loss – the last thing we wanted to do was observe other families happily playing around a pool.
Make sure you keep this in mind when planning anything for grieving parents – ask them about the type of escape they would like, busy or quiet. Some appreciate a bit of hustle and bustle to occupy their minds, others will want a totally Zen experience. Never assume, always ask them what they would prefer.
’Precious moments’
Travel is still like therapy for me; it’s something I absolutely adore, so it really doesn’t feel like work. And now the industry is picking up again, I’m enjoying being back doing PR for luxury travel brands while also running my own travel business alongside this. It really is a perfect holistic approach for me.
I’m proud to be an ambassador for InteleTravel, helping and guiding other advisors with their journeys. I’m also proud to be creating a legacy for my daughter by helping others make precious memories with their loved ones they too will cherish forever.
No one knows for sure how long they have left, so if I can help ensure any holiday I sell is the best of my clients’ lives then that’s a job well done for me.
I also get to pay it back by helping charities, by throwing in little extras, or by using my travel knowledge and experiences to design bespoke itineraries that really make the most of that honeymoon, anniversary or birthday trip.
Homeworking, meanwhile, allows me to strike the perfect work-life balance, to prioritise my day in my own time while still making time for my family.
I feel so grateful to have made travel memories with my daughter Violet, and to be able to share precious moments with my surviving youngest daughter who, incidentally, is named after the Northern Lights.
Aurora is the personification of the dawn, and sister to the sun and the moon. The ancient Greeks and Romans believed Aurora raced across the sky in her chariot every day, alerting her brother and sister to the breaking of the new day – an apt metaphor for my life and my love of the travel industry too.
I believe kindness is a super power, and that experiences should be cherished and treasured. As travel agents, we can impact and shape these moments for others – elevating the ordinary to the out of this world with relative ease.
But we must all remember, it's never just a holiday. It’s a moment of time – our most precious and rare commodity – spent with loved ones. That is priceless.
Sarah Stephens is the owner of Sarah Stephens Escapes, the travel business she runs as a member of InteleTravel. She's been in travel for more than a decade, and lives in the North West with Patrick and Aurora.
The Homeworker from TTG
The Homeworker from TTG takes you deeper into the world of homeworking. Columns are written by homeworkers for homeworkers and their peers, providing insight, support, reassurance – and inspiration.
- 'Please – don't call me a homeworker!' – Jo Shayler-Tarrant
- 'Homeworking doesn't equate to alone-working' – Ben Casey
- 'Travel is never "just a holiday", it's precious time spent with loved ones' – Sarah Stephens
- 'Three simple steps that helped me be a better, more responsible agent' – Marie Rowe
- 'I sometimes miss the thrill of making £25k bookings in my pyjamas' – Jo Shayler-Tarrant
- 'I took a leap of faith, and never looked back' – Angela Mayall
- 'The web failed to kill off agents, and AI won't either' – Matthew Ruth
- 'I owe everything to my "yeah, why not!" attitude – Daniel Oates
- 'Change is good, don't try to swim against it' – Jo Shayler-Tarrant
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