International Women's Day is a time to reflect on progress made, call for change and celebrate acts of empowerment, courage and determination. 

Exodus Travels is celebrating the 2020 International Women's Day theme, #EachForEqual by focusing on two of their team Hayley Georgiou and Vivien Urban. After noticing a gap in the market for solo travellers in their 30s and 40s, both women decided they wanted to try and change this. The simple idea that stemmed from a conversation at a Christmas party turned into a concept that was eventually pitched to the senior stakeholders at Exodus Travels. This led to the creation of Exodus Edits.

WHAT IS EXODUS EDITS?

Exodus Edits is a compact collection of meticulously curated adventure-grabbing and active small-group itineraries which was launched at the end of 2019. The brand offers easy to book short-burst adventures aimed at busy professionals in their 30s and 40s. The trips are designed to maximise annual leave so travellers can pursue careers and see more of the world in less time. Every trip has a pinnacle achievement element to it or an activity that pushes travellers outside of their comfort zone. Each tour is made up of small groups of 6-16 people, so they're ideally suited for solo travellers and are accompanied by a younger tour guide that feels a part of the group.

HOW WAS EXODUS EDITS BORN?

Exodus Edits was born through a conversation between two colleagues at Exodus Travels in 2018, Hayley Georgiou and Vivien Urban. Whilst discussing their travel bucket-lists at their Christmas party on a boat on the River Thames, they realised they both had a desire to travel more, along with the conflict of not wanting to quit their jobs to do so.

Hayley and Vivien's first steps to bring Exodus Edits to life was to identify a gap in the market. From their own experiences and some industry insight, they knew there were no existing holiday companies aimed at people in their 30s and 40s, with itineraries that fitted around hectic work schedules and that weren't overly expensive. This confirmed that the two women were in a perfect position to create a brand that ticked all these boxes.

THE PERKS OF GROUP TRAVEL

Hayley began her career in travel when she was 18 and is an avid traveller. She once went abroad 13 times in one year by taking long weekend breaks and maximising her annual leave. Vivien has worked in travel for 12 years. She started in luxury travel before moving to the adventure sector, which then became her passion and lifestyle.

Both Hayley and Vivien understand the work that can come with being a solo traveller from creating an itinerary to facing potential bumps along the road, and many travellers might just be too scared to face it alone.

A self-confessed extrovert, Hayley enjoys being around people and finds that solo travel can be both a liberating and an isolating experience. Her enjoyment of a new destination largely depends on the people she meets along the way, and some places just aren't built for solo travellers.

After Vivien came out of a long-term relationship, she had the realisation that she had never travelled alone, nor had she ever considered doing so. owever, shortly after this, Vivien won a trip to climb Mt Toubkal with Exodus Travels, which gave her the opportunity to travel solo within a group environment. This confirmed to her that group travel is a great opportunity to travel unaccompanied, as well as make new friends and experience new challenges.

Consequently, this type of group travel became her passion and eventually it led her to visiting 16 countries in a year as a solo traveller. One of the main goals of the Exodus Edits team was to ensure that nobody was missing out on travelling because of the fear of doing it alone, and group travel was the perfect antidote to this. Explorers can delve into perfectly crafted itineraries designed to push travellers outside of their comfort zones and create life-long friendships with like-minded people who are of a similar age.  

CREATING EXODUS EDITS

With their experience, contacts within the travel industry and their empowering and supportive working environment, both women felt confident and inspired enough to begin putting together a business case.

The business case was presented to the directors at Exodus Travels in February 2019. Hayley and Vivien then worked with the directors to perfect their proposition before showcasing it to the senior Travelopia team in spring 2019. It was signed off by July 2019 and launched in November 2019, less than a year since their first conversation.

Hayley and Vivien stated that this project could not have been possible without the support of the top-level senior managers at Exodus Travels. They felt empowered through their senior managers and the culture at their work, who encouraged them to speak out and pitch new ideas and interests that could work for the brand.

CULTURE AT THE WORKPLACE

In 2019, Exodus Travels welcomed working groups within the company and there are now five groups of people from across the business to make sure everyone from different departments has a say and a platform for new ideas. One group being Women and Gender, which addresses issues such as gender inequalities within the workplace, maternity leave and women in senior positions and develops ways to improve.

CONCLUSION

Today Exodus Edits offers 22 trips, from European-based itineraries to more far-flung options, they have a whole range of trips to escape the ordinary and bond with fellow adventurers on the way. There is also a big focus on the positive physical, mental and social impact of travel. For solo travellers, each Exodus Edits trip features a 'solo room' booking option or 'share and save'. Both options are offered to match every traveller's specific accommodation preferences.

Exodus Edits also supports the Inspiration Project, meaning that every adventure booked with Exodus Edits supports one disadvantaged child to see their country's famous sights on an educational day trip. These experiences allow children to venture outside of their community (sometimes for the first time) and understand what makes their country so special.

The 8-day Cabernet & Capers in South Africa is the first Exodus Edits trip and departs on 14 March 2020 and is priced from £1,399 per person.