Love and travel have a lot in common. They’re both a means of connection. They are both risky and terrifying and amazing and can change the course of your life as you know it. Plus, there’s usually some kind of baggage involved in both. As today is Valentine’s Day, Karryon spent some time with couples in the travel industry and asked how they survived the journey.
Pete is the CEO and founder of Evolution Travel Collective. Ingrid is the managing director. This is their love story.
Playing the long game
“I think the first time we met was at a conference,” Ingrid tells Karryon.
Ingrid was with Rail Plus back then and Pete was with Intrepid.
“I was speaking at the conference and you came up and had a bit of a chat after that,” he reminds her.
They both admit it wasn’t love at first sight.
“I think the first time I met Pete I thought he was probably a little bit crazy,” Ingrid says.
“And I think he thought I was probably a bit of a nerd.”
“Probably all true,” agrees a laughing Pete.
Ingrid says the pair were “definitely very different people” who, after “just sort of bumping into each other at conferences”, eventually became better friends over many years.
“Actually, it probably was like three or four years before we really considered taking our relationship to a different level,” she says.
According to Pete, Ingrid was asking about his time at G Adventures, as she was about to join the small group adventure company. We joke that she was just using him, playing the long game.
“Now that I come to think of it, she’s always been very strategic…” jokes Pete.
The pair have been together four and a half years now and I feel like a bit of an interloper as they reminisce about old times. There’s a lot of laughter and gentle teasing, but there’s a mutual respect here too.
First impressions
“Ingrid has always been incredibly professional,” Pete says.
“I think she looked at me as someone who had been in some senior roles, and that she could talk to as she was continuing to grow and develop within her particular role.
“And she was just so impressive. Here was this person who had this thirst for knowledge and learning and development and really wanted to improve and really forge a career within the industry. I really engaged with that.
“That was the first thing that struck me about her. It’s not that romantic, I know.”
But romance can be like a low-cost carrier: fickle and unreliable. And you can end up not where you intended to be. Ingrid and Pete are full-service all the way.
The travel test
So how do you go from being friends to being in a relationship?
It was after supporting each other through some tough circumstances that Pete’s and Ingrid’s relationship changed. But it still wasn’t romantic at this point.
“Our relationship transitioned from being professional friends into personal ones,” Pete says.
“And then, you know, it was like, ‘Hey, do you want to catch up for lunch?’, ‘Hey, would you like to go out for a drink?’, ‘Hey, I think you’re trying to pick me up…’.”
The pair had travelled as friends and they both agree, it was just so easy. With shared interests and travelling styles, “it was fantastic”, Pete says.
“Travelling was another layer to our relationship going from professional to romantic.
“It was like here’s someone who’s been supporting me through the tough times. Here’s someone that I really enjoy hanging out with. Wow, here’s someone I can travel with. And it was just another thing that pushed us closer.”
The working together test
The next step is, of course, setting up shop together.
“Pete and I both worked in the wholesale and tour operator side of travel for many years prior to starting Evolution Travel Collective,” Ingrid tells Karryon.
“We were chatting in 2018 about there being an opportunity within the market for a representation company that supported small-medium sized businesses that perhaps couldn’t afford their own sales and marketing teams but still wanted to target business with travel agents.
“These businesses were looking for support in, not only running effective sales teams, but also in assisting with sales strategy, preferred agreements and trade media and marketing. As such, ETC was developed to offer a range of B2B services that can be fully customised to suit what our partners are looking to achieve.
“We like to say Pete provides the jazz hands and Ingrid, the detail. Even though we have both come from sales backgrounds we have a really different way of looking at things and like any good relationship we complement one another to form a great team.”
The COVID test
Things were going well. Ingrid and Pete bought a house together. And they moved in. On the first day of the national lockdown. They say travelling together tests a relationship. Two travel industry professionals were locked into a house in Melbourne during a global pandemic… now that’s a test.
“We really embraced it,” Ingrid tells Karryon.
“We adopted cats,” she says. And being in business together kept them busy with a shared project.
“The lockdown gave us some actual time to work on the business,” Ingrid says.
“It forced us into looking at how we could restructure the business as that kept evolving.”
“And we went on lots of walks together,” she says. “And separately.”
“Being in Melbourne, we were using our hour of exercise time to get away from each other!” They say that last bit in the chorus.
Relationship check-in
We all know what industry conferences can be like. There’s flirting and alcohol and a lot more cis women than cis men. I ask how Pete and Ingrid survive an industry that requires a lot of travel sometimes away from each other.
“I think you just have to trust in your own relationship with someone and what you have together and believe in that,” Ingrid says.
Pete and Ingrid live and work and, more often than not, travel together. I ask Ingrid if there’s anything about Pete that still surprises her.
“His ability to understand how I’m feeling at any one time probably still surprises me. That he can pick up on the little nuances in my change of mood or behaviour and he knows straightaway how I’m feeling. And he knows what to say or do or not to.”
Ingrid still leans on Pete for his expertise and experience.
“His ability to lead people in general is one of the things I most love and admire about Pete. So I definitely still lean on that and draw from his expertise, wherever and whenever I can.
“To be honest, I think that’s just an extra special part of a relationship when you’re with someone that you can respect so much not only personally, but also professionally.”
The road ahead
It’s hard to imagine Pete and Ingrid in a world outside of the travel industry. When I ask what they would have done if the international borders never opened, they cannot escape tourism.
“We’ve spoken about having a large property and little tiny homes, doing a B&B type thing,” Ingrid says.
“We’d host people with a lot of accommodation and build that up together and maybe have a little homestyle cafe.”
“I think the thing is that we both really enjoy the connection and learning and fun that you get from meeting people,” Pete says.
Pete talks of owning a bar in Bali or running a local sports club while Ingrid continues to forge her passion within the travel industry.
Ingrid says they’ll earn enough money to retire early and go travelling.
“For the record, I like Ingrid’s plan better,” says Pete.
Whatever they end up doing, one thing’s for sure. They will be doing it together, probably laughing.
