Life and Work with Marjanna Akhtar

Today we’d like to introduce you to Marjanna Akhtar.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Marjanna. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
While studying biology at the University of Colorado, my genetics professor piqued my interest in travel and scuba diving with tales from his research on conch populations in the Caribbean. I planned a holiday to the Yucatan and while there took my first breath underwater on a scuba tank. I was hooked!

The real opportunity to combine this passion with travel came a couple of years later, when I was offered a job in the travel department of our local dive shop. It was to be a short term, part-time situation while I figured out what I wanted to do with that BA in Biology I had earned. I was there for six years. The desire for starting my own company was largely influenced by my first trip to Australia. The impetus of that trip was a week diving the best of the Great Barrier Reef and beyond onboard a liveaboard dive vessel, but it was the week afterwards spent exploring the rainforest and outback of the Cape York Peninsula that really spoke to my heart.

My dad joined me on this adventure and it was a special time together. A small chartered flight brought us to the outback where we hiked the dry landscape, swam in freshwater “billabongs,” enjoyed simple picnic lunches with a “cuppa” (hot tea, which is surprisingly refreshing on a hot day), heard the stories of the traditional landowners through the galleries of ancient rock art they left behind, stayed in tented camps and saw so many unique animals, plants and birds.

It was magical. It was “adventure” tourism at its very beginning; remote, authentic, inspiring, and it was the beginning of my passion for wild places and the wild things that inhabit them. While I was firmly entrenched in the international dive travel industry, I knew then that I wanted to expand the travel experiences I offered to include the world of wonders found topside as well as those found under the sea.

So, in February of 1996, I opened Great Expeditions. Over the nearly 2-1/2 decades since, the company has evolved to reflect our growing clientele base for world-wide travel experiences to not only include the South Pacific and scuba diving but Africa, Central & South America, Asia and Europe; nature and wildlife safaris, horse riding, trekking, family travel, cultural and culinary encounters – to name but a few.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
The travel industry has seen and survived so many challenges in the past couple of decades. I believe the specialization of offering customized international travel planning has been the company’s saving grace to survive the many changes we’ve experienced, but it’s not always been the easiest of roads.

First came “The Internet” and it has been a game-changer from when I first started in travel. When I opened Great Expeditions, the internet was just getting started and it was the beginning of the end of airline commissions (for the most part). Luckily, our business model wasn’t based on issuing airline tickets and instead of fearing the technology, we embraced it. Email and social media are now the primary means by which we communicate with our clientele, as well as how we handle the logistics of our bookings. It also expands our base beyond local and enables us to travel and still be in touch even when not at home. This has a downside too. It’s difficult to set boundaries and not feel compelled to immediately reply to every communication. Now, in addition to having professional travel planning skills, knowledge and experience, you also need to have the technical skills (or hire those skills) to compete in an online travel world. I find this very time consuming and one of the most challenging aspects of being in business.

Growing pains… I’m sure all business owners from any industry can relate to this one. I’ve been blessed to have some amazing people work with me and I count them all amongst my circle of friends, but there were a few bad hires in the early days as well. Difficult as those were because as a small business owner, it’s hard not to take things very personally, learning when and how to remove the negative is a very good lesson.

The travel industry is very reactive to events which are completely out of one’s control, which can have a huge impact on the business itself. These can be targeted events such a cyclone in Fiji, or more far-reaching catastrophic events such as 9/11, the Great Recession of 2008-2009, and of course, the current COVID-19 pandemic. Travel is one of the first to suffer under such circumstances, but history has shown it is also very quick to recover. Perhaps that speaks volumes of the industry itself and what travel offers humanity. Once again, I believe our specialty into experiential, “life-changing travel” planning services has factored in our ability to have made it through these past challenges and will be what gets us through the current one.

My advice to other women, especially young women, who are getting started on their journey is to: First, have a passion for what you’re looking to do. It’s going to be a lot of work – always. Initially, it may be more than it will be eventually, but it’s going to be work, and you need that passion to keep you inspired to keep doing what you’re doing. 

Secondly, always do the best you can. Even when the reward may not be the greatest or the situation may not be ideal, always do the best you can and you will be surprised at how that will come back to you one day.

Know when to say no. It’s OK to turn something away, especially if you will not be able to do your best. And while the “customer is always right” is generally a good motto for business, never accept abuse from a customer and never let yourself be taken advantage of. Your services have worth.

Have a goal for the future, but be open and fluid to the changes and opportunities that come your way.

Take risks (I wish I took more) as you never know where choosing the Road Less Traveled will take you.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Great Expeditions – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
In the early days, clients would say things like, “I don’t know what to call you because you’re not like other travel agents,” Or, “are you a travel agent?” And one coined a term I particularly like, “I’m going to call you my adventure travel coordinator.” Great Expeditions is essentially a travel agency, in that we coordinate and book travel services and do have the capability to issue airline tickets – a service only offered in conjunction with booking a complete itinerary package.

From there, we diverge. We work directly with travel providers in-country and “package” an itinerary that is customized for the traveler based on their individual specifics: how they like to travel – their style; their time frame – when and for how long they can travel; who they are traveling with and what are their needs; are their specific interests or activities they want included; are they set on a particular destination; what is their previous travel experience and what did they like and what did they dislike about what they’ve done and where they’ve been before, etc.

We do not book mainstream, mass tourism products and packages. We plan and book the types of itineraries that independent travelers thought they would have to do on their own because this type of itinerary would not be found in a typical tour brochure, nor be offered by a traditional travel agent. Instead, our passion is not only for travel but for authentic, experiential travel itineraries. These are usually found on the road less traveled and through personalized service providers with whom we have a relationship. They are, more often than not, boutique, owner-operated hotels, lodges, guesthouses, tour operators and guides, who want to share their world and have the same passion and ethos for responsible travel.

We are able to offer such professional services by having the knowledge gained through years of experience, through relationships with responsible like-minded partners around the world, and through the company’s accreditation and connections with the travel trade, tourism boards and industry regulating agencies. Mostly, however, as an independently owned company, we are highly motivated to provide excellent service making for happy clients who will return to use our services time and time again. We are under no obligation for making quotas or working with specific products. We are free to design the best itinerary for our clients.

The greatest achievement of the company is when we have clients return to us year after year to plan their travels. They refer their friends and family to our services. They remember our services when the time comes to plan a special trip even if it’s been several years since they last traveled with us. That’s what keeps the passion going!

Who have you been inspired by?
I look at famous women and wonder how they do (did) it. Where does such passion come from to achieve so much in one life: the Jane Goodalls, the Ruth Bader Ginsbergs, or the Arianna Stassinopoulos Huffington’s of the world, for example? But I would have to say it would be my inner circle of friends who provide inspiration. I consider myself blessed that my close women friends are primarily very strong, intelligent, and often entrepreneurial women. Many are self-employed and have, to varying degrees, business success, but all provide influence in how they live their lives. I find I gain support, motivation, advice and inspiration to better every aspect of my life in some way or another through these strong women.

Of course, the influence of parents in our lives and who we are is undeniable, whether through genetics or upbringing or opportunity, most likely a combination of all these factors. In my earlier years, I would have said that my father was the greater source of parental inspiration. In more recent years, especially since her passing at the age of 91, my mother is the one I find there with me most often. I don’t think I fully appreciated her strengths until she was gone and now I find myself more similar than dis-similar. Except for perhaps her sense of humor, which I wish I had a bit more of. She had a sharp wit that she could wield at just the right moment to remind me of what’s really important and not to take myself so seriously.

I believe that as a woman and a business owner, there’s always a struggle to create and live a balanced healthy life. It’s hard to find that right balance of home and work, relationships with spouse and children, parents and siblings, colleagues and clients, and fit in the time to pursue your own personal interests and needs. Drawing on the strengths of those I’ve been fortunate enough to nurture a relationship with is, without a doubt, the largest source of support to help keep me balanced and inspired. The most important of these relationships is my husband and partner in life, Richard Akhtar, who provides a daily source of inspiration and whose strength is always there, especially when the going gets tough.

Contact Info:

• Website: GreatExpeditionsTravel.com
• Phone: 7204941530
• Email: travel@grtexp.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/greatexpeditionstravel/
• Facebook: facebook.com/GreatExpTravel/

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