Check Out Marci Vaughn Kolt’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Marci Vaughn Kolt.

Marci, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I remember looking through my dad’s National Geographic magazines when I was a little kid and just feeling in complete awe of these incredible photos of people and places from all over the world – I almost couldn’t believe that they were all on the same planet. Seeing these places with my own eyes, experiencing the journey to get to some of the most remote parts of the world, seeing the wildlife, learning about the human history – this was always at the forefront of my mind. So looking back, I’m shocked that it took me such a long time to get here. My path was certainly not a linear one!

I studied theatre in college. I love how global theatre is, that it explores so many different cultures and characters and examines what it means to be human. After graduating, I chose to focus on building an acting career, so I moved to New York City and lived there for ten years. I hadn’t yet traveled outside of the country at this point and so to me, New York was the center of it all. You’ve got people there from every country on Earth speaking hundreds of languages, and there are something like 100 museums and 25,000 restaurants, so I felt like I was experiencing the whole world all at once every single day.

Over the next few years though, I started traveling – first a solo backpacking trip through Europe followed by trips to 3 more continents, and I spent a couple of months working as a production assistant on a travel show in Mexico. It started to become clear to me that this was really what I wanted to be doing with my life. I wasn’t sure exactly what that meant yet or how I would do it full-time, but I knew I wanted to live abroad, write, take photos, and travel as much as possible. All of a sudden it felt like the right time to take the leap. So, after a decade in the “center of the universe”, I left to explore the rest of the planet. South America was really intriguing to me because of its variety of cultures and landscapes, so I picked Santiago, Chile as my landing point, packed up two suitcases and moved 6,000 miles away.

My plan was to work as an English teacher there, but I realized pretty quickly that teaching business English wasn’t fulfilling to me, and I felt really stuck at this point. I had accomplished a huge dream of mine by moving abroad and it was nothing like I thought it would be, so now what? I spent a few months doing some serious soul-searching and I wondered if I could use my expertise in travel throughout South America to plan trips for other people. I searched “South America travel consultant jobs” online to see what I could find. Ultimately, I was offered two jobs, one back in the US and one in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I wasn’t ready to end my time abroad, so I packed up and moved to yet another new country.

I’ve spent the last 8 years exploring South America and the polar regions, returning over and over to my favorite places and getting to know new ones. My friends joke that that job search so many years ago has got to be the most successful Google search of all time. I have to agree!

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Not always!

I think it’s easy to believe that the expat life will be magical, a fresh new start. But living somewhere completely new, far away from home, navigating a language barrier, and not knowing a single person was far more challenging than I imagined. I don’t think I fully appreciated that living somewhere is a lot different than traveling there.

Despite the bumps in the road, or maybe because of them, it was an invaluable experience. I fully credit my time abroad with teaching me how to dig deep into the kind of life I want to live, challenging me to get through some very difficult situations and come out the other side, sparking my biggest passion in life and the start of an amazing career, and most significantly, teaching me the importance of community and real connection. I learned that who you’re with is much more important than where you are.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I have been working as a custom travel specialist for 7 years now, planning private, personalized trips to South America and Antarctica. My favorite things to plan are sustainable wildlife-focused trips as well as adventures to some of the world’s most remote places, like the Galapagos Islands, the Pantanal of Brazil, and the Atacama desert in Chile.

I’ve also planned hundreds of trips to some of South America’s most iconic places, like Machu Picchu, and I’m proud to say that not one of them feels cookie-cutter. There are infinite ways to experience a particular destination, and I love discovering what drew my clients there, what they envision for their dream adventure, and how I can create something special and unique just for them.

I’m part of an incredible team at Vaya Adventures. Each member of the team has spent years living and traveling in their areas of expertise, and we all regularly revisit them each year to continue to build our knowledge and develop great relationships with our local partners. We tend to steer away from big chains and focus on unique, boutique hotels in each place, ones that we feel really give a great sense of destination and culture and that contribute back to their communities. Vaya’s owner, Jim Lutz, is also the president of IGTOA, the International Galapagos Tour Operators Association, an organization that is heavily invested in Galapagos education, conservation, and guide training. I think these things truly set us apart in the industry and make me most proud of being a part of this team. I’m blown away every day by the level of knowledge and talent that my colleagues all bring to the table.

I discovered a species of tiger moth while in the Amazon rainforest a few years ago and I got to name it after myself!

Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
While living in Santiago, Chile, I used to perform stand-up comedy!

Pricing:

• Custom itineraries starting from $500 per person per day, including accommodations, transportation, and privately guided excursions

Contact Info:

• Website: www.vayaadventures.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/whereintheworldismarci
• Other: https://www.trustpilot.com/review/ www.vayaadventures.com