Thank you very much for your interest in Kefi Travel. As those of you that know me (and the rest of you soon will), I don’t like small chat. Sometimes I don’t even like people! But a strange thing happened while I was travelling for the last 20 years for business and pleasure, I found that visiting unique places and having new experiences wasn’t so fun by myself. So I started inviting people along for my trips. It was mostly for my amusement. Watching them get lost, tasting strange foods, buying useless trinkets, and generally being a fish out of water in a foreign land. What I didn’t expect is that people would share my amusement of each other during these trips. As we stumbled along making questionable decisions, people really developed a camaraderie that extended for the trip and even after. The sharing of all the experiences, good and bad, helped form a bond between the travellers that improved the experience for everyone.

As stories of our adventures spread upon each return, the list of people clamouring to be on the next trip grew. As I planned each trip, I tried to fine tune the model based on learnings from the previous trek. Now I have defined the model which I believe is the Kefi Travel “secret sauce”. It’s not rocket science. What people seemed to enjoy was travel which covered the expected items in a particular country, but also took them off the beaten track. Staying In smaller family-run hotels in villages and not the main tourist cities allowed the group to get closer to the local community and each other. Regular group meals in the evenings allowed people to share their experiences of the day and plan out their next adventure. Plenty of free time to explore allowed people to have their own space and make their own discoveries, but also have chance encounters with others in their group which increased the feeling of being local. Finally, the occasional “odd and/or challenging” activity got people outside their comfort zone and helped build the relationship between travellers.

With Kefi Travel I want to share this approach with others. Through a club-like model, members can share Kefi Travel with their network of friends. This gives me a whole new pool of people to be amused by! Kefi Travel allows us to build a fun group of like-minded people that want to explore the world with others and create memories that last long beyond the trip. By contributing trip ideas, inviting fun new travellers, and engaging with the community, we can ensure that every trip is the best adventure ever – until the next one!

David is a repeat tech and marketing startup entrepreneur, the Chief Entrepreneur in Residence for the New Brunswick Government, co-founder of Brilliant Labs, winner of multiple marketing and social media awards, heavily involved in poverty initiatives in his community, and helped develop two social impact documentaries, Code Kids and The Millennial Dream. David, his wife, Mary-Gwen, and the team are currently in the process of building a new aerial adventure park in Dominion Park called TimberTop Adventures.

Mary has spent the last twenty years as a brilliant and award-winning wife and mother to five of the loveliest angels ever sent from heaven. During this time, she rocked the roles of Sergeant Major, chief cook and bottle washer, educator, medic as well as a counsellor.

Besides the home front, Mary has also spent the past ten years managing a bustling medical clinic where it is filled with nonstop days of plate spinning to ensure the success of the business. Now that the kids are quickly learning to soar on their own and that faint glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel is starting to shine brightly, Mary has refocused her energy into one of her passions – organizing events for family and friends largely through travel. Mary has always lived by the motto “Carpe Diem”, and nothing excites her more than getting a bunch of friends or family together to go on an adventure and see what comes out of it.

Mark Hemmings started his professional photography career just out of university in 1997, and it has been his only career ever since. His skills have earned him the trust of many clients who have sent him on 40 international photography trips around the globe. But the fascinating turn of events in Mark’s career was when he started teaching international photography workshops and tours. In 2004 Mark travelled to South Korea to teach young Koreans how to use their cameras. This successful workshop led to a series of photography tours and workshops in Hungary and Romania throughout the years. His Japan photo tour was a big hit in 2005, which led him to continue taking participants to Japan annually. And in 2008 Mark visited one of his favourite cities, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, and with his teaching partner James Wilson, has been inviting participants to a week-long photo workshop in Mexico each winter. Mark is incredibly excited to be a part of the Kefi Travel Club family, and will strive to give each participant an amazing trip, PLUS an excellent understanding of how to take amazing photographs! Mark loves teaching photography and is looking forward to helping you master your camera while travelling to beautiful destinations.

To see Mark’s work visit:

www.markhemmings.com
www.instagram.com/markhemmings
www.facebook.com/markhemmingsphotography