Women in the Travel Industry: Globetrove!

Women in the Spotlights

Some weeks ago we wrote a blog about World Tourism Day. As a follow up, we decided to put some women who work in the travelindustry in the spotlights. We hope we can continue with this important work.

The pencil of Penny

Our first guest is Penny Fernandes, she is the co- founder of Globetrove. She and her husband Shawn write about their travels from the point of view that stereotypes are propagated across the world. You can’t fit everyone into boxes and deem them different. It is important to get down to a base human level to understand how similar we are in order for people to truly connect. True there are differences… Those differences make us unique and beautiful.

Penny's story

'We’ve always been a family which traveled. Pre kids and post kids. Our journeys have been both long and short. From backpacking through South East Asia to exploring Cairo, from road trips across Europe to a trip to the Arctic, our lives have been full of trip after trip after trip and for that I am so grateful.

In fact, our passion for travel is what really got us started on Globetrove. I always wanted to show people that when you travel, you experience a destination and every time you travel your experiences will be different. It is these experiences around the world that have shaped us.

Shawn and I shifted continents recently and boy was that journey a doozy. Not only did we pack up our lives in Bangalore, sell most of our possessions including our apartment, we moved with two toddlers and a cat. Trust me, I was worried about the trip like any mum would be. We got through it. 

The journey from Amsterdam to Groningen was probably the hardest part because we had three large suitcases, backpacks and a cat in her own carrier while trying to juggle a 1 and 3 year old who were dead tired. This journey reminded me about how kind people can be. From the people who helped us with our suitcases, the person who guided us to the taxi stand and even Diet from Overnachtinstijl who waited for us to reach even though it was well past office hours. 

These were our first impressions of Groningen and they imprinted on us because that’s just what the city is. It is filled with people who offer random acts of kindness without a second thought. It wasn’t a once off. I’ve seen it time and time again and it is one of the main reasons why I love to call this city my home.

Being an expat in the city isn’t always easy though. The language barrier is sometimes an issue even though most people speak fluent English. Google translate gave us some pretty hilarious translations in the beginning. We have since learnt some of the basics so we can have a pretty basic conversation in Dutch and I love that.

It has taken a long while to get our own house, to settle in and to become a part of the community around. Now that we have, I find myself with more time to write. More time to engage within the travel community. We obviously are exploring more. The more we do, the happier we are. Being my own boss means that I set my own hours which is so cool. The best part is that I can see my business blossoming and that itself brings me so much joy.

If I had to offer a bit of advice to the female entrepreneurs out there who are hesitant to take the plunge, I would say believe in yourself. Give yourself a chance. Don’t worry if it doesn’t work out initially. Find your passion and pursue it. Just do what gives you true joy.

Amazing women

To be honest, Penny is a modest person. She is writing lovely about beautiful destinations. So dive into her website and check out all her travelblogs. They are an amazing read! If you are interested in where Penny loves to go when she is in the city of Groningen.

Check out her blog about Vismarkt Groningen, the best place to get groceries in Groningen.

Amazing women

Our journey to put 'women working in travelindustry', on a platform, will continue. Therefore, the next person we will give our pencil to, will be Judith Plaggemars. She will tell us all about her travel activities soon!

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