Our Sabbatical is Topic of Book

UK lawyer, Geoff Steward, records his hilarious observations of the differences in culture both sides of the pond on a US sabbatical that LiNGER’s founder, Steve Wilson, organised for him and his family (or rather, his ‘spare children’…). Geoff dedicates a couple of pages to Steve himself, which we replicate here:

“It is not entirely accurate to say that I will be going on sabbatical without assistance. There are two … important people to whom you need to be introduced before I leave: one is a professional traveller….

For an adventurous explorer, who turned his back on a life of briefcasing in favour of a life of backpacking, Steve must be as disappointed with his parents as I am with mine over their choice of name. Steve is my ‘sabbatical designer’, which is a posher, more exclusive job title for a travel agent. … He has been integral to the planning of the entire trip, recommending destinations, timings, transport, tours, accommodation and even what to wear and what to carry it in.

Steve resembles a more likeable version of Jamie Oliver. Since deciding he was more interested in the world than the world of finance, he has been on permanent sabbatical, building a network of relations with hotels and tour operators across North America, Latin America, China, India and south-east Asia. He focuses his business on self-important, egotistical professionals who consider themselves too busy and important to arrange their own trips. Law firm partners and bankers are therefore some of his most lucrative clients.

Steve is the opposite of his clients. He is diffident, down-to-earth and unpretentious. He is son-in-law material and had Jackie from ‘hello’. We have had five meetings with Steve and countless email and telephone exchanges to build a bespoke trip designed around our interests. In essence, his brief is wildlife, music and film. In particular, we want to spend as much time as possible in ‘America’s Best Idea’, the National Parks.

Steve has certainly delivered.