EXPLORE MAGAZINE PODCAST – CAN WE TRAVEL BETTER?

In July, Finisterra Travel was featured on Explore Magazine’s “Live the Adventure” podcast, Keri Montgomery and Nicola Wilson—Can We Travel Better?. You can listen to the podcast on Spotify, YouTube or Apple Podcasts, or on their website. 

Below are the first opening minutes of the podcast:

DW: Okay, you ready? Let’s do this. You’re listening to Explore Magazine’s Live the Adventure podcast. This is the podcast that delves deep into the outdoors. 

We’ll inspire, inform, and get you stoked to explore. And I’m your host, David Webb. Welcome to episode 41 of Explore Magazine’s Live the Adventure podcast. 

I’m your host, David Webb.

Travel. We love it. 

We travel locally, regionally, domestically, and internationally, and we bring back the greatest memories of our lives. Adventures, connections, experiences, photographs, stories, friends, sometimes even lovers. But sometimes travel can have a cost.

Your carbon footprint, over-tourism, burdening destinations. Every year that goes by, we learn more and more about this. So do we stop? No. 

There’s a way to travel better. There are people who are encouraging slow, deep, meaningful travel, where money supports locals, and the connections and experiences you have are deeper and richer than ever before. Does that sound like the kind of travel you’re into? Well, if so, stay tuned, because I’m talking to Keri Montgomery and Nicola Wilson, and they’re the owners and operators of Finisterra Travel, a Vancouver-based travel agency that specializes in meaningful travel. 

So we’re going to dig in, find a bit more about Keri and Nicola, their travel journey, the destinations they’re excited about, and how they curate and encourage a richer form of travel that leaves places better than they found them. Stay tuned for Keri Montgomery and Nicola Wilson. All right, Keri Montgomery and Nicola Wilson. 

Welcome to Explore Magazine’s Live the Adventure podcast. Keri, how are you doing today? 

KM: I’m doing great. Thanks. Sun is shining. No complaints. 

DW: Yeah. Nicola? 

NW: Same. Yeah. I’m really enjoying summer in Vancouver. It’s the best time to be in town. So happy day. 

DW: Absolutely. Last few weeks here have been epic, and it looks like it’s staying around for most of July. So it’s good. 

NW: Action packed. 

Absolutely. So starting with you, Keri, I wonder if you could introduce yourself to our listeners. Who are you? Where are you from? What do you do? 

KM: These are good questions. I’m Keri Montgomery, the co-owner of Finisterra Travel, originally from Lethbridge, Alberta. Nice. Made my way out to the West Coast and never really looked back. Led tours around the world for five years, which got me hooked on the travel bug and led me to eventually founding Finisterra. 

DW: Nice. Nicola, how about you? 

NW: I am Nicola Wilson, the other co-owner and operator of Finisterra Travel. 

My founding story isn’t as exciting as Keri’s. I was born and raised in Vancouver, so I didn’t move around much. But I did start traveling after I finished university and then just kind of backpacked all around the world.

Became super addicted. I would go home, work for a year and then go back and travel for six, eight months as much as I could. So also very addicted to traveling, which led me to find Keri and then joined Finisterra Travel.

DW: That’s amazing. I mean, hey, follow your passions, right? You both love travel and now you’re operating Finisterra Travel. So before we get further, what is Finisterra Travel, Keri? 

KM: I’m a tour operator and travel designer based in Vancouver. 

We like to think we offer our travelers a different type of experience. One that they can’t just punch into ChatGPT and create an itinerary from. Something very, very authentic. 

DW: How long have you been around?

KM: I founded Finisterra in 2012.

DW: That’s great. That’s actually right about the time I started with Explore Magazine. Time goes quickly when you’re doing something you love. Why did you decide to found this company? 

KM: Well, yeah, I led tours around the world for a company, which was an incredible experience. You know, the connections you got to make with people. 

And, you know, these were people who, the operators on the ground, they were people who I met, they’re families. And so I had this deep connection with people based in, I worked in over 35 countries as an international tour leader. So I always thought there was a little bit better way to do travel. 

And one day that’s what I wanted to do. And so after I led tours for five years, I thought I’d get a real job. I managed an inbound tour company in Vancouver. 

And then I said, you know, as much as I love this part of the world, I miss the international travel aspect. I called upon all those connections that I had made while tour leading and created Finisterra in 2012.

DW: That’s amazing. 

And Nicola, so when did you come in and how did that connection happen?

NW: Yeah, so I actually worked, Keri and I worked in the same office. We overlapped for a month right before she went. I was working at a kind of more traditional travel agency that just did flights, cruises, all inclusives, the boring stuff. 

And so I was like, “Keri, you’re leaving to do what? Start this international travel company? That is a dream job.” And she said, oh, if there was ever a chance we could work together. That’d be amazing.

I worked at my job for a few years and then 2015, she and I connected and I just said, you know, I think I’m kind of bored at my current job. I’m ready for a change. I think I’m going to leave. 

And she just goes, “Do you want to work with me?” And I said, “Yeah!” And so that’s kind of how we started working together. And I just said, you know, I want to also work for myself and help run the show and be as passionate and involved. 

And she was like, yeah, I want a partner. And so that’s giddy up. That’s how we did it. 

DW: What was it about the two of you, your connection that was such a natural fit like that?

KM: I think we just from the get go, we had such synergy and, you know, I’d never met anybody who is Nicola’s age that had traveled as extensively as she had that wasn’t that where that wasn’t her job. So, you know, I felt the passion. I felt the passion. 

And we just thought we just got along. We hit it off right away. And I knew I needed a right hand woman. 

It was you. 

DW: I love it. I can definitely tell that you work well together. 

So your travel experience, you traveled a lot. I saw as I was doing some research, you’re using this sort of hashtag or phrase, #worldlygirlies. What does that mean?

KM: #Worldlygirlies. Well, that’s I mean, I think in a nutshell, that’s sort of what we are. It’s something that just came organically. Started hashtagging it on things and then evolved into our hashtag. 

I mean, #worldlygirlies, it’s sort of self-explanatory in a way. It’s women who like to travel or are completely addicted to travel. And I think, you know, for me, for example, a lot of my friends kind of had this path that they did, you know, finish university, got a job, got married, had kids, bought a house, etc. 

And neither of us really fit into that mold. And so I think for us, #worldlygirlies is kind of describes just our love for the world…. 

For the rest of the podcast, please listen to Explore Magazine’s “Live the Adventure” podcast. You can listen to the podcast on Spotify, YouTube or Apple Podcasts, or on their website.