Devaki Das of Weave A Thousand Journeys On How To Create A Travel Experience That Keeps People Coming Back For More
An Interview With Savio P. Clemente
Pick the right time to travel: One of the first things I always advise clients is that if you can, don’t travel in the peak summer season — especially once European schools are out which is usually late June into the first week of Sept. Not only are you dealing with sweltering record-breaking temperatures but this is only worsened with wall-to-wall crowds in popular destinations. Traveling during the shoulder seasons is best when places are less crowded and a bit slower-paced. It also helps that we love to curate trips to off-the-tourist-path destinations, places that our travelers would not usually know to travel to on their own.
As part of my series about “How To Create A Travel Experience That Keeps People Coming Back For More”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Devaki Das:
Devaki Das is the founder of Weave A Thousand Journeys (WATJ), a travel company specializing in curated, luxurious vacations that blend culinary arts and architectural elegance. Inspired by a chaotic trip with friends in 2011, Devaki created WATJ to bring like-minded travelers together in a celebration of culture, food, wine, and architecture. With a background in architecture and a lifelong passion for culinary arts, Devaki designs exceptional tours that combine luxury accommodations and exclusive culinary adventures. Growing up in a family of architects, she developed a refined taste for true luxury, which she now applies to her travel itineraries. Leveraging her global network of experts, she provides clients with access to exclusive boutique accommodations and specialty tours.
Devaki began her culinary journey at eight, published her first cookbook at 17, and has taught culinary arts to adults. Her deep knowledge of cooking and relationships worldwide allows her to design unique, food-and-wine-centric experiences. By blending her architectural expertise with her culinary passion, Devaki curates immersive tours that showcase incredible places and people, reflecting her dedication to creating unforgettable luxury travel experiences.
Thank you so much for joining us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
The birth of Weave A Thousand Journeys is a confluence of what was happening around 2010 with the financial crash so it wasn’t the best time for me to remain in architecture and construction. Coming from a family of architects and then marrying into one, I spent a lot of time reflecting on what I would do with my life if I did not remain in architecture. That journey took me down a road of where I had to be honest with myself about the things I loved, the things I was passionate about and the things that I was not willing to give up. I should also mention that I was into culinary arts long before I was into architecture — in fact, I took steps into a kitchen at the age of 8 and I’m glad it was something I never gave up all throughout my studies in architecture and graduate school. I also began traveling around the world very young and have traveled extensively through my childhood years and with my future husband, Shamit through Australasia. So whatever I chose to do next, it was going to be something that spoke to my strengths, my creativity, my passions and was also a positive force. In 2011, my husband and I were traveling with some of our closest friends to Italy where we had all rented a villa in Tuscany. What was meant to be a relaxing vacation soon turned chaotic as everyone had different desires and felt pulled in various directions. This realization — that even best friends might struggle to travel harmoniously together — was the catalyst for creating Weave A Thousand Journeys — a company dedicated not only to bringing like-minded travelers together but creating bespoke experiences that celebrate architecture, food, wine and culture.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career?
One of the most exciting and closely held secrets in the Portuguese culinary world is the confrarias which translates into ‘brotherhood’ in English and is an incredible part of Portuguese heritage and culture. Each confraria from a particular village in Portugal is made up of people from all walks of life with a passion and knowledge of a dish with a particular ingredient. Sometimes it’s broad, like the Confraria Gastronómica do Bacalhau (salted cod), while other times it’s more specific. They take this very seriously wearing matching cloaks and badges and view the confraria as a means to protect their culinary heritage. Many of these clubs can trace their roots back to medieval times, and throughout the year they host multi-day festivals, contests and events where each confraria prepares their own signature dishes and shares this with other confrarias in the country.
Near the town of Aveiro through an Architect friend, I was invited with a small group of my clients to experience a confraria first hand. It was an incredible day and one we still speak of! It began with spending a few hours on the marshes near Aveiro on a fishing boat, nibbling on cheese and wine and pork and looking at the bird and wildlife. We were then taken to a humble tin roof building with a large courtyard where several men and women each had workstations set up with large pots working a different dish. The signature dish from this village confraria featured baby eels. They made a delicious stew with potatoes, baby eels, onions, turmeric and saffron and it was one of the best things we had eaten in Portugal. What made the day extra special is learning that we were the first foreigners to ever be invited to their confraria. It’s a memory we will not easily forget.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
One of the lessons we learned early on was to never be surprised or taken aback by the type of requests we get from clients. One such request we received was to find out the cost of shipping frozen breast milk to a villa in St. Tropez that we had organized for our clients from the US. I remember this phone call so vividly even today, trying to ask in the nicest way possible if the manufacturer of said breast milk was in the traveling party and if so, would it still be necessary to ship the breast milk if the means of production would be traveling with them? I mean, can you imagine this conversation? It was incredible to be asked for such a thing and we had no idea how to go about doing this or the international laws surrounding such a request so we had to scramble to find a solution for our clients. Find a solution, we did; in fact we ended up finding a few companies that specialize in shipping breast milk — something we learned on the job that day! But though we have a chuckle about it now, we learned that one of the key aspects of our business and our success was to learn to problem solve and find solutions to our clients needs at a moment’s notice.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?
I remember more than a decade ago, I was sitting with a friend at a coffee shop. I was at that time in life teaching culinary arts for Adult-Ed in my county. I shared with her that I had this vision to start a company that would connect artisans in the food world, architects, artists, and other subject matter experts with regular people who had an appreciation for the finer things of life without all of the hoity-toity attitudes. I remember her saying, “If you build it, I will come”. And she did. It meant a great deal that she didn’t laugh in my face when I came up with the idea. Since then, the fact remains that there have been so many people who have been rungs on the ladder of my success. My parents are definitely to blame for my wanderlust and who gave me an instinct for the finer things of life, my hubby, Shamit without whom this company could never have existed because he held the fort in those early days when no one knew we existed and I had no clients. He always said, ” You have a dream and it’s worth supporting” and that meant everything but his words meant even more on days when I was an absolute worrywart. He also stayed home with our sons who were young then and could not be left alone while I traveled to Europe learning and leading tour groups. I stand on the shoulders of all my travel partners throughout the world who share my passion for looking after our clients and on the shoulders of my closest (very wise) friends who are my sounding board, are always providing me emotional support and listen to me vent over glasses of wine! And finally my excellent team of hard-working women at our company, each so capable and dedicated to their tasks and commitment to our clients. A shout-out to Debbie, Rose, Beth and Anna! Finally, do you have any idea how lucky I’ve been to have the best clients?! People who appreciate what we do and what we bring to the table. They come back to us year after year and refer us to their family and friends. Their trust is hard-earned and we don’t take that for granted for a single minute! Many of our clients have become close friends and that is a wonderful thing to happen. I often say, “We aren’t in the travel business, we are in the people business.”
Thank you for that. Let’s jump to the core of our discussion. Can you share with our readers about the innovations that you are bringing to the travel and hospitality industries?
We have a different business model to most of the people in our industry. First off, we are not travel agents, we are luxury travel advisors. We are not affiliated with a host agency or a consortia. What we bring to the table is the benefit of our own experiences and an attention to detail that sets us apart. One of the best things a client wrote in her testimonial was that we are memory creators! What a wonderful pairing of words don’t you think?
One of the key aspects that sets us apart is that the key players in the luxe and ultra-luxe travel space use DMC’s (destination management companies) who are local companies that are given the tour and clients are handed over to them once they land in the country and don’t get me wrong they do a great job.
In our case, though we are based in the US, I am personally in Europe at least 6–8 weeks at a time, usually twice a year. I take this time to meet our travel partners all over the world and it’s a completely different relationship that develops when you sit and have a meal with folks on the ground that you work with. When I send my clients to a destination, I know the people who are responsible for looking after them. It’s also incredibly helpful that as a company we are international digital nomads (and have always been long before COVID) and most of them are also widely traveled. We are constantly brainstorming and learning from each other with a singular goal, to enhance our client experience.
Which “pain point” are you trying to address by introducing this innovation and how do you envision that this might disrupt the status quo?
As a small business, we are constantly juggling so many balls in the air. Not only are we serving all our clients who have scheduled departures coming up all the way into 2025. Thankfully, we are continuing to add new clients and serving our repeat clients. So as much as I would like to spend many more weeks at a time traveling and meeting more travel partners on each trip, it’s a question of balancing time and resources. This summer for example, I met our wonderful travel partner in Copenhagen for a fantastic dinner that lasted more than 6 hours, then flew to Portugal the next day to meet our key travel partners on the ground and tour some of their new hotels that we are planning to send future clients and finally spent a few weeks in Ireland doing the same.
It’s not always easy finding a work-life balance that allows me to travel, do the work that requires me to be seated at a desk in the office, be a mother to our sons (one of whom is applying to college this year and any parent will tell you that’s a whole other level of stress) and still do all the things that make the wheels of a marriage go round and round. Any woman in the workforce will share what a struggle it is to be all things you need to be all at once! In addition, I have the added pressure of being away from my family for extended periods. The fact remains, that if I don’t travel, I can’t do my job and serve our clients with the high degree of excellence they have come to expect from us.at Weave A Thousand Journeys.
As you know, COVID-19 changed the world as we know it. Can you share a few examples of how travel and hospitality companies will be adjusting over the next five years to the new ways that consumers will prefer to travel?
I was just having the same conversation with my travel partner in Lisbon and we both have the sense that we are now past COVID revenge travel phase of 2023 and are now in a correction phase, returning to 2019 levels of travel. Fortunately, the hospitality and tourism industry worldwide is continuing to regain its strength. Despite the removal of COVID-19 regulations, most travelers continue to prioritize health and safety measures. Therefore, high-quality cleanliness is key to hotels and resorts and we especially see that in the luxury sector.
The truth of the matter is that most people are going to continue to choose meaningful experiences over material goods and travel is a huge way to achieve that. Post-COVID we continue to see a rising trend of solo travelers, groups of friends, couples, families, and intergenerational families traveling together to create shared memories.
I do feel that there is a sense that life is too short, that there is so much uncertainty in the world with climate change etc. so each year people want to get out there and explore this beautiful world we live in while they still can. Travel is going to continue to be a positive force in people’s lives.
You are a “travel insider”. How would you describe your “perfect vacation experience”?
One of my favorite things to do for downtime is to spend a few nights at a beautiful nature spa. One of my favorite nature spas is in the village of Colroy-la-Roche, La Cheneaudiere about 45 minutes away from Strasbourg, France. The nature spa has 2500 sq. meters (26,000 sq feet) over 3 levels all dedicated to marvelous relaxation and well-being facilities. Two of my favorite experiences besides the excellent massages of course is the outdoor stainless steel overflow pool, where when you are standing at the edge it feels like you can touch almost the mountains with their evergreen trees. The feeling of serenity is like nothing you’ve ever experienced. And the other is spending 30 minutes in the private flotarium, which is a pool of water loaded with 4 tons of epsom salt which makes it as salty as the Dead Sea! So you float in this pool and then rinse off in a hot shower afterward. It’s incredibly relaxing and rejuvenating. And talk about splurging, but the Chef at the restaurant does an incredible lobster 3-ways which to date I have not been able to top. A day at the spa ending with a lobster dinner and an excellent bottle of Alsatian wine is not a bad way to end the day after all.
Travel is not always about escaping, but about connecting. Have you made efforts to cultivate a more wellness-driven experience? We’d love to hear about it.
I think my answer above speaks to my love for wellness vacations. It’s a wonderful thing when you can bring together different aspects that make for an excellent travel experience. Beaune is in the heart of Burgundy and is renowned for its appellations of Côte de Beaune and Côte de Nuits. You may have also heard of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, widely known as DRC, which is one of the most hallowed estates in Burgundy and a wine most of us will never taste since they produce less than 6,000 bottles annually. Beaune is one of those amazing corners of the world that brings together excellent wine, excellent food including incredible cooking classes (you are in Burgundy after all), luxury accommodations and service. For example, at Luxury Hotel Le Cep, the delightful owner Mr. Jean-Claude Bernard at its helm, offers vinotherapy for relaxation as features a state-of-the-art Ayurvedic center (based on the science from India) offering treatments that link body and mind from massages, ayurvedic cures to yoga, meditation and dietary advice. The massage by the Ayurvedic doctor I had there was hands down one of the best I have ever had! People can sign up for a week to multi-week sessions. It’s just one of the wellness vacations we offer our clients and we can offer them several options from Quebec to Switzerland.
Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. Based on your experience and success, what are the five most important things one should know in order to create a travel experience that keeps bringing people back for more? Please share a story or an example for each.
Pick the right time to travel: One of the first things I always advise clients is that if you can, don’t travel in the peak summer season — especially once European schools are out which is usually late June into the first week of Sept. Not only are you dealing with sweltering record-breaking temperatures but this is only worsened with wall-to-wall crowds in popular destinations. Traveling during the shoulder seasons is best when places are less crowded and a bit slower-paced. It also helps that we love to curate trips to off-the-tourist-path destinations, places that our travelers would not usually know to travel to on their own.
Meet the right locals: Several years ago, we designed a trip to Barcelona for a wonderful group of people who were from all walks of life, none of whom were Architects. We did, however, make sure they spent half a day with a local Architect who specialized in Gaudi’s work. They walked around the city for half a day looking at figure ground studies, went in and out of hidden courtyards, and visited works of Gaudi, visiting details that they would never have otherwise learned such as Gaudi’s childhood apprenticing with his father, laying bricks as well as his mastery of iron works which he showcases so exquisitely at Casa Batlló and La Pedrera. People still talk to us about that tour, years later. Millions of people visit Barcelona each year and many will breeze in and out of Familia Sagrada but taking the time to spend a day with a subject matter expert, that is invaluable!
Think of travel as regional: The sort of client that would not be a good fit for us is probably one who is looking to simply check off boxes of countries they have traveled to with no real, deep interest and is satisfied with skimming the surface. Take Italy for example, anyone who travels to Rome, Florence, and Venice and thinks they’ve done Italy is kidding themselves. Italy is made up of regions where each offers a completely different experience when it comes to terrain, landscape, ingredients and therefore the cuisine and culture so an experience in the Lombardy region of Italy will be completely different to one in Emilia Romagna or Puglia.
Don’t look for America (or your country) wherever you go: One of the most common conversations I have with my clients is to embrace the culture they are going to and don’t throw a hissy fit expecting a culture to kow-tow to the customs you are used to back home. Take Spain for example, no one has dinner before 9:00 pm. People eat lunch late and eat dinner into the wee hours of the morning. So expecting you’ll be served dinner at 5:00 PM means you’ll be eating at awful touristy places (yup those ones with pictures of the food on the menu — run the other way please!) and you’ll never get to enjoy a great dinner experience with authentic food and the buzz you get surrounded by locals being loud and happy!
Expect the unexpected: All the best planning in the world can go down the tubes in a flash due to something that’s happening on the ground that’s completely out of your control. So be open to change. I remember on one of our bespoke tours, we planned for one of our clients to go to Scala Dei which is a Carthusian monastery and Winery in the El Piorat region of Spain. You have to drive on a narrow winding road on a mountain to get to the monastery. On one of the turns, they saw a semi-trailer truck across the entire road with the cab precariously hanging off the edge. No one was going anywhere and of course, the safety of the driver and that of our clients was foremost in the mind of the driver of our car service company. We immediately advised the driver to turn around and drive our clients to the village of Porrera. We organized a lovely lunch for them at one of our all-time favorite restaurants, Restaurant La Cooperative owned by Litus and Mia and they ended up having an incredible meal and a great time strolling through the village. They still claim it was one of the best lentil salads they’ve ever eaten! In short, when best-laid plans go awry, be cool and ready to pivot.
Can you share with our readers how you have used your success to bring goodness to the world?
Doing good in this world is such a large concept and this world is full of people who are doing good in small nuanced ways, impacting people’s lives for the positive every day. What we’re trying to do at Weave A Thousand Journeys in our own small way with each client is to make their travel dreams come true and in many ways exceed them, to be a conduit for joy in their lives and also show them an aspect of the world and its people they might not have known existed. And hopefully, that makes them more graceful in new cultures and see the world in a different, softer light.
I know my place in the universe and though I’m not going to change the trajectory of the world, we can do good with a strong business ethic. I try to treat everyone we work with fairly and that includes our travel partners on the ground and especially our team in the office. Oh! I do believe in the power of karma. Like any other small business, we like to be paid fairly for our efforts but money is and has never been the primary driver when we design and execute our tours. If at any point we feel that our client will benefit from an additional service, then we provide it at no extra cost.
Also, at the end of each year, we decide on a charity to support and a portion of our annual profits goes to a charity — we have supported charities such as Heifer International, Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, the Red Cross, and last few years, we have supported our local high school sports team who needed funds for singlets and field trips.
You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
I wish I was clever enough to create something like this but I think an app or a platform that can integrate pick-ups and deliveries from several sources separated by prepared food (restaurants and food trucks) v/s uncooked/raw food (grocery stores) and create a way that at the end of each day all this food could be picked up and set up for distribution at various locations to those who need it the most, would be wonderful. People could use the platform and app to see what’s being offered and choose a location closest to them to pick up their food.
In Sydney when I was in graduate school we uni students knew of certain restaurants that would hand out leftovers at the back door at 11:00 PM and since we were always working late into the night, were always hungry and perpetually broke it was a lifesaver! So something like this on a grand scale would be amazing don’t you think?
How can our readers follow you on social media?
https://www.instagram.com/weavejourneys/
https://www.facebook.com/weavejourneys/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/12654874
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!
About The Interviewer: Savio P. Clemente, TEDx speaker and Stage 3 cancer survivor, infuses transformative insights into every article. His journey battling cancer fuels a mission to empower survivors and industry leaders towards living a truly healthy, wealthy, and wise lifestyle. As a Board-Certified Wellness Coach (NBC-HWC, ACC), Savio guides readers to embrace self-discovery and rewrite narratives by loving their inner stranger, as outlined in his acclaimed TEDx talk: “7 Minutes to Wellness: How to Love Your Inner Stranger.” From his best-selling book to his impactful work as a media journalist covering resilience and wellness trends with notable celebrities and TV personalities, Savio’s words touch countless lives. His philosophy, “to know thyself is to heal thyself,” resonates in every piece.
