Travel and Personal Growth: Darryl Newby Of ‘Welcome To Travel’ On Why & How Traveling Can Help Us Become Better Human Beings

An interview with Maria Angelova

Travel can be lonely at times — especially if you’re traveling solo. However, kindness can get you a long way and it’s a currency every culture knows. If you come to another with a selfish attitude, your new travel friends will realize this and won’t want to carry on experiences with you. Travel is a time to rid yourself of the traits of the current you that you don’t want to identify yourself with and create a new persona. The best way to get the most out of traveling is to be kind.

Thankfully, the world is open for travel once again. Traveling can broaden our horizons and make space for people to become more open-minded. How can travel give us the opportunity for personal growth? What are some ways that travel can help us become better human beings? As a part of our series about “How Traveling Can Help Us Become Better Human Beings”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Darryl Newby.

Darryl Newby is the co-founder of Welcome to Travel, which he founded with his friend, Adam Ogle, in 2017 after they traveled to Australia together on a Working Holiday Visa. The company supports young backpackers visiting Australia on the Working Holiday Maker visa by offering group tours of Melbourne and Sydney, employment advice and admin set-up including bank accounts, mobile phones and accommodation. He believes that travel is about connecting with like-minded people and having incredible experiences but recognizes that it can be pretty daunting.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series!Before we dive into the main focus of our interview, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your childhood backstory?

I grew up in a small coastal town called Scarborough in North Yorkshire, UK. My childhood was defined by summer days on the beach, weekends playing soccer and holidays around the UK (with the odd vacation to the USA sprinkled in too).

I wasn’t the most academic at school and struggled to concentrate in certain subjects. As a middle-of-the-road student, I never got into trouble but, equally, I was never at the top of the class.

After finishing my GCSEs (the equivalent of the high school diploma), I decided to continue studying and it was during this time that I fell in love with media studies, which then led to me deciding to pursue Film and TV further at college.

What or who inspired you to pursue your career? We’d love to hear the story.

After finishing college in 2009, I felt like I was at a crossroads: go and become a fully-fledged adult or go traveling.

It was in the middle of the ‘credit crunch’ in the UK, when the banks stopped lending and many were struggling to pay off their debts. Times were hard so opportunities in media were hard to come by.

My best friend, Adam, and I opted to go traveling for six months instead. We first went to South Africa to watch the World Cup, before heading to Thailand and then to our final destination, Australia.

There was something about Australia that stole my heart within the first week of being there. I’m not sure whether it was the kangaroos bouncing past me as I pruned the vines on a vineyard, the secluded golden beaches or the clear night skies littered with millions of stars and backdropped by the Milky Way. It just had me.

However, I didn’t have any grand long-term plans at this stage. I was just saving up enough money to help fund the next part of my travels.

I was having an incredible adventure: seeing Uluru at sunrise, surfing in Byron Bay, going to Melbourne for Christmas, Sydney for New Year and skydiving over the Great Barrier Reef.

I never considered that this could be a job so I was just focused on getting money to fund the next part of my journey, traveling around South East Asia for a couple of months by planting trees and playing soccer.

After doing this, I once again returned to Australia, armed with a completely different array of memories and experiences, and a realization that I wanted to work in travel.

I set my sights on making that happen. Within a month, I was working at a travel agency in Sydney.

My own personal experiences of traveling inspired me to pursue the career path that I have and enabled me to become who I am today. After less than a year of working in the travel agency, Adam joined the same company and within a few months, we were running our own travel stores within the company.

This led to us both being offered Operation Managerial roles. While in this position, we started to question how we could help travelers as soon as they arrived in the country because, at the time, there was nothing in place for this and it seemed to be left up to fate. The following year, we launched Welcome to Travel.

None of us can achieve success without some help along the way. Was there a particular person who you feel gave you the most help or encouragement to be who you are today? Can you share a story about that?

My friend and co-founder, Adam. I would not be where I am today without him.

We have grown up together. We are both from the same small town in the UK and began playing soccer together when we were just 9 years old. We then went to the same school and college before going traveling together.

We share many memories of our adventures and both have the same competitive yet supportive spirit.

A story that really captures our working relationship and support for each other goes back to when we were both working as operations managers directly under the owners of the travel company that sponsored our stay in Australia.

Adam noticed that I was getting frustrated that some of my ideas were getting stifled as I’ve always been a bit of a creative thinker and rather entrepreneurial. I was always wondering how to attract more travelers to the business but I could never get anything off the ground.

Adam sensed this in me, and he made us sit down and have a chat about what we wanted for our future. During our discussion, it was clear that we weren’t sure what we both wanted but one thing was certain: we would do it together.

If it wasn’t for him, Welcome to Travel would not exist.

It has been said that sometimes our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share the funniest or most interesting mistake that occurred to you in the course of your career? What lesson or takeaway did you learn from that?

I’ll give you a funny one rather than a serious one.

Welcome to Travel had launched online but we had no visuals, nothing that could illustrate the story of what customers would experience.

So, after months of putting together a promo tour to capture it, we were ready.

We had the talent. We had the tour group. We had the videographer. And I had a brand new bus driver’s license.

Having had a maximum of 6 hours of driving this bus — I was feeling pretty confident. Up until we got to our first lookout point.

Everyone jumped off the bus and went to marvel at Arthur’s Seat, the highest point on the Mornington Peninsula. We could see the whole of Port Phillip Bay, Melbourne, in the distance and the sandbars by the local beaches. Beautiful. Everyone was on cloud nine.

After getting the footage, Adam and myself jumped back on the bus, along with the 20 travelers. I went to turn the key to start the engine and got absolutely nothing. I tried again and the key wasn’t even turning.

Blind panic hit me. I’d never really driven a bus and didn’t have the knowledge to understand why this would be happening. I googled everything I could think of but couldn’t figure it out. I called the owner of the depot where we had got the bus from and he didn’t pick up.

20 minutes later, we were still sitting by the side of the road — just waiting to go but the key still wasn’t turning.

I finally got a call from the owner of the depot. He asked me what was happening. I frantically told him that the bus was broken and the key just wasn’t turning. All I could think was that if we don’t do this right then we might not have a travel company.

The owner requested a FaceTime, ‘let me look — turn the camera around’, he said.

I told him that I definitely thought it was broken but he asked to see the ignition. I pointed the camera to where the keys were and then I saw it — the actual bus key dangling from the set. Just dangling down and not in the ignition at all.

I had been trying to use the wrong key for 20 minutes and, being in a blind panic, I just hadn’t noticed it.

My key takeaway from this is — never learn on the job when the job is so important to you.

Can you share your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Why does that resonate with you so much?

“We must be willing to risk losing sight of the shore before we can cross the ocean and reach our dreams” — Christopher Columbus.

For me, this has shown up at three major times in my life.

Going to University. Going traveling. Starting a business.

I have always been curious about the world, wanting to know more and never liking to settle for the status quo.

If I didn’t have this curiosity, I would be in a completely different place than where I am today.

That quote is definitely a reminder to have the courage to open up a new world for yourself.

What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now? How do you think that might help people?

Traveling has changed a lot since I started back in 2010 but the reasons why people go traveling haven’t. Travelers still want to meet and connect with people from around the world.

That’s why we’re currently working on a ‘hybrid tour’, which will bring people together at the start but allow them the freedom to choose their own path.

Rather than having a rigid itinerary where every minute of your tour is taken up, we’re instead giving freedom to the traveler to allow them to explore areas by themselves based on their interests.

This way they can still enjoy the security of having major elements booked in advance, and the benefits of a physical tour guide in the beginning, but they will then be able to see Australia at their own pace and discover their own interests.

OK, thank you for all of that. Let’s now shift to the core focus of our interview about travel and personal growth. Let’s dive deeper into these together. Based on your research or personal experience, why do you think travel can lead to personal growth? Can you share a story?

Travel is hands down the best form of education.

I’ve learnt more about myself, the world, different cultures and people than any classroom ever could have taught me.

It’s this shared knowledge mixed with unique experiences that help form you as a person and enables you to connect to more people from around the world.

I remember being around a hostel campfire in Pretoria, South Africa, and a guy who was staying there was talking about scuba diving.

To me, at the time, scuba diving was only something that highly trained professionals could do. It wasn’t even on my radar that I might be able to do it so this sowed a seed of curiosity in me.

From there, I worked out how I could get my PADI license.

One year later in 2011, I was in Nha Trang in Vietnam diving 18 meters, getting a license that would allow me to be a certified diver.

Fast forward to a few months ago, I was on an overnight scuba diving tour on the Great Barrier Reef — diving with reef sharks in the pitch black of night.

Once we were back safely onboard the boat, I joined up with a group of people and asked what people do for a living. Some were just starting their travel adventures, one had just joined one of the Welcome to Travel tours and was inspired by one of the guides to go diving (they had no idea I was the owner of the company), another girl worked in robotics and her robot was featured on Jimmy Fallon and someone else was a journalist for Wired magazine.

Having then followed them in socials, I noticed the journalist recently interviewed James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, and she sent me some insights from her conversation with him that I’ve now applied to my life.

All of this wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t meet that guy around a hostel campfire.

A recent survey from Psychology Today showed that over 80% of participants found that travel helped them with problem-solving or decision-making. Why do you think this is true for so many people?

Life is like riding a snow sledge down a hill. You get to the top and ride the sledge down a path that’s already been created by your friends and family.

You go back up and you ride it down the same path, which you have then also helped carve out.

It’s fun, but after a while, you get bored of it and see a bigger hill with fresh snow on.

Here you have a choice — stick to the same path, which has no problems and brings you some fun, or go to the bigger unknown hill.

If you choose to stay on the same hill then the people you know will be happy but it won’t bring you joy. So the decision that you make means you will have to have a hard conversation.

You then need to solve the problem of getting up and down the hill safely, whilst communicating this to your loved ones.

It will be new terrain, and there might be obstacles and things which you haven’t even considered, but you know that this is the right course for you. You need to solve these problems for you to feel fulfilled.

You have gone downhill on a sledge before, but just not on this hill.

Travel is the same. It’s the same activity wherever you go. Yet every destination is a new hill and it will fulfill you.

You need to make the decision to go and decide what transport you’re taking and where you’ll be staying, all the while making it work within a budget and a timeframe.

It forces you to be resourceful but my god, it’s a lot of fun.

Do you think travel enhances our mindfulness, optimism, or sense of gratitude? How? Can you please explain with an example or story?

Travel opens up your mind but how it does so depends on the experiences you have. If you have a negative experience then it may make you more skeptical than optimistic, but it should give you a sense of gratitude.

Travel is a privilege and, having lived through COVID, we know it’s a privilege that can be taken away.

Being from a western country, I know that it’s easy to get caught up in the daily grind and your day-to-day problems, which aren’t actually problems compared to the rest of the world.

In my first week of traveling, I went to Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for over 20 years.

I saw his cell. His living conditions. The hell he had to endure. All because he was seeking equality.

You will see injustices and poverty when you travel, and it really puts life into perspective.

Surely not everyone who travels automatically becomes an exemplar of human decency. What are a few reasons why some people completely miss out on the growth opportunities that travel can offer?

Deeply ingrained habits are hard to get rid of.

For example, Welcome to Travel exists because of these habits.

Adam and I were looking for an idea to work on together. From our vantage point, we had access to travelers from around the world who were in Australia.

A common question we would ask them is “how are you liking Australia?”

In around 2016/2017 the answer started to change from “amazing” to “it’s ok but I’ve not met many people”.

We went into common rooms in hostels and noticed that nobody was talking to one another — everyone was on their phones not connecting with one another.

We wanted to change that. We wanted to connect like-minded people through unique experiences.

This bond, this community, which is created early on in people’s travel experiences, enables people to have a better time as they have a support network.

Thank you for that. Now for our main question; What are your “5 Habits You Should Develop In Order Make Travel Into An Opportunity For Personal Growth?”

Being off your device.

The reason why Welcome to Travel exists is because of this.

As I mentioned before, you need to be present when traveling, and in the moment, in order to connect with other like-minded people and enrich your experience.

Getting used to being uncomfortable.

It’s daunting to have a conversation with someone that you don’t know but you really never know where these can lead.

We’re surrounded by home comforts, which don’t push us out of our comfort zone, so if you don’t have the habit of feeling ok with a bit of discomfort, it’s going to be hard for you to grow.

When I was first traveling in South Africa, I had an issue with not many people being able to understand me when I said my name. With a thick accent and a slight speech impediment, it was understandable.

However, I didn’t let it stop me and I would talk to as many people as possible, even though I felt terrified when doing so.

This has helped me incredibly with my current career and overcoming fear has allowed me to do some crazy experiences, such as bungy jumping and skydiving.

Being curious and open-minded

Wherever you are in the world you’re going to meet people from different cultures and backgrounds.

This is a massive learning opportunity.

Some people have had the most extraordinary lives and you can only find out about them if you’re curious.

On the Welcome to Travels tours, we’ve included an aboriginal heritage walk into the itinerary so it can get people to appreciate Australia from a completely different perspective.

One key takeaway I always get from this inclusion is: if there are three berries on a tree — only take one. Why? One is for you, one is for the next generation and the other is for the land which gives us life.

This has given me a completely different outlook — especially when we live in such a capitalist society.

Be kind

Travel can be lonely at times — especially if you’re traveling solo.

However, kindness can get you a long way and it’s a currency every culture knows.

If you come to another with a selfish attitude, your new travel friends will realize this and won’t want to carry on experiences with you.

Travel is a time to rid yourself of the traits of the current you that you don’t want to identify yourself with and create a new persona.

The best way to get the most out of traveling is to be kind.

Budgeting

Travel does an incredible job of making you mindful of money, especially on a longer travel stint.

Money is your oxygen tank and if you don’t have a grasp on it then the experience is going to be cut short.

We have seen in our community at Welcome to Travel that the people who are a bit careless with money tend to fly home earlier.

From your experience, does travel have a negative impact on personal growth too? Is there a downside to travel?

It can harm friendships and relationships if the bonds aren’t strong enough and if you don’t put enough work into them when you’re traveling, it can have a negative impact.

We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US, whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we both tag them :-)

I’d love to be able to sit down with either Ben Francis (Gymshark) or Steven Bartlett to find out how they structure their businesses and their personal lives.

With them both being around my age, I am incredibly inspired by their success.

Also, anyone who can inspire young Americans to come over to Australia on a working holiday as I’ve not fully cracked that code yet!

How can our readers further follow your work online?

Our website is: welcometo.travel

Instagram: welcometo.travel

LinkedIn: Darryl Newby

Thank you for these really excellent insights, and we greatly appreciate the time you spent with this. We wish you continued success.

About The Interviewer: Maria Angelova, MBA is a disruptor, author, motivational speaker, body-mind expert, Pilates teacher and founder and CEO of Rebellious Intl. As a disruptor, Maria is on a mission to change the face of the wellness industry by shifting the self-care mindset for consumers and providers alike. As a mind-body coach, Maria’s superpower is alignment which helps clients create a strong body and a calm mind so they can live a life of freedom, happiness and fulfillment. Prior to founding Rebellious Intl, Maria was a Finance Director and a professional with 17+ years of progressive corporate experience in the Telecommunications, Finance, and Insurance industries. Born in Bulgaria, Maria moved to the United States in 1992. She graduated summa cum laude from both Georgia State University (MBA, Finance) and the University of Georgia (BBA, Finance). Maria’s favorite job is being a mom. Maria enjoys learning, coaching, creating authentic connections, working out, Latin dancing, traveling, and spending time with her tribe. To contact Maria, email her at angelova@rebellious-intl.com. To schedule a free consultation, click here.