GOGO + C&TH
Excerpts from GOGO Founder Eddie Lott’s recent Q&A with award-winning independent British publication Country & Town House.
Room with a view
I.
Why Did You launch Gift of Go?
The (very!) long story short is that I’ve been a traveler—in both the literal & existential senses—my whole life, but I was always at odds with the industry around it. Gift of Go (GOGO) was Elisa & my way of being able to bring travelers into Places that we felt a special connection with and knew were extraordinary, but were also undervalued by the travel industry and society in general. We felt strongly that with compelling storytelling & curation, and knowledgable, passionate guiding, the right type of traveler would understand the value of those Places, and that the ensuing experiences would be transformative for both our travelers and the Places where we go.
New Luxury / true luxury #2
II.
How did you launch?
Elisa & I are both new to the travel industry, and our concept & business model are unique, so we knew we would need to earn the trust of travelers early on. We ran & documented 9 test trips (ranging from 12-35 days) between 2021 & 2023, then contracted an amazing PR agency, Authentic Travel, in the UK to help us launch our inaugural Collection.
Our first press release was (thankfully!) enthusiastically received by freelance travel journalists & editors of big-name publications in the UK, Europe & the U.S., which was very encouraging, but the extended duration of our trips, challenging (active) nature of our itineraries, and high price tag kept many of them at bay. Elisa & I were also selective about who we wanted to bring: we read through a number of portfolios from some really talented writers and realized that we strongly preferred the deep, insightful pieces that we read to the more perfunctory accounts (of daily activities, accommodations, etc.). We also really only wanted to bring one individual, so that he or she could experience the same degree of immersion & impact that our travelers do.
Fortunately, one well-respected (and brave!) writer, Paul Richardson, threw his name in the hat. Paul’s article for Financial Times marked the end of 3 years of research & development, and the first day of talking dates with interested travelers.
Paul on the Trail
III.
How is Gift of Go’s approach a departure from your average luxury tour operator?
GOGO is pretty fundamentally different from your average luxury tour operator, and I think that stems from our creation story. Namely, Elisa & I didn’t set out to create “luxury tours”—or tours of any kind—at all. We wanted to share the stories of Places that we felt strongly connected to & believed were special, and we concluded that the best way to do that was to bring truly adventurous, culturally curious travelers into those worlds to experience them first-hand.
Like most luxury tour operators, we are incredibly meticulous in our curation—to the point that we spent 3 years researching & developing the itineraries for “Diamonds/Wild Tales + Lost Trails” (our first Collection of Experiences, set in Brazil’s Serra do Espinhaço), but both our curation & guiding are focused entirely on discovery—of little-known places, timeless ways of being, and new perspectives—as opposed to comfort, convenience, opulence, etc..
I think that kind of “the Story comes first” approach is unique in luxury travel, which traditionally emphasizes travelers’ perceived desires over all else, to the point that operators often seek to shield travelers from the genuine qualities of the settings where they operate. Elisa & I always say that if a traveler wants to do a GOGO trip, its because he or she wants to experience a world and way of life far from their own. We would be doing them an injustice if they came all the way here and felt like they were at home (or in their country, or in a different country, etc.).
The result of that approach is real adventure, driven by meaning and purpose. You’re here to experience a Place as much as possible geographically, culturally, ecologically, etc.. The fact that we’re all constantly moving during each trip (Elisa & I lead each one ourselves) while being immersed in a relatively untraveled foreign reality for an extended amount of time (our trips are a minimum of 14 days long) makes them challenging, but also exhilarating, rewarding, and unforgettable.
At the end of the day, they’re journeys, not vacations, and travelers find themselves reflecting on their experiences—and savoring them—long after the trip has ended.
Paul + Crew (SANs Eddie)