Being a G Adventures' Ambassador of Change

Myrna Arroyo's career as a travel agent all started with a glass of wine.

"I used to own a wine bar, and one of my distributors had family in Cortona, Italy, right in the heart of Tuscany," said Arroyo, an independent Virtuoso Advisor with Roux Luxury Travel in Louisiana, an affiliate of Largay Travel.

"We did a wine trip to Tuscany with some of my customers, and everyone had so much fun that after I closed the wine bar, I started putting together wine trips for my former customers. One thing led to another and I became a travel advisor."

Arroyo loves to travel and having her own business.

"Being an independent travel advisor gives me the flexibility to be an entrepreneur and affords me amazing opportunities to see the world," said Arroyo. "I love helping my clients experience the world through customized travel experiences."

She specializes in wine and culinary travel while having a secondary specialty in adventure travel.

"I chose wine because I love it and because I'm a certified sommelier," Arroyo said. "I chose adventure travel because I love trips that take me into the wild, whether it's the Galapagos or a safari in Africa. I believe that these trips are life-changing and, once people see the beauty of the Earth, they'll want to come home and advocate for taking better care of it."

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She enjoys helping her clients figure out all the minor details. She once had a family traveling in Italy, and the older kids were going to need to take the train by themselves from Florence to Rome.

"Their mother was worried that they might be confused, or miss their train," she said. "So rather than just drop them off at the train station, I set up an assistant to make sure the kids got safely on the correct train, and that their guide met them at the train in the other city. It gave her peace of mind."

Other times, it's helping her clients get reservations at hard-to-get-into restaurants or getting access to a special event: "Like the time I was able to re-arrange some of the activities on our wine trip to Piedmont so that our group got to experience the Palio di Siena horse race in Asti with a local guide to explain all of the traditions to us."

While many people use and appreciate travel advisors, Arroyo said that many think travel agents are not worth it: "Getting new clients can be challenging with all of the competition online, but ultimately this can be overcome by educating our prospects on our value."

If others are mulling their careers over a glass of wine, Arroyo offers this advice: "If they have a passion for travel and for serving clients, they shouldn't hesitate, but they should be prepared, as it can take some time to build a pipeline of business."

Her favorite story is about one couple who was going on a romantic trip to Africa.

"They had been married for five years, but hadn't had a proper honeymoon," said Arroyo. "With my partner in Africa, we set them up with honeymoon amenities at their camp in the Masai Mara and got them the honeymoon treatment all the way, including a surprise private romantic dinner for two in the bush."

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It's so hard to pick just one destination, but Arroyo said that Africa is high on her list of favorite places to visit.

"I've been there twice in just this past year-once to South Africa and another time to Tanzania," she said. "Both experiences were with G Adventures, through their agent fam program to learn about their National Geographic Journeys tours, and separately through their Ambassadors of Change initiative as an educational benefit."

"I love the wildlife and the tented camps," she said. "Africa really feels like an adventure."

Earlier this year, Arroyo was chosen as one of seven G Adventures' Ambassadors of Change from a competitive applicant pool of nearly 350 American travel agents. "

This year-long role was designed to further empower us to educate travelers about the power of their purchases, and to share our insights with fellow advisors about how travel can change people's lives," she said. "It's been a fantastic experience that I'd encourage my peers to consider applying for next year."

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