Julia’s career began in the City of London in the shipbroking and then, marine insurance industry. In 1994 however, she felt she had come to a crossroads and a sabbatical travelling in Africa only fuelled the desire to travel extensively and having experienced wanderlust there was no turning back. A new career was needed and the end result was the establishment of Goodacre & Townsend Ltd as a city-based boutique travel agency located in the shadow of the Lloyds market on Leadenhall Street. As G&T steadily grew its retail business, Julia married, there was a merger with a larger corporate travel specialist, the birth of a daughter and then in 2009 came an MBO opportunity which saw G&T return to looking after private individuals and a move across London to the West End. In the intervening years another daughter was born and Julia has continued to lead G&T from the front. A gastronome and an impatient gardener she is now based in Suffolk. She is still travelling, still enthusing and still happiest when discussing travel plans.
Started working life in the early 1990s at one of the UK’s leading sports tour operators. The job was varied in the extreme, but predominantly centred on the operational side of organizing tours for sports teams. From leafy Twickenham he took a career change and joined a startup wine merchant that specialized in the premium Bordeaux market and was responsible for the operational side of the business – the accounts, the transportation and storage of wines purchased. There was some client liaison as well and, when particularly nicely asked, the odd trip to taste the product! Moving on he set up his own independent wholesale wine merchant business and continues, to this day, to dabble in matters vinous. Marriage to Julia meant that he has never been far from G&T and when the opportunity came to assist her with the MBO of the business he was drawn in more closely. When no one’s looking he is liable to slip away to the Suffolk coastline to get on board anything that floats. In the meantime, however, once again, he finds himself dealing with the operational side of a travel business and able to inflict his spreadsheets and check lists on his long-suffering colleagues.
Beginning her working life in public relations and television she headed off to Africa at the end of the ‘90s. Her involvement with that continent has continued ever since but is by no means the only string to her bow. Her safari career began with a brief stint in Zambia and Malawi before she moved down to South Africa to work with horse safaris. From there, after some time back home again, she headed up to Botswana and to Jack’s Camp and thence back to Kenya. By 2003 she was back in the UK and working for a leading worldwide tour operator. In 2011 she was persuaded to join G&T and now divides her time between London and the countryside when she’s not exploring other parts of the world. Her safari experience speaks for itself and she is equally at home discussing the deserts of Namibia, Ethiopian early Christian churches or gorillas in Uganda but she has also travelled widely in other far flung parts of the world including India and Latin America.
Full of energy, classy and punchy to boot, Nicola’s enthusiasm is addictive. With a degree in French & Spanish under her belt, Nicola was determined to hone her linguistic skills wherever possible so started out soon after the millennium, as a Latin American specialist for a leading luxury tour operator before then expanding her knowledge & expertise further afield, to include most corners of the world. From Belize to Bermuda, Mozambique to Morocco and most places in between (!), Nicola’s most recent travels have taken her to Colombia, the Maldives and Greece. Having lived in Kenya, Paris and New York (for over 8 years), Nicola has more recently settled into village life with her young family in Oxfordshire. Meticulous by nature, you can be assured any trip you plan with Nicola will deliver all that was desired and be the springboard for the next one!