It's a huge educational thing to travel and to meet other, see other cultures on the ground and so on.

Most people love travel and obviously the people who apply to work to our founders love travel

and they get a certain amount of help.

Hello and welcome to today's independent travel podcast. It's Wednesday the 7th of May

and all this week I'm talking to Sir Mike

Gouli. He is the chairman and founder of Trailfinders. Today I'm hearing about the Trail

Finders philosophy and also about how in the early days when the company really wasn't making

much money at all, he helped to

keep it going by lecturing motorists who were setting off to Africa.

Our mission statement is to exceed the expectations of our clients, our staff and our suppliers,

in other words, trying to do the right thing by everybody so far as you can.

I didn't set out to do that because I'm some kind of a saint, nor did I set out was I thought

this is a very clever way of marketing. It's an investment. I'd have to say here I was given to the

Jesuits and I was still seven and the war was on and where corporal punishment

was administered on a daily basis. I don't think I was a particularly naughty boy but I was a very

high-spirited one. That got you a lot of beatings but when also had, you know, the Catholic

doctrine. Particularly anything can think of was a sin. So a sort of morality built in there.

You've written that you believe we're a product in basically equal quantities of our upbringing and our

DNA. Tell us how that has helped you in your career. Well, for the most part, you know,

the right thing and the wrong thing is pretty black and white.

Yeah? You know, don't fudge it.

Do you see Trailfinders as selling dreams, as working in the industry of human happiness?

...