Your Stories: How we support clients with accessible travel needs

Q. What is your background? 
[Dimple] I used to work as a bursar/business manager for a primary school. Sonali fell ill in 2010, aged 14, and the following year I become her full-time carer. She was diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, became unable to eat and had to be fed by tube. At times her health deteriorated so much that doctors asked us to prepare for the worst. She fought with courage and overcame everything to be with us today. She is our warrior.

Q. How did you start in travel?
We live in Guildford, not far from Gatwick and Heathrow. Sonali’s dream was to work at an airport because she loved seeing people excited to be jetting off on holiday. This was not possible [because of her health], so we became travel agents, booking their holidays instead. Sonali studied travel and tourism at college and we looked at different homeworking companies. We liked Not Just Travel and attended one of their sessions, but Sonali’s health deteriorated and then Covid happened. So we started in May 2021. 

Q. How did your business take off?
Initially we sold to friends and family and marketed on social media. People were confused about [Covid travel] rules, so we said we could advise them. Most clients are regulars; they keep coming back and will recommend us. My previous career at school helped me with the finance side, VAT returns and accounts – and making connections with people.  

Q. How is Sonali now?
She is tube-fed, uses a walking stick and has chronic pain and fatigue, but helps when she can. She handles social media and holiday searches for clients, among other things. I handle the client service and admin. We’re a dream team. Sonali loves it when clients give us good feedback – it has given her a purpose, a new lease of life. Even in hospital, she takes her laptop so she can work from her hospital bed. With NJT, we can work anywhere. 

Q. How is business?
We’ve just had our best year in terms of bookings – it’s been non-stop – and we love the travel opportunities of being an NJT consultant. Most sales are regular bookings. We are busiest with bespoke tours that people want us to tailor-make, such as Thailand but visiting different places – so we go through our suppliers to see who would be able to help us put it together. The NJT support team are always helpful, and we have training, webinars and company updates. There is so much on their hub that we can use on social media. We did an NJT trip to Cyprus with Constantinou Bros Hotels and there is an NJT summer party near us that we can attend. Because Sonali gets chronic fatigue, homeworking and webinars are ideal.