ONE ON ONE
Bruce Hodge President, Goway Travel Who is someone you admire professionally in the travel industry? Richard Branson. He is a true business entrepreneur, prepared to tempt fate in his life and business and able to face down a Goliath (British Airways) as a David (startup Virgin Airways).
PHOTO: © BRUCE HODGE
THE BASICS Name: Bruce Hodge Title: President Company, city: Goway Travel; Toronto, Canada First job: Research economist Where to next? Hopefully, Easter Island A LITTLE BIT MORE What actor or actress would play you in a movie of your life? Hugh Jackman, not because of his The Wolverine character but because he played The Boy from Oz in the Broadway play and Drover in his movie Australia. What would you be doing professionally if you weren’t in your current industry? Economist in the Reserve Bank of Australia What is your favorite book, movie or television show? Game of Thrones. For me, it captured somewhat real themes in a mythical world. All the actors were well-cast to play their parts.
What historical figure, dead or alive, would you love to have dinner with? Winston Churchill. He had such a long life as a leader, which ranged from being the right person in the right place at the right time in World War II to the failure of Gallipoli in World War I. THE BUSINESS What is your most recent project, and what was the inspiration behind it? Rebuilding a re-invented Goway Travel to not just survive the pandemic but to be digitally and otherwise prepared to be a leader in travel for our next 50 years What is your favorite aspect of the job? Facing new challenges and creating new things. It might be new travel products and destinations, new business systems and ways to make them work, or new ideas to be more efficient and satisfy customers. What’s the biggest business risk you’ve ever taken? Starting Goway Travel with no business contacts and no money in a new country … with no safety net
AS A TRAVELER Tell us about a travel nightmare. Traveling with my wife and two young children to Africa, we were flying via London to South Africa to drop the kids with an aunt before continuing to Kenya for a safari. Operation Desert Storm was underway in Iraq. We arrived in London for a 12-hour stopover during the worst snowfall in years. IRA terrorists mortar-bombed No. 10 Downing Street that morning. Snow and security at Heathrow Airport created total bedlam. After many delays, in the middle of the night we transferred to a hotel and the next day at last boarded our flight to South Africa. We were booked on Lufthansa, which had a terrorist threat days before, but, as we boarded, we were relieved to see we were flying Swissair! Share a comical travel experience. I was led to believe the French in France didn’t like to be spoken to in English. My first day in France, on a tour-leader training trip, our bus broke down and I volunteered to hitchhike to a service station for help. My pickup was an Englishman. At the garage, I wanted to impress the mechanic, even though at school I was kicked out of French class. I walked up to him with my hand extended for a shake and exclaimed, “Au revoir, monsieur.” The Frenchman nearly died laughing. What is your preferred method of travel — planes, trains, automobiles, cruise ships — and why? Train travel stimulated my globetrotter instincts as a kid. The cabins had pictures of beautiful places in other parts of Australia. When traveling by rail, you get to see and feel the vastness of a country and are guaranteed to meet the locals. I have been fortunate to cross continents by train on The Canadian, The Indian Pacific and The Trans-Siberian. What has been the best example of customer service you’ve experienced during your travels? This was on a train, on The Rovos Edwardian journey from Cape Town to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Dedicated to recreating the golden age of train travel, they delivered impeccable service in the dining car and in the open-air rear bar carriage. There was even a bath in a classic bathtub in my suite.
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022 globaltravelerusa.com
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