How I travel

Long-time Jacada client and McLaren executive Mark Waller chatted to us about his approach to travel, how it brings his family together and why he believes it’s one of the greatest things you can give another person.

What does travel mean to you?

I grew up travelling, it’s a real passion of mine. It’s in my DNA. I credit my parents with my total love for the safari experience and what it represents, but more broadly with my ‘the world is your oyster’ mentality.

My wife and I met overseas and so as a family we’ve always associated travel with great things. It’s an amazing way to bond, creating a variety of unique experiences that you can share and then reminisce about later.

I think it’s a great way to see the world, on your own terms with the people you love.

What do you prioritise when you travel and how has it evolved over time?

We start by thinking about the experiences we’re looking for, which could be anything from the specific ‘I really want to dive with dolphins’ to something much broader like wanting to visit a desert or see a glacier. What flows from that tends to be the geography and from there the logistics of time of year, convenience and availability for us. Particularly when you’re juggling kids and they’re in jobs and relationships as well you have multiple dimensions that you’re trying to balance out.

Our approach has naturally evolved over time as we collectively have become more involved in the planning. Through experience you also become very much more attuned to what you all like and don’t like and know more about what’s important to each of you. You become much more choiceful - which ends in you making better choices and getting more out of the commitment you make.

You recently came to Jacada to plan multiple trips at once. Why did you take that approach?

As a family we are in a period of life where we’re blessed with good health and the benefit of time and resources. My wife and I are at the moment right now where you can take advantage of those circumstances and do the things that you might not be able to count on doing five to ten years from now. There’s also a definite covid impact of ‘wow life is too short’, so you’d better make sure that you really get to have the experiences you want to have and you go to where you want to with the people that you love. The third part of it is that if you do it really well, you’ll probably uncover a lot of places that you’d like to go back to later. For example, our trip to Australia and French Polynesia: I can bet that this won’t be our only trip to that part of the world but we’ll get a sense of which bits are truly awesome.

Where is somewhere that’s really captured you like that in the past?

I was born in Kenya so it’s a wonderful memory for me and it’s great to share that with my family. I think that Africa is just a unique place to visit, I don’t think I know anyone who’s been and hasn’t come back transformed in some way by the experience of it.

Are there any other trips you’ve taken that really stand out to you?

I truly don’t think we’ve ever been to a bad place. Peru and the Galápagos was really memorable. The excursions: Machu Picchu; the hiking for our kids; the wonder of the Galápagos; being able to dive and enjoy the ecosystem there… An extraordinary family trip. That’s definitely somewhere we’d all go back in a heartbeat.

Argentina was also incredible. And again that had something for everyone.

When you travel with family, a lot of effort goes into planning to make sure there’s something for everyone and also that there’s time built in for people to do their own thing. People have different needs and so you want it to be fulfilling for everyone individually as well as collectively.

One of our most memorable days was on safari when a horse riding excursion was available. The kids went on that and my wife and I went on a walking safari instead. Unbeknownst to us the excursions ended up in the same place and we had an extraordinary family breakfast in the middle of the savannah: completely stunning and unexpected. We had all got to do what we wanted to and still shared the experience.

Similarly in Peru the kids hiked Huayna Picchu and then we met up for a beer... Some of the family dive and others don’t… you always want to make sure that the options available meet the needs of everyone as much as possible, so it doesn’t become ‘Dad’s vacation’ and everyone else is just along for the ride.

Is there anything that you think ties together the places you’ve loved the most?

The common theme is the extraordinary majesty of nature, and the beauty of what the world has to offer.

In terms of experiences, the Machu Picchu experience of being in a place like that and understanding how it came to be and how absurdly ridiculous it is that human beings could build that. For my wife the wonder of the Great Wall of China was similar. That people that long ago had the ability to create these extraordinary structures is incredible.

Swimming with seals in the Galápagos was another highlight. It was incredible how natural they were and how unintimidated by humans. Going on walking safaris too, being that vulnerable and exposed and yet comfortable. When we see nature as it’s meant to be we realise just how wonderful it is.

And finally, what is the best thing about travelling as a family?

Part of what we’ve wanted to do with our own family is to give our children that breadth of perspectives and broadening of horizons and experiences that you can only get from travel.

Travel is an amazing gift and it’s one that we give to each other. It’s not just one directional – when we plan trips it’s not a question of just ‘can the kids make it’ but of the kids genuinely wanting to give that time back to us. That’s a pretty cool thing.

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