Becky Lukovic - Tracking Gorillas Down the Mountain in Uganda

09/17/24 • 37 min

Becky Lukovic is a 20 year veteran in the travel industry. She started On the Go Travel Company in Indiana in 2001 after an “aha” moment in Sorrento, Italy. Standing on a bridge overlooking the sparkling Bay of Naples, Becky realized planning independent and culture-centric travel was her passion. In the next 20 years, she would use that passion to design unique, custom adventures for her clients.

Becky developed an extensive book of luxury travel connections and became involved in the American Society of Travel Agents, held a position on the Mid-America Chapter board, and served on the national ASTA communications committee in the early 2000s.

In 2010, Becky rebranded her company as Bella Travel Planning, LLC. in Carmel, Indiana to reflect her passion for beautiful, engaging, life-changing travel. In the summer of 2015, she and her husband moved cross-country to beautiful Atlanta, Georgia to start a new adventure.

Becky designs adventures for her clients across seven continents ranging from private scuba dives in Costa Rica to tiger sanctuaries in India to the 2008 Summer Olympics in China to cruises at the bottom of the world – Antarctica. She is a specialist in Culinary travel, Wine tasting trips, Italy, France, South Africa, Adventure travel, Antarctica, Incentive trips and meetings, and girlfriend getaways.

Recently, Becky trekked in the mountains of Uganda to visit a family of Silverback Gorillas—what an adventure. She’s been on land in Antarctica photographing colonies on Penguins, and explored countless off-the-beaten path European Ski resorts and Christmas Villages. A well-crafted tasting menu with wine parings are her love language and she counts many hotel owners and general managers as personal friends. A quick google of her name will reveal how many times she’s been quoted for industry publications as well as being featured on the cover of Luxury Travel Advisor Magazine.

Her mantra is “travel, like fine wine, should be savored as an experience and not gulped down in a hurry.”

Becky is a former member of the Saveur Magazine Travel Advisory Board and is currently a member of The Vast adventure travel society and the Culinary Travel Community with Virtuoso. She holds many destination and resort specialist certifications and is a preferred advisor with Four Seasons, Relais & Chateaux, Belmond, Ritz Carlton, Luxury Collection, Blackberry Farms, and Mandarin Oriental just to name a few. With these partnerships, she can wow her travelers with upgrades, complimentary breakfasts, hotel credits, and special rates for your travels.

https://bellatravelplanning.com/

Her mantra is “travel, like fine wine, should be savored as an experience and not gulped down in a hurry.”

https://bellatravelplanning.com/

Previous Episode

Neil Laird - Multiple Emmy Nominated Producer/Director of historical films

Neil Laird is a multiple Emmy-nominated director of historical films for Discovery, BBC, PBS, History Channel, National Geographic, and many other networks. He has produced over 100 programs around the globe that feature crumbling Egyptian tombs, lost Mayan cities, and mysterious shipwrecks at the bottom of the sea.

He is a TV producer turned novelist and discusses his unique career journey and the creation of his comedic time travel novels like Prime Time Travelers. Neil shares how his background in the TV industry and his passion for ancient history and mythology inspired his writing. We dive into the challenges of transitioning from TV to writing, the differences between self-publishing and traditional publishing, and the critical role of marketing for authors. Neil also reflects on the power of storytelling, his awe-inspiring travels, and the balance between preserving historical sites and the passage of time.

He loves the world and especially the Middle East where he gets even more inspire to think and write

Don’t miss this insightful conversation packed with valuable takeaways for aspiring writers and storytellers.

https://www.neillaird.com/

Next Episode

Costa Constanti - Savouring every moment between Cyprus and Australia

I met Costa at the Cyprus Diaspora Forum (Thank you Paul Lambis) and started following him on social media. I am fascinated by his zest for life and how he enjoys everything he does whether it’s traveling the world, exploring Cyprus or dancing Salsa with his wife Anna.

Costa was born in Melbourne, Australia, and moved to Cyprus as an adult. In Australia, he studied psychology, psycho-neurosciences, politics and history at a bachelor level, followed by a master’s in international relations and law. He is the Director of CONSTANTi, a consultancy offering social and political analysis and advice, as well as conducting research and consulting in the fields of international relations, conflict, civil society, public diplomacy and project management. He worked as a European Project Office manager at the University of Nicosia for 2 years working on migrant integration and adult learning projects, and spent 14 years as policy and public diplomacy manager at the Australian High Commission. Costa is an advocate of the crucial and real power of civil society and social media, as well as being an active campaigner for human rights, gender equality, peace building and conflict resolution. He is a founding Board Member of the peace-building NGO Cyprus Academic Dialogue (CAD) Costa is also the Cyprus rapporteur for Freedom House and produces the Freedom in the World Report for the Republic of Cyprus, focusing on transparency and corruption matters, issues of democratic governance, freedom of speech, religious and minority rights, gender equality and other key markers for Cyprus.

https://constanti.org/