Working It

Beach business

This duo combines friendship, travel + business in one successful package

Meet Graeme Barker and TJ Hermiston. Shaggy hair under a DC cap, Graeme looks like a quintessential surfer dude. And a fun guy to travel with…. His best friend TJ and partner in their company, Beach Travellers, is clad in a plaid shirt (over, yep, a DC t-shirt) and has the same nonchalant vibe. The 20-something guys grew up together here in the Lower Mainland, in White Rock, but they cemented their friendship—and business partnership in a unique tour company—in Thailand.

At 19, Graeme was on MSN chat with TJ, who’d been backpacking overseas for six months. Two days later he bought a plane ticket and met him in Thailand. That trip changed their lives—much like every tour that’s part of their company, Beach Travellers, aims to do.
“Honestly, if we didn’t go on that trip I don’t think we’d be doing this today,” says Graeme. And after that first adventure in Thailand they both knew they could make the same trip 10 times better. So they created their first tour of Thailand to share with other travellers and Beach Travellers was set in motion.

Travel is a lot about trust. So, are you going to trust some 50-year-old guy in a suit sitting in an office in Toronto, as TJ puts it, making decisions based on a number—or someone more like you? Graeme and TJ are their own demographic. “We designed the trips as something for us, as travellers, that we would want to see as well,” says TJ.

They call it “real” travel. Stepping off a plane and into the culture of the people who actually live in these places. “It’s not a two-week trip to a resort with a pool,” says Graeme. (Although plenty of pools—and verging-on-Speedo shorts—have made their way into their itineraries.) Trips are designed as if for them; intimate groups of 12 to 14 like-minded people, sampling local fare (and brew), adrenaline-inducing activities (like hang gliding over Rio), and unforgettable experiences (like bathing a rescued elephant in a river).

All you do is book it and show up. The details are taken care of. The gist of Beach Travellers is that you get down with the culture and off the beaten path. You might get a bit dirty (say, rock climbing in Thailand) but these are not your basic wing-it backpacking tours. Forget getting lost in a sketchy port town, sucked in by tourist traps and scams, or ending up in scuzzy accommodations.

The fave spots that Graeme and TJ have built tours around: Thailand, Bali, Costa Rica, and Brazil. And this year they’ve added El Salvador, where you can join the Beach Travellers’ surf camp. There’s always some “mind-blowing activity,” as Graeme says. “If you want to just lay on the beach and drink a beer you can do that, but if you  want to jump off the cliffs of Rio de Janeiro you can do that too.” And expect some practical jokes along the way (there was that incident in Costa Rica with the little shorts and the Viagra…).

These guys know how to have fun, but they’re also serious entrepreneurs. Their advice to someone starting a business: access the professional network; join the entrepreneurial community. “There are so many people out there willing to help, willing to give you advice over coffee,” says TJ. Just ask. Accept yourself as a sponge, “soaking up knowledge wherever you can.”

Starting out at 19, it wasn’t easy for Graeme and TJ to draw direction for their unique enterprise, but they learned along the way without a business model to follow. Now they are one. Constantly on the road, their meetings take place between Argentina and Thailand over Skype. Things are always changing. That first trip to Thailand continues to morph. And whether it’s Bali or Brazil, there are now four years of knowledge and experience packed into one month.

So where next? They’re mum on future destinations, hinting at Africa and maybe somewhere cold, but they see the business growing worldwide with offices eventually set up in other countries. They joke about “Unicorn Tours” and “Magic Carpet Rides” but by offering eye-opening experiences in new places and cultures with new friends, the tours often end up just that for participants—a magic carpet ride.

“A lot of people come home and tell us these heart-warming stories about how the trip has changed their life,” says TJ. Bring on the beach!

Words | B. Sligl

Want to go with? Check out beachtravellers.com or call 1-800-949-1865.