The inspiration for innovation can come from anywhere. A majority of successful ideas are ones that solve a problem. That’s what TravelGenie Registry does. It solves the “how” of getting you to a destination by providing registry, crowdfund and concierge services. But how did it come about? Where did the idea come from? Let me tell you how TravelGenie Registry got started.
Several years ago, many of my friends in their mid-30 to 40s were getting married. People our age don’t need to register for linens and teacups so I was seeing a lot of honeymoon registries. Fabulous, I thought! I don’t have to buy them a silly crystal candlestick, a place setting or a set of wine glasses. I can actually contribute to an experience that will last a lifetime. A horseback ride on the beach can’t be sold at a garage sale or re-gifted years later. And then, knowing how much I love to travel and how tiny my bank account was, I thought: why can’t I register for a vacation for myself? My own birthday was coming up and maybe I can get family and friends to donate to my trip in lieu of dinner, drinks and gifts. Why not? So, I logged into the website my friend used for her honeymoon and wait…what’s this? I can’t register because 1) my event is not a honeymoon and 2) I’m single and you only register couples?
Well, as you can imagine, I was pretty ticked off! After trying several online honeymoon sites and even calling a couple, I realized that this was a problem that needed to be resolved. Why can’t I create a travel registry to celebrate a birthday, a graduation, an anniversary, or even a divorce? I ran my idea past a couple of smart people, asked my sister, the graphic deisgner to whip up a logo, thought of an amazing catch phrase and voila! TravelGenie wasn’t quite born.
THE OLD LOGO
What happened? Life. Life got in the way. Enter health and romantic issues that contributed to my mid-life crisis and TravelGenie was put on the back burner. I moved. My childhood best friend and I started talking about taking a trip to Paris for our birthdays. I’ve always wanted to go to Paris. Pa-ree! TravelGenie was there, lurking in the back of my mind, I’m here! Pick me! But I wasn’t listening. We did go to Paris. It was an amazing trip! (I can’t wait to tell you about it in the Paris post.)
I moved again. I was successful at my 9-5 job. Which, to be honest, I liked and was very good at but something was missing. I kept taking short trips to heal myself. And then one day, I asked myself, is this cubicle killing my soul? Four years after the idea came to me and TravelGenie’s whispering got a little louder. I started looking for jobs.
My friend John, who was also, coincidentally, looking for a job and I were talking and looking at start up job listings. I was literally, emotionally and physically drained from my work day, lying on my sofa with the phone to my ear and my laptop on my belly and I said: remember my TravelGenie idea? It’s as good or better than some of these start-ups. He agreed. He said, I should do it. He said he would help and with his encouragement and support, I took a leap of faith and TravelGenie was born.
THE NEW LOGO
We are so glad that you are here on our website exploring the wonderful options we have for you to make your travel dreams a reality. My hope is that our TravelGenie Blog will show you the magic of travel to inspire you to take the first step on your journey by creating a registry, crowdfund campaign or reaching out to our TravelGenie Concierge to design or book your travel. We’ll bring you insight and inspiration through travel tips, features on specific cities, festivals, and themes. There will be a Local Genie blog series where a city native will take us on a tour of their hometown. Tell me in the comments, what are you going to wish for? #whatrugoing2wish4
And, how did John and I meet? Like many good stories, it all started in a bar about 16 years ago. In San Francisco. But that’s a different story.
