FRONTLINE
Q. So you joined the travel agency in a permanent role two years ago? Yes, in October 2023 after a month of voluntary work experience, Richard Hadfield [agency co-owner] gave me the opportunity to hang up my dancing shoes, turn off the microphone and work for Journeys à la Carte as a travel consultant. I have taken it day by day and the team has been like a family to me; it feels like I’m the little sister of the group (I’m 24 now)! It’s really nice to learn from people who know the industry so well.
Shanai McIntosh The Journeys à la Carte
consultant started her career as a dance teacher and performer before switching to travel. She talks to Juliet Dennis
Q. Tell us about your early career. Coming from a family of Jamaican descent, the term “five-year plan” was mentioned a lot at home and from a young age I wanted to be a professional performer. I worked hard to do just that; by four I could do a backflip! I started gymnastics and when I was 10 or 11 I moved to dance lessons, first ballroom and Latin, then street and commercial dance. I joined Birmingham Ormiston Academy (BOA) in year 10 and at 16 started to teach commercial and street dancing at a local dance school and worked for an arts charity.
Q. What was your job prior to joining Journeys à la Carte? I landed a professional performer role in CBeebies Land and CBeebies Land Hotel at Alton Towers Resort. I performed in front of more than 800 people three times a day, I learnt a script and had a microphone. It was very intense but I loved it! I could have carried on, but I would have had to keep looking for different performance roles and I wanted more stability for the future. I didn’t like not knowing what my next role would be.
travelweekly.co.uk
Q. How have you found the job so far? I fell completely in love with travel. My first booking was a £13,000 tailor-made itinerary to New Zealand for my future-in-laws. I booked them a 4x4 tour to see where Lord of the Rings was filmed. My biggest booking to date is a £46,000 multigenerational booking for a family of 10 to Egypt and Jordan for December this year. I am working on a wedding for my aunt at Coral Beach Hotel in Paphos, Cyprus. There are 93 of us going and I’ve done a lot of the [separate] bookings for family and have booked the wedding itself. I usually focus on Europe – from tailor-made rail, cruise, beach or city breaks. I always want to excel in everything so a big learning curve has been that it takes time; the world is a big place and you never really stop learning.
Q. What’s your biggest achievement to date? I won the Aito Agent Shining Star 2024 award in January this year; tour operators had put my name forward and voted for me. I was over the moon because I really wanted to make sure I built strong relationships with everyone. I’m really proud of that.
Q. How does your job compare to your previous career? It’s similar to performing but different. I have replaced my microphone with a headset. There may not be 900 people watching but the care I put into my shows is the same care I implement in creating holidays. The difference is I can truly be myself in this job; I am not being an actor.
Q. What advice would you give to others who want to become agents? Be open-minded, comfort zones are meant to be pushed. I would say put yourself out there and look at what works for you, talk to people and keep connecting.
Q. What does the future hold? I love it at Journeys à la Carte and the position I am in is so amazing. I am inspired by everyone I meet. My team are my comfort zone within travel and like my second family, with their endless support and willingness to guide me. They have pushed me to put myself out there, to go to Aito conferences and the ‘famference’ and this has allowed me to win awards such as Aito’s Shining Star. In terms of what happens next, only time will tell, but my plan to build a career in this industry has only just begun.
25 SEPTEMBER 2025 27
WHY DID YOU
SWITCH CAREERS TO WORK IN TRAVEL?
My fiancé suggested it. He took me to lots of different places and I said I’d like to educate people about them. He said I’d be good at selling travel, so why not look at it?
That was all the push I needed to get me out of my comfort
zone. In 2023, I emailed lots of travel companies, including Journeys à la Carte about work experience. Journeys was local to me and had a strong reputation. I just
wanted to observe what the industry was like and see if it was truly for me. I came in on a voluntary basis from 9am to 12pm each day and then in the afternoon and evening I did presenting and costume animation at CBeebies Hotel where I was working at
the time. During that time I booked a holiday for my
fiancé’s 25th birthday to the Norwegian fjords with help
from my colleagues and I did some online travel training. For about a month, I was in the agency in the morning
and then I’d be characters like Igglepiggle in the afternoon. I didn’t quit my job; I eased myself into the travel industry.
Shanai with Teletubbies at CBeebies Land
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