Kickoff Meeting: Who is the Travel Bro?

For 2023 more travel was a high-priority action item to make up for the shortfalls after what we can call “a pandemic-induced travel hiatus.”

So much so that, by my count, I took 20 planes (from 18 window seats and 2 aisle seats), 1 roundtrip ferry, and a 3-day/2-night cruise, visiting 9 countries (7 new) and 16 cities.

"Let this finance Bro, be your travel Bro"

For those of you who do not know me, my name is Mikol , a Jamaican economist and financial services professional (Finance Bro), and I love to travel. So far, I’ve been to 19 countries, intending to get to at least 30 by March 2025.

Over the years, I have picked up a thing or two, and I’d like to use this medium to share my advice and experiences with you. For many people, especially those who have corporate jobs, it’s almost impossible to “slow travel,” which is often described as the best way to travel. But we can have experiences too; these include weekend getaways, holiday stays, remote weeks, and well-thought-out paid time off (PTO).

Growing up, it was the norm to go to a travel agency, like an actual physical agency with pictures of destinations up on the walls, and watch as the travel agent booked your vacation. Now it’s the norm to do it yourself (cue Google Flights) and I love doing it myself because of the satisfaction of putting thought into my travels, with just enough planning to have a schedule but not so much that I can’t get time to slow down and explore.

"authentic, not social media vs. reality"

Right now I’m processing the possibilities of what I hope to achieve with this newsletter medium, but I will promise you one thing: to always be authentic, not social media vs. reality. I have lots of things to share from city reviews, travel hacks, airline assessments, and so many other things I’m still learning.

As a Jamaican, I can only visit a limited number of countries with just my passport, so visa considerations also form part of my advice.

?

Why the name Corporate Travel Bro?

In 2020, when the world shut down and we were all at home, I started looking into new ways of exploring my passions. With so much uncertainty and the job loss that happened, I promised myself that I would never again be put in a position where I could be completely reliant on my one job. Since then, I’ve branched off into consulting and I am now exploring one of my great passions, which is traveling. I found comfort and community in the experiences shared by fellow content creators, whose experiences motivated me to go out and travel more and begin to share my experiences.

A big part of any successful Go-to-Market strategy is the soft launch. My soft launch was my @just.mikol an Instagram profile dedicated to my travel photography, an organic way of sharing my camera roll from some of the destinations I’ve been to, no marketing, no strategy just for posting my photos for fun.

Then came my reel about the Dominican Republic in June 2023 ( if you want to check it out my main page is @instamikol_78 ) By my definition, it went viral, and all I was doing was sharing how I went about spending my weekend. The metrics were great, thousands of views, likes, and shares and quite a few follows. That was the sign I needed—that there was a space for me in the content pool—and I just had to find it.

So I want you to think of me as your go-to travel friend, a teller of cool stories, and the guy you go to for "bomb" and reliable advice. Follow me here for updates I already have some good things lined up and I'm looking forward to sharing.

Call me Mikol, Uncle Kol, or just your corporate travel bro.