Pam Buttner – Travel Consultant

The places I’ve visited

Canada (there’s more to discover), various parts of USA including Hawaii, Mexico, Cuba, United Kingdom, Austria, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Kenya, Tanzania (including Zanzibar), South Africa, Botswana, Malawi.

The year I started in the business

2007

The year I started with Travel Beyond

2009

The things I enjoy most about consulting

Who says you can’t combine your passion and job? My decision to become a consultant, and join Travel Beyond, had to do with what excites me in life which is experiencing other cultures and places. I am privileged to be in a position where I can pass on my enthusiasm and delight in new experiences.

My most memorable travel moment

I often think back to when I made that first ‘leap’ and made the decision to go on a trip to Africa, by myself, instead of waiting for friends to commit and come with me, was when ‘it all began’.
The special memories.

So many friends, family members and colleagues told me that I was crazy to go, I’m going to die, get sick, be attacked and hat I wasn’t going to be safe. I thought to myself “These people have nevereven been there, how do they know?! If all of that is true then why do so many people travel and still live to tell the incredible tales? Do I want to live in fear and negativity and miss out on the opportunity of a lifetime?”.
The answer to that was a resounding ‘NO!’.

So, I made the decision to follow my heart, my instinct and see things for myself instead of watching it through the Discovery Channel. I have been back to Africa 4 times in the past 6 years, two of those years was spent living in Malawi. You never know what’s around the corner and I have found that travel has led me to incredible experiences, places, people and opportunities.

Travel is a gift that keeps on giving memorable moments.

My most embarrassing travel moment

I haven’t really had embarrassing moments, just funny stuff that has happened along the way.

There was this one time – not at band camp – but in Cape Mclear, Malawi. I have decided to join our Malawian staff (of the esteemed Mumbo Island) for a Kayaking Guide certification course. The course instructor came up from South Africa and has just told all of us that we had to jump in the lake for a swim test. This is where I tell him that, although I’m a confident kayaker and have no fear of water, I’m not a strong swimmer. So I’m negotiating a shorter swim while all of the guys have stripped down to their cossies and have jumped in like it’s an Olympic event and they are all going for gold.

Negotiations over. I’m finally in the water. Our Dive Instructor has decided to come out onto the jetty and cheer me on by yelling ‘Go Spam-oh!! You’re the underdog!! The only chicken!! Come On,You can do it!!‘. Here I am doggie paddling, backstroke, cottage crawling .. in short, just trying to make my way to the buoy any way I can. Trust me when I say, it’s anything but graceful!

He (Dive Instructor) sees, for the first time, my version of ‘swimming’, stops mid-cheer and starts to walk away in disgrace (?). I further aggravate him by stopping him to say “Rob, can you pass me a life jacket please?” just as I edge closer to shore.. He throws the lifejacket to me and says “You weren’t kidding when you said that you couldn’t swim!” … “Umm, what part of that sentence didn’t you understand in the first place?!”, I yell back..

Meanwhile, if you would’ve panned your view just to the right of me, there was a full on rescue happening because one of our guys just stopped swimming and sunk. Just like that, he sunk! And, he was trying to take someone else down with him too. In the end, all was okay. The guy was rescued, no one was harmed. The rescue was performed flawlessly.

What a scene! And it all happened in less than 7 minutes.

My favorite meal while traveling

I love food and am in heaven when any meal is paired with lovely wines. I’m pretty adventurous when it comes to food and will try anything (except bugs and roasted vermin).

A quirky little bit of information about me is that I actually look forward to (and even enjoy) airplane food! Strange, I know.