Jamie Evans was in financial services for nearly 20 years before he became a Travel Counsellor 18 months ago. In many ways, his former career was the making of him.

“I went into that industry as a bit of an idiotic 21-year-old and left as a grown-up man," he says. "I met my wife where I worked, and of most of my client base now is made up of ex-colleagues so it’s a special place for me – and I learned so much about business and life while I was there.”

A few years after he became a shareholder, the firm was sold, and rather than reinvest his capital, he decided it was time to step back. “I wanted to be accountable to myself, not to corporate bosses anymore."

It was during his gardening leave that working as a travel advisor went from something he’d always had on the back burner to something that “just wouldn’t go away”. “I used to get called Judith Chalmers in the office," he admits.

"I was that guy constantly standing at people’s desks chatting about holidays.”
Various conversations with different homeworking organisations led Jamie to Travel Counsellors, which drew him in with their customer service-led approach.

Although Jamie and his wife had been married in 2019, he says having children hadn’t been an immediate priority, and he wanted to focus on his travel business first. But that’s not quite how it worked out.

Jamie’s travel business went live on 16 December 2024; his wife took a positive pregnancy test on 23 December, and their son Harry arrived nine months later.

Had Jamie still been working in financial services, these last nine months would have been very different. He would have left the house at 7am and walked back through the door at 7pm. “And that’s when you’re not stuck at a client event,” he says.

He continues: “They offered two weeks paternity leave and that’s all you got. They had some rather old-fashioned views, like the woman is supposed to be at home, looking after the baby. I remember seeing colleagues come back from paternity leave, walking around the office like the Walking Dead.

"Even though kids weren’t necessarily front of mind for me back then, I remember those conversations, and frankly, the new dads just wanted to be at home with their families.”

Jamie Evans

Now, as a home-based travel advisor, Jamie is much more hands-on. Not only is he there for breakfast and bedtime, he also has the flexibility to provide childcare when needed.

“My wife has been doing her keep in touch days at work, and so last week, I put my out-of-office on and took Harry out for the day. You can’t do that in a corporate environment. I used to be on back-to-back calls. Now, when I’m out, I can still pick up my emails, and if a client is travelling, they can call me or WhatsApp me.

“Of course, this industry throws up its problems,” he continues. “And there’s a chance I might have a screaming baby while trying to bring a client home from the Middle East. But I’m just delighted I can be there for the little things. I’ll go downstairs at lunch and if they’re home, I get to play with my boy for half an hour.”

What’s more, when his wife returns to work, Jamie plans to take a day off in the week to look after Harry, and “pick up the slack elsewhere” in the evenings and weekends.
“At my former employers, not in a million years would working a four-day week have been a thing.”

Meanwhile, Jamie is reaping the business benefits of sharing travel advice with the parents he’s befriending through Harry, and he’s also not averse to posting pics with Harry on his social media business accounts, because “the engagement is always so much more – and it reminds people that I’m a real human running a small business”.

There’s one more benefit relating to family life that travel has brought Jamie. Harry’s already visited Strasbourg and Disneyland Paris, Amsterdam, Egypt, Greece and Gran Canaria, and he’s not yet one.

“I want Harry to grow up with a thirst for seeing the world, and this job will massively help give him that exposure. I’d love for him to do have the same passion for travel that I do.”

'There wasn't a lot of understanding or empathy'

Designer Travel’s Gary Wright says having a more flexible career has allowed him to be more present for his daughter, and crucially, to cope when he became a single dad.

Gary has been in travel 40 years. He started as a YTS with Lunn Poly. He’s also had experience in an independent travel agency, and spent 26 years focusing on leisure sales for an agency in Norwich that was predominantly business travel.

During the pandemic, the business was sold to a buyer who only wanted to continue the corporate side, so Gary was free to take his customers and set up on his own.

He chose Designer Travel, having crossed paths with several of its homeworkers on various fam trips over the years, and he liked the family feel of the company.
The move to homeworking came at the right time. Eighteen months ago, Gary took sole custody of his daughter after he and his wife divorced.

"My daughter Maisie will be 16 in July so she’s getting more independent, but I’m the one who drives her here, there and everywhere. It’s also difficult during the school holidays, working and keeping her entertained. But I’m lucky I can easily drop things for her. It’s just the two of us most of the time.”

“I’ve always been very hands-on and done the lion’s share anyway, I don’t get much support – I’ve only got my mum and she’s got Alzheimer’s. And so, working from home the last five years, it just feels like it was meant to be, it does help me get the right balance,” he says.

If he was still working in a more corporate environment, Gary doubts he would be able to manage. His was a role defined by stricter working hours, later finishes and the expectation that mothers were the first-line in childcare.

“It was a predominantly male team, and the attitude was, 'why do you need to go?' or 'your wife can do it'. I’ve always done more than most dads, and that was definitely a barrier when I had to leave the office if Maisie needed picking up from school because she was poorly. There wasn’t a lot of understanding or sympathy really.”

Gary Wright

He also struggled to attend the milestone events, such as sports days and school plays. “They weren’t always easy to get the green light to attend.”

Gary spent so much of his spare time with his daughter, he feels like he always made up for any absences, but he recognises how easily corporate pressures can lead to fatherly regret. “Sometimes, it’s just not possible or practical to be there,” he says.

Now, he says, he has gone from extreme to the other. “I’m basically available whenever. There’s never been a time when I’ve said, ‘I can’t, I’m too busy,’ to my daughter.”

He credits homeworking with supplying that better work-life balance, by allowing him to flex his hours, and also to take a break when he’s on top of enquiries and admin. His relationship with Maisie is better than ever, and during her recent GCSEs, he was able to support her to the best of his ability. “I do consider myself really lucky in that respect, our relationship has definitely flourished.”

He’s also been able to include Maisie in the most rewarding aspect of his work, some of the travelling perks. Previous shared "work" trips have included Madeira and an Alaska cruise, and most recently she accompanied Gary when he hosted a group of 12 clients in Lapland.

“It was the trip of a lifetime, we did all the arctic activities like snowmobiling and husky safaris, and it was just magical to do that with my daughter.”