Traveling deeper with Bruce Poon Tip of G Adventures

In this episode, World Footprints hosts Tonya and Ian travel deeper with Bruce Poon Tip, founder of G Adventures, as he discusses his journey into the world of travel, with particular focus on his “5th Gear” as an immigrant and lessons learned from his experiences.

Founded 30 years ago, Bruce started G Adventures with nothing more than two credit cards and a burning desire to create authentic, sustainable travel experiences. What he created was a community of social impact travelers.

“A leader is like a shepherd, he stays behind the flock letting the most nimble go ahead, whereupon the others follow not realizing that all along they’re being directed from behind”

-Nelson Mandela

When asked how he was able to grow G Adventures from such a humble beginning to now a global force for good in the travel space, Bruce attributed his success to something he calls his fifth gear.

Bruce says the fifth gear is something immigrants acquire. To better understand this fifth gear and how it relates to his success and philanthropic mission we asked Bruce to take us back to the time when his family immigrated from Trinidad to Alberta, Canada.

SHOW NOTES

Episode Timeline:

• [01:07] Meet today’s guest, Bruce Poon Tip, Founder of G Adventures, the world’s largest small-group adventure travel company. His goal is to create authentic sustainable travel experiences, and he believes in the power of travel to be a positive force for change. Bruce is a pioneer of community tourism; travel experiences built to support local communities. He attributes his success to his “5th Gear”
• [02:18] About Bruce’s backstory: The immigration to Canada from Trinidad came with major challenges ranging from the difficulty of moving over 7 kids, to racism among other typical issues with settling down in a new country. Growing up in a large family can be advantageous because having a large built-in support system and community creates security.
• [05:31] The 5th gear is something that most immigrants have because of the understanding that their parents sacrificed a lot to give them the opportunity they have. It comes out as a ‘never give up’ or a ‘don’t take no for an answer’ attitude backed by confidence; these are the factors that also made him an entrepreneur.
• [09:15] Bruce had an initial inclination to work in law enforcement, notably, this may have been because of an internal sense that there was no equal justice for immigrants.
• [13:13] The vision for G Adventures: Starting as a traveler with just a backpack, Bruce realized that a lot of people didn’t get the immersive cultural experience he got but would probably prefer it. He decided to create a bridge between people who could explore by themselves, and travelers who had full guidance but minimal self-exploration; finding a midpoint that allowed a little of both for a complete grassroots experience.
• [18:45] How do you see the travel space now compared to before? Before the pandemic, Bruce was not optimistic about travel, unlike now when people are more open to traveling and having an impact with it. The pandemic made people realize how they wasted opportunities to travel in the past and all the benefits they missed. The opportunity right now is to travel in a very secure way with purpose and meaning.
• [21:36] A lot of the negative events over the years are symptoms of ignorance and a lack of understanding of where you come from and other people. Travel helps with this because the only way you truly understand where you come from is to understand who you’re sharing this world with. The great gift of travel is when you come back home with a better understanding of your place in the universe and where you come from, rather than staying in one place making it the only thing you know. 
• [25:15] What lessons have you learned about yourself from travel? A huge point of learning for Bruce was Inspired Leadership; travel has offered him the ability to inspire people and to evolve as a leader. Learning tolerance has also come from the experience.
• [28:44] What has been your most transformative travel experience? In recent years, Bruce has been taking his kids to places he has been before as they get ready for college. He always describes his best trip as ‘the last one’ because he does not compare trips but tries to simply appreciate things in front of him.
• [31:25] Bruce’s soul country: These are Ecuador and Spain; there has always been something familiar about Spain that could not be explained which resonated with Bruce spiritually. The same was the feeling in Ecuador.
• [33:00] Who would you want to sit next to on a long flight to your soul country? Nelson Mandela, because of his grit, tenacity, compassion, and servant leadership.

Quotes

“Never bet against an immigrant cos we have a 5th gear that most people don’t have”

“When you feel that you don’t have an equal foot in with authority, you naturally want to participate in authority”

“When you lack understanding or lack knowledge of something, it brings our fear”

“You think of everything you get as when you go traveling, but everything you get is when you come back”

“It’s not about loving everybody, but it’s understanding everybody”

“You have to get to a place where you travel and not compare”

“A leader is like a shepherd, he stays behind the flock letting the most nimble go ahead, whereupon the others follow not realizing that all along they’re being directed from behind” – Nelson Mandela

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