by We all have met those who love to travel and we have among us mums, who have gone to take gasping admirations and stares too, when they have involved their kids in their travels to off beat destinations. A few mums have made the travel domain as their venture as they love being there in the outdoors.
Here is a mum however who started a venture for kids to travel. Meet Prachi Kagzi, founder of Little Passports. On this day of World Tourism Day, we couldn’t have had a better story to share than this one. Prachi believes strongly in the statement- “All those who wander are not lost”. She is also a mum who manages multiple hobbies and interests.
” I have been a wanderer since a young girl. A firm believer of ‘nurture shapes nature ‘, I was given the travel bug by my parents. My parents were non-conformist travelers for that time in the late 80’s.They would take multiple trips(with and without kids), go to off beat destinations (Mexico, Greek Isles , Papua New Guinea among others!) and eat what we got – we never carried any Indian snacks!)
This drove me to broaden my mind about culture, local food and exotic destinations and I was thoroughly immersed in the parallel universe of travel.
I would research destinations (how did we survive with no internet!) and even prepare detailed itineraries. I started traveling independently, when I was studying abroad. At the first chance, I would plan getaways with my friends. My friends would want to travel to ‘Paris or Zurich’ whereas, I would suggest some quaint village in the north and get ‘the looks’! They did accommodate my suggestions on the odd occasions and were pleasantly surprised ( or so they claimed!).
Afterwards, I was lucky enough to have found my husband who shared my travel exuberance. I met someone who had an even more eccentric travel map and wilder ‘places to go ‘ list.
Fortunately for us, since most of the touristy places had been taken care of by our formative family travel years we had the luxury to explore. Together, we took the road less travelled and experienced many unique destinations right from mysterious Iceland to high-tech Taiwan. We started taking interest specific trips such as diving in the Red Sea or chasing the northern lights through the Arctic.
After my son was born , the journey continued and we took him for his first overseas trip to China! Many thought I was an out-of-the-box mom, but after listening to our delightful encounters, a lot of them were keen to go! Thus, I was encouraged and ventured into kids travel and founded Little Passports.
I have been creatively inclined and the Arts always seemed to be my calling. I dreamt of being a dancer ( Ballerina maybe) . I have during time gained proficiency in dance ( Kathak, Indian folk , contemporary jazz and Latin dances) , art ( charcoal and acrylic on canvas) , music, photography, performing arts ( various musicals) and writing including poetry and travel articles for publications .”
I have lived in a joint family and would actively put up a Show( drama , dance and music) for our family with all my cousins on every festival ,be in the forefront of all school annual day functions and never shy away from any opportunity given to perform on stage in general!
I wanted to experience everything at once! Due to this I studied various degrees ranging from business, fashion, photography to dance. I did small stints in each sphere before my MBA and finally landed an investment banking job. I feel all my education has led me to become what I am, and I wouldn’t achieve half as much with missing out on any field that I did study. Most importantly having studied such varied subjects gave me the faith to go out there and try my hand at what I want!”
When asked on Little Passport’s USP, she says, “ Little Passports is a novel concept in the kids travel space for India. We organise educative travel tours for kids aged between 3 and 15. The concept resonates with today’s parents who value ‘learning by doing. ‘These trips are in tandem with popular school holidays. The tours designed for kids have been formulated with all my travel knowledge and experiences of travelling with kids. The tours are proactive to keep needs of kids and concerned parents in mind. I understand the importance of age appropriate attractions and energy levels of kids and have devised itineraries accordingly.
( Seen in the picture- kids enjoying as part of the trip organised by Little Passports).
I have a penchant for kid’s destinations and aspire to convert all my experiences to trips through Little Passports. Little Passports envisions to be synonymous with unique destinations coupled with the parent and child bond allowing hassle free travel with a like-minded group of kids and adults.
We plan to grow pan – India into a bigger format where we have multiple trips during all school holidays , region wise.
Little Passports being an innovative concept in the education/travel world , has received an overwhelming response from family, friends , parents and educational institutions, alike! There was a gaping hole in this sphere and, we have touched the nerve of every enthusiastic parent and the IB curriculum based schools in India by offering these tours. Travelling in a group lowers expenses and we ensure that we make the destination child friendly. The ideology behind our concept travel is to make parents feel at home even in exotic destinations
We have been applauded many times in the media ,most recently in the Travel Magazine Conde Nast Traveller.
Talking about a few of the must-see destinations, she lists down the destinations as Iceland, Tanzania and Maldives and in India- Kashmir, Rajasthan and Kerala.
“ More than education , I owe my entrepreneurial edge to my work experience and my support system (my family). Facing hurdles is built into my upbringing as I hail from a traditional Marwari business family where even as a child I have always seen that to climb the entrepreneurship ladder one has to overcome many obstacles .
When my son was two , I asked him why his favourite color was green. He replied it was because everything around him was green (nature). I felt ecstatic that a child living in a concrete jungle as Mumbai, loved nature!”
As a parting shot Prachi shares, pre planning helps but some of my most memorable moments are from spontaneous decisions.”
We wish this interesting entrepreneur mum the very best in life to have carved a niche space.
