When he’s not out on the road meeting agents, Newmarket Holidays Account Manager Stuart Cowell is dreaming of safaris or diving. The Travel Gossip Legend nominee tells us why he’s ‘obsessed’ with sharks, but wary of elephants – and what it’s like being an identical twin.
I love my job. We are out on the road four days a week seeing agents. The main challenge of being on the road is making sure I get back to my agents in a timely manner. I always try to reply during the day between visits and make sure I always get back to them quickly, within 24 hours. I thrive on the challenge.
I left school at 16 and a YTS (Youth Training Scheme) came up at Lunn Poly in Witham. I thought I’d do that for a couple of years and then be a rep abroad. But I ended up staying for 13 years, working my way up in various Lunn Poly and Thomson shops in Essex. I went from Witham to Chelmsford; became Assistant Manager in Braintree, then Colchester, before heading back to Braintree as Manager, where we were named regional shop of the year within the business.
I left in 2007 and I worked at Bourne Leisure for seven years as a Key Account Manager, then Holiday Extras for five years.
I joined Newmarket Holidays in 2017. I really wanted to get into a product and ‘touring’ was a buzz word that was just rumbling. I think I joined Newmarket Holidays at the perfect time. We’ve got a great team, a great business and with Hayley (Morris, Head of Trade Sales and Partnerships) joining us, it’s been fantastic. She has brought a different dynamic to the team and a wealth of knowledge after working for one of our key competitors.
I love a safari. I was lucky enough to see the migration of the wildebeest in Kenya’s Masai Mara, but South Africa would have to be my favourite place. The first animal we saw was a leopard in a tree with an impala she had caught hanging next to her. We also saw a cheetah with her cubs. And we got charged by an elephant, which was a bit of a twitchy bum moment!
I’d loved to go back and do another safari. Ideally somewhere like Tanzania, but we’ll wait for my little boy, Stanley, who’s two and half, to get a bit older. For now, we will take him to Woburn Safari Park! He’s been to Egypt twice already and we are planning to take him to Turkey in September.
I’m PADI Assistant Dive Instructor for scuba diving here in the UK. Most places I go on holiday I make sure there’s a dive centre nearby, or if we are going to a conference, I try to go out a little earlier to get some diving in. I did it in Malta last year ahead of the Travelosophers conference.
I have a massive fascination with sharks. I mean obsessive. This July I’ve chartered a boat for 24 of us from my local dive club to see Oceanic whitetip sharks in Egypt. We go to Elphinstone Reef in the Red Sea and Daedalus Reef where there are also schools of Hammerhead sharks. You drop down to about 30-40 metres and just sit and wait for them to come in.
Diving is amazing. When you are on your own and all you can hear are bubbles, it is a very quiet, humbling and personal experience. The best place I’ve being diving would have to be in Mexico, with Bull sharks – no cage involved!
I have an identical twin brother, Dean. We once swapped science classes to see if the teacher would notice – he didn’t! Another time my wife thought he was me from behind when we were out one night and came up to hug him. Recently, when I arrived at his house and sat down, not only did we both have odd socks on, they were exactly the same style/make of sock and they were odd on exactly the same foot. We were very spooked out.
The person I admired the most is my mum. We lost her in 2010, but since I have had my little boy, I now look at what we do with just one two-and-a-half-year-old and I really don’t know how she did it, raising two of us boys and being twins. It would be great to be able to tell her how much I admired how hard she worked when we were kids.
I’d love to travel with Steve Backshall (explorer and presenter). He seems very grounded, and I like what he does with conservation. It would be fascinating to get his insight on things.
I am really honoured to be nominated and shortlisted for the Travel Gossip Legend award, considering how many people are in the industry. I have had so many nice comments from people and agents who have nominated.
Quick questions
Sea or safari? Oh that’s a tough one, but sea for diving
Cars or dogs? Cats. I have three of them, all 16 years old
City or beach? Beach
Night in or night out? Night out – that’s my job!
Music or TV? TV
The Travel Celebration featuring the Travel Gossip Awards takes place on 25 March at The Peninsula London.
