Today we’d like to introduce you to Lisa Sykes.
Hi Lisa, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Almost three years ago, I left my corporate job as the travel manager for a Fortune 500 company, where I ran their entire corporate travel program, airline and hotel contracts included, while also managing their procure-to-pay system alongside a team based in India. Looking back, all that multitasking, the constant pivoting between fifteen things at once, was just normal to me at the time. I didn’t know then that I had ADHD, so I didn’t realize how much that skill was actually a strength I’d carry into this next chapter.
The breaking point was the stretch of days that never really ended. Early calls with my team overseas, getting my kids to school, a full day in the office, picking them up, making dinner, and then getting back on my laptop once they were in bed. Somewhere in those long stretches I realized I didn’t want to do this forever. What pulled me toward travel advising specifically was that feeling I’ve always chased, the one where you step onto a plane and you know you’re starting a new chapter, even though you have no idea yet how it’s going to change you. I’d felt that since I was a kid helping plan our family road trips, and my mother-in-law has always worked in meetings and events, so travel was always somewhere in my orbit. I just didn’t know it could be a real career and not only a ticketing job.
In July of 2024 I signed on with what was then called Two Sisters Travel, now Postcard & Co. I’d spent real time researching before landing there, because I knew if I was leaving a salaried job to go out on my own, I wanted a host agency that aligned with my values, not just any random one. I found a LinkedIn post from Tara McCoy, who’s become my mentor, looking for a new advisor with some travel experience. I applied, we emailed back and forth while she was traveling abroad, and by the time we got on our first video call, I knew. It was that same feeling as stepping onto a plane, that sense of, this is it, this is the next big thing.
What I do differently is that I’m truly an advisor, not just someone booking tickets. I’d been traveling multigenerationally for years before I even knew that was a term for it. My husband, our two daughters, my mother-in-law, my sister-in-law and her boyfriend, seven of us, and it never occurred to us to leave anyone behind. What I learned is that it’s not about whether you can do the hike, it’s about whether everyone in your group can do it and still enjoy the view. From there, my curiosity took over. I wanted to know if the guide was local, where the boutique hotel owner actually lived, what to eat where the locals eat. That led me to take my own kids to Croatia, wanting to give them what international travel gave me in high school, an empathy you can’t learn in a classroom. Now I get clients who’ve heard that story and it resonates, people who want a slower, more connected way of traveling but feel nervous about it, and just need someone to walk them through it. Like the family who took their three-year-old to Florence and stayed in one hotel for a full week, getting to know the same breakfast attendant by name instead of rushing through in a night or two. That’s the version of travel I want people to feel is possible.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It hasn’t been a completely smooth road, and I don’t think anyone going from a salaried job to pure sales, on your own, should expect it to be. One of the biggest adjustments has been balance. Travel doesn’t clock out at five. If a client’s flight gets delayed, I’m figuring that out in real time, even if I’m in the middle of dinner with my own kids. I’m fortunate to have incredible partners around the world who can step in for true emergencies in the client’s time zone, but the day-to-day still means learning where the line is between being there for my clients and being there for my own family. The other adjustment was going from talking to a full team every day to talking mostly to my two cats and a dog. That was a bigger shift than I expected, especially since I love to talk and connect with people. I’m lucky that I’m part of an agency where I talk to at least one other advisor every single day, so I never feel like I’m building this completely alone.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
I’m known for planning experiential, multigenerational trips, the kind where grandparents, parents, and kids can all travel together and actually enjoy it, alongside international travel for couples and girls’ trips. What I want people to know is that when they reach out to me, they’re going to have someone who genuinely listens, who hears what you want and what worries you, and who’s also going to be honest with you about what’s realistic within your timeframe and your investment. I offer full itinerary planning, whether that’s a multi-country trip through Europe, an Alaskan cruise, or a week in Costa Rica, along with hotel-only bookings through my consortium partners. But more than anything, I want readers to walk away knowing I’m not someone who books your tickets and disappears. I’m with you through the whole thing. You’re going to get emails from me. I’m tracking your flights, and if something happens, if a flight’s delayed, I’m the one on the back end making sure your driver still shows up and your rental car is waiting for you. When you’re traveling, especially somewhere far from home, you want to know someone is in your corner if things go sideways. That’s what I want people to feel when they think of working with me, that they have someone in their corner.
We love surprises, fun facts and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
I’m an avid reader but I’m also a fast reader. In 2025 I read somewhere between 50 to 60 books, and I’m aiming for the same this year!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://postcard-co.com/lisa-sykes-travel-advisor
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/morethanthepostcard/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/morethanthepostcard/
