Janet Lacey, Managing Director at The Lacey’s at Not Just Travel, joined daughter Rebecca on a fam trip Down Under in August after spotting a rare chance to mix business and pleasure.

Rebecca, a New Zealand specialist at Audley Travel, had been asked to visit Western Australia to inspect and develop the luxury operator’s existing product offering.

The three-week-long itinerary was to be intensive and broad, with stops in the Kimberley, Rottnest Island, Denmark, and Margaret River. It would also cover some of the Northern territory's most iconic attractions, including the tropical city of Darwin and the nearby Litchfield National Park, before culminating in Cairns and Port Douglas. 

Knowing the experience would be more enjoyable with a companion, Rebecca asked Audley if her mother – a seasoned travel consultant – could tag along for the ride.

“I didn’t want to go by myself for such a long trip,” she admitted. “I had done it before, so I knew what it was like.”

Though Audley had never allowed a specialist to bring a plus-one on a work trip before, it didn’t take long for them to be convinced of Janet’s value. 

“I submitted a proposal outlining the benefits of having me there and they approved it,” she said. “I’m pretty well connected and I explained how other agents would follow suit if I could share my experience. It was a win-win.”

Both mother and daughter had already travelled around Australia’s east coast, but they had yet to explore the country’s far less populated western region.

“It had long been a desire of mine, especially because my great-grandfather was actually born in Perth,” Janet said. “But because most of my relatives live in New South Wales, Queensland, and Sydney, my trips to Australia have all been east coast.”

Janet Lacey

‘The supplier perspective’

Over the course of the three weeks, Janet and Rebecca experienced a whirlwind of new experiences – from flying above the Kimberley in a helicopter to bathing in the thermal waters of Zebedee Springs. They also took an Indigenous guided cruise on the East Alligator River in Kakadu, tasted “insanely good” wine at Ambersand Estates, and learned about the history of the First Nations people in Kakadu and Litchfield.

When they weren’t soaking up the region’s scenery and culture, they were inspecting its finest hotels – which Rebecca says could rival many of the five-star properties on the east coast.

But for Janet, who is used to travelling solo or with other agents, product knowledge wasn’t the only souvenir she brought home.

“Having Rebecca there was so great because she had the supplier hat on when asking questions in the hotels,” she explained. “It gave a really good perspective because she’d bring up things I hadn’t even thought of. I was blown away by how good she was.”

Janet says Rebecca was particularly sharp on local immersion – an area the Not Just Travel consultant admittedly hadn’t previously prioritised.

“I’m super focused now on asking about cultural experiences, which Rebecca has always routinely done,” she said, before adding how emotionally impacted she was by the Aboriginal day trip in Litchfield National Park. “It is so important for people to understand what happened, so I will be actively proposing this to clients in the future.”

Rebecca’s presence throughout the trip also highlighted the value of introducing clients to the product specialist.

After returning from Australia, Janet invited her daughter to join a meeting about a January booking for New Zealand. The enquiry was complex, but because Rebecca asked all the right questions at the beginning, the itinerary only required one tweak after being presented to the client.

“I know some agents are reluctant to bring the product specialist onboard, but it works fantastically,” Janet said. “It saves so much time, because you don’t have all that back-and-forth. It also makes the client feel really special.”

Janet Lacey

‘More natural conversations’

For Rebecca, one of the biggest perks of travelling with her mother was the constant familiarity.

“It was such a lovely safety buffer,” she said. “I felt so much more comfortable, especially when you’re meeting all these new people.”

Janet’s presence also eased the pressure of hosted dining, which can often feel more like a formal meeting than a relaxing meal.

“I felt like we had more of a connection with the suppliers, rather than it being a slightly weird three-way situation,” she said. “We sat down and had a proper conversation, instead of just firing questions at them.”

It helped that the duo, who previously worked together at Not Just Travel, have always had a close bond.

“I don’t think we shared a cross word – except for when Rebecca told me off for micromanaging the route!” Janet said.

‘Time to destress’

Janet and Rebecca’s experience in Australia was also enhanced by the itinerary, which had allocated time to recharge in between site visits.

Rebecca points to their stay at Heyscape Tiny Cabins, which gave them a two-day break from product research, as being one of the best examples of this thoughtful planning.  

“We had an off-grid cabin in Denmark all to ourselves, with no site inspections or supplier meetings to do. That was incredibly important for destressing,” she said, before adding that Audley always makes an effort to ensure all fam trips have sufficient downtime.

Janet Lacey

This interval also gave Janet and Rebecca the opportunity to experience local life by visiting supermarkets and cooking their own meals.

“We had self catering facilities in some of the properties, which meant we didn’t have to eat out every single night,” Janet recalled. “It was wonderful – we’d have a barbeque or enjoy nibbles at sunset. So much better than sitting miserably with your Pot Noodle and Netflix!”

The self-driving route, which saw the pair cover at least 1,200 miles, also helped them absorb their surroundings at a slower pace.

“It was a dream because the roads were basically empty,” Janet said. “You never had to worry about holding up traffic, you could just take your time.”

It also enabled them to turn pit stops into their own special experiences; for example, on the tenth day, Rebecca arranged a visit to a farmers’ market in Bunbury to taste its award-winning pies.

“Rebecca is phenomenal at looking at a road trip map and divvying up the stops along the way,” said Janet. “It was so lovely not to have to do any of that!”

Having now been back in the UK for nearly a month, Janet and Rebecca are still raving about their Western Australia trip. Both believe that the region, which has been accessible via a direct flight from the UK since 2018, offers an ideal alternative to the more touristy east coast.

“If you want something off the beaten track, it’s absolutely perfect,” Janet said. She is now keen to promote the destination to clients, with plans to co-design an itinerary with her daughter already on the horizon.

“If I was being asked about Australia now, I would definitely be talking about the west coast – it was just spectacular.”