Zena
O'Callaghan

Looking back, I've come to realize that the love of travel was instilled in me even before I was born. Not long into my parents marriage, my father asked my mother to go to the chemists to buy some snake anti venom medication as he packed up their 1938 Morris 8 vintage car and prepared to travel the world in it. I grew up listening with fascination to their stories of driving across the Sahara Desert, negotiating their way through land borders into Afghanistan and Iraq and tales of being in India in the late 1970’s. Once they had arrived in Australia they settled down into life in Sydney and I was born. We returned to the UK when I was three years old, and it was only a matter of time before I embarked on my own journey. I bought a flight ticket to Australia for a year away and my personal love of travelling began. The years that followed saw me travel Australia, South East Asia, Turkey, island hop in Fiji, Greece and Croatia and long road trips in New Zealand and route 66 in the United States.

Professionally, I studied Business and Human Resources Management at Solent University in Southampton, England. My career in HR began in recruitment, evolved into training, and my interest in people’s behavior and the impact this has on business productivity and success saw me working as a Human Resources Business Partner within the IT sector for a number of years.

After getting married to my husband and having our two daughters, I wanted to show them the world too. Our family escapades ranged from relaxing poolside in Greece, Turkey or Egypt, driving to France for a seaside holiday, a city break in Rome, Venice, Paris or Budapest, a road trip in the USA or an adventure that enables my young girls minds to see how other cultures live through a travelling experience in South East Asia.

Among my favorite travel memories are:

• Watching the sunset over the volcanic peaks of Cappadocia after a day of exploration on a moped.
• Sailing the Whitsunday islands in Australia on a beautiful old 90ft schooner, relying soley on the wind after the engine broke down!
• In Sri Lanka, when exploring the communities around a tea plantation we bumped into a group of young local children who invited us to join them for a game of cricket.
• Hiking mountains in the Sichuan province in Southwest China, carrying my daughter in a backpack as a one-year-old. We were passing through an area with lots of monkeys, I suddenly heard a scream, and I realized a monkey had jumped onto my back and was sitting on my daughter’s head. Thankfully she was absolutely fine and loves to hear me tell the story of it now.
• When we took our daughters (then aged 4 & 2) to Cambodia. I wanted them to see how children from another culture live, so I arranged for us to visit a local school. We gave them gifts of coloring pens and footballs my girls had chosen for them. It was a beautiful and very humbling experience.
• Visiting tailors in Vietnam, sharing with them my sketches and seeing them bring my designs to life.
• Seeing the look on my daughters faces when we took them to see the ‘real mermaids’ of the Weeki Wachee springs State Park in Florida.
• Walking around an old prison on high up on the island of Procida, Italy (where the movie, The Talented Mr. Ripley was filmed) which has been left exactly as it was abandoned over 50 years ago.

In 2023, the call for new experiences prompted our family to leave our home in Newbury, West Berkshire, England, and embark on a new chapter in Chicago, where we plan to reside for the next 3-5 years. Transitioning from my previous role as a Human Resource Business Partner to a Travel Administrative Assistant at Q Cruise & Travel has been a natural progression for me. It allows me to seamlessly integrate my organizational skills, attention to detail, effective communication abilities, and passion for travel to help curate unforgettable experiences for al