CULTURE & TRAVEL
Sovereign Magazine
Wanderlust
How Kate Parkyn is using her passion for travel to inspire people to embark on new adventures.
By Alexis Boddy
A
s the saying goes ‘not all who wander are lost.’ Travel broadens our minds, introduces us to new cultures, other ways of life, new sights, sounds and smells. We return to our lives invigorated, maybe even wiser, ready to take on the challenges that life often presents us with. No one understands the restorative, indeed transformative, power of travel more than Kate and Dave Parkyn, who founded Go Supreme, a bespoke travel service that seeks to connect its clients with the very best the world has to offer. We caught up with Kate Parkyn, to discuss their business, the excitement of travel and the importance of loving life! Tell us a bit about yourself. Did you always know that you wanted to be an entrepreneur? I have lived in Geneva for over 20 years with my husband Dave and our children, Sam and Josh (who have returned to live in Switzerland after studying and working internationally). We obviously love travel and are also passionate about spending time with our family and getting outside as much as possible to cycle, hike and play golf in this amazing country we live in. We also love to set ourselves at least one big challenge a year that requires both physical and mental preparation. From the 100 mile Ride London cycle race to the Via Ferrata, we like to push ourselves and, ideally, raise money for a cause we believe in. This year we are going to do a trek to the Lost City in Columbia to raise money for Mind, the mental health charity and for Breast Cancer Now. We always knew that we wanted to start a business together but could never seem to find the motivation and had yet to come up with a solid plan. Then, five years ago, I was diagnosed with cancer, which made us radically re-evaluate our lifestyle and decide to make some changes. I must say that our children were the overriding inspiration for creating the business. We
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have always told them that it is possible to succeed at anything you put your mind to and that it is never too late to change your path but I wanted to lead by example. So how did you come up with the idea for GoSupreme? We are passionate about travel and adventure. We wanted to provide a bespoke travel service that was truly tailored to each individual client. It was important to us to inspire people to go on voyages of discovery, to go to places they have never been and to do things they have never done before. We can also arrange ‘fly and flop’ type holidays for when our clients simply need to recharge but we also know that a lot of rejuvenation happens when we do something new and exciting. We know how exhausting it can be to look for a holiday and many people simply don’t have the time to trawl through hundreds of websites, looking for the perfect vacation. Our solution is simple: we save our clients valuable time, energy and money by finding their ideal holiday. Not only that but we will propose things that they may never have thought of, for a truly unforgettable experience. We utilise our knowledge and resources (such as our access to agent-only sites), to
