Stray Asia 2012/13
Where it started I grew up with buses - my parents owned the local bus garage and according to my Mum, I crashed my first bus at age 4. As soon as I could legally drive passengers I was driving bus tours around NZ in my university holidays. In 1988, after travelling around Europe and extensive roadies with two of my best mates Duncan and Mike around our homeland New Zealand, we started what is now credited as being the first ever 'get-on get-off' (although we called it 'get off on us') backpacker bus trip, a.k.a Kiwi Experience. Twelve years later, we sold out and I went on to start ‘Stray’. I remember my first trip around New Zealand for Stray - it was in my old truck with a clean sheet of paper and an open mind to find alternative things for travellers to better show them New Zealand. I remember being blown away by how much great stuff there was out there that people were missing and how much potential there was to offer something great and different. Finding accommodation was one of the biggest challenges we faced in the amazing places like Abel Tasman National Park, Hahei and Raglan and we had to work hard to find suitable options. Since then Stray in New Zealand has grown to carry over 14,000 travellers a
Graham and Neil pioneering the Lao wilderness!
year. In 2010 we won the NZ Tourism Award for Best Visitor Transport and Australasian Golden Backpack Award for Best NZ Tour/Transport Operator. In 2009, my good mate Graham Freeman convinced me to head over to Laos where he was living, to experience this beautiful gem of a country. He was right - it absolutely blew me away, and we knew we had to start Stray there. With Graham and his wife Emi’s huge efforts working with the locals, plus a few other key crew, we managed to launch Stray Asia in October 2010. We were pleased to become Lao’s first
licensed western tour operator and the first hop-on hop-off backpacker travel network in Thailand and Laos. Anyway the point is, - we have huge experience and a passion for adventure travel and we are now bringing this expertise and love for getting off the beaten track to South-East Asia. The best thing is, and our customer surveys and reviews prove this - either here in Asia or in NZ, you will love it! Neil Geddes, Founder of Stray.