Million Air Fall 2024

INFLUENCE THE VOYAGER

The Voyager Mary Jean Tully on safari If there is one person you can trust to plan a vacation, it is Mary Jean Tully. Kim Ayling speaks to the founder of Tully Luxury Travel about crafting meticulous itineraries and visiting over 1 20 countries

Wilderness Mombo in Botswana is one of Tully’s most-loved places

“I’ve been on so, so many safaris but, if I found out today I only had one trip left, it would be to Africa”

As the CEO of Tully Luxury Travel, which she founded over three decades ago, Mary Jean Tully has forged a jet-setting career dedicated to crafting bespoke experiences around the world — from once-in-a-lifetime expeditions to one night staycations for tired parents. With over 120 countries ticked o ff her list, ‘well-traveled’ is a serious understatement when it comes to Tully. But then, with virtually the whole globe at her fi ngertips, where does Tully fi nd herself returning,

time after time? “To Africa — on safari,” she tells me via call from Toronto, where, when she’s not o ff gallivanting, she lives with her husband. “I typically go twice a year, but I’ve been up to four times a year — I’ve been on so, so many safaris but, if I found out today I only had one trip left, it would be to Africa. “A safari trip is unique, it’s special and it touches your soul. It’s like nothing else,” she says. “It’s on most people’s bucket list, but even if it’s not on their bucket list, if they’ve gone, they come back and say it was one of the best trips of their life and want to go again.” What truly enchants Tully about safari is the sense of total immersion — and a disconnect from the trials of life back home. “It’s the one place where you don’t want to sit there and have your phone,” she says. “You’re not going to be texting your friends, you’re so caught up in the moment.” The safari even puts the infamous trope of ‘iPad kid’ to bed: “I can’t tell you how many parents and grandparents I speak to who are sick to death of the kids being on their phones and iPads — [safaris] are something that, as a family unit, you see together, you learn together.”

Below Mary Jean Tully, CEO and founder of Tully Luxury Travel