Nick Kontis successfully turned his early travels as a
20-something, exploring the world and immersing himself in local cultures, into
a career in the travel industry.
Now, the 56-year-old owner of the San
Francisco-based Circle the Planet agency has taken the next step, turning his
travel experiences into his first book, "Going Local: Experiences and
Encounters on the Road."
Kontis said his self-published book covers a variety of
topics ranging from interacting with locals, the sharing economy and volunteering
while traveling. It includes interviews with other travel writers and
personalities such as Rick Steves and Tony Wheeler.
"It's a smorgasbord of ways to become a better
traveler," he said.
Kontis' lifelong career in the industry stemmed directly
from his early travels. The summer when he was 24, he was living at home with
his parents, Nick and Mary. Kontis was quick to say his Greek parents would
never kick him out of their house, but he thought it was time to get a job.
Before he settled down, however, he went to the Greek islands for one last
hurrah.
While there, he met a Swedish couple who had bought a $280
airline ticket for a flight from Greece to Thailand, with multiple stops along
the way. Kontis decided to head off with them. He spent more than a year
traveling the globe from India to Australia. When he eventually made his way
back to San Francisco, his parents offered to help him find a job, maybe
something working for the city.
"Well, I took off for New Zealand for six months,"
he said with a laugh.
Upon his next return to San Francisco, though, Kontis
started an agency selling around-the-world airfares to backpackers but has
expanded beyond that.
"All from a trip around the world, I started a travel
agency," he said.
Nick Kontis in Santorini with his book, “Going Local: Experiences and Encounters on the Road,” inspired by his travel experiences.
And Kontis hasn't left the industry since. "I'm
thankful that I never gave in. Even when travel was tough and being an
entrepreneur was tough, I never gave in and I stayed in travel," he said.
Kontis has rolled his experiences into his book. It's
appealing to a variety of audiences, he said, including younger people looking
to explore the world like he did in his 20s or baby boomers with empty nests
looking to travel for the first time.
In addition to covering a variety of styles of travel,
Kontis also uses the book to identify apps that are useful to travelers,
including ones that encourage meal- and ride-sharing.
Kontis said he hopes the book inspires readers to travel and
immerse themselves in foreign cultures by getting to know the locals and the
way they live.
"People pretty much don't want to harm you," he
said. "You can travel the world safely, and now you have all these options
with apps and ways to have a meal with a local, ways to tour with a local."
While Kontis now dedicates more time to his writing, he
still retains clients and his agency.
Since he started working in the travel industry more than
three decades ago, Kontis has seen many changes, the largest of which, he said,
was the advent of the internet.
"But I think you'll see that no matter what the
internet does, there's always going to be a role for agents," he said. "Agents
are extremely intelligent, and they can weave through the maze of the internet
and probably find out a lot of things that the average traveler can't. We're
still privy to information that people won't always find."
Kontis' book is available on Amazon.com.