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Meet Shanticleer and Erica Graham of Paper, Planes and Passports in Southwest Atlanta

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Shanticleer and Erica Graham.

Shanticleer and Erica Graham are the owners and operators of Paper Planes and Passports, a full-service travel agency based in Atlanta, GA. This experienced travel duo having visited almost 50 countries and 47 of the 52 United States and its territories established Paper Planes and Passports in 2016 intending to inspire and empower people of various economic levels to travel. 2020 marks its fourth year in business.

With three core values, Explore (your destination), Immerse (in the culture) and Embrace (the people) at the heart of Paper Planes and Passports they offer unique perspectives, experiences and first-hand travel knowledge to their clients. They are visibly passionate about travel as well as qualified and knowledgeable having traveled the world together nonstop for the past ten years. They have a desire to make travel more accessible economically believing that travel helps people grow and expand their minds through experiences.

Both holding degrees in Business Administration with over 15 years of project management experience, the two are well organized and detail-oriented. A little background, Erica graduated from Jackson State University with a degree in Business Administration, had goals to work in the corporate world for ten years, become debt-free, build her brand and start a business. Erica worked as a project manager for a healthcare automation company for 9.5 years. There was a lot of business travel involved and time away from family. Like most corporate jobs, employees become stressed out, over-worked and often miserable with very little room for growth. “We loved all the perks of the job, racking up air miles and seeing new places, but there was a lot of other responsibility with very little interest left. We had to figure out a way to travel for a living on our terms.” recalls Erica.

“We thought long and hard before submitting Erica’s resignation. We worked to get all our ducks in a row to become debt-free. Paid off student loans, cars, and any credit card debt.” According to Shanticleer. Erica then became a certified travel agent in 2016. She runs the day to day operations, organizes the trips and is the face of the business. Her excellent customer service and communication are driven by pure joy for what she does. Shanticleer supports the business with strategic, finance and marketing plans. His passion for visual imagery, video production, and drones lends itself to capturing great footage from their travels which in turn is used for marketing material. They have learned to work together, well leveraging each other’s strengths.

As a company, they offer a full range of services from personal travel, destination wedding travel, girls/guys trips, class trips, mentor group trips, passport services, itinerary planning and much more. The couple is most recognized for curating guided group trips several times a year where clients are hosted by the couple experiencing a full itinerary of fun, adventure, and cultural exploration. These trips typically include accommodations, activities and most meals. Economic empowerment is important to the couple so ensuring their clients can set up payment plans (including flights) to budget or plan effectively is a key service that they offer through various partnerships.

Has it been a smooth road?
Of course not! If it were easy, everyone could do it! We have learned and navigated many obstacles along the way. The first major hurdle we identified was the ability to provide a full-service experience that offers payment options for the “total package” meaning flights, accommodations, meals, and activities. Setting up payment plans for flights was no easy feat. To tackle this hurdle we partnered with another black-owned Atlanta based company, Layaway Tickets. After several months of long days and technical issues, we successfully integrated our websites giving our customers the ability to finance their flights. This partnership has helped our clients tremendously in budgeting for their entire trip. You will know exactly how much you need to spend and have it completely paid for before departing with an easy 4 step setup. All you need to do is pay your deposit, make bi-weekly or monthly payments, pack your bags and show up to have an amazing time! This by far was the hardest as well as the most rewarding problem to solve.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Paper, Planes, and Passports story. Tell us more about the business.
Aside from being a full-service travel agency, we are also known for curating international and domestic guided group trips. Since 2016, we have successfully hosted 12 group trips around the world seeing places like Egypt, Europe, Cuba, Italy, Thailand, and even Iceland to name a few. On these guided group trips, we provide luxury travel experiences on a budget. These are not your typical resort vacations. While traveling to many destinations, we volunteer our time to schools, charities, and other opportunities to serve which allows our travelers to embrace the local people immersing them in the culture creating new friendships around the world. The goal for our travelers is to Explore, Immerse and Embrace!

One of the things we are most proud of is being able to offer complete itineraries with payment options for flights, accommodations, activities, and meals allowing our clients to budget more effectively.

Join our 2020 Guided Group Trips:

April- Egypt & Jordan

May- Bali

Subscribe online for new destinations and blog posts!

Other services:

Passports

Creating personal itineraries

Booking individual/group travel- Couples, Family reunions, School /Church Mission trips, Birthdays and Romanic getaways.

We are different than most travel group companies because we provide an unforgettable and luxurious experience with a personal touch by experienced travelers, all on a budget.

We are so thankful for our repeat customers! They keep us creating better itineraries and travel experiences.

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
Travel & Tourism is currently one of the leading industries in the US. A $200+ billion-dollar industry to be exact! It is expected to get into the trillions as more millennials are enjoying the outdoors and embracing the value of travel at a younger age. With the power of social media, the new generation has a more curious mind when it comes to travel, they are not satisfied just seeing a place as their parents may have. They aspire to be bookmark travelers and take back the spirit of a place with them. We expect this trend to grow more and more over time and we cannot wait to be apart of it!

Pricing:

  • Our travel packages include a low deposits, some starting at $189.00

Contact Info:

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