By Fletcher Word
The Truth Editor
In early 2023 Rachelle Roy, a letter carrier with the U.S. Postal Service, acquired a new lease on life as she started traveling seriously and visiting countries around the world for the first time. Those experiences have changed her life and turned her into a committed traveler eager to explore more of the world that she has still not yet seen.
Roy’s daughter first interested her in the prospect of travel a little more than five years ago, but the pandemic put those thoughts out of mind. Later discussions with a sorority sister revived those dreams … but how to start? Where to go? How to get there? How to make the best use of her money?
By chance, Roy and her sorority sister, who had always wanted to visit Greece, fell into a conversation with a seasoned traveler who informed them of a company called Gate 1, with whom he had taken more than a dozen trips. Gate 1’s services include escorted tours, cruises and customized vacation packages.
“If you ever want to travel the world, then Gate 1 is the way to go,” says Roy now having experienced four trips using their services.
Off they went. First stop? Greece, of course. And it was every bit as exciting, and enlightening, as she might have hoped for. “The historic value … the world as it was before Christ … the old ruins … the food.” And the Gate 1 tour guide was able to bring it all into perspective, Roy says.
That trip was so exciting, so fulfilling, that before 2023 was over, Roy booked another – this time to Dubai which she had found out a little bit about on social media. Again, she reached out to Gate 1 and again she was not in the least disappointed during that adventure.
“The blue water and the white beaches!” Everything was an adventure for Roy because she did not do any research beforehand, and everything was a delightful surprise – especially the mosques she visited, and the differences she observed between old Dubai and the touristy, new Dubai which began to be developed in 1970.
Still later in the year, Roy went to the Dominican Republic for a brief birthday trip but as excited as she was to get away again, when she wandered away from the resort area, she was disturbed by the extreme poverty most of the island residents live with.
After that, it was back with Gate 1 and off to Africa in 2024. First to South Africa where she visited both Cape Town and Johannesburg, later in the year to Egypt to visit Cairo and the Nile. And again the Gate 1 tour guides were especially helpful in explaining the sights and the history behind those sights.
“It was all good,” she says, “because I had never been to the motherland.”
In South Africa she learned more about recent history and Nelson Mandela and his impact on that nation and its now free-of-apartheid people.
In Egypt, she had the opportunity to view ancient history among the pyramids, the Sphinx and King Tut’s tomb. A three-day cruise down the Nile was an eye-opener. “That was the best experience in Egypt because my tour guide was the best in the world,” she recalls. She notes that her particular guide, Walid Batouty, has also led a number of celebrities, such as Will Smith and Morgan Freeman, around Egypt.
As a result of what she has seen and learned and the assistance of knowledgeable tour guides, she has become more daring and adventurous in the meantime.
On her first two trips – Greece and Dubai – she went with sorority sisters. When she traveled to Africa, she went by herself on the tours. She is full of confidence that she can befriend strangers, fellow travelers, and relish their company as they all enjoy their new surroundings.
As a very committed traveler, Roy has a list of number of places on her list to visit. Such a list includes the Turks and Caicos Islands, Thailand, Australia, Belize, Bali, Jamaica and the Bahamas, to mention a few.
However, would she revisit any of the past sites?
She would definitely love to return to Africa, the motherland. She would like to visit more countries in the middle of the continent and see more tribes, for example. “I felt more connected to Africa,” she says.
