28 Nov Just Explore From The Inside
The Beginnings
Five years ago, Rosa Lara founded Just Explore (J.E), a small boutique travel agency. After 14 years involved in export sales and international markets, she decided it was time to do something different and exciting in her professional career. She saw a challenging but really appealing opportunity to develop her passion for travelling and meeting new people.
To the question of how she started J.E, Rosa says “Just Explore started as a personal project and a great encouragement from my husband… I thought why not “selling” my country in a way that travelers will never experience by themselves?”
The name of the company was something that came quite naturally after some thoughts and over a glass of wine. “I find that the word JUST is very strong and EXPLORE is so descriptive of what we do. All I can say is that both words combined Just Worked!”, she mentions.
If you asked her about the biggest challenge that the company has faced, her reply is: “I would say that the biggest challenge was to design the website, get familiar with Google Ads and keep updated with the Social Media. I had to deal with all this on my own when I first started besides setting up a company, attending exhibitions, creating attractive itineraries to generate sales, inspecting all the activities, hotels and partners…”
Just Explore’s Heart: The Travellers
Rosa cares about every detail involved on the traveller’s itinerary, so she is the person who knows them best, “Above all, our clients are well discerning travelers, interesting and interested. From families to active seniors, couples, solo travelers, honeymooners or a group of friends travelling together. All are from English speaking countries and always with a common factor: they all find that first we listen to their needs, agree a budget and deliver that perfect once in a lifetime experience”.
At Just Explore clients quite often become friends. They fall in love with Spain and with the experience they live, “we keep them updated with new experiences and destinations so when they are ready to come back and book another trip with us they don’t hesitate to contact us again. We have made many good friends (all past travelers) over these 5 years and I am sure we will make many more in the future”.
Anyone choosing to travel with this boutique agency can simply relax, enjoy, experience and live the moment. Rosa and her team will take care of all the travel arrangements, so the trip becomes a memorable one.
What Tourism Means To Just Explore
Rosa is totally against the mass tourism and she thinks that “tourism in Spain is one of the most important industries, especially in Andalucia. We are very lucky to have such a rich country. Tourism is important for our economy indeed, but we also need to protect and preserve what we have and that’s why I support the slow tourism, the traveler’s experiences, overall quality vs quantity”.
When asked where her favorite destination in Spain is, she answered “qué dedo me corto que no me duela” (literally translated: which finger shall I cut and not feel the pain). I LOVE SPAIN! The diversity is such that it’s hard to pick a favorite region as it’s like having different countries all in one but if I really have to choose one, that would have to be my birth region, Andalucia (of course)”.
Past, Present & Future
Looking back over the past 5 years these words come to mind: Challenges, researches, learning process, team building, emotions, memories, rewards… Loving wine as I do, I would say that we started as a young wine that is now aging in a biological way under a film of yeast (velo de flor), as happens with one of my favourite wines, the fino… We will continue improving and offering the best as a great wood-aged Amontillado. The personal touch has always been there and will always be.
The best part of this exciting adventure are the people I’ve met along the way, I’ve been very fortunate to meet many interesting people. And of course, the great team we now have, the great partners we work with and not forgetting all the great clients!
Rosa Lara
Just Explore CEO & Founder
If you would like to learn more about living the Just Explore experience, please click here!
