The Most Covetable Jobs in Travel
Some people spend their working lives at a desk. Others spend theirs in a rainforest, on a private island, in an artisanal workshop or tracking wildlife across a coastal reserve.
Travel is hardly short on appealing career paths, but some jobs are in a league of their own. From tending tropical gardens to uncovering Italy’s best-kept secrets, Slojourn Studio meets the people behind its portfolio whose work extends far beyond the traditional hotel job description.
Grace Thadani on a trip to Slojourn Studio’s clients in Sri Lanka
Vichea Sok – Botanist, Naturalist, Garden Manager and Herbalist, Song Saa Private Island
For Vichea, botanist, naturalist, herbalist and Garden Manager at Song Saa Private Island, the office is the forest. A Cambodian botanist, conservationist and natural product researcher, he has built his career around the plants, aromatics and traditional botanical knowledge of Cambodia, making Song Saa a rare place to practise his expertise within the ecosystems he is passionate about protecting.
His knowledge is now a major part of the recently launched Saraan Sanctuaries, Song Saa’s nature and wellbeing program, where he shares his understanding of the medicinal and fragrant plants of the Koh Rong Archipelago and their traditional uses. He also oversees the island’s gardens, with a focus on native species, plant health and ecological balance.
For guests, time with Vichea means learning to recognise the plants growing around them and understand their place in Cambodian culture and the island ecosystem., and even put them into practical use in the kitchen or in art sessions. For Vichea, it is a chance to spend his working life outdoors, immersed in the subject he has devoted his career to.
Vichea Sok at Song Saa Private Island
Alastair Oakman — Landscape and Activities Manager, Elements of Byron
For Landscape and Activities Manager Alastair Oakman, the workplace is 50 acres of rainforest, wetlands, eucalypt forest and coastal landscape at Elements of Byron. He oversees land management, wildlife conservation, bush regeneration and landscaping, with much of his work focused on understanding and protecting the property’s interconnected ecosystems.
He also gets to bring that knowledge to guests. Alastair leads rainforest and foraging tours, introducing visitors to native ingredients including warrigal greens, Davidson plums, native ginger, saltbush and coastal lemon aspen, and has helped shape Elements of Byron’s menu, which leans on these ingredients. His personalised Bird Trail tours take guests through four distinct ecologies in search of more than 250 bird species.
The unusual part of the job is the access: Alastair spends his days in a landscape most people only get to experience on holiday, with the added privilege of knowing what is living, growing and changing within it.
Alastair rainforest tour with guests of Elements of Byron
Chef Nguyễn Văn Hoài — Acting Executive Chef, Zannier Bãi San Hô
Chef Nguyễn Văn Hoài joined Zannier Bãi San Hô in 2020, before the resort had opened, as a Senior Chef de Partie. Today, as Acting Executive Chef, he leads the kitchen at the 98-hectare retreat on Vietnam’s Central Coast and translates the food culture of his home region for an international audience.
Born and raised in the area, Hoài draws on recipes and techniques passed down by his mother and grandmother, with 90% of the resort’s ingredients sourced locally. His cooking is deeply connected to the surrounding landscape, from the produce of the Central Coast and highlands to the fresh herbs and aromatic ingredients that define the region.
His favourite dish, grilled fish with galangal and lemongrass, is a simple expression of that connection. For Hoài, cooking is both a profession and a way of introducing travellers to the place he comes from – one plate at a time.
Chef Nguyễn Văn Hoài ất Zannier Bãi San Hô, shot by Amber Hunter
Nephele Katsarou — Visual Artist, Andronis
At ANDRONIS in Santorini, visual artist Nephele Katsarou has a workplace that changes with every project. A graduate of the Athens School of Fine Arts with a background in sculpture and interior architecture, she has spent the past decade creating site-specific artworks and installations in response to the spaces and landscapes around them.
Inspired by organic forms and the relationship between people and nature, Nephele works between her studio and the various ANDRONIS properties, collaborating with the teams designing and building each space. Her work is intended to become part of the environment rather than simply sit within it, exploring how art can influence atmosphere and the way people experience a place.
Alongside her artistic practice, Nephele is undertaking doctoral research at the University of the Aegean. Her career sits somewhere between art, architecture and travel, with the Aegean itself providing an ever-changing backdrop and source of material.
Nephele Katsarou
Moreno Moretti — Founder, Italy Charme
For Moreno Moretti, Founder of Italy Charme, the job is to know Italy intimately enough to open the right doors. He has spent the past decade travelling from north to south, building relationships with the artisans, chefs and innkeepers who preserve the country’s culture and discovering the people and places that give each region its character. Moreno describes himself as an artisan and a gateway to Italy, using that knowledge to tailor journeys around the individual traveller.
It is an especially romantic profession in a country where so much of the luxury lies in access: a family-run kitchen, a centuries-old workshop, a vineyard, a private palazzo or a craftsman keeping a local tradition alive. Rather than simply assembling an itinerary, Moreno’s work is about knowing who to call, where to go and what is worth discovering.
The result is a career built around curiosity. His office might be a vineyard in Tuscany one week and an artisan workshop in another corner of Italy the next, continually seeking out the people, places and traditions that can become part of someone else’s journey. Italy Charme’s current offering reflects that philosophy, with bespoke tours, private experiences and artisanal encounters across the country.
Moreno Moretti
Grace Thadani — Digital Marketing Manager, Slojourn Studio
For Slojourn Studio Digital Marketing Manager Grace Thadani, the workplace can be a wellness retreat, a rainforest hideaway, a sprawling Mediterranean resort or a remote corner of Vietnam. Her job is to experience those places first-hand and translate what makes them distinctive into content.
Grace creates and curates digital campaigns across Slojourn’s portfolio, travelling to properties to capture photography and video, explore experiences and understand a destination from the perspective of a guest. The role combines travel with the creative work that happens afterwards: finding the details, people, landscapes and moments that give a property its personality, then turning them into a visual story.
It is one of the few jobs where experiencing the product is genuinely part of the brief. The research trip is the work.
Grace Thadani at Soneva Fushi
The Barefoot Bookseller — Soneva
A bookshop on a private island is already a pretty enviable workplace. Add turquoise water, tropical gardens and a job that involves recommending books to travellers, and Soneva’s Barefoot Bookseller starts to look like a particularly good career move.
The role combines bookselling with curation and programming. Barefoot Booksellers run the resort’s pop-up bookshop, help guests find books suited to their interests and have hosted literary events, writing sessions and reading experiences. Soneva continues to feature the role across its Maldivian resorts, with a Barefoot Bookseller currently based at Soneva Secret, while its resorts maintain dedicated bookshops and libraries.
And the barefoot part is literal. Soneva’s No News, No Shoes philosophy extends to the role, meaning the dress code for the world’s most enviable bookshop is essentially whatever you can comfortably wear without shoes.