Joanne Williams
Editor

(Photo provided – Dawn Nowlan can provide you the recognized travel knowledge and skills to get you where you want to go.)

 

The winter doldrums often lead to dreams of travel to far-flung places – Australia, Brazil, Figi. Yes, the far-away island was the request of intrepid travelers seeking help from Dawn Nowlan, owner and travel advisor with Nowlan Travel-Deam Vacations in Charlotte.

“Folks from Charlotte travel all over the place,” she said.

And so has Nowlan, who specializes in romance travel – folks going on honeymoons, anniversary journeys and family vacations.

Nowlan purchased the franchise in 2019 and opened the agency in 2020. “Not the best of timing,” she said. But, by October 2023 she had a window to Charlotte at 241 S. Cochran Ave. “I think we weathered the storm.”

Nowlan is a bit humble here. Besides growing her franchise with five other travel advisors, she was recently honored at the Dream Vacations National Conference awards ceremony as being one of the top five Apple Vacations producers in the nation, competing with more than 2,500 other travel agency franchises.

Nowlan’s secret to success? “Seeing the work as a relationship, not a transaction,” she said. Her full service travel offerings are backed by her years of training in the industry. “And, you learn along the way,” Nowlan said. “Every journey is unique.”

In a world of online planning and offerings, Nowlan recommends planning through a travel advisor, especially when you can meet with them face to face. 

There are no fees for her services, Nowlan said. A little known fact? “If you are not working with a travel advisor you are still paying for them,” she said. It is “baked in the cake” of bookings and packages, she said.

She enjoys the personalized service she can offer clients, new and returning.

So does Travel Advisor Julie A. Gilbert, who also teaches at Galewood Elementary school in Charlotte.

“The best part of the business is the people,” Gilbert said. And she includes Nowlan in that sentiment. “She is a blessing. She has a heart for helping people and for entrepreneurship,” Gilbert said. 

Before she opened her travel business, Nowlan was a store manager for Walmart, serving the corporation for 23 years.

Where in the world has Nowlan been? Plenty of places. Her goal is to step foot on every continent. She is half-way there. Where is the best place she has been? “The place I am going next,” she said.

Find Nowlan in her Cochran Avenue office, at 517-588-6285, or www.NowlanTravel.com.