Meet Grace Parry | Luxury Travel Advisor & Social Media Micro-Influencer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Grace Parry and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Grace, what role has risk played in your life or career?
Risk-taking has completely changed my life. I wouldn’t have had the majority of my experiences if it weren’t for taking a leap of faith. After college, I chose a nontraditional route, which included not having any job security or financial security, and from there, it transformed into a career that I love and feel very passionate about. Let me tell you about the risks I have taken.

After college, I moved to Oahu in Hawaii with no job and enough savings from my college job to get through the first three months. I thought how cool it would be to get a job I can’t have most places in the world, so I called around to a bunch of scuba diving shops to see if they had any job openings, and sure enough, one did. For the one year that I lived in Hawaii I worked for a scuba diving company.

At this point, I was lucky enough to have made such a fantastic group of creative and supportive friends who encouraged me to start posting on social media, and that’s precisely what I did. I view social media as a creative outlet for me because I’m not good at painting, crafting, or any of the traditional creative entities, so social media became a place where I could let my photography and videography show my creativity and my experiences that started to define me as a character. It was more of a scrapbook or a place to hold memories rather than a platform to gain followers, likes, and comments. However, posting on social media did add an extra stream of income, which helped me save up for my next adventure, which later became moving to Italy.

On July 11th, 20,22, I moved to Florence, Italy, with two of my best friends, and this is where the extensive traveling and new types of experiences kicked in. I have always loved traveling; it is my family’s love language, and I was lucky enough to grow up in a family that was able to travel and not only this, they encouraged me to travel. I lived in Florence, Italy, for about five months, and it was the perfect home base to explore parts of Europe I had never been to or had to go back to because they were so amazing. A few of these destinations included Croatia, Ireland, Greece, France, England, Netherlands, Spain, Hungary, and Italy. At this point, my main form of income had transitioned to a completely remote freelance job in social media marketing and strategy for three different companies. This allowed me to travel during the week and the weekends while also working from anywhere. I was still posting on my social media at this point, trying to show people our European adventures, and grow as a creator.

After my adventures in Europe, I returned to Mississippi for a few months to determine my next move. A lot went into making this decision based on finding a “real career path,” trying to figure out where I wanted to live, whether I knew anyone in that city, etc. This is where moving to San Diego came into play. My best friend had already moved there, and there was an extra room in their house, so I aborted my other plans to move to LA after completing multiple interviews for a job that I intensely disliked, I booked a plane ticket to San Diego, shipped my car, and had moved there within two weeks of making the decision, and was once again jobless.

San Diego was a more permanent move for me, and at this point, I had to buckle down and find some stability in my life. To pay my bills, I found a job at a retail store while going to interviews for multiple corporate jobs that I thought were what I was supposed to do with my life; as I was getting older and thinking more about my future and the lifestyle I wanted to live. Nothing was panning out after months of interviews, and I didn’t want to take a job I wasn’t crazy about, because that can ruin the experience you have moving to a new city and not knowing anyone. So one day, I sat down and was like, what do I love to do, and how can I make this my career? And the answer was easy: travel. I then decided to follow in my mother’s footsteps and become a travel advisor. I found a great host agency, got certified, and have been building my business since then. I have been a travel advisor for almost a year, and I wasn’t expecting my company to take off so quickly, but it did. Over the past couple of years, I had built a background in travel through social media, which helped me gain credibility when launching into this career. I have also watched my mom do it over the years and have had such a great time having her as a mentor throughout getting my business off the ground. I have set goals for myself to complete by the date marking one year in the industry, and I have hit those goals four months early. I can proudly say I love my job and wouldn’t be in the career I am in today if it weren’t for taking the road less traveled. Needless to say, take the risk!

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Let me tell you what I do and why I love my job! I am a luxury travel advisor and a part of a host agency called Fora Travel. My business name is Parry on a Plane; of course, this is in reference to my name, which is Grace Parry. The name is very appropriate because I am constantly on planes flying about the world near and far, and I want my clients to do the same. This name also goes hand in hand with my personal brand on social media, which has the handle @parrys_party. I wanted the two names to be cohesive because social media is where I was previously sharing all of my travel experiences and where many of my clients have come from. Since then, most of my clients have been word of mouth, which in this industry is one of the best compliments you can receive, because it means you are not only doing your job, but you are doing it well!

Building a business was not easy; there was a learning curve, and I am still learning every day. My company is constantly growing in so many ways, with a few examples being expanding upon my website, growing my client list, participating in supplier and destination training, going on site inspections, and so much more!  As a one-woman show, that means that I am the marketing department, the IT department, the customer service department, and, of course, the travel planner/advisor/operations department as well! When I first started, my biggest trouble was feeling overwhelmed with the amount of work I had taken on, but since then, I have set many operations processes to help remedy this since every day can look a little different in this role.

I have been in the industry for over half a year, and I cannot believe I have already accomplished many of the goals I had initially set for the one-year mark. When I started, I had gotten my certification as a travel advisor, and since then, I have moved up to an advanced advisor; by the time you read this, I will hopefully hit the pro status as a travel advisor, which means I will have sold over one hundred thousand dollars in carefully curated travel to my amazing clients! I am so grateful that people have entrusted me with their bucket list trips, and it brings me so much joy to live vicariously through them.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
When talking about some of my favorite spots in San Diego, it always involves a beach or something near the water! San Diego has such a great environment to be outside, so I try to soak up the sun as much as possible, whether that means going for a walk outdoors or having a meal at an indoor outdoor restaurant! Here are a few of my favorite San Diego spots!

Some of my favorite things to do around the city:
-Hike at Torrey Pines
-Watch sunset at Torrey Pines Gliderport
-Have a beach day at Seascape Beach
-The little Italy Farmers Market
-Have a beach bonfire
– Surf on the small waves
-Padres Games
-Visit Coronado
-Go shopping in La Jolla Cove area

Favorite places to eat and have a fun beverage:
-Catania
-Monarch
-Board & Brew
-Herb and Sea
-Nolita Hall
-Brigantine
-Stratford Court Cafe
-Bang Bang
-Marine Room

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
There are so many people who have helped me on my journey to get where I am today; too many to count. My friends and my family are the most extensive support system that I have; without their encouragement to break the mold or to be unaffected by others’ criticism and judgment of the path that I have taken, I would not have had these doors open, and my life would look completely different. My mom is such an inspiration to me, and from a young age, it was instilled in me that life experiences are equally important to my education as time in the classroom, sparking my love of travel from an early age. My mother is truly the stem of all the adventures that life has taken me on.

Website: https://graceparry2.wixsite.com/parry-on-a-plane

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/parry.on.a.plane/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/grace-parry-77754a164/

Other: https://www.instagram.com/parrys_party/

https://www.foratravel.com/advisor/grace-parry

@parrys_party

@parry.on.a.plane