About TravelBud

Saskia, TravelBud’s mother hen is responsible for the post-signup support and guidance for all our participants. Whether it’s your nerves that need calming or an invoice you need re-sent, when you sign up for a TravelBud program, it will be Saskia who’s there to help you on your way to your life-changing adventure!

Hailing from South Africa’s picturesque winelands, Saskia has herself taught English abroad before in Lop Buri and Phang Nga in Thailand and knows just how much this experience can change your life for the better:

“It taught me empathy, patience, respect and rocking social skills (especially because I tend to be quite quiet!) l went over at a very young age, which made everything a bit harder, but I’m glad I went when I did, as it shaped me into a person I wanted to become.”

Saskia has a big passion for beach life and couldn’t imagine living far from water: “I LOVE THE OCEAN, the sea, the sand, the salt, the sun, the seagulls (even though I am quite terrified of them) the thrill of surfing or even just floating in the water is everything to me.” And in her endeavours to find the best beaches, she’s been lucky enough to explore not only South East Asia and her native South Africa, but also countries farther afield like the US, Japan, Australia, India and Italy.

Where to next? South America is next on Saskia’s list, she wants to go anywhere and everywhere from the beaches of Santa Catarina in Brazil to the eerie desert hand sculpture Mano del Desierto in Chile!

Kim has joined the Support team at TravelBud to offer her wealth of knowledge, experience and insights into teaching and travelling abroad.

Kim lived in Joenju, South Korea, working as an English teacher at two public schools and one boarding school in Wanju. Since then, she's been involved various education initiaties, held the position of enrollment coordinator, was a lead instructor for both online and in-class TEFL/TESOL courses and most recently was a Program & Placement Manager for our South Korea program.

“Travelling and teaching abroad has taught me that I’m able to adapt to living outside of my established norm and to be happy doing it. I’ve learnt that it’s okay to travel, eat, go to the movies etc alone and to enjoy doing it alone. Packing up my life in a suitcase has made me realise I can live simpler, without the clutter and that there is more value in collecting experiences and connecting with people as opposed to collecting tangible things.”

Having explored South Africa extensively as well as China, the Philippines, the UK, US, Bahamas and Italy, she definitely counts the latter as her favourite, because, well you guessed it, it’s arguably the food capital of the world! Next up for Kim, it’s a toss up between India, Egypt or Argentina. When you chat to her on the phone, please help her decide!

In 2019, Ben travelled to Thailand and started teaching English in the former capital city of Ayutthaya. Ben was lucky to teach students of a wide range of ages from Kindergarten to High School. Ben quickly developed a love for travelling in South East Asia and wanted to see as much as possible of the region. Ben was fortunate to travel through all the major areas of Thailand and a bit of Laos.

Since returning to South Africa, Ben has become passionate about helping other people to get the opportunity he had to experience a new part of the world and broaden his horizons.

Ben is definitely not done travelling and is looking forward to returning to Asia. Ben plans to travel to Vietnam, China and South Korea before a trip to the Iberian Peninsula in Europe.

Besides his love of travelling, Ben enjoys video games, reading, going on safaris, and taking care of his cat, Bear. Ben is excited to be a part of the TravelBud team and is ready to help you get the most out of time abroad.

Chelsea is a young, vibrant teacher traveller who also speaks Mandarin at a conversational level. She counts this has one of her top achievements next to experiecing snow at -25 degrees in South Korea!

After completing her TEFL certification, Chelsea moved to Jiangsu province in China and worked as an English Teacher for 5 years at a training centre, a public shcool and an international school.

She has travlled to 15 chinese cities learning and exploring Chinese culture, people and food. During her vacation days she spent time travelling to 7 countries within Asia listing South Korea and Vietnam as her top two.

Her near future travel plans include: Indonesia, Taiwan & Macau.

Besides travelling Chelsea likes photography, creating videos, writing, watching theatre, spending time with her friends and family and finding cute coffee shops to explore.

Grace is an enrollment coordinator at TravelBud signing people up to our many programs and helping them get all the answers to the questions they may have about taking the plunge and going overseas for amazing teach abroad adventures. Hailing from a beautiful little, coastal town in South Africa called Hermanus, she recently returned from adventures abroad and will be based in Cape Town.

Besides travelling, Grace loves cooking, reading Oscar Wilde books, scouring vintage shops for things of another time and going wine tasting at every available opportunity. She taught in South Korea for a year, in a city just outside of Seoul, called Anseong. Living and teaching abroad taught her so many things about herself, the world and life in general making her the wise old soul she is today:

“The most poignant thing I learnt was that you can connect with people, no matter how different your culture, and that the world really is filled with genuinely good people.”

Before Korea Grace had never travelled out of Africa, but since arriving there, she’s gotten the chance to travel to Thailand, Cambodia, Israel and Ireland. She was lucky enough to tick being in Ireland during St Paddy’s day off her bucket list, but finds it a toss up between the Emerald Isle and Israel as her favourite places on Earth.

That might change soon as the list of places she still wants to go is growing daily, with Turkey next on the list!

Growing up in the picturesque and sometimes far detached world of the Natal midlands, life was often sheltered and the world small, especially when spending the better part of one’s formative years in boarding school.

Having grown up in this little "bubble" there was always an impending sense of "What next?"

With a growing inquisitiveness and lust for adventure, the mundane and cyclical nature of following fellow students into a life of studying and so-called “real world” jobs just didn’t sit well with James.

Unsure what to do or where life was going to take him, he took the plunge to teach a year abroad in Australia. As the days moved on and experiences grew, his eyes widened with the realisation of just how accessible the big wide world really is! One year of life which significantly changed and shaped his future!

Following one of the best experiences of his life, James headed back to study but soon found himself fighting with the unquenchable thirst for travel and made his way back overseas, travelling and working from the cold and wet Moorlands of Northumberland to the Sandy shores of Sun-kissed St Tropez. James has visited more than 13 countries and counting! All sparked from one year of travel!

Having started from a young age, all alone in the big wide world, James has experienced all the colours of travel emotions and asserts that if he can, anyone can and everyone should!

Growing up in a small midwest town in Indiana, Alyssa dreamed like everyone else about traveling abroad and living in a new country. Alyssa set her goals high and set out to teach abroad in Thailand. This came with the world experiencing covid-19. During this time all the borders were closed and Alyssa had to re-plan her sights. After a few years and the world slowly coming back together, Alyssa decided to travel the world but to a new destination and landed in the jungles of Costa Rica.

Alyssa was an English, math and science teacher at a private school in a beautiful beach town, while living in Costa Rica. While teaching in Costa Rica, Alyssa was able to experience different cultures and travel to other Latin American countries. Alyssa plans on traveling to Thailand and Vietnam.

Besides teaching, Alyssa enjoys being with her friends, going on hikes, being active and trying local food. A little fun fact, Alyssa has a twin sister.

Destiny grew up skateboarding and snowboarding the coasts and mountains of California, USA and continues to explore her curiosities; though one thing she’s not trying again: clay sculpting. After studying biology, trying marketing and healthcare, she decided it was time to taste something new because “I’ll never have more time than I do now.”

After her first trip to Korea, she knew she had to be there. What better time than the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic! After a few years teaching abroad in Seoul, South Korea, Destiny gained Korean fluency, has been nearly everywhere, and, according to her friends, is the official ambassador of the country. A favorite she recommends is Gamjatang, pork bone soup, and Sokcho for a beach getaway.

“I’ve been incredibly humbled by the challenges of playing 'immigrant.'' That said, I’ve walked away with funny stories that sound like lies and compassionate relationships with friends and students. The good comes with the less good, and that’s what makes South Korea beautiful.”

After teaching, Destiny set off to an adventurous month in Cambodia, but her Cambodian is a work in progress. Needing a break from the heat, she found her heart in Vietnam before returning home to the U.S. Ironically, she says the best pizza she ever had was in Ho Chi Minh City. Destiny is always staying up to date with Asia for her future travels and can probably answer your random questions!

Liam is TravelBud’s co-founder and is the visionary driving force behind our team. He’s from Cape Town, South Africa but finds himself exploring the world and living in a variety of places, most recently Hua Hin, Thailand.

Having taught in Thailand himself, he returned with a newfound appreciation for educators and a vision for supplying better prepared and more passionate teachers to Asia to have the same amazing experiences he did.

Liam says living in Asia taught him not to sweat the small things in life and to have more compassion and patience – this is something he’s instilled in every aspect of life at TravelBud.

A keen videographer, Liam is most often found behind the lense of his camera or nose down behind his laptop editing the next epic video he’s shot. Well, that’s when he’s not discovering the next big underground hip hop scene in Myanmar, Korea or back home in SA – this is one guy who’s passionate about his music!

Travel is also something which runs in Liam’s blood, by the age of 19 he’d been to 25 countries and he’s not showing any signs of slowing down! Currently sitting at the 35 country mark, he dreams of buying a character-filled 4×4 and exploring every last corner of Africa.

A natural born leader, Stu is TravelBud’s Business Development Director and one with a difference! He describes his most important focus as “keeping the unique enthusiastic and caring company culture alive as we grow together”. Something which is close to the hearts of every team member.

Stu has been with TravelBud from day one, the moment he finished university two of his closest friends, the Kelly brothers invited him to join them on a new venture: TravelBud! From humble beginnings where he was responsible for everything from accounting to marketing and blogging he’s grown a dream team which is taking the business to new heights.

Travel has touched Stu’s life deeply as he explored Europe independently while living and working in the UK as a sports coach after he finished high school. It’s taught him that truly exciting and life-changing adventures only happen when you step outside your comfort zone; and not a day goes by when he doesn’t challenge the team to do the same!

So where is his favourite destination? None other than our best-seller, Thailand! And, if he can ever find the time to take a sabbatical from steering the TravelBud ship he’d like to spend his time off volunteering and living in Malawi or Kenya for a bit.

Tristan is TravelBud’s technical director and with 14 years of Technical experience in the field is responsible for the bright and shiny Travelbud website you see before you. He also comes up with all the clever tech to make sure you get the exact info you need when visiting TravelBud.

Tristan taught students in the computer lab during his University days and loved watching their growth in confidence and abilities. Helping others has become the central theme in his life.

Hailing from Cape Town, South Africa, when he’s not engulfed by a matrix-like strings of code he’ll be found plucking the strings of his guitar – a skill he taught himself online through a website called justinguitar.com as well as trying to teach his two young daughters the Ukulele!

He is well traveled having visited places as varied as Australia, Patagonia, Mozambique, the US and Greece and values the way travel constantly challenges him to see things differently.

Of all the places he’s been, he loved Patagonia the best. Next up he hopes to hike in Iceland or try his hand at snowboarding in Austria!

Luke is a director at TravelBud and practices as an advocate at the Cape Bar Society of Advocates in Cape Town, South Africa.

Luke brings strategic business advice and guidance to TravelBud, as well as a dose of enthusiasm for the love of travel.