Besides having personally traveled to almost 100 countries (Lisa’s goal is to visit every country in the world), Crooked Compass’ founder, Lisa Pagotta has been in the travel and tourism industry all her life.
In this interview with Lisa, we talk about how Crooked Compass was born and which type of traveller it is designed to cater for.
How did you come up with the name, Crooked Compass?
When Crooked Compass originally started it was a travel blog. It was Lisa writing about all her weird and wonderful travel experiences.
When trying to come up with the name for the blog, Lisa tried to find a collaboration of words that really showcased ‘off-the-beaten track’ but wasn’t cliched.
After creating a short list of names, Lisa approached family and friends about their opinion, and ‘Crooked Compass’ was the winner.
What type of traveller does Crooked Compass cater for?
There are two sides to the business; small group tours and tours by design.
Small group tours are for those that are well-travelled but are looking for that something more. That ‘what’s next’, ‘what’s new’, ‘what can I experience that other’s haven’t?’
The small group tours are quite immersive, and heavy culture behind them and may be a bit of a shock for those travelling for the first time.
Which places does Crooked Compass travel to?
Every continent, except Antarctica.
What is different about travelling with Crooked Compass?
For example, when travelling to Peru, most tours will take you to the main locations such as Machu Picchu via the classic Inca Trial. This is a must for the first-time traveller but is overcrowded with tourists and the track is worn.
Where Crooked Compass comes in is for those that have fallen in love with Peru and have already done the mainstream routes but want to see something more.
Crooked Compass takes you along lesser-known tracks with more authentic local cultural immersion.
About Lisa Pagotto
Lisa has been in the travel industry for 14 years. She attended the AFTA Travel and Tourism College.
Beginning as a retail travel consultant, and then moving on to wholesale travel, Lisa travelled for one year, backpacking and doing the bar-maid thing, and then went back into a retail/wholesale position, specialising in Italy as she had just returned from Italy and had been studying the language.
Lisa then went travelling again overseas for 2 years and worked at the same time as a tour leader for Top Deck around western Europe.
Returning home to Australia, Lisa joined Kumuka, an adventure tour operator and was promoted to be their national tour manager.
Lisa’s next role was The McLachlan Travel Group and looked after all the McLachlan Experience sales and marketing.
Lisa then decided to create her own unique travel company, Crooked Compass.
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