Meet Adeline Kuroki | Founder of Savor & Soak Travel Co.

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

Hi Adeline, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
Before covid, I worked full time for a travel company, but by the time trip planning was again an option for me, I had 2 young kids at home and really wanted flexibility in my schedule and location above all else. So instead of going back to my old job, I started my own travel company!
I had started my own business when I lived in Japan as well, a yoga and fitness studio, so I knew that I loved the excitement and challenge of starting something new.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
I am so grateful to be able to work in an industry that I love, and doing something that, I hope, contributes some good to the world. Despite challenges with over-tourism and sustainability concerns (which I’ll talk about), I still think that travel is so important as personal connection and cultural understanding help bring us together.

I struggled a lot with mental blocks when starting my business. I’m not Japanese, so how could I be so presumptuous as to call myself a Japan expert and consult on trips exclusively to Japan? This is something I still think about, but I do think that I bring a useful perspective for westerners visiting Japan. I can walk my clients through differences that they will see when visiting Japan for the first time, and help them understand where and why some things will be very different to what they see and do back home or on trips to other countries. But this is something I still struggle with, and it sometimes makes it very hard for me to promote my business and talk about what I do to a wider audience – the imposter syndrome is definitely real!

Getting back to over-tourism, I really want my business to be able to help make positive changes in how people visit Japan. Over-tourism is such a huge concern in Japan, especially in popular cities like Kyoto. It makes sense – big cities have the infrastructure, English language support, and the international recognition that smaller places do not. But these places are being stretched to their limit in terms of the number of people visiting each year. My goal is to help visitors find smaller locations to visit that are still beautiful, and still an amazing experience through the language support that I can provide, as well as my ability to prepare my clients before their trip for accommodations and food that will be different. Preparing my clients for their trips to Japan also involve many other small conversations about things like when to take off shoes, how to use the train system, and the fact that there will be no trash cans anywhere! These things help my clients have a great time in Japan, and also lessen the stress of locals, who won’t need to explain these things.

In this way, I do operate quite differently from a typical travel agent who knows their client very well, but is not necessarily familiar with the destination country that they’re booking. I also operate differently from a typical package tour provider in that I set up my business model to really give myself the luxury of time working on each trip to make it completely custom based on my clients’ needs and wishes.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Oh gosh – what a hard question to put to a travel planner! Obviously I would need to start with 20 minutes of questions covering everything from dietary restrictions to trip pacing 😉

For a week with our young kiddos, we would spend a lot of time outside taking advantage of the sunny Denver weather. We would explore some of the extensive bike trail systems, stopping at playgrounds along the way. One of my favorites is the Coal Creek trail in Lafayette, stopping off at Otis Craft Collective for coffee and Acreage by Stem Ciders for a beer with gorgeous mountain views.
A day in downtown Denver would include a show at the DCPA followed by dinner and drinks in LOHI.
Another day would be devoted to Boulder, with a morning hike and an afternoon splashing in Boulder Creek or shopping on Pearl Street.
I feel like a trip to Denver isn’t complete without some time in the mountains, so a day trip to Georgetown or Idaho Springs, or an overnight to Vail or Aspen would definitely be in order.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I’m so grateful that I found the Travel Beyond the Obvious community while I was researching how to stay in the travel industry without becoming a travel agent. I took the certification course to become an independent travel planner, and I also have a community of other travel planners to talk to and ask for advice. For me, the hardest part of being a small business owner is the lack of colleagues, so having people to talk to who understand my business and have similar struggles and new ideas is so helpful!

Website: https://savorandsoak.com

Instagram: @savorandsoak