About Us
The Tripbod story
Tripbod began life as YourSafePlanet in 2007, founded by UCL graduate Sally Broom, to test her belief that direct connection between travellers and local trusted contacts before their trips, led to better travel experiences when they arrived. It did. Travellers said the service gave them personal insight into new places, brought repeat visits to destinations alive in new ways, and ultimately saved them time, money & hassle.
The beginning - Your Safe Planet
Sally grew up in the market town of Ulverston, on the edge of the Lake District, a popular tourist destination in England. Visitors to the region rarely ventured off the beaten, missing the locally known treasures of the area and following the more publicised tourist trail, visiting the predictable sights. What treats they were missing! How could Sally use her local knowledge in advance to help them see and do more?
Travelling further afield on her gap year, throughout University, and ever since, she found time and time again that her most memorable travel experiences were thanks to the locals she met along the way. With extensive insider knowledge of their local area, they were better qualified than any guidebook, travel agent or online forum, to advise Sally on the places they called home. She only wished she’d had their advice sooner!
How could Sally help other travellers access the same level of local advice in advance to help make their trips better? Your Safe Planet was born.
From Your Safe Planet to Tripbod
The internet continues to be flooded with travel information - some of it good, some of it bad - but with so much out there it's hard to know where to start or what to trust. The result is wasting time and energy on a task which should be fun - trip planning!
Tripbod, launched in September 2009, built on the foundation of Your Safe Planet to get travellers straight to the source of the information they need: a trusted local person on the ground where they want to go, providing personal, relevant, up-to-date ideas and advice for their trip.
The Tripbod service makes travel a fair deal for all, connecting travellers and local Tripbods directly and bypassing the middle-men. This ensures the human connection and authenticity of travel isn't lost while rewarding both travellers and Tripbods with great value for money.
How Tripbod works
Team Tripbod
Tripbod’s launch was a team effort by founder Sally Broom and old school friend & former Moscow Ad Executive, Dot Pinkney. The team of two went from strength to strength in the first nine months of operation, and once Dot had seen Tripbod fully established as a reputable online travel service, she decided to return to her consultancy roots.
This turned out to be perfect timing for former Rough Guides employee, Liz Sutcliffe. Fresh off the plane from teaching English in Brazil and looking for a new travel venture, Liz jumped at the chance to join the team in May and has never looked back.
Since then Sally and Liz have been joined by Rough Guides founder and publisher Martin Dunford and Tech entrepreneur Colin Hayhurst to form a core team of four which is working hard to take Tripbod to the next level and to help travellers worldwide to travel the Tripbod way. By directly connecting locals at the grassroots with curious independent travellers everywhere, Tripbod aims to level the playing field and make a real difference in the travel industry.