Daniels alumna Tara Cappel helps young professionals explore the world through curated group travel
Tara Cappel (BSBA 2013)
Imagine you’re on vacation in Italy. You spend your mornings sipping cappuccinos at a quaint café near the piazza, and your afternoons exploring sunny cobblestone streets with a cup (or two) of sweet, cool gelato. At night, you sit outside under string lights, enjoying pizza and wine.
Sound heavenly? There’s more.
One of the best parts about this (albeit imaginary) Italian adventure is that you didn’t have to plan it. You didn’t waste any of your precious spare time reading reviews, booking hotels or buying train tickets. You didn’t stress about crafting the perfect itinerary because someone else did it for you. Plus, you get to experience all of this with a group of 10 new friends.
Fortunately, this scenario can be made a reality thanks to Tara Cappel (BSBA 2013), the CEO and founder of For the Love of Travel, a group travel company for young professionals.
“Planning a well thought out international trip can be a daunting task,” Cappel said. “Trips can stay in the idea phase for a long time, so I wanted to create an option for young professionals that checked all of the boxes without requiring any of the work. This is a way for people to just sign up and go, meet people their age, and have an unforgettable experience that’s already been vetted by our team.”
Tara (right) and her sister Makayla (BSBA 2014)
The team at FTLO Travel, which includes Cappel’s sister and fellow Daniels alum Makayla (BSBA 2014), does all the trip-planning legwork—trying the restaurants, crafting the itinerary, finding the best guides—so travelers can enjoy an authentic, unique and hassle-free vacation.
“We don’t just repackage your standard tourist trap,” Cappel said. “We focus on the pillars of curation, connection and consciousness. We design our itineraries in such a way that really highlights the culture and connects people to the locals, and to the people they’re traveling with.”
FTLO Travel caps each trip at 14 people to provide an intimate group experience
When asked how her experience at Daniels helped prepare her for life as an entrepreneur, Cappel mentioned the College’s emphasis on gaining an international perspective and exploring the world outside the U.S. “We live in a globally connected world and it’s really important for young people to develop empathy and a broad cultural understanding,” Cappel said. “My hope is that traveling with FTLO can help with that.”
Cappel launched FTLO Travel in 2016 and since then, hundreds of young professionals have joined FTLO trips to meet new people and explore destinations like Italy, Greece, South Africa, Mexico, Morocco and more. The company offers experiential group trips to 12 different countries but plans to add five new destinations this year, and five more the following year.
“The most rewarding part is seeing the effects that our trips have on our travelers,” Cappel said. “I’ve received thank-you notes from people saying the trip changed their life; we’ve had couples meet on trips; we’ve had groups of people who met on trips who now do reunions in their cities every couple of months. It really feels like we’re building a community around travel and openness and experience, so it’s been really rewarding to create that.”