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This week, I have the opportunity to chat with CEO and Founder, Lillian Rafson, of Pack Up + Go, a travel agency that plans surprise destination trips. Pack Up + Go adds mystery and spontaneity to your travel experiences. Whether you're looking for a vacation, road trip, outdoor experience, or staycation, Pack Up + Go can help make your surprise trip perfect. Discover how Lillian was inspired to start this business and how she's continued to evolve it over the years.
About Lillian Rafson of Pack Up + Go
Lillian Rafson is the founder and CEO of Pack Up + Go. She launched the business in January 2016 at just 23 years old - so inspiring. Originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and a graduate at New York University's Gallatin School with a major in consumer culture, Lillian has always had a passion for travel and supporting small businesses. Without raising a single dollar, Lillian grew Pack Up + Go into the multi million dollar business that it is today. She's been honored as a member of the inaugural Pittsburgh Business Times 30 Under 30 Class and as a Tory Burch Foundation Fellow. She's thrilled to share her love for exploration through Pack Up + Go's mission of embracing the unknown and encouraging spontaneity in all of its travelers.
Jet Set Life Interview with Lillian Rafson
Lillian Rafson, Founder & CEO of Pack Up + Go
Tell us a little about yourself and your background.
“My name is Lillian, and I'm the founder and CEO of Pack Up + Go. We are a travel agency that plans trips around the US. But the catch is that your destination is a surprise until the day you depart. We launched almost six years ago, which is crazy. Before that, I really had no experience in the travel industry. I've always loved traveling and have been super fortunate to be able to travel. But this was my first time dipping my toes in the industry.”
What inspired you to create Pack Up + Go?
“I was living in New York. I went to school there and was working. I was feeling pretty burnt out and a little uninspired.
Traveling was always my reset. It was my way to take time and space to reconnect with myself, my values, and my direction. So I quit my job. And I decided to take a several month long solo trip around Eastern Europe.
On that trip, I ended up in all of these places that I knew nothing about. For example, there was a region up in Lithuania - Latvia and Estonia - that I really was not familiar with. And I ended up loving it. I was in Riga, Latvia, a city I had literally never heard of, just days before going.
I asked a couple of people in my hostel, how they heard about this amazing city, and the two of them, who were from the Netherlands, were there on a surprise vacation. I had never heard of the concept, but I was immediately intrigued.
Upon thinking about it more, I realized that something is happening to me when I am traveling to these countries. I had never heard of these places. As someone who was raised in the States, it occurred to me that I had never been to Washington state or Austin, Texas, or Boston, Massachusetts. When I thought of traveling, I immediately thought of shipping myself overseas to far off countries. I asked myself why I was not exploring my own backyard.
So from there, the concept really just took root. I decided in that moment that I wanted to help Americans explore the U.S. I wanted to encourage Americans to visit places that they might not have considered to visit on their own.”
What’s it like to work with Pack Up + Go?
“We have four different types of trips. Our travelers fill out a survey; the whole sign-up process is online. The first thing they do is choose which type of trip they want to take - drive, fly, do a staycation or outdoors trip.
Everybody's safety and comfort level right now is different. So I'm really proud of the fact that no matter how you are feeling about re-entering the world, we have a type of trip that works for everybody. Whether you prefer to stay closer to home, whether you prefer to go to an outdoor destination, or whether you feel comfortable getting on a plane, we have something for everyone and that feels really nice to be able to offer.
After they select a trip type, they choose their travel dates, their budget per person, and they fill out a pre-trip survey. That tells us where you've traveled recently, any trips you have coming up, what you'd like to do on vacation, dietary restrictions, if you're celebrating…things like that, and you enter all of your traveler details.
And that's it. We take it from there. We have a team of travel agents in-house who read through the surveys individually; it's not just plugged into some algorithm and spews out a destination. We book it all for you. We book your flights and hotel. Then we put together a list of our top picks for things to do in that destination that we think you'll like based on that pre-trip survey.
One week before you leave, we email the weather forecast, packing tips, and where/when to go for your departure. Then we mail a physical envelope that we ask you to keep sealed until the day of your trip. On the morning of your departure, you open that envelope to see where you're going, and you're off. We want it to be a really easy, fun, and exciting vacation.”
Photo Courtesy of: @packupgo_travel (Instagram)
Do you have any customers who have peeked?
“Oh, yeah. People definitely peek. We actually started asking our travelers after their trip if they did or not because we were curious. We sent out a survey - about 60% of our travelers wait until the airport or the day of their departure and 40% peek early, but it’s still a surprise even if they do.”
How many destinations do you currently offer within the US?
“The number is almost at 200, between our 4 types of trips (you can fly to your destination, do a road trip to a city destination, do a staycation, or do an outdoors road trip to a more remote, smaller town in nature). So
Our addition of outdoors trips really increased the number of destinations we offer because people are going to smaller towns all over the U.S. The vast majority of our trips go to around 100 destinations. The additional 100 are the smaller outdoor destinations.
At first, when I was starting, I thought we might just focus on a small number of destinations - maybe just 10 or 15 cities where we could really be the experts. But that number grew incredibly quickly because I realized that there are so many cities that have so much to offer. Why not showcase them and give those less well-known destinations the chance to surprise and delight?”
How do you work with customers on their budget?
“We have minimum budgets for our trips. If you are flying, it starts at $650 per person for two nights. If you're doing a road trip, it starts at $400 a night.
The prices do fluctuate based on what airport you're departing from (i.e. a flight from New York is a different cost than a flight from Omaha, Nebraska because the airports are different sizes and have different availability). But then you can choose to increase your budget from there.
The average budget for our plane trips is closer to $850 per person. We guarantee that we include your travel and accommodation. This cost also covers our service fee for planning the trips.
But after that, if we have extra room in your budget, then we put it to use towards attractions, tickets, a food tour, or restaurant gift card - things that we think you'll like in your destination. So we're never just getting too frivolous with your money.
If a traveler has a really specific request (e.g. a couples massage for their anniversary) and our travel planners aren't able to fit that into the budget, we will reach out to the traveler and explain how much it'll cost so that we can line it up for you. So there’s some communication there.
But for the most part, you set your budget and we make it work. We set our budget minimums where they are for a reason, because we've been doing this for a few years now. We know what we need to plan an amazing trip.”
What happens if there’s some sort of travel delay?
“We have in-house 24/7 traveler support because things happen all the time when you're traveling, whether it's a flight delay, flight cancellation, or power outage in a hotel. Things happen.
To make sure that our traveler’s experience is as stress-free as possible, we provide all of our travelers with a direct phone number that they can call. We're don’t place you on hold and we do not outsource it. We take on the stress, so that you can enjoy your trip. We have a great team of traveler experience specialists who are ready for anything.
During the pandemic, we realized that our travelers needed flexibility. There are so many unknowns; things feel like they're changing all the time. So we launched a product called Peace of Mind Refund Assurance.
This is something that we are super proud to offer. It’s an in-house product powered by Pack Up + Go. It’s not a third party travel insurance product. You can add this offering on to your trip when you're signing up. It gives you complete flexibility to change your dates, cancel your travel plans, and get up to a full refund until the day of your departure. We are really happy to provide our travelers with that added level of security.”
Photo Courtesy of: @packupgo_travel (Instagram)
How many people do you usually plan trips for?
“Most of our trips are for two people, whether it’s a couple or a pair of friends, but we do also offer solo trips. Currently, I believe around 8% of our trips are solo trips, but we do get groups of friends, families, mother-daughter trips, and everything in between.
If you have a friend, family member, or a partner who lives in a different city than you, we can plan your trip and you can meet up in a destination. That adds a lot of value, especially for long distance couples.”
What piece of advice would you have for someone going on their first trip with Pack Up + Go?
“Keep an open mind. You you never know what a city has to offer until you're there.
The best thing about our trips is that we give cities the chance to surprise and delight. If you go in with a preconceived notion, you might set yourself up for disappointment. But if you go in with an open mind, knowing that you’re on an adventure, either with yourself or someone you love, it's going to be awesome no matter what.”
Do you have a personal favorite Pack Up + Go destination?
“That’s hard to choose! It’s like asking me to choose a favorite child if I had children. My answer changes, day by day, season by season. I love cities like Savannah or Portland, Maine. I love those small-, medium-sized cities.
Currently, I’m dying to go back to New Orleans. One thing that I really missed throughout the pandemic was live music, dancing, and being in person for that type of small intimate show. So I'm dying to go to New Orleans right now.
But honestly, every city has something to offer. I told my team that I’d like to take one of our trips soon, and I told them I'd be happy to go anywhere. Like you really can't go wrong with me because I'm always excited to explore a new place.”
Do you have any travel tips or hacks you’d recommend to the jet set society?
“Always have a Wi-Fi hotspot - you never know when you're going to be doing an interview off the side of the highway in a service plaza! In addition to a Wi-Fi hotspot, I always have an external charger for my phone and a water bottle. The worst thing you can do when you're traveling is get dehydrated - that's a surefire way to derail your plans.”
Photo Courtesy of: @packupgo_travel (Instagram)
What do you find most rewarding about your job?
“Oh, there's a lot. I feel super lucky; I still can't believe people trust us to plan their trips. We've now planned almost 15,000 trips for 25,000 travelers to 200 destinations around the country.
It blows my mind because I love traveling and I’m able to share that with so many people. And now we have repeat travelers and people who are referring friends or family to our trips. It's really special that we're able to celebrate milestones for our travelers and help them experience new things.”
Anything new coming for Pack Up + Go?
“This last year and a half brought a lot of change for us. In March 2020, we launched our staycations. In August 2020, we launched our outdoors trips. In February 2021, we launched Pack Up + Go Picks, where if you know where you're traveling, whether it's for work or to visit family or for a wedding, and you want recommendations for more things to do while you're there, you can purchase our Pack Up + Go Picks for things to do there. Then in March 2021, we launched Peace of Mind.
So over the course of the year, we launched four new products that were completely different from anything we've done. Then we had a crazy summer season. So right now, we are recalibrating and making sure that everything we currently offer is running as smoothly as possible, making sure our systems are where they need to be.
We do have a couple of things that we're prepping for in the next couple of weeks, including revamping our loyalty program for repeat travelers and referrals. We’re working to streamline that and changing a bunch of internal processes. I'm sure we will be launching more to the public soon, but right now we just need to make sure that everything we do we're doing well.”
Where can we go to learn more about Pack Up + Go?
“Our website is the best place - it's PackUpGo.com. You can follow us on social - it's @PackUpGo_Travel, and we are on all social channels. I’m so happy to connect!”
author bio
Known as The Jet Set Blonde, Brittany Ryan inspires others to add more adventure to their childfree travel experiences. Brittany has visited 23 countries (and counting!) Connect with her to get access to detailed childfree travel itineraries, travel guides for weekend getaways, and updates on adult-only hotels, resorts, cruises, and other travel amenities.
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