David Mayer

Co-founding Aquilium with Gary Pridmore in 2017, David has been integral to growing the group’s infrastructure of homeworkers around the UK and building it into a recognised travel brand.

David’s background for nearly 30 years was in senior hospitality management at notable establishments including Rookery Hall, Carden Park, Churches Mansion and Chester Cathedral.

It was in 2015 that David moved into the luxury travel industry.

His attention to detail and top-level customer service has ensured high customer retention and repeated referrals.

One of David’s favourite destinations is South Africa, followed closely by New Orleans.

Led by David and Gary, Aquilium Travel Group consists of: a hallmark luxury travel concierge service; Travel Directors and The Travel Managers, which are separate groups of home-working travel agents; the Aquilium Academy which offers travel training; and the Luxury Travel Franchise.

Gary Pridmore

Bringing his vast industry experience to the team, Gary, CEO of Travel Directors and The Travel Managers, trading as Aquilium Travel Group Ltd; a luxury travel agency.
Alongside fellow Director David Mayer, Gary has a wealth of travel knowledge and is well respected in the industry.
Gary has been in travel for more than 35 years. Prior to Aquilium Travel, he was a founding partner in launching Travelbeam, specialising in luxury and corporate travel with three branches in Nantwich, Knutsford and Altrincham. During this time Gary personally handled the SFX Account for the sports and entertainment management company, coordinating personal travel arrangements for a large number of high profile sports celebrities.
Gary has travelled extensively, with his personal highlights including a cruise on an eight-berth luxury yacht around the Galapagos Islands, and his favourite destination being the Caribbean, particularly Mustique.

Kellie Samuda

Kellie began her career in luxury travel in 1999 when she played a pivotal role in launching a UK-based luxury tour operator, later taking charge of its New York office.
With a decade of experience under her belt, she went on to found 360 Private Travel Ltd; growing it into a £40m enterprise with more than 150 staff, before selling her shareholding.
Kellie is now embarking on a new chapter in luxury holidays as the leader of the Travel Seen Collective.
With more than 25 years of experience in understanding the travel needs of HNWIs and UHNWIs; her problem-solving skills; tactful sales approach; and her expertise in building a business from the ground up; Kellie is dedicated to helping others achieve their travel industry goals.
Her unparalleled experience working for companies within the luxury sector saw Kellie appointed Managing Director of the Travel Seen Collective in 2024. She is now building the brand’s vision for luxury travel, led by passion, authenticity and expertise.

Alex Catton

With a first-class honours degree in sports management, an early career in soccer coaching, and more than ten years spent working in sports tourism; Alex took the plunge in November 2023 and set up on his own, creating Vedere Travel.
Alex’s experience has predominantly been in elite sports tours, offering tailor-made itineraries to the world’s biggest sporting events.
Head of Sports for the UK’s leading provider of luxury sports tours for nearly five years, Alex has demonstrable experience in this specialist area of travel.
Named in the TTG Future Travel Leaders Programme in 2021, Alex spotted a gap in the holiday market for a “comprehensive luxury operator that provides all-encompassing solutions for sports travel”. Vedere (from the Italian word “to see”) was his solution.
In its first year alone Vedere saw significant growth, and was even shortlisted for the prestigious TTG Media Luxury Travel Awards 2025 for Specialist Luxury Operator of the Year.

Nadine Brown

After 30 years in the travel industry, Nadine’s experience is wide-ranging; from travel agency to tour operator, airport to overseas, and business development to team management. She brings to the Travel Seen Collective a comprehensive understanding of how a travel business operates from every angle.
Beginning her career selling holidays aged just 16; Nadine’s passion for the industry grew.
Expanding her expertise with a renowned tour operator, she then joined one of the leading telephone travel companies at the time, supporting it to evolve from a Teletext agency by forging partnerships with major online players.
As the industry shifted towards dynamic packaging and the internet, Nadine moved into business development for a consortium.
She cites the “privilege of working with inspiring leaders” as having “fuelled my ambition”.
Now a travel company director, wife and mum of two active girls, she takes every opportunity to go on a well-deserved holiday of her own!

Gavin Lapidus

Starting out in sales and marketing, Gavin combined his expertise in these areas with his passion for travel when he joined eShores as a director in 2007.
Hugely well-travelled, Gavin channelled his knowledge of running an online business into eShores, with a focus on high-level customer service which has taken the tailor-made holiday provider from strength to strength.
Alongside a deep understanding and experience in running an online travel agency, Gavin brings to the Travel Seen Collective his immense love of seeing the world. His stories of experiences in far-flung locations from the Indian Ocean to New Orleans are truly inspiring. But if you ask him which his favourite destination is, his answer is always the short-haul, sunny shores of Spain.

Jen Atkinson

As a Travel Seen founder, Jen brings to our business her immense passion for the industry and a well-known career as, what the BBC termed, a “Travel Boss”.
Jen “believes in people and having fun, whilst establishing something unique that a customer wants”. It’s with this vision in mind she formed Travel Seen.
Jen spent 15 years scaling and leading one of the UK’s most notable luxury travel groups: building a high performance leadership team; creating award-winning staff engagement and wellbeing initiatives; and taking it from a turnaround to sustained double digit growth, a successful BIMBO, multiple mergers and acquisitions and a private equity exit.
With a background in marketing, her particular interest is in brand building, while outside of Travel Seen she actively supports a number of female entrepreneurs.
Jen’s favourite destination is Barbados, though these days she spends more time with her children on the somewhat cooler shores of North Wales.