As an independent travel advisor at The Travel Club, Teun van Wel books holidays in all directions. But with his (whisky) trips to Scotland he combines two passions. That’s right, whisky and Scotland. What a nice hobby can’t lead to. The photos that Teun van Wel shows of his various whisky trips to Scotland exude atmosphere and conviviality. It is not uncommon for a Scottish pub to form the backdrop, where a group of people hold up a glass while laughing. In some of the photos, Van Wel himself can be seen, because at the request of many customers he accompanies the trips that he puts together himself. ‘Travel guiding is not 100 percent my profession, of course. Organizing and booking trips, that’s my job. Tour guiding is really a different ballgame’, says Van Wel, who immediately adds: ‘But I do it for Scotland and for whisky tours, of course. I’m really at home there, I know my way around. But I’m not just going to guide trips anywhere in the world. I don’t want to think about it.’ Guiding trips only becomes fun, Van Wel acknowledges, if you know a lot about a subject or destination. ́In his case, it’s Scotland and whisky, or rather, the combination of those two passions. ́ Teun van Wel has a long track record as a travel salesman. He worked for ten years at a Thomas Cook Travel Shop in Nijmegen, where he rose to the position of store manager. In 2012 he joined The Travel Club as an independent travel agent. Travel sales are ingrained in him, as it were. Still, he was a late bloomer. ‘I first enjoyed student life in Nijmegen for ten years. I was 28 when I started working at Thomas Cook. After ten years, I started working as a freelancer under the flag of The Travel Club. I haven’t regretted it for a second. I don’t want to think about working as an employee somewhere. The independence is worth a lot to me. I have a lot of regular customers.’
And then the chicken-and-egg question: which came first, the love for Scotland or for whisky? “Good question. I was quite young when I started making the whisky. And traveling has always been part of my life. I think I was drinking whiskey before I was going to sell travel. But going on a trip myself was a lot earlier than the whisky.’
Where does the love for Scotland come from? “I’ve been there a few times and I love it. It’s a destination that suits me well, a combination of nature and space, of culture, the people.’ Don’t forget the whiskey. Did he fall in love for this? ‘Together with a college friend, I took part in a competition about the film Rob Roy with Liam Neeson, where you could win a trip to Scotland. We won the second prize: a bottle of 4.5 litres of Johnny Walker Red Label whisky. That was our very first whisky. I still have pictures of our first sip that we spit out, because we thought it was gross. But yes, put 4.5 liters of alcohol in a student room, then you’ll try that once. And then try again and again. Then you’ll learn. You have to get used to that alcohol strength, which is at least 40 percent. The following year we went to Scotland after all.’ 
What was your first whisky journey? ‘That was sometime in 2007. With another good friend, who was very involved with whiskey, I did a lot of whiskey tastings. This gave rise to the idea of also organizing whisky trips. The first trip was for a whisky club and we guided them together. That good friend later turned to the tasting side of whiskey. He is now an ambassador for a whisky brand and I have gone more into the travel side. The friendship is still there. We have been organizing a whisky weekend here in Nijmegen for 15 years now. ́ Who are your customers? ‘Anyone who wants to go on a whisky trip and wants to have it well taken care of. For example, I have liquor stores that take their customers on a whisky journey. Then I’ll take care of everything for that. And then they can fête their customers on a beautiful trip to Scotland. I also have whisky clubs, the real connoisseurs, but also small groups of friends of sometimes only 2 or 6 people who share a passion for whisky. And then you want to go to Scotland one day.’ Read the complete interview with Teun van Wel is the recently published TravMagazine #45.
