OUR STAFF

Tailored Holidays – Balwyn Office

Alex Ruggero

Retail Manager for Balwyn and Cruise Offers
alex@travelrite.com.au

Alex is the Retail Manager for Balwyn and Cruise Offers, and has worked in the travel industry for 20 years. He has travelled to more than 30 countries in the past 10 years & values all kinds of travel experiences. Highlights of his travelling life have been the Terracotta Warriors in Xian China, the Lake Palace Hotel in Udaipur India, horse riding at a dude ranch in Texas and drinking at the Oldest Pub in Temple Bar Dublin to name a few. Alex uses his passion & excitement for travel to create customised, memorable holidays, family journeys & work trips, selecting unique hotels & recommending day tours and experiences. No matter your purpose for the trip, Alex will help make your next trip a joyful one.

Laura Noccioli

Team Leader Balwyn
laura@travelrite.com.au

Laura has been a travel consultant for 10 years and has travelled to over 50 countries. She has also managed tours around the Mediterranean, Baltic & New Zealand, and has great experience with cruising, rail and cycle journeys around the world. Her greatest strength would be her knowledge of Italy and her niche speciality would be organising destination weddings and honeymoons. Lucky enough to have been to North & South America, Europe, Africa & Asia she has also cruised with Celebrity, Royal Caribbean, Cunard, Carnival, P&O, Princess & Tauck. Ballooning over Cappadocia in Turkey, Glacier hikes in New Zealand, dancing in the streets of Rio De Janeiro, sail boating through the Canary Islands and eating her way through Italy are just some of her highlights! Laura is an enthusiastic travel business leader and consultant who takes pride in her job and can assist you with your travel needs!

MICHELLE MAHER

Senior Travel Consultant
michelle@travelrite.com.au

Michelle has worked at Travelrite International for over 20 years & has travelled through over 50 countries & all around Australia. Travelling highlights include visiting the Pyramids in Egypt and cruising the River Nile, extensive touring throughout Europe, UK, USA, Asia, New Zealand & the Pacific, Hot Air Ballooning over the Loire Valley and in Africa over the Pilanesburg National Park, the Game Reserves of South Africa, riding a camel along Cable Beach, winter in the Canadian Rockies, Dog sledding in Canada, Helicopter flight over Victoria Falls, Cruising the Danube from Budapest to Nuremburg & exploring the ancient ruins of Angkor Wat. She has enjoyed numerous cruises on the Cunard ships along with many other cruise lines including Holland America, Royal Caribbean & Celebrity Cruises. Michelle has managed many of Travelrite’s Escorted Cruises & Quilting Tours to the USA & Europe with Michelle Marvig. She loves planning extensive touring worldwide and is happy to assist with any destination.

Mick Webster

Senior Travel Consultant
mick@travelrite.com.au

Mick is a new addition to Travelrite with 6 years’ travel experience in the industry and comes with a friendly and approachable personality. Living like a local is the best way to describe how Mick travels. Having been to a total of 20 counties touching every continent except Antarctica, he comes with a wealth of knowledge and tips ‘n’ tricks. Los Angeles is Micks favourite city closely followed by Mexico City and Marrakech. Mick enjoys snowboarding, water-skiing and wakeboarding in his spare time, which has seen him visit Japan, Canada and New Zealand to follow the snow, as well as heading to the AFL to watch his beloved Carlton Blues. Mick loves to get to know his customers well and enjoys nothing more than having a laugh whilst planning your holiday.

Daniel Brown

Senior Travel Consultant
daniel@travelrite.com.au

Daniel comes to Travelrite with 10 years travel industry experience as a travel consultant and in this time visiting 40 countries. Dan has seen it all from staying in hostels in Spain, tenting Europe & Africa to high-end 5 star hotels highlighted by Qualia on Hamilton Island. Starting from living in London, enjoyed festivals in Europe, travelled Egypt and African safaris for months, ski season in Canada, camping on beaches of SoCal, to getting married in Bali. Dan’s travel is slowly becoming more and more luxurious as per his wifes’ requests. Now family orientated with his travel with a young family he is keen to learn about new experiences for all genre’s and looks forward to being part of your next adventure. "Most of my travels have been as part of group tours and I believe the greatest part of travel is the people you meet and experience it with, you make unforgettable bonds from travel”.

Cruise Offers

Shannon Benson

Cruise Offers Team Leader
shannon@cruiseoffers.com.au

Shannon has worked in the industry for 12 years and has visited some amazing places. One of her all-time favourite memories is being a guest in a family run Ryokan, a beautiful insight to the way of life in rural Japan. Being able to observe and learn from other cultures is what ignites Shannon’s passion for travel, and she firmly believes that there is no better way than a cruise to experience a variety of cultures in one journey without the hassle of hauling your suitcase around!

Mark Irwin

Travel Consultant
mark@cruiseoffers.com.au

Mark is a new addition to the Travelrite family who has worked in the travel industry for 7 years bringing with him a wealth of travel industry knowledge. He has travelled to over 25 Countries and lived in the USA, UK and Malaysia. His highlights are reaching base camp on Mt Everest, working on cruise ships in the Caribbean, and backpacking through Africa’s east coast. An adventurer at heart he has realised that cruising is the best way to relax and see the world in comfort and with little fuss.

Groups - Travelrite Tours & Value Holidays

Alana Tanos

Group Team Leader
alana@travelrite.com.au

Alana has been in the travel industry for 13 years as a Group Consultant and now the Team Leader of the Groups Department. Alana’s role sees her taking care of the staff and customers in the Groups Department ensuring the best outcomes are delivered. Some of Alana’s favourite destinations include New York and the USA, Havana, Italy - of course for the ice cream, Malaysia, Dubai and Japan. Alana has also been lucky enough to Tour Manage some group departures with Travelrite International recently visiting the Baltic and St Petersburg with 180 of Travelrite’s happy clients and her tour managing colleagues. Alana looks forward to speaking with you about our great group tours.

Janine Methven

Senior Travel/Groups Consultant
janine@travelrite.com.au

Janine has worked in the Travel Industry for 18 years & has a strong passion for travel and creating/planning amazing holidays for her clients. She has travelled to many different countries over the years, some of which include touring throughout Europe, visiting USA, Canada, South Africa, Mauritius, South Pacific Islands, Vietnam, Japan, New Zealand and many more. Some of her favourite travel experiences would include, walking with Giraffes whilst on Safari in South Africa, experiencing the amazing food & wine whilst in Tuscany, travelling on the Rocky Mountaineer in Canada, Cruising from Mauritius to Cape Town on the world famous QE2, experiencing courtside seats at an NBA Game at Madison Square Gardens, cooking with the locals in Hanoi Vietnam and witnessing the most amazing lagoon island paradise “Aitutaki” in the Cook Islands. In her spare time, Janine loves to spend time with her family and friends, experience new cuisines, enjoy everything Melbourne has to offer, go to the theatre or a concert, dancing and ALL things sports (in particular watching the Melbourne Vixens play netball and the AFL – Go Blues!). Janine is dedicated to planning the best possible holidays for her clients & would love to assist you with your next amazing adventure at our Heathmont Office.

Erica Murray

Group Consultant
erica@travelrite.com.au

Erica has 2 years’ experience working in travel but has been travelling for many years prior to joining the industry. Her favourite travel experience so far was swimming with the Hector’s dolphins in Akaroa, New Zealand. Although a close second is seeing snow fall for the first time in Lake Tahoe, US. Her interests include good food and coffee, road trips, and visiting botanical gardens, and her bucket list holiday destination is Jordan to visit Petra.

Teneille Ireland

Group Consultant
teneille@travelrite.com.au

Teneille has been in the travel industry 5 years starting as a retail consultant in her hometown of Newcastle before relocating south to Melbourne and now working within the Groups Department. She has travelled to over 18 countries with her favourite experiences including taking a helicopter and landing on the snow in Queenstown, sky diving in the Swiss Alps, sailing the Croatian Coast, lazing by the beach in Bali & flying over and landing on the beach in Fraser Island. She loves new adventures and is excited to help you plan your next adventure!