NICOLE EVANS-HOLDER: HER LIFE’S JOURNEY BEGAN IN ANDROS
By OSWALD T. BROWN
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Nicole Evans-Holder currently lives in London, England, where she owns Lady Guliver Travels, which is described as “a unique travel service company.” But Nicole’s journey in life began in Andros, “The Big Yard,” the largest of the group of islands stretching like a string-of-pearls from the southern coast of Florida to the eastern area of Cuba that comprise The Bahamas.
Nicole was born on a Palm Sunday Morning in 1970 in Nicholl’s Town, a beach-side settlement at the northern tip of Andros, which she says is “a place etched in my heart forever.”
She fondly remembers her early days at Nicholl’s Town All-Age School, where “my love for reading was birthed and fed by my mother’s profound love of reading.”
“It was during these formative years that I discovered the wide-world and traveled extensively through the books I read, vowing one day to see the world,” Nicole says.
She is the daughter of Barbara Sweeting (nee Evans) and Ulric Smith Sr., and was raised by her mother, a single but strong Andros woman.
Nicole left Andros at age 11 to attend St John’s College in Nassau, where she was raised by her godmother Angela McDonald, whose death earlier this year (2018) still evokes painful memories.
After graduating in 1986, Nicole “followed the trail to College of The Bahamas before moving on to Fort Lauderdale College.”
On her return to The Bahamas, Nicole started a successful 20-year career in banking, holding “numerous positions at the major banks in Nassau including Personal Lender, Mortgage Specialist, Branch Manager and most recently Senior Manager Sales & Service.”
In 2016, Nicole decided “it was time to see the world” and “launched her very own travel agency, Lady Guliver Travels,” using the skills employed in her successful banking career to develop her new business venture.
“I wanted to be an expert in all aspects of the travel industry and decided that the only way to do that was to travel,” Nicole says. “Stepping out on faith, I packed my bags and moved across the pond — to the UK.”
England has provided her with “an excellent base to explore this side of the planet since I had already covered most of the western world,” says Nicole, who now lives in London with her husband Toure and daughter Taj.
Nicole’s travels have taken her to several countries around Europe — Glasgow and Edinburgh, Scotland; Paris and Nice, France; Monte Carlo, Monaco; Barcelona, Spain; Geneva, Switzerland; Brussels, Belgium; Amsterdam, Netherlands; Prague, Czech Republic; Berlin, Germany; Venice, Rome and Florence, Italy; and she is headed to the Canary Islands in a few weeks.
Nicole says her extensive travels “help to inform my clients for the best travel experience, which is my main goal.”
Speaking about Lady Guliver Travels, Nicole says, “As travel consultants, we seek to understand our clients and their lifestyles, interests and budget before we make recommendations for their trip. We can book anything the client needs and/or desires inclusive of air, hotel/rental properties, car service, train, tours, cruises, museum passes, wine tours, dinner reservations, theater tickets, personalized/private tours — you name it.”
She added, “We also provide travel guide services. We’ve had clients visiting here in London and we met them at their hotel and spent the day with them touring the city, as shopping guides, sourcing great restaurants, giving them an authentic London experience as a local. It was amazing!”
(NOTE: BAHAMIANS IN THE DIASPORA was a regular feature introduced by Oswald T. Brown when he was Press, Cultural Affairs and Information Manager at The Bahamas Embassy in Washington, D.C. Mr. Brown is now President of THE BROWN AGENCY, a Public Relations and Marketing company in D.C., which publishes an online publication, BAHAMAS CHRONICLE, aimed at keeping Bahamians and nationals from other Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries up-to-date with events in their countries. BAHAMIANS IN THE DIASPORA will now be a regular feature in BAHAMAS CHRONICLE.)
