The Cartology Travel Team
Justin Huxter
Susan Huxter
Kathy Boate
Claire Anderson
Geraldine Ratner
Elisa Picazo
Justin Huxter
Born and raised in South Africa, Justin is our resident safari and Africa expert. A love of adventure, wildlife and nature was instilled in him from a very young age and he wanted to be a safari guide growing up. Lucky enough to travel a lot as kid, his passion for travel only grew and he realised it was an industry he wanted to be involved in.
When the opportunity arose to leave the corporate world and move to the travel industry, he jumped at the chance. Justin co-founded Cartology Travel with his mother Susan (a brave move some would say) as they share a strong belief in travel and its power to connect people.
He loves creating unique itineraries and adventures that give people the opportunity to really experience their destination. A keen foodie, he can often be found in the kitchen over his head and making a mess.
Travel Passions: Diving, Safari, local drinks
Favourite Destinations: Any safari destination, New Zealand, Italy & China
Home When not Travelling: London
Superpower: An ability to see the positive in every situation
Susan Huxter
Susan is co-founder and matriarch of Cartology Travel, carrying the official title of Chief Motherly Officer (CMO). She brings a wealth of knowledge and contacts to the party. As the owner of the iconic Le Quartier Francais in Franschhoek, South Africa for over 25 years, she knows and understands what can make or break an experience.
With an in-depth understanding of luxury travel from her time running a Relais & Chateaux and Virtuoso hotel, as well as knowing just about everyone in the industry, our CMO regularly makes the extraordinary a reality.
Travel Passions: Art, Culture and bright colours
Favourite Destinations: India, Argentina, Italy & France
Home When Not Travelling: Franschhoek
Superpower: Knowing everyone, everywhere!
Kathy Boate
Born and raised in Canada, Kathy now considers herself a Londoner, having lived there for well over a decade. It took little convincing to make her see the light and leave her high flying job in Investment Banking to pursue a new career – mainly lured with the promise of combining her dual loves of organisation and travel.
Aside from having knocked off every continent bar Antarctica, Kathy also boasts to have visited every country in Western, Northern and Central Europe (her clarification: except Andorra…). One of her degrees being in ancient history, she is passionate about understanding both the past and present of a country.
Travel Passions: Historical sights, Archaeology, Languages
Favourite Destinations: Jordan, China, Italy & Oktoberfest
Home When not Travelling: London
Superpower: Can order a beer in 7 languages (and counting…)
Claire Anderson
Claire has had the opportunity to live and work in several incredible cities in Africa, Europe and North America, and it is from these cities that she’s been able to travel and explore the world. Her attempts at getting through her (ever-expanding!) travel bucket list have sparked her passion for experiencing as much of this beautiful world as possible. It is this passion that has led her to move from the corporate world of media and advertising to join best friend Justin in his adventures in the travel industry.
Travel Passions: Architecture, History, Beautiful Scenery, Freedom
Favourite Destinations: Italy, Namibia, Croatia & New York
Home When not Travelling: San Francisco
Superpower: Getting it done!! Lists and more lists
Geraldine Ratner
Geraldine has two main passions in life, the one being food and the other one travel. After qualifying as a professional chef and working in hotels and restaurants around the world for 13 years, she decided it was time to move on to her second favourite thing in the world – travel!
She has been involved in the industry for a few years now and besides meeting amazing people and sharing her love for discovering new places and cultures, she has continually added to her bucket list. There is still so much more to explore, visit, eat and drink around the world and she is already excited about her future adventures.
Travel Passions: Food, History, Culture and people
Favourite Destinations: Thailand, Hong Kong & Italy
Home When not Travelling: Franschhoek
Superpower: Cool, calm and collected
Elisa Picazo
Originally from Spain, Elisa loves living in different places around the world, in order to fully experience and understand the local culture. Following her strong interest in Asian culture, she moved to Beijing in search of adventure and ended up falling in love with China. She then stayed for three years, learning Mandarin and taking the opportunity to travel extensively through Asia. After moving back to London for two years, she decided to return to where her heart belongs: China. Elisa is currently based in Shanghai, where she works with Cartology Travel on a consultancy basis. Having studying Mandarin and travelled much of the continent, she is an invaluable resource for any client trips to Asia.
Travel Passions: Wildlife, Culture, Diving and Meeting people from all over the world!
Favourite Destinations: China, India, Japan, Spain, Italy & Borneo
Home When not Travelling: Shanghai
Superpower: Always ready to take on a challenge and happy to learn something new
Cartology Travel Independent Agents
Yasmin Charabati-Cox
Sarah Ives
Mila Padilla
Alexandra Heriot Maitland
Sarah Bentall
Amanda Levine
Katherine Pryde
Andrea Eatherly
Clare Lickley
Tiffany Figueiredo
Kristie Deane
Mikaela Wetterling
Yasmin Charabati-Cox
Yasmin was born and raised in Italy but from a very young age started travelling between her parents’ home countries to visit friends and family in England, Italy and the Middle East. She’s always been fascinated by other cultures and living the local way, unearthing the best kept secrets for places to visit, eat or shop. Having travelled extensively and still enjoying planning her next adventures with her young family, she decided to put her skills acquired from her corporate background into use in her dream job of helping people realise their ideal holiday.
Travel Passions: Food, People, Sunsets, Architecture
Favourite Destinations: Italy, New Zealand & Maldives
Home When not Travelling: London
Superpower: Organised, Problem Solver, Curious
Sarah Ives
Sarah brings with her a wealth of experience in travel sales & marketing, alongside a lifelong love of travel. Originally from the US, Sarah has travelled extensively before settling down in London, living in both Spain and France and hopping off on holiday as frequently as possible. Having worked on the hotel sales and marketing side before switching to luxury travel planning, she is able to leverage her knowledge and relationships to the benefit of her clients. Sarah is passionate about delivering amazing experiences and memorable moments for clients.
Travel Passions: Off the beaten path destinations, unique properties, great food, sustainability projects, diving, travel magazines
Favourite Destinations: Madagascar, Zanzibar, Morocco & Mauritius
Home When not Travelling: London/New York
Superpower: Speedy WhatsApp fingers
Mila Padilla
Born in the smallest city in Argentina, Mila had always dreamt about travelling around the world and studying languages. She has been able to realise her dreams by working and living in numerous countries, notably the USA and Brazil, allowing her to be fluent in English and Portuguese. She has a university degree in Translation and is also learning sign language (amongst other languages!). With her entrepreneurial spirit, Mila has opened a restaurant, started two of her own businesses in tourism, while also having worked in her family business.
Mila is a definite free spirit and adventurer; her motto is ¨Better to regret what you’ve done than what you haven’t”. She is a perfectionist and very detail oriented in all aspects, making every client feel unique and taken care of!
Travel Passions: Gastronomy, Culture, History and People
Favourite Destinations: All places I still have yet to visit
Home When not Travelling: Buenos Aires
Superpower: Always have room for tasting and trying new food
Alexandra Heriot Maitland
Alexandra’s love of travel first started when she lived in Argentina on a year abroad while at university. Since then, she has been lucky enough to live in Chile and France, and has continued to travel extensively – including on many agent familiarisation trips! An experienced travel agent, Alexandra started in 2016 by specialising in the Americas, Antarctica and the Caribbean. Over the years her area of expertise has expanded to cover destinations worldwide. She is passionate about sharing this knowledge with others, so they too can enjoy incredible experiences while abroad. When she is not travelling, you will find her horse riding, or in the kitchen rustling up a dish learnt from her most recent travel adventure.
Travel Passions: Cuisine, adventure, walking & relaxing on a remote beach
Favourite Destinations: Chile, California, New Zealand, Vietnam, Jamaica & Nicaragua
Home When not Travelling: London
Superpower: Naming every country in the world in 20 minutes
Sarah Bentall
Sarah has been lucky to enjoy a lifetime of travel, taking every opportunity to discover new places. Her travels have taken her to 37 countries (and counting…). Her adventures stretch from the shores of Lake Como to the surf beaches of El Salvador, and from the peaks of Japan’s Niseko mountains to the creeks of the South Carolina low country.
Sarah’s love for travel is only matched by her passion for creating incredible experiences. Before embarking on a career in travel, Sarah produced events for some of the world’s leading brands and prides herself on knowing the secret to creating great moments that people never forget.
Travel Passions: Drinking with local people, food and road trips
Favourite Destinations: Italy, Colombia, South Carolina, anywhere with a mountain to ski
Home When not Travelling: London
Superpower: An ability to think about a dozen things at the same time
Amanda Levine
Amanda jumped into the travel industry because of her passion for travel, unique experiences and people. Having always been taken with wanderlust, she has been curating trips for her family and friends for over 10 years. After planning unforgettable trips to Italy, Croatia, Bali, the Kentucky Bourbon Trail and Southeast Asia (to name just a few), she decided to make travel her career.
Nothing makes her happier than curating experiences for individuals, couples or groups, and affording them the opportunity to create memories they’ve only dreamed of. A New Yorker, some of her simple pleasures include reading, being a beach bum, sipping bourbon, playing with her pup Waffles (the cutest black lab mix), and, of course, traveling the world!
Travel Passions: Eating, meeting people, taking in the sites, finding the beach
Favourite Destinations: Italy, Vietnam, Paris, Key West
Home When not Travelling: Manhattan
Superpower: Finding the best local restaurants and bars anywhere in the world
Katherine Pryde
Having travelled to 95 countries (and counting), Katherine has extensive travel experience and a passion to explore the world. This inspired her to start a blog and take up photography to encourage others to see the world and craft their own travel adventures.
Her extensive career in PR in the mining industry has taken her to far flung corners of the world and helped shape her enthusiasm for building relationships and the world of luxury hospitality; it also honed her inherent love for planning, logistics and eye for detail.
Travel Passions: Exquisite properties, unconventional destinations, food & wine, sunsets, road trips
Favourite Destinations: Vietnam, Colombia, Slovenia, Beirut, Mexico & Greece
Home When not Travelling: New York City
Superpower: Has seen almost half of the world!
Andrea Eatherly
After growing up in a small town in southern Oregon, Andrea had the opportunity to live in New Orleans, San Francisco and Seattle, but didn’t fully realize her passion for international travel until she moved to New York City. She spent fifteen years working in technology start-ups before quitting her job to travel the world. Over the course of a year she visited thirty countries across every continent except Antarctica. She even became a Cartology Travel client herself after meeting Justin and Kathy while on safari in South Africa, gaining an appreciation for the many perks and expert advice that come from working with a luxury travel designer.
Upon returning to New York, Andrea realized that she wanted to turn her love for planning travel, researching destinations and helping clients into a career. In addition to traveling, she enjoys reading, cooking and trying out new restaurants and cocktail bars with friends.
Travel Passions: Wine country, road trips, pairing the outdoors with luxury, learning about different cultures, meeting new people
Favorite Destinations: New Zealand, Vietnam, Patagonia, Italy, South Africa
Home When Not Traveling: New York
Superpower: Turning travel challenges into opportunities
Clare Lickley
Born in the UK but raised in Spain – where she still calls home – Clare has spent her life travelling and living between different countries. She turned that passion into her career, and most recently headed up the luxury concierge service for a private jet brokerage.
An experienced travel agent with 6 years in the luxury sector at Tour Operators & Concierge companies in the UK and Canada, Clare is not only an expert travel planner, she is passionate about creating unique experiences & adventures. She loves exploring new destinations at every chance she can get, learning about cultures and meeting new people.
Clare’s adventures have taken her across the globe, from some of the most beautiful islands in the world to the best cities. Highlights include places like Singapore, Mauritius, Thailand, Malaysia and experiences such as walking through temples in Myanmar, bear watching in Canada, following the Camel trail and midnight picnics in Saudi Arabia (plus much more).
Travel Passions: Meeting new people, beautiful hotels, street food markets, offbeat destinations, true local experiences
Favourite Destinations: Myanmar, Malaysia, Vietnam, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Singapore
Home When not Travelling: South of Spain
Superpower: Always having a mutual friend even with strangers
Tiffany Figueiredo
A Texan living in South Africa, Tiffany enjoyed a decades-long career as a travel journalist before becoming a full-time travel advisor in 2016. She uses her vast destination knowledge, high-level contacts and considerable research skills to create perfectly customized trips — all with a dash of her favorite elements: good food, hotels with soul, a connection to the local people and the restorative power of nature.
When she’s not designing dream trips, Tiffany writes for media outlets and travel companies, cooks Tex-Mex for friends and family and loves to explore the game reserves, beaches and backroads of her adopted South African home.
Travel Passions: Nature and Wildlife, Gastronomy, Hotel Design
Favourite Destinations: Botswana, Mexico City, Cape Town, Florence, Barcelona
Home When not Travelling: Franschhoek, South Africa
Superpower: Making the perfect margarita!
Kristie Deane
Having travelled around the globe from Cambodia to Colombia and with almost 10 years industry experience, Kristie is passionate about seeking out the most alluring, remote and exclusive experiences, both personally, and professionally.
She also has a deep love for hotel design and sustainability and is devoted to curating unforgettable memories for her clients through the combination of unique accommodation, boutique experiences and attentive service.
Though Kristie was born in London, she chooses to see the world as her home. She is currently living in Ibiza (her third time living in Spain) and travels frequently between London and Southern Italy benefitting her with plenty of inside tips and local connections in each.
Travel Passions: Culture, Discovery, Wellness, Adventure & hunting beautiful hotel design!
Favourite Destinations: Italy, Vietnam, NYC and everywhere in Latin America (9 countries so far)
Home When not Travelling: Ibiza/London/Naples
Superpower: Staying calm in a crisis + finding the silver lining in everything
Mikaela Wetterling
Born in Sweden but nowadays calls London her home. Mikaela has a background in tv-production and hospitality but has always been a dedicated traveller with a mission to find hidden gems all over the world.
With a passion for organising and researching every detail, she knows it’s a challenge to plan the perfect trip without a lot of leg-work. That’s why she decided to combine her love of travelling and helping other people to create unforgettable travel experiences.
Mikaela covers destinations all over but her heart beats a bit harder for boutique hotels, unspoiled beaches, bluebird skiing, amazing tennis courts and horseback riding in Uruguay.
Travel Passions: Hidden gems, food and to find the perfect beach.
Favourite Destinations: Greece, the alps, Italy and South America
Home When not Travelling: London
Superpower: Multitasking