Careers on Vacation - Graduate Case Study: Chaval, Bonding Adventure Travel

 Interviewed by Ryan

Guest Introduction

Chaval is a recent Careers on Vacation graduate and founder of Bonding Adventure Travel, based in Orlando, Florida. He retired after 20+ years with the NYPD and launched his travel agency following the program. He also operates a separate transportation business in Orlando.

Background: From Law Enforcement to Travel

Chaval retired from the NYPD approximately nine years ago. After retirement, his wife encouraged him to find a new pursuit. Given their extensive travel history together, becoming a travel advisor was a natural fit.

Travel experience includes:

• Five countries: Spain, France, Italy, Greece, and Turkey
• Ten Caribbean islands (leveraging proximity to Port Canaveral — about an hour from home)
• Alaska (one-way itinerary; recommends doing Alaska one-way up or one-way down, or round trip out of Seattle — never just one round trip)

Chaval handled all trip planning — cruises, itineraries, and flights — while his wife managed hotels through her work travel points. Her observation that he was naturally good at it became the push toward a travel business.

He also runs a transportation business in Orlando, which became an unexpected client pipeline for his new agency.

The Program Experience

Where he started: Chaval knew he was business-savvy but didn't know where to begin in the travel industry specifically. Legato was his entry point, followed by the program's marketing modules.

Biggest obstacle: Social media. Coming from the NYPD, where social media was treated as a liability, he had to completely reframe his relationship with it — shifting from "social media can hurt you" to "social media can work for you."

Approach to the curriculum:

• Completed every module except one (a beauty/lifestyle-focused skill lab he deemed not applicable)
• Finished all modules ahead of schedule
• Used downtime during his wife's chemotherapy sessions to work through content and sit the final exam
• Applied the same mental discipline from NYPD promotion exams — breaks every 10 questions, movement every 20, staying hydrated and fueled — to push through the 125-question certification exam in a single sitting at the hospital
• Earned over 90% on the first attempt

Certifications completed during the program's two-week break period:

• Disney
• Royal Caribbean
• Celebrity Cruises
• Princess Cruises (earned a free cruise)

Favorite tools and resources:

• AI skill labs (completed nearly all of them)
• Canva tutorial (noted it moved fast but gave him enough direction to figure it out on his own)
• Marketing modules
• The weekly quizzes, which he recognized as a study guide for the final exam

First Sale: $50,000+ Celebrity Cruise Booking

The client: A longtime transportation client — a lawyer whose wife is also a lawyer. Milestone year: both turning 50, their daughter graduating high school, 25th wedding anniversary.

The ask: "We want to do what you did." Chaval had done a Mediterranean itinerary covering Greece, Italy, and Turkey, so the client wanted something similar.

How Chaval built the proposal:

• Researched Celebrity Cruises' 11-day Mediterranean itinerary departing and returning from Rome
• Stops: Rome, Naples, Malta, Athens, Santorini, Mykonos, Crete, and Izmir
• Chaval had personally visited all stops except Malta, giving him firsthand destination knowledge to offer
• When the client didn't answer the budget question but said "I need butler service," Chaval recognized the signal immediately
• Built a full proposal from entry-level suites (Sky Suite, Aqua Suite) up through the Icon Suite (~$80,000) and down to the Royal Suite
• Sent 3D virtual room tours via WhatsApp so the client could visualize the space

The result:

• Client selected the Royal Suite: ~$47,000
• Travel insurance added: ~$3,000
• Total at booking: ~$50,000
• Hotel bookings (end of year) still to come — total trip cost expected to be higher
• Client texted his credit card information from a restaurant on a Friday night, telling Chaval he trusted him completely
• Chaval processed it Saturday morning

The response from Celebrity: A BDM/director from Celebrity reached out after the booking came through, noting that first-time advisors essentially never open with a sale at this level.

Chaval's take on it: "I know it's a one-off. Is it going to happen again? Nah. It's only up from here."

Coaching with Jamie

Chaval spoke highly of his coach Jamie, noting that she is in a wheelchair and that her ability to succeed despite that was a direct source of motivation for him — "If you can do it, I can do it."

His approach to coaching: when Jamie said to do A, B, and C, he did A through G. By their final session, she had come to expect that from him. He saved two surprises for that last call: that he had already passed the exam, and that he had already closed a $50,000 sale. Her reaction, he said, was exactly what he was going for.

On Mindset

The thread running through the entire conversation was mindset. A few key points Chaval made:

• "Can't means I won't — that's unacceptable."
• Bill Gates and Elon Musk didn't reach success without failure. Failure is how you learn to adapt and overcome.
• "If you fall, dust yourself off and keep going. That's what defines you. If you stay down and play the victim role, it ain't going to come to you."
• His wife's stage 3 breast cancer diagnosis happened while he was in the program. Rather than slow down, she told him: "You pushed through a lot in the NYPD. This is no different." He kept going.

Final Advice to Prospective Students

"If you don't know where to go, this is a great start. Take everything seriously, stick to the team, don't give up, push through it — you're going to be successful. It all comes down to mindset. If you have the right mindset and you're determined, you're going to make it."