Interview with the president of Warwick Travel Society

The Boar Travel sat down with the President of Warwick Travel Society, Ellie Constantinou, in order to discover more about the society, their values and their initiatives.

“The Society, on its second year running, aims to bring people together through their love for travel. Warwick Travel Society organises socials, tours and exciting events” for globe-trotters throughout the whole year. The society is devoted to national and international travel; it’s the fun of tour but all year round. In the first year of its inception, “we went to Riga, Latvia for 5 days and explored Latvian beers, food, nightlife and culture.” Constantinou tells us, “right now the exec team is working hard on organising our next trip taking place at the end of Term 2.”

At the heart of the society is the understanding of the importance of travel: “Despite deadlines and heavy workloads, we have a lot of free time as students and for many that have come to study in the UK from other continents, it’s the perfect opportunity to explore Europe.” Constantinou is of the opinion that we should be taking advantage of our status as students, “it’s so much easier to travel now as a student rather than later on when you have more responsibilities.” If you’re worried about travelling eating into precious study time, fear not, “employers really like seeing someone that has actively travelled, explored new cultures and done things that aren’t included in the norms of student life.”

At the heart of the society is the understanding of the importance of travel

Speaking more specifically about women and travelling alone, Constantinou called it an “empowering and enriching experience”, but reminds women to “research as much as you can about where you’re going and where you’re staying” and understand the importance of “paying attention to local customs and cultural norms so that you don’t stick out as a tourist that can be taken advantage of.” It’s important that women aren’t put off from travelling solely because they’re women, “Working abroad in Madrid last summer was one of the best experiences I’ve had, where I was able to grow and learn so much because of the fact that I was by myself.”

Concerning being a woman running a society, Constantinou doesn’t necessarily think being a woman makes a huge difference. What is essential is having a good team behind you, rather than the gender of the president. In fact, “Warwick Travel Society was founded by two women and this year has a mixture of both men and women on the exec, so I don’t think being a woman makes too much of a difference as long as you’re passionate!” What is refreshing about this, in light of so much negativity in wider journalism concerning gender, is that in spite of continued difficulties women are, at least at a university level, gaining positions of power and gender is becoming a less relevant factor for women in deciding to take on these roles.

Constantinou remarks that the progress already made is “inspiring”, and the feminist movement is a continuous “march of progress, rather than a status we have achieved and are happy with.” She remarks how important it is for women to take leadership positions to ensure “that women’s voices are heard and that the younger generation has female leaders that they can look up to.”

There is a notable cultural shift, and that “society is increasingly willing to listen to female leaders and there is no reason as to why we shouldn’t step up and take on the challenge of leadership positions.” This begins on university campuses where young women can realise their potential and get “the experience of being a leader, which can directly prepare us for leadership positions in society later on.”