More Than a Weekend in Europe
Experiencing the Gifts of Greece
Words by Tejal Thakkar Photos courtesy of Sofia Travel
East Austin residents Blake and Adam Sparks of Sofia Travel are the fun-loving tour guides who literally welcome guests into their extended family.
The duo proudly takes travelers on the trip of a lifetime to Adam’s ancestral country, Greece, as well as a number of other destinations, while their hope is that, in turn, guests bring the spirit of Greece back with them to their Austin community.
Sofia Travel was founded by Grecian immigrant Elizabeth, and her husband David Sparks, in 1984 as a way to travel back to Greece to visit her family. The company started solely on the idea that if they could bring a “small group of people to Greece to see some of the sites, it would cover their plane tickets,” according to Elizabeth and David’s son, Adam, who currently owns Sofia Travel. That first tour, planned by his parents in order to travel back to their homeland, has spurred decades of joy and success for the Sparks family. Soon, they were running the tour company full-time, and David had become a professor of Hellenic Studies. After graduating from college, Adam decided to take on the family business with his wife, Blake. He explains, “My job has allowed me to stay connected to Greece and to be able to give that to my two-year old son, too.”
Sometimes I feel that our job is not helping people. But every time I go to Greece, I remember how life-giving it is to have this experience and that everyone benefits from it, especially post-pandemic.
Blake Sparks
Sofia Travel specializes in group tours of 15-30 people, which are primarily coordinated through different organizations, their biggest client being the University of Texas Alumni Association, with whom they do a yearly authentic Greece tour. Adam notes, “I personally guide every trip that we offer, and that means that the person they are speaking to on the phone is the same person who is showing them around the Parthenon. That is something that’s pretty rare in the industry.” Blake proudly adds, “Adam’s strength is tying it all together because no one is going to remember all the facts, but he tells an epic story that you can’t help but be really involved.”
Blake notes that the most special part of their work is that “everyone immediately has such an amazing connection to Greece because the people are so welcoming and open. They come back and tell us a story about how the woman working at the shop gave them free scarves or someone leaves something at a restaurant and some guy comes running after the bus, chasing it down the street to give it back.” Blake and Adam love creating these kinds of experiences for their fellow travelers and work to keep those experiential connection moments alive at home in Austin. Blake observes that “sometimes when you travel, you bond with people on a trip and then you never see them again. But because so many people are based here locally, we can get together to have dinner and relive that trip and keep the spirit alive.”
Contact:
sofiatravel.org
info@sofiatravel.org
