Our Mission
To provide meaningful travel experiences for international volunteers and language students in exchange programs that greatly benefit both the volunteers and the people they meet.
Inspired by their own experiences living and working abroad, co-founders Tom LeaMond and Molly Besta Allscheid established Travel Alive to provide meaningful travel and cultural experiences that benefit travelers and their hosts. Nicki Tader, a fellow world traveler with a shared dream to promote volunteer travel experiences, joined Tom and Molly in the spring of 2007. Tom, Molly, and Nicki believe that international exchange programs create a better understanding of one’s self and our interconnected world. As lifelong volunteers, Tom, Molly, and Nicki recognize that volunteer programs benefit the volunteer as much as the people they serve.
Tom LeaMond
Tom’s brainchild, Travel Alive, is a way to share his love of adventure and travel with others and bring people from different cultures together. His interests in geography, world events, sailing, language study, travel, and exploring new places have inspired his trips throughout Europe, Latin America, Africa, and North America. For two years he lived and worked in Spain teaching English and became fluent in Spanish. With a degree in geography and an MBA Tom has worked from Maine to Madrid, as the first mate on a 100 year-old schooner, a chef, an English teacher, in the travel industry, and most recently in finance.
Molly Besta Allscheid
Growing up in Wisconsin, Molly was fortunate to have Spanish teachers who spoke fluently even though they were not native speakers. In high school she traveled to Spain and was enchanted by the festivities of Holy Week, Semana Santa, in Seville. Since then she has lived and studied in Spain, Honduras, and Nicaragua most recently with her two daughters. She has a BBA in Marketing and International Business and worked for a world languages publishing company before choosing to be a full-time mother and community volunteer. Before partnering with Tom to launch Travel Alive she worked for nonprofit organizations that support affordable housing in the Chicago region.
Nicki Tader
Nicki has lived and worked in Europe and Brazil where she became fluent in Italian and Portuguese, and proficient in Spanish. After graduating with a BA in International Relations, she spent two years in the western United States doing community service work with the AmeriCorps program. Before joining the Travel Alive team, Nicki was spending summers leading hiking and cycling tours through Europe, and dedicating winters to teaching English and volunteering with children in Brazil. She has a love of the outdoors and is a certified personal fitness trainer.
