Carmen Holley

Sweet Magnolia Travel was born in 2016 to satisfy my passion of travel.  “To travel is to break away from reality and to become someone else,” I’ve read somewhere.  It is to immerse yourself in another culture, another reality. It is to surround yourself with different sights, different people, different personalities, colors, tastes and smells.  To travel is lose sight of linear time space and dimension and concern for responsibility. It is the chance to become someone else, to wake up as another person expectant of new adventure each day.

 I am an art educator by profession, and my travel agency is my art; wanting something, having faith for it, believing it is possible, and then making it happen.  I obtained an MBA in 2016, with a 4.0 GPA, researching the solutions to streamline processes and efficiently bringing ideas to life. I love delving into social media strategy, and what I lack in savvy, I like to think I make up for with authenticity.   It has been fun to watch my idea grow into a small dream that offers the possibility of even larger ones.  The ultimate goal for Sweet Magnolia Travel is to leave a legacy to my daughter; I want her to be well rounded, and to chase her dreams, always bringing each worthy goal into fruition.  I also want to be a positive role model for my students and help to enrich the community we live in.

My business gives me cause to research trips in the quest of designing the perfect vacation for each of my clients as well as to find vacations that fit my husband’s requests along with my own, which is not easy!  My daughter and I traveled to Florence, Italy in 2012.  Though we had the time of our lives for 10 days, I wish I would have had the expertise of a tour guide.  We would better remember the monuments of art masters rather than the dishes we enjoyed in fabulous restaurants, along with the magical coffee pot at Hotel Florence. Cultural immersion to me is the ideal. To understand its history and artists, to speak the language, and to form friendships with diverse souls is to vacation!  But for now, I will be content with boutique hotels and balcony staterooms.  

Sweet Magnolia Travel held its first benefit dinner in 2019 for The Courage Center in Lexington SC, which was a thrilling adventure in itself.   Next year’s event will help sponsor the teenagers that I teach to be able to afford to be able to travel abroad on a group trip. I believe the experience will make all the difference in the world to the adolescents searching for their way.  It is the beginning of a lifelong journey of global understanding and cultural knowledge. Learning empathy for multiculturalism is a core educational experience for global success, as is the development of imagination and critical thinking skills that comes from international experience. Travel is the key to global knowledge, forming connections and friendships.

Let me design your next vacation!  Who is traveling, where would you like to go and when? What activities would you like to engage in? Do you need ideas? I will send you several options from various suppliers to your e-mail, at the price you would like to pay for your trip, with no additional fee for Sweet Magnolia Travel; we are paid by the travel industry. The package price may be made in payments that suit your budget. Take advantage of my years of experience with travel research and of building relationships with suppliers.

Travel offers emotional and physical health, along with wellness. Take time to adventure off the beaten path and become transformed by the renewing of your mind. Let Sweet Magnolia Travel research your trip so you don’t have to!