our origin story

If you know anything about us, you probably are aware that Huckleberry Travel’s co-founders and co-owners, Tom and David, are married. (Yep. We’re an LGBTQ+ owned company!) And if you’ve spent time with us and asked the question: “How did you decide to start a travel business,” you’ve probably heard about our “origin story” — not just the story of our business, but also the story of our relationship.

When we were first dating seriously, Tom told David that he had a goal to visit every continent, but that none of his friends really had the time or the budget to take a big trip like that. David pretty quickly said, “Well, I’d go to Antarctica with you.”

It was several months before that trip would happen, but realizing that he was serious, Tom started to think … well, maybe this is getting serious!

And when we started our business, we wanted to do something entrepreneurial that connected with our passions, and since travel was at the center of our relationship…that’s how Huckleberry Travel was born!

We tell that story so often that it’s become part of most cocktail party conversations we have. And the more we tell it, the more it felt like an important part of our story was just the anecdote, and not really the memory of the story.

So, that got Tom thinking. He has a childhood friend, Derrick Hickman, who’s an extraordinarily talented artist. A lot of the things he paints are sort of pop-art paintings of childhood toys that a kid who grew up when Tom and Derrick did would recognize. See them at: https://www.derrickhickmanarts.com/

But he also does these "textographies" where he'll take a personal anecdote and graphically represents the words so that the story (like the memory) is there, but also partially obscured. So, I started thinking — if the anecdote I tell so often is becoming rote in a way that obscures the actual memory, what if I commissioned Derrick to represent the anecdote in a way that’s as beautiful as the actual memory was…but in a completely different way

So, as a surprise for David, Tom commissioned Derrick to do a textography of their "origin story" which is also sort of the origin story of our business.

So Derrick roughed it out in a sketch.

And then he sent Tom a color palate.

And then Derrick put brush to canvas and our “origin story” came to life.

Here’s what it says…

“I wanted to go to Antarctica, but no one had the money or time to come with me. You followed me to the end of the earth, and I knew this relationship had legs. ”

— Our "origin story"

So, now it’s on its way to us.

Derrick, (in Ohio) preparing to send the completed painting to us in New York.

We’ll still need to frame it, but even so, we’re just over the moon about this. It’s such a special thing for us — even more so since Derrick and Tom have been friends since middle-school (at least).

Art and travel have something in common — it changes the way we think about the world we live in, and has the power to transform and shape the way we think about things.

This is perfect, and we love it.

If you’d like to commission a textography from Derrick, or see some of his other artwork that’s available for purchase, you should contact him through his website.

And if you’d like to follow the love of your life to the ends of the earth, or even just take a short trip with them to get away for the weekend, we’d love to talk to you about that.