Many Tufts students enjoy the perks of studying and traveling in other countries. While abroad, they visit museums and historic sites, experience another culture, gain proficiency in a foreign language - and, last but not least, party.
No trip to Europe is complete without the requisite tales of leaving a club as the sun is rising or streaking through a Spanish plaza. But you'd be hard pressed to find either of these activities listed in the index of a traditional travel guide.
Until now. While traveling in Europe with his brother six years ago, Doug Bell (E '93) first discovered this gaping whole in the travel guide market.
"We were in Florence, and I was carrying three of the traditional travel books," Bell said. "I remember specifically it was a Tuesday night and we were looking for something to do."
"We must have walked around the entire city and could not find anything to do," he said. "I was visibly upset."
When Bell returned from Europe, the experience remained in the back of his mind. "I knew the existing guides didn't fulfill a specific need," he said.
Instead of remaining bitter, Bell decided to turn his misfortune into an opportunity. Back in the states following his travels, he wrote a business plan for a travel guide company that focused on the fun and social side of traveling. An engineering major, Bell went on to attend business school where he focused on entrepreneurial studies, learning how to start a business successfully. Since graduate school, Bell has spent most of his career in marketing.
But this solid education was, unfortunately, only one aspect of the project. "At the time, I didn't have the capital to make the investment and I just wasn't in a position to make it happen," Bell said. "I didn't have the right business partner."
Bell's business plan had to take a back burner to his day job as a marketing director for a global company based in Chicago. Five years later, however, in Jan. 2004, Bell finally found the right business partner. His idea became a reality with the startup of PartyEarth LLC, a travel guide company that recently released its first book, PartyEurope 2005.
"[The idea] really was like a vision," Bell said. "I saw it when I was over in Europe and it never really got away from me." When Bell returned from his trip, he not only wrote a business plan, but also registered a URL for the concept. "I got a bunch of offers, some in the 10s of 1,000s of dollars, and I definitely could have used the money at the time, but in the back of my mind, I thought 'I am going to do this someday.'"
"I am just so thankful that I didn't let go of the URL," Bell said. "If you believe in something and you want something bad enough, hold onto it."
And work out its kinks ahead of time. "Take the necessary steps in advance to really understand the market you are going after," Bell advises undergraduate entrepreneurs. "Only 10 percent of new ventures actually succeed, and the key is to do as much as you can beforehand in the planning process to improve the odds of success. I studied that for years, and in reality it is 100 percent true."
Bell admits that, even with five years of planning under his belt, bringing the first book to fruition was not devoid of difficulties. "When you look at writing a book, you just don't really understand everything that goes into it," Bell said. "The book is 400 pages long and contains over 600 reviews. Making sure-400 plus pages are perfect is extremely time-consuming."
In addition to editing worries, the creators faced an added demand of constructing characters for the guidebook. The book provides the opinions of four characters created by the editors: in essence, the frat boy, the girl-next-door, the hippie outdoorsman, and the glam city girl. The characters arose as a result of the different focus of this guidebook.
"This is not a comprehensive guide," Bell said. "It's a supplemental guide to other books, but it drills down on a category that those books don't give enough info on - fun, social travel."
Bell was quick to note, however, that what constitutes "fun and social travel" differs greatly based on personality. Bell and his business partner found a resolution for this problem in their four characters.
"The reader can say 'I'm more like that character - what would he recommend in this city, on this night, in this neighborhood?'" Bell said. "It's like asking a friend of yours for their review."
Though the characters are fictional, the actual reviewers were recent college graduates that Bell and his business partner hired to live it up in Europe. "Three groups went to Europe," Bell said. "One group went for 100 days, and the other two went for a month each."
Think you missed the job opportunity of a lifetime? PartyEarth LLC is actually currently in the process of hiring young people to update the PartyEurope guide and to help on future publications. Applications can be found on the website, www.partyeurope.com.
Bell's love of travel did not arise as an undergraduate at Tufts, despite the school's emphasis on studying abroad. "I didn't study abroad when I went to Tufts - I regret that a lot," he said. "I was afraid to miss anything at school - I didn't want to leave, to give up a semester away. When I left school I realized what I had missed, and it made me travel a lot more."
Bell does, however, credit Tufts as an influence on the travel guide. "It's a partying book, so I will definitely say I learned to party at Tufts - I can definitely connect that directly," he said.
For more information, visit www.partyeurope.com.
