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Realhumans
Nigel in a white robe holding a mug on a balcony overlooking wooded hills in Paradamonte, Portugal.

Founder & Chief Human

Nigel Jordan.

90+ countries. Five continents. Based in Porto. I design trips around why you want to go — not just where.

It started with
a mango.

I was five. My parents took me from Dublin to Barbados, where I met tropical landscapes for the first time — and tasted a real Caribbean mango.

The climate, the colours, the food, the sense of being somewhere completely removed from home. That feeling never really went away.

By adulthood, curiosity had become something closer to an obsession.

A young Nigel walking along a hillside road past a white goat, with misty green hills behind.

Three trips
that changed everything.

  1. 01

    Northern Queensland — 2006

    Three weeks of backpacking that changed how I thought about independent travel — and where I tried scuba diving for the first time, on the Great Barrier Reef.

  2. 02

    Fiji — 2006

    Three weeks around the islands and the first place that felt like genuine, unspoilt tropical paradise. I completed my Open Water certification there.

  3. 03

    Japan — 2018

    Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and beyond. The cities, culture, systems, aesthetics and food deepened an already serious addiction to exploration.

Nigel working on a laptop on a high balcony overlooking the Honolulu skyline and mountains.

Why I created RealHumans

Everyone was being funnelled to the same handful of places.

Countries
90+
Continents
5
Based in
Porto
Travelling since
1990s

Trips I love designing

  • City and cultural trips
  • Road trips
  • Southeast Asia
  • Europe
  • Nature and hiking
  • Smart luxury
  • Excellent-value hotels
  • Flashpacking
  • Multi-stop adventures
  • Low-cost airfare strategy

The places themselves aren't the problem.

What changes a place is what happens when millions of people are funnelled toward it at the same time. Meanwhile another town, region or island — sometimes an hour away — may offer exactly what someone was hoping to find. Often for less money.

So instead of asking only where you want to go, I ask why you want to go there. Once you understand the why, the world suddenly becomes much bigger.

Beyond travel.

Before RealHumans, I founded and ran creative agency SOHO, and I'm also a contemporary artist.

I think my creative background has a lot to do with how I approach travel design.

I don't see a trip as a collection of highly rated hotels, restaurants and attractions that you simply assemble into a list.

A great trip needs to feel coherent.

  • Rhythm.
  • Contrast.
  • Surprises.
  • Space.
  • A point of view.

And above all, it needs to feel like it was designed for the particular person taking it.

View my art

How I like to travel.

  • 50% planned, 50% spontaneous
  • Drop the bags at the hotel and start walking
  • Comfortable going far off the beaten path — but never obscurity for its own sake
  • Happy to visit somewhere famous if it's genuinely brilliant (for example Petra)
  • Nature, mountains, oceans, forests and road trips, increasingly
  • Food wins every spending decision. Importance: 200%

A few of my favourites.

Nigel in a flat cap and sunglasses at a pavement café on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice.
Cities
New York City & Tokyo
Food destination
Thailand
Island / beach
Oahu — and, unapologetically, Waikiki
Road trip
Portugal & Spain
Long weekend
Córdoba, Spain
Hotel stay
Casa Sirfantas, Córdoba
Train journey
Oslo to Stockholm
Switch off completely
Gerês National Park, northern Portugal
Biggest surprise
Montenegro
Deserves more visitors
The Azores
Keep going back to
Italy. It has everything.
Top of my list
Georgia — for the wine, food and landscapes.

True story: The accidental castaway.

While visiting Monuriki in Fiji — the uninhabited island where they filmed the Tom Hanks movie “Castaway” — I arrived by boat with around eight other travellers.

After seeing the main beach and some of the film locations, I decided to go swimming. Then I kept swimming.

I eventually made my way toward the opposite side of the island, happily looking at coral and fish and completely losing track of time.

Meanwhile, the boat was getting ready to leave. I was nowhere to be seen.

Luckily, I'd been talking to most of the other passengers on the journey. Eventually somebody apparently asked: “Hey, where's the Irish guy?”

The boat went looking for me. They found me, got me onboard and off we went.

Maybe subconsciously I was trying to live out Tom Hanks' character's experience for real?

Monuriki island seen from the water, white sand beach below a green rocky peak.

So, where did you have in mind?

Tell me the trip you were thinking about. I'll consider it seriously, look at the alternatives, and design the one that actually fits you.

Nigel on a rooftop terrace overlooking the tiled rooftops and old cathedral of Coimbra, Portugal.

Personal Trip Design

€149

First trip price

Designed by me, personally. One round of changes included, delivered within 72 hours.

Request Nigel as my Human →