On the road: Danny Giles, national explorer sales manager, Hurtigruten

We speak to the people who make your job easier. This month: Hurtigruten’s Danny Miles

What does your job entail?
I have recently taken on the new role of national explorer sales manager which will allow me to tell everyone how Hurtigruten are going to be the largest expedition travel company in the world. For the last seven years I have been the sales manager for Scotland, Ireland and the North where I have had the responsibility of ensuring that UK and Irish travel trade have all the knowledge and support to grow their business with Hurtigruten.

How long have you worked in the travel industry?
I have been in travel since I left school at the age of 16 and have held many different roles – from travel agent to overseas representative, trainer and sales manager.

What’s the best thing about being on the road?
Every day my office view changes from the stunning west coast of Scotland to the city landscape of Dublin and Belfast. I also get to spend time meeting travel partners who I now look upon as friends.

What’s the worst?
Traffic! There is nothing worse than being stuck on a motorway behind a lorry and not moving anywhere.

Favourite place to visit?
I’m very fortunate that all of the areas I visit have something different to offer – from driving the wild Atlantic way in Ireland to the Lake District.

What do you listen to in the car?
Radio 2 is my choice of station as they have good traffic updates and music that I can (badly) sing along to.

One thing you couldn’t live without on the road?
My phone charger and my Kindle as there is nothing worse than no battery on a phone to catch up on my emails once I’ve stopped driving. Plus my Kindle for those overnights when dining for one in a hotel.

What’s your favourite thing about Hurtigruten?
Travelling with Hurtigruten allows people to tick off so much from their bucket list. Whether it’s the polar bears of Svalbard, seeing the amazing icebergs and meeting the wonderful Inuits of Greenland, to setting foot on the Great White Continent of Antarctica, to getting a selfie with a penguin or experiencing the midnight sun or northern lights along the iconic Norwegian coast.

If agents want to find out more, what do they do?

We have lots of information available via our YouTube channel (youtube.com/user/hurtigrutenwebmaster), image bank (staging.imageshop.no/en/Hurtigruten) and online training portal (onlinetraveltraining.com/free-courses/providers/hurtigruten). Or you can call our agency sales team on 020 8846 2647 or email them on UK.agency.sales@hurtigruten.com.