Agency Owner Devaki Das Shares Expertise of Finer Things in Life with Her Clients

Devaki Das has been jet-setting since she was 8 years old, but it wasn’t just her travels that influenced her to create Weave a Thousand Journeys, a boutique luxury travel agency. 

The former architect and lifelong culinary educator has harnessed her diverse experience – and a keen eye for “the finer things in life” – to sell elevated trips centered around food, art, and history. 

From her roots growing up in Mumbai, to her graduate studies in Sydney, to meeting her husband while working in Singapore, to now living in Washington, D.C., Das’s life has yielded a wealth of knowledge that she now shares with her clients. 

Building the business

Das earned her bachelor’s degree in architecture and master’s in urban development and design, then worked in architecture for about 15 years. All the while, she was always teaching her peers how to cook delicious meals and writing about cooking, as well.

Das knew it was time to reinvent herself after the financial crisis of 2008 made her career in architecture unsustainable. For two years, she took a step back and thought, “What can I do to bring all of this together – my architecture and my love for culinary arts?” 

Travel emerged as the obvious answer. She started off by leading a trip to Sicily with friends, and by 2011, Weave a Thousand Journeys was born.  

“I wanted to be a conduit of bringing happiness and joy to people’s lives and bringing families together – and creating memories with high taste. That’s the whole basis of the company,” Das told TMR. 

She now leads a team of three other women who serve as a boutique travel concierge for luxury trips to Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, sending clients on all the highest quality excursions, such as cooking classes and history and architecture tours, and dining experiences. 

Because every dream vacation must have solid bones, Das has built her brand not only on her worldly expertise, but also on her and her team’s attention to detail – vetting suppliers for quality, working closely with people on the ground, and scheduling to a tee. 

“I always tell my clients that what makes us special is not only are we capable of building castles in the air, we actually are capable of putting the foundations under them,” she said, “which is kind of funny because I’m also trained as an architect, but I think they get the message: If you’re going to have the big vision, there is nothing that is going to make a trip fall flat on its face more than logistics.” 

Focusing on fine cuisine

Das can tell you the difference between the food and wine in each region of the many countries she’s been to. So naturally, she centers trips around food and only sells what she knows. The result? Her clients get the best of the best of a destination’s cuisine. 

“Because I’ve lived in so many countries and traveled so extensively, I have all of these connections, like good chefs and restaurants,” Das said. “I’ve always believed that whatever knowledge we have, it’s meant to be shared. It only grows richer when you share it.” 

When it comes to planning culinary adventures, there’s a few things she always keeps top of mind. First, she gets specific about food allergies, dietary restrictions, and other food and wine preferences.  

“We will make sure that in every communication for this client, our travel partners know about this allergy,” Das said. “But we always tell our clients: When you sit to dinner, open your mouth and speak up and say, ‘I’m the one’ because there is no accounting for human error.” 

Another part of booking culinary trips is being upfront about what is and isn’t possible. For vegans, some areas of Italy may be difficult to navigate food-wise. Yet Das says she’s worked with every kind of dietary need under the sun and does her best to accommodate. 

Das also recognizes that not everyone is all about the food. Some people just don’t care about fine dining. Still, she’ll recommend the best local eateries so her clients don’t get stuck in tourist traps. 

“It’s a matter of how intense somebody is allowing us to take it,” she said. “I’ll be like, ‘Listen I know you’re not big foodies, but you’re going to have to trust me.” 

Traveling luxuriously

For Das, selling luxury travel means selling the types of trips she’d go on herself – Michelin Star restaurants, authentic food tours, and immersive experiences. 

“I knew very well what my brand was going to be because I don’t do cheap. You can’t be something you’re not. I just can’t do cheap,” she said. “I’m not the kind of person who does champagne taste on a water budget, so it’s like, why would I want that for my clients?” 

In the past, Das has booked culinary trips based on events such as the Tomato Festival in Spain. However, she only does these by request. Normally luxury clients want more private, intimate experiences.  

“One of the things that always sets luxury travel apart from others is people don’t want to be around other people. People don’t want to be in crowds,” she said. 

This also means she’s constantly suggesting new destinations for her clients. Das gears them toward the lesser-known locales with rich history and the best food. For example, she’ll steer clients away from Paris and toward Lyon, or instead of Rome, to the northern and southern regions of Italy, or to Croatia, all of which she says offer culinary experiences you can’t find anywhere else. 

“My job is not only to give clients what they’re looking for, but also to educate them,” Das said. “Because if our clients don’t know what the possibilities are, how can they possibly know where to go?” 

For example, Das’s first trip that she led in Sicily has evolved into an annual trip that she takes, each year to a different destination, with “friends old and new.” Her favorite was to Puglia, where she managed to visit an archaeological excavation site, hosted by a local family, who fed them dishes from local cooks, and brought in a famous percussion group for music and dancing. “Those are the kinds of authentic experiences that are really at the heart of what we do,” she said. 

The next trip is to Morocco in October 2025. Though the trips typically sell out within days, there is a cancellation that Das is looking to rebook. More information is on the Weave a Thousand Journeys website. 

“The people business”

Finding the right types of clients and travel partners is also paramount to Das’s business. The best clients will listen to her advice, and she doesn’t work with snobs – no matter how lucrative the trip will be. 

“Not everybody who has great taste has to be an asshat,” she said. “It’s actually possible to have people who have good things in life, enjoy good food and wine, enjoy great architecture, art, archaeology, and are really nice people.”

As many travel advisors would agree, “this isn’t just about being in the travel business, this is about being in the people business,” she said. “For me personally, I hate the word networking. I think my business is based on relationships.” 

When people ask Das how she pulled off a certain trip or partnership, she replies, “I smiled, and I asked, genuinely.” 

“If you go with a positive attitude and a friendly smile, you’ll be amazed at what people will do for you,” she said. “If you’re genuine, people are going to respond that way.” 

Especially in the travel industry, she noted, people are willing to help. “There are fantastic people who are willing to share their love, their passions, all over the world,” she said. “You just have to seek them out.”