Career change: Sarah Meikle has swapped Wellington on a Plate for India

Thursday, 2 January 2025

Sarah Meikle left “the best job in the world” as the head of Wellington’s annual culinary festival Wellington on a Plate after 15 years, to start her own business taking small groups of tourists to experience India.

She launched All India Permit Tours at that start of last year, and hasn’t looked back.

”And I tell you what, it took me a bloody long time to make the decision to go because I was torn. I just never wanted to leave. But I've done it 15 times.

“I just thought, it's time to have a change for no other reason than that.’’

When you've been doing the same thing for a long time, you forget about the challenges, Meikle says.

The move has also come with renewed energy. “I'm a very energetic person in general, but now I've just got it times a million.

“I loved every minute of what I did in my previous job, right to the last day. And it was the hardest decision I ever made. But I knew deep down I needed to make a change for me, and that you kind of get one go at life.

“And so I thought, well, you’ve just got to take the bull by the horns literally, and do something scary every now and again. And it's bloody scary, making a change. There's been times I've been terrified and just wondered what the hell have I done.’’

But at the same time, that terror fuels you and makes you really determined, she says.

“I've set up a business in the travel sector. I'm very familiar with that and have all the skills I need to do it. But I think, really, it was more the fact that it was me on my own, and I didn't have people to talk to, a team around me and a governance structure in place that directed me.’’

Meikle was introduced to India in the early 2000s while working at Tourism New Zealand, where she was tasked with opening a representative office in Mumbai.

She spent five years in India travelling for work and and in her spare time taking holidays discovering the country. Enduring friendships have ensured regular trips back for weddings and other special events over the years.

“But India is a challenging country. You've got to have a lot of energy to do it on your own, patience and time, because everything takes time in India.“

The germ of an idea

Eventually Kiwi friends began asking for help planning their own Indian holiday.

That sparked the realisation that there was probably an opportunity where she could take personalised guided tours to India that felt more independent and less like a bus tour.

So Meikle created a website, “threw an itinerary together, and actually, I got 24 people saying they wanted to go. And so it kicked off from there. And the next thing you know, I'm running a tour company.”

Her typical client is well travelled professional, reasonably adventurous, likes to discover and wants an authentic experience and to get under the skin of a place. A tour costs about $10,000 per person, excluding international flights.

“I was thinking, ‘how do I provide an opportunity for them to go, and take the stress and hassle and worry out of it for people? They don't need to think about the holiday at all. I will do all the planning for them.

The tours run during the Indian Spring and Autumn. Meikle took a group of 12 in November and has another three tours booked from February and another four groups at the end of this year, and the same number at the start of 2026. “It’s just kind of snowballing from there.”

Meikle has no staff in New Zealand, but hires local guides in India to provide the full story of the nation and its history.

“I imagine at some point I probably will need to grow, and that's also exciting as well.”

She is also keen to develop a planned itinerary service put together by her for independent travellers.

Asked for her favourite part of India, Meikle offers three. “I love taking a bit of Jaipur, just because of the colours, just incredibly crazy and its energy. But, I love Mumbai because it's modern and it's where India is going, whereas the North is where India's been.”

So what’s her advice to anyone contemplating a career change?

“The biggest piece of advice I've got for people is, if you do make a big change, don't sit at home or in your office and just sit on your hands and wait for it to happen. You have got to get out there and network and connect and make things happen. Because things don't happen on their own. The phone just doesn't ring by itself.

“And never be afraid to ask for advice from people you trust and can talk to.”