Last August, Eurosender turned another acquaintance into a true partnership. We met Tomas, the founder of Youth Leisure Network (JLT), back in May 2016 in Strasburg. It was clear to see that we shared a common goal – to help travellers and students embark on their adventures. Although a lot has changed since then, our mission remained the same.
Read our interview with Tomas Tamulevicius below!
Tell us about you and your organisation
If I have to say who I am in just a few sentences, then first of all, and most importantly, I would say that I’m a European, whose home is the whole Europe! Of course, I’m a traveller, discoverer and an open person seeking to meet different people, learning about local cultures and trying to share my passion for travels with everyone around.
My story, which is mainly about taking first steps out of your comfort zone, started around 5-6 years ago when I discovered and began to volunteer in an international organisation, well-known Erasmus Student Network. During this time, I not only fell in love with the whole organisation and people who make it better every day, but I also found out was it is like to be truly international. Being part of ESN allowed me to visit more than half of Europe, make a lot of new friends and finally understand that my home is not only Lithuania but the whole Europe.
But as time passed and my studies finished, I reached that point when it was necessary to move on. But how can you do that, after being surrounded by an amazing international community on a daily basis? So I came up with an idea, that it was time to take one more step outside of my comfort zone and together with a few friends we established a company called “Youth Leisure Network”. And from the very beginning, we agreed that from now our aim will be to help all international students and interns have the true Lithuanian experience when coming here, offering only top level and top quality services! This mission and drive never changed, as interesting and well-organised trips became what we do at “Youth Leisure Network”.
Finally, what really motivates us to move even more forward – is the feedback of every traveller. We always listen to all comments after each trip. It’s in our organisation’s mindset, that the travellers are the most important people, with a power to truly shape all our trips and activities. Because being flexible and offering unique ways to spend time while being in Lithuania, helps us to do one of the most significant tasks – showing all international guest of Lithuania what our country is about and who Lithuanians truly are!
And what about your partnership with Eurosender?
It’s a funny story, but Eurosender actually approached us first. Everything happened almost a year ago when I got a personal message on Facebook from one of Eurosender’s coordinators. We started talking and she presented Eurosender as a student-friendly organisation, that is working in different countries and more importantly offering high-quality services at a reasonable price. After that presentation, I was intrigued and we started discussing the possibility of a full-time partnership.
In general, the partnership with Eurosender works really great! We constantly receive promotional offers and of course, the discount code is an amazing possibility for the students to save a bit more money. All in all, everything is working quite well and we are already looking for another year of the cooperation.
How do you see the future of the organisation and the partnership with Eurosender?
The future is really bright! At Youth Leisure Network, we always develop new projects and maybe in the future, Eurosender will become more involved in the new ones. Having Eurosender as a friend gives us possibilities to grow and offer much more for the students. We hope that all the people who follow us will notice Eurosender and at least once use its services!
Do you have any advice for international students?
Talking about travelling itself, my biggest advice is – try to discover local culture! And aim to discover not only those places, that are promoted in various brochures, but look for something not so typical and “touristic”. And only then, every person who travels can discover what is the country really about and how local people live. Having this kind of discoveries really helps to understand a different culture, and finally, find really good local friends. And exactly such friendships expand the meaning of home to the whole Europe.
But of course getting ready for every adventure is a key, because good preparation equals great experiences and memories. This can be done simply by just understanding and reading about the country, and figuring out what to expect there. Next, you should find some information about local activities that can be done during your stay and try to establish first contacts with the locals or other travellers. It may sound really hard, but in today’s world, finding international Facebook groups from a specific country or city is not a difficult task anymore. Good luck!
We cherish the partnership with Youth Leisure Network by offering a 10% discount and, depending on the time of the year or specific event, increasing the discount up to 20%. We also send some promotional material to distribute among its members and in exchange, we are featured among all the partner universities of JLT. We look forward to being involved more in the organisation of the new projects, and we are currently discussing a possibility of taking part in the planned series of events revolving around language exchange, “Let’s talk”. The aim is to become, thanks to JLT, the number one shipping hub in Lithuania, promoting our low prices and user-friendly platform together.
That is why you should definitely make sure to check out Youth Leisure Network, and if you’re interested in being our partner as well – do not hesitate to get in touch!