From Perth to pyramids: Hong Kong’s Graham Elsom on a lifetime of travel and adventure

I WAS BORN in Perth, in Western Australia, in 1945. During the second world war, my father was with the military in an administrative position and left Australia in 1940 on the first troop-ship that departed. This was the Empress of Japan, a converted Canadian Pacific liner. I have one brother, Ross, who’s two years younger. We moved to Melbourne a few years later, and my mother and I flew down on one of the first commercial passenger flights. My brother and I went to Canterbury Primary School and later to Scotch College, which was a private Presbyterian boys’ school. There was a lot of demand for places there and my exam results had not been nearly good enough to get in, and I somehow realised my mother was disappointed. I’d got 37 per cent in one French exam, so I worked hard and later scored 87 per cent, which got me into the school. I joined in 1958 and left in 1962.

BY THE TIME I was 12, I had already developed a passionate desire to travel and knew I wanted to get into the travel business. I avidly collected and read travel brochures, and whenever I saw an ocean liner tied up at Station Pier, I was so envious. I wanted to go where those ships were going. In 1962, I got my first job, at Thomas Cook & Son on Collins Street, which was the ritzy street in Melbourne, commonly known as the “Paris end”. I was an assistant messenger and in charge of the brochure rack, which I found mesmerising with all those brochures and destinations, especially in those days.

MY FATHER HAD come out of the army and was working for Esso, the petroleum company, and his job moved to Sydney. So, I left Thomas Cook. In Sydney, I joined the Dutch shipping company Royal Interocean Lines. The company was headquartered in Hong Kong and had quite a substantial travel agency here. I was brought over to take over the travel branch in 1976, and I’ve been here ever since, so 50 years.

I ABSOLUTELY loved Hong Kong from day one. The cargo side of the shipping company imploded because they turned their ships into pallet-carrying ships and should have waited a little longer and turned them into container ships. My predecessor had taken a lot of the travel clients, so I had the thankless job of trying to find customers. I was based in Prince’s Building, in Central. We were trying to sell to firms (corporate travel-organisation packages) and Leighton Asia, the big construction firm, was one of my earliest accounts.

IN 1978, I opened my own travel agency, Concorde Travel, which occupied two floors in On Lan Street, in the heart of Central. I believe we prospered because we were known for being able to put together truly exotic itineraries. Clients, especially civil servants, would spend a few days at home, then go off on a genuinely exploratory trip to some exotic locations. I loved putting these trips together. I ran the agency for 39 years and closed it in 2016. For someone who wanted to travel, I’ve lived a charmed life. I would go to travel-industry meetings and would be invited to a destination for a few days, all expenses paid. Because I was my own boss, I would extend my stay and travel elsewhere.

IN 1981, I WENT to Egypt for what was a highlight of my life. During the war, when my father was posted to the Middle East, he had climbed the Pyramid of Menkaure. Nearly 40 years later, I started to climb it. The stone blocks were enormous and you had to hoist yourself up. I gave up and went back down. But as I walked away, I felt so ashamed. So, I started again. When I did reach the top, I could see the shadow of the pyramid below. Then, all of a sudden, a young fellow came out of the shadows and I was scared stiff. All he wanted was to take my photograph for a fee of US$1. These days, it is, of course, illegal to climb a pyramid.