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Owner & Adventure Curator
It's great to meet you all! I'm Daniel Naughton, the founder of Mawari, which I launched in May 2026. I've been passionate about aviation and travel ever since I was a little boy. In fact, I still have a pair of those plastic American Airlines kiddie wings that a flight attendant gave me on a DC-10 (remember those?) back in 1992, as my family was traveling from Chicago to San Francisco. I was born in the San Francisco Bay Area but grew up in Syracuse, NY, with a brief interlude in Dijon, France. It was that early experience that sparked my lifelong curiosity about language, culture, and life beyond my own backyard.
I started my career in strategy consulting, then pivoted to corporate finance at a variety of aviation and hospitality companies, including Delta, Virgin America, and OpenTable. Over time, though, I found myself yearning for a career that was less centered around spreadsheets and forecasts and more focused on people, shared experiences, and exploration.
In November 2025, I purchased Detours Travel, Mawari's sister brand. What excites me most about Mawari is the opportunity to take everything that makes Detours special and bring it to a wider audience. Detours has always been built on the belief that the best trips are the ones that change you, and Mawari is my way of extending that vision to more travelers across a wider portfolio of destinations. I've done every Mawari trip myself (except for Antarctica), and I'm incredibly excited to share my favorite places in the world with you.
Outside of work, I enjoy long-distance running, learning Japanese, practicing my French and Spanish, and chasing my two little kids around the house with my husband. Needless to say, I also love discovering new places: Machu Picchu and Bhutan are high on our bucket list for when the kids are a bit older. Unlike the rest of the team, I'm based in San Mateo, CA, but I'm getting to know the Vancouver airport and Skytrain system quite well these days.
If you have any feedback, questions, new trip ideas, or just want to say hi, please feel free to email me at daniel@detourstravel.com. My door is always open.
