Why I Traded Marketing for Driving

Hi, I am Amarylis. I spent 15 years of my life in marketing. The last ten in leadership roles, all the way to marketing director, working with both global companies and small local businesses. Today, I drive visitors around Puerto Rico, and I couldn't be happier about how I got here.

But let me tell you how it happened, because I didn't see it coming either.

The leap

After more than a decade in the corporate world, one day I decided to venture out on my own. I wanted to build my own path, at first thinking about marketing consulting. And because the world moves fast, right around then I started a second master's degree, this time in digital marketing with artificial intelligence, to stay on top of everything that's coming.

While I was building the business, there was one constant in my life that has never changed: my passion for exploring and traveling. From local tourism here in Puerto Rico to hopping on a plane on a whim and landing in Brazil or Europe. I've made it to places as far as New Zealand. Traveling isn't something I do; it's who I am.

The bridge that became a calling

Like every entrepreneur knows, between one stage and the next, you have to sustain yourself. So I told myself, "let me drive while I get established." And there, without planning it, something happened that changed everything.

I realized how much I loved being with people. Giving them tips on what to do around the island, helping them when something unexpected came up, sharing with them the places I love. It wasn't a job to get by; it was something that filled me up.

When people built this with me

What came next, I didn't invent. The people who rode with me built it.

They started asking me to repeat the places I recommended, trying to jot down everything I told them. That's where the idea for the website and the maps came from: to be able to hand them over complete, so my passengers wouldn't have to write anything down, just enjoy.

And then, over and over, they asked me the same thing: "can you take me other places?", "how do I reach you when I come back so you can drive me around the island?". Those questions, repeated so many times, were what led me to research everything I needed, the permits, the regulations, so I could offer a real private transportation service, available to anyone who needs it.

That's how Route to Explore was born. Not from a business plan on a whiteboard, but from people asking me to make it exist.

Who I am today

I'm that mix: the marketing professional who knows how to build something with care, and the lifelong traveler who knows what it feels like to arrive somewhere new and want to make the most of it.

When I drive you around Puerto Rico, you're riding with someone who knows the roads, yes, but also someone who understands what you're looking for, because I've been on the other side, as a visitor, in so many places around the world.

That's what I built with Route to Explore: a private transportation service around the island, at your own pace, to the stops you choose, with the close, personal care of someone who knows Puerto Rico for real and for whom this isn't just a job.

If you'd like to take in Puerto Rico that way, request your private ride here. It would be my pleasure to be part of your journey.