GABE SAGLIE: From the Palisades to Priceless Adventure

By DAYNA DRUM | Reporter

Gabe Saglie was born with travel in his DNA.

The senior editor of Travelzoo, a media commerce company, has been to over 20 countries and speaks three languages.

Saglie’s Chilean parents were constant travellers who imparted their love for exploration on their children at an early age. Saglie was born in Norway, and shortly after, the family moved back to Chile. When Saglie was 10 years old his father got a job at UCLA, bringing the family to settle in Pacific Palisades.

From that point on Saglie lived a thoroughly Palisadian childhood. He even won the title of Mr. Palisades while he attended Palisades Charter High School.

Although Saglie studied English at UCLA, his goal was to go to medical school. He had fulfilled every requirement, but at the last minute he changed his mind. Saglie had determined that his heart didn’t lie in the medical field, but with reading and writing. So he went to USC to study broadcast journalism instead.

Saglie entered the news arena and soon filled various roles. He was a writer in San Diego, then a producer and a weatherman/anchor in Santa Barbara. In 2005, Saglie took a different route and began working at Travelzoo. The company had been started by two German brothers Saglie knew from USC. The brothers asked Saglie to come on board to help the company take on a broadcast type of format.

Saglie has been with the company for 11 years now and of all the hats he has worn, he said this one is his favorite.

“It’s opened me up,” Saglie told the Palisadian-Post. 

As senior editor, Saglie acts as a representative for the company. He makes appearances on television and radio shows and lends expert commentary on the travel industry for news articles.

Saglie said he has satisfied his long-held desire to see the world, but it doesn’t seem he will be stopping anytime soon. Travelzoo causes him to travel extensively in the United States and annually to Ireland for St. Patrick’s Day.

When asked to narrow down his favorite place in the world, Saglie landed on Florence, Italy. He said the city is “magical” and explained that he has a “personal and emotional relationship” with it. Norway, Chile and New York City also made the list.

Saglie explained that the U.S. is so diverse that some of the best trips people can take are domestic. Despite the numerous places he’s visited, Saglie said there isn’t one place that he wouldn’t return to.

Not all of his travel experiences have been positive, however. While travelling around Eastern Europe with his brother, the two were forced off of a train in the middle of nowhere because something wasn’t right with their travel documents. The men were left in a tiny town to stand out tremendously as outsiders.

“Even those end up being good stories,” Saglie said about the sometimes-unexpected circumstances in travel.

There are a few moments and people that stand out to Saglie from his years of travel experience—like stopping to listen to an opera singer in a San Francisco alley 12 years ago or having a man in Prague draw a caricature of him but refuse to take money for it.

When travelling for pleasure, Saglie now has his wife and three children to bring along. When asked what the biggest difference is between travelling alone and travelling with a family, Saglie said, “checking bags.”

But the extra steps don’t deter Saglie from bringing along his children. He is now imparting the passion that was given to him on his own kids.

Although Saglie now lives in Santa Barbara, he said his ties to the Palisades continue to run strong. Since his mother still lives here and his wife is also a Palisadian, the family visits often.