The experiential travel guide covers all aspects of experiential and cultural travel with a focus on the people of your destination and their culture. You can visit a country and even partake in activities, but if you don’t establish a genuine human connection with a local. You’ll never get the deep understanding of the culture that makes trip amazing.
These are actionable tips and insights that will be useful for both novice and seasoned travelers.
This section is divided into five categories, each with multiple sub-sections.
Intro to Experiential travel
This travel style is as old as travel itself, but only recently has it reached the mainstream and gained label. It’s worth understand what it is, what it is not and our vision for it.
Understanding yourself
It always starts with you. Get to know who you are, what you want and what latent (and sometimes hidden) mental blocks you need to be aware of.
- Understanding biases & stereotyping
- Understanding how we judge people
- What is your travel style?
Planning & preparation
An amazing trip starts the right preparation – sometimes months ahead. Done right, this step doesn’t have to be hard – it’s even supposed to be exciting & fun – and will make your trip infinitely more rewarding
- Finding local contacts
- Set your goals
- Scam & security considerations
- Cultural Research
- Solo vs group travel
- Language
On the Road
While in an unfamiliar country and culture, a lot of unexpected situations can occur. At other times, you may not know what first steps to take into the unknown. Here we share many tips that took years of travel to hone and refine.
- The first 24 hours
- Culture shock
- Talking to strangers
- Eye contact
- Conversation topics
- Body language
- Empathy
- Gender considerations
- Personal space
- Time keeping
- Communication
- Understanding the norms
- Travel photography
- Respect
- Local events, art & sculture
- Openness to new experiences
Post Trip
A lot of the growth and learning happens after the trip. It is when we return home that we process our experiences and reflect on them. This process may be challenging for those who go thru an intense cultural experience for the first time or who have few friends who can relate to their experience and are willing to listen. We’ll share tips on how to make the best of this crucial step.
- Decompression
- Giving back
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These are the upcoming sections to be released.