Planet Hoppers | June 2020

June 2020

Never before has the entirety of travel and tourism been forced to stop completely. With flights grounded, hotels closed, tourist spots deserted and travelers locked down, a new future of travel is on the horizon. And it will be for the better. In this rare moment of stillness, tourism gets to reset with social, environmental, and economic impacts in mind. Popular cities are restructuring to prevent over-tourism. Hospitality is rethinking ways to reduce waste. Tour operators are redefining the purpose of travel to one that benefits both the travelers and the locals. Our partners at Where There Be Dragons have been on this course for over 30 years. This team of do-gooders share their community-focused mission through purposeful travel experiences in remote places.

Featured Trip Of The Month

MEGAN, WHERE THERE BE DRAGONS

Megan is a sales representative, trip host, advisor, and counselor for Where There Be Dragons, a non-traditional travel company founded in 1987, providing transformative, educational, and purposeful experiences for private or small groups to authentic places. When this interview was conducted, Megan and her husband were 'sheltering in place' -- by choice -- in Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.

"Dragons got its start focusing on summer trips for high school students, offering really small groups of up to 12 students with 3 instructors for 6 weeks. This small group experience is across all of our programming now. It’s a very intimate experience throughout, the group, the instructors, the local communities we interact with. For students, we offer a gap year experiences, the summer, and even accredited College Study Abroad experiences. For adults, we have partnerships with organizations, and we run their trips for them, like custom and scheduled small group trips for travelers of any age and that’s where I work, anywhere from 30’s to 50’s age group. I started off in 2005 as an instructor in Senegal after having been a Peace Corps volunteer there. It keeps me connected to Senegal and allows me to return to the communities that are dear to me. I’ve learned so much from Dragons about Senegal, even after those years of living there.

"We have 2 different kinds of adult programs: custom-designed and scheduled small groups. We're very personalized, so just 6 trips a year, all very small. The themes for each trip are just the gateway, the reason we are touch with the people in an honest and immersive way. In Nepal, the theme is Ashrams & Artisans. So we explore the spiritual and artistic traditions in the Kathmandu Valley, and we are staying with Nawari people who are the age-old artisans there. Participants stay a few nights in an artist’s house and they spend a few hours a day in their studios. And they’re learning the craft of their artisan host. It can be awkward to sit next to someone, and you might not speak the same language or know what to say, but when you’re engaging in an activity with a person, there’s a reason to engage….and there’s a common purpose and the connections just happen, organically and magically.

Each trip is a little different; our Peru trip is more trekking-intensive. But on each trip, we’re examining the local culture. Senegal is called Magic & Mysticism, so there we’re looking at a unique sect of Sufi Islam that’s only found in Senegal as well as delve into the local music. The musical traditions of West Africa are just astounding. It’s as simple as hearing my dear friend, Mamadou, who joins the trip, just playing the kora -- a harp-like instrument -- on the beach. Or going to a club in Dakar, having a cocktail and listening to live music. Listening to and learning from all kinds of musical traditions, from the very earthy to the more professional. Some people come for a specific theme, we have a man who’s coming to Senegal because he’s super into music and he’s interested in learning about the roots of Blues.

For custom-designed trips, we have families or small groups of friends join us. We’re experts at creating curriculum and activities to help kids and parents navigate the local culture in a fun and educational way. We also work with already established groups, like yoga studios. A group will come to us who have either a certain destination or a particular reason why they want to travel, sometimes just to connect with each other and not even a specific place to go. You might run a yoga studio and have a group of 10 yogis who want to travel and practice with you, but also but want something more, a cultural piece, too. And they just want someone else to take care of the logistics. We offer access, and that’s what you can’t get when you plan on your own."

"Oftentimes, people who join us say 'I’m the only one who wants to travel this way.' We have a lot of people who find themselves in a period of transition: they’ve recently divorced or lost their partners or their kids just went off to college or they just finished grad school themselves. Oftentimes, people get a greater sense of clarity, because we provide a reflective place that often gives way for a clearer purpose for what’s next for them as they turn a chapter in their lives.

Typically people have traveled a bit before on their own and want something more meaningful and richer. And they are willing to be a bit uncomfortable for the sake of discovery; like the emotional discomfort of staying with a family for a night or two and awkwardness of not knowing what to say. Our travelers are seeking a really magical experience that wouldn't otherwise happen if they just stick to the gringo trail and drink margaritas on the beach. And there’s nothing wrong with margaritas on the beach (laughs). Our trips are great for solo travelers. We have women who say 'My husband doesn’t like to travel, I want to go off the beaten path but I don’t feel safe enough to do it by myself.' We just had a woman who signed up for a Senegal trip who told us 'I’m not a group trip person, but there’s enough spontaneity and flexibility with a group this small that I’m willing to try it because it’s an individualized experience.' And we have had couples join us, in fact a few of our couples have stayed with different homestay families because they wanted their own experience. They’re interested in people and curious, open-minded, and adventurous."

Travelers who join us are not just going on a tour, they’re entering a global community. And that’s become apparent in the past couple of months as we have come together to support individual communities who have been struggling. We have a community relief fund and we’ve raised almost as much as some big organizations to give back to the community members in Nepal and in India who aren’t able to feed their families because of this crisis. We’re in the process of figuring out our timeline and when might we be able to travel again, how can we offer the heart of what we offer – intimate connections with people of different cultural backgrounds -- in a new way. What we offer is not luxury, you’re going to be out of your comfort zone, it’s going to be unique and adventurous, and it's important to ask yourself, are you up for that? Are you up for learning and having an authentic cultural experience? Are you ready for reflecting on your own life? Sometimes when we travel we have a tendency to stay isolated in our experience. We are consistently turning people outward. We facilitate the experience in an intentional way, it’s the country and the people who offer the heart of that experience. They are so welcoming and we could just not do it without them. We work with local instructors who are educators, not just guides. They are who we are, they offer their own lives, they open up their lives to our participants. But they enjoy working with us. They say ‘The adults ask so much more questions than the students do!’ So it’s been great to see them have a good time with our adult travelers.

We collaborate with a handful of travel agents and educational consultants who work with clients seeking unique experiences overseas and see value in ethical and immersive travel opportunities. I had coffee with Amy and Jason last year in San Francisco and was immediately drawn to their easy-going and generous nature as well as their extensive knowledge of the travel industry. I could tell that Amy's approach is similar to ours in that she also develops lasting and personalized relationships with her clients."

Want to see what Going Where There Be Dragons is like? Video here (3:25)