This week, I’m focused on “Great Walks & Hikes Around the World” But – what’s the right hike or walk to fit you?
On the 18th, I’m hosting an event with Pat Rochon of World Expeditions. We have over 60 people registered to attend. Wanna join us? We can make room for you! It’s bound to be a terrific evening.
World Expeditions has been around for 40 years, and it’s one of the moderately-priced companies I love to work with for clients. They do terrific work to produce active holidays for solos, couples, families and groups.
World Expeditions specialises in trekking, travel and active adventure holidays in small groups across 7 continents. From the awe-inspiring Everest Base Camp Trek to the magnificent classic Inca Trail & Machu Picchu, from the beauty of the iconic Larapinta Trail Trek to the enchanting icebergs of an Antarctic cruise, from an exhilarating trek of Mt Kilimanjaro, a historic trek of the Kokoda Track, or the Great Himalaya Trail across Nepal, World Expeditions continues to offer innovative trekking, cycling and cultural adventure travel holidays to the world’s far-flung destinations. Seewww.worldexpeditions.com for an overview.
This coming week’s focus is on great walks and hikes around the world, but I’ll do a part 2 with them on November 3rd that’ll focus on “active Europe.”
I’ll feature some World Expeditions trips below, but also some higher-end trips with great walking and hiking partners.
What is the right hike or walk for you? What fits your style and taste? Are you a go for a casual stroll through the Gatineaus on a sunny Sunday afternoon, or does walking the Camino appeal to you?
What is your style? What is your fitness level? Do you want to be on a small escorted group, or so a self-directed trip? Do you want to rough it during the day and be comfortable at night? What tour operator is right for you? What tour operator is right for you, right now (because different trips can change your interests)?
Tastes and styles differ depending on whom you’re travelling with, and what you might be celebrating. Styles and preferences also differ with your travel personality. What’s your’s?
The immediate difference between moderate and higher-end partnersfor hiking and walking tours is price. A partner like World Expeditions and a partner like Backroads or Butterfield & Robinson (who also do terrific active holidays, and have been in business 50 years now) can be very differently priced – eve though they both might offer you a walking holiday around Peru or Nepal. But, like choosing between buying a Toyota Corolla and a Land Rover. It’s about what you value. Both cars will get you from point a to point b in a reliably safe way, but they offer different bells and whistles, and amenities. Land Rover has done a lot of work to ensure safety(and my nephew just survived a nasty car crash because he was in that kind of vehicle) – so it’s not just bells and whistles. Sometimes, it goes to the heart of what you’re looking for when you choose a ride, and what’s most important to you.
Do you like to shop at Winners or Nordstrom’s? Neither answer is right or wrong. It’s all about what is right for you.
What is your travel personality? http://www.allthetests.com/quiz07/dasquiztd.php3?testid=1064525492
World Expeditions is the Toyota Corolla Butterfield is the Land Rover. To draw a hotel analogy (since this is travel), think of World Expeditions as staying in 3 or 4 star accommodations, and Butterfield as staying in 4 or 5 star accommodations on their trips. Now both of these tour operators do value responsible tourism and authentic holidays (so they don’t tend to stay in large NA chain hotels), but the hotel analogy is expedient and easy – think of the difference between a Best Western or Holiday Inn hotel, and a Hilton or Four Seasons hotel. Each of those hotel chains give you reliably clean accommodations, a bed, a TV, a bathroom, and four walls. But the difference in price point is also accompanied a difference in amenities, service, room size, quality of linens, quality of furnishings, service, proximity to downtown/ tourist locations, etc. That is much the same with the difference in tour operators; and should enter in your decision about what tour operator is right for you.
And that’s where I come in.
The difference in choosing between a cycling tour with, say, World Expeditions and Butterfield will involve price point and different level of accommodations, but it will also involve differences in support vehicles (e.g., one or two vehicles to accompany you), quality of bikes, quality of food, number of guides, differences in route options (eg. one or a choice), etc.
My job as your travel advisor is to give you advice about the holiday that is right for you. In order to prepare the “meal” (travel experience) that you’re looking for, I have to blend the “ingredients” (travel suppliers) in my “kitchen” (travel tool kit) that will deliver.
It’s all about what you value. And sometimes what you value will change with the particular trip you’re looking to take – and whether you take one big trip a year, or you try to take several small trips a year. Either way, I can recommend and book the right trip for you.
If you’re in Ottawa, join me on the 18th with World Expeditions to learn more. In the new year, I’ll be hosting some higher end partners to compare. (And if you’re out-of-town, give me a call, and we can chat about the differences.)
Let me curate the holiday that is right for you.
Best regards,
Sheila
613-837-0699