Experiential travel - Have you done it yet?

“TRAVEL IS MORE THAN THE SEEING OF SIGHTS. IT IS A CHANGE THAT GOES ON DEEP AND PERMANENT, IN THE IDEAS OF LIVING” – MIRIAM BEARD

The traveller today is seeking real experiences. Comforts, amenities, attractions, packaged tours, must-sees and photos are things of the past and slowly fading away having failed to quench the thirst of the experiential traveller.

It is the real-life, first-hand experiences that the travellers are seeking.

We thought about experiential travel and what it means. It could be defined in numerous ways:

• When you feel the place instead of just looking at it; when you have absorbed the sights, sound, smell and taste of a place, that is experiential travel
• It’s about engaging with the local people and truly experiencing their lifestyle and culture from the front line
• They are encounters that bring a smile to our faces, affect us profoundly and enrich our lives.
• As a traveller, if you are willing to immerse yourself in a place, experience it by exploring and engaging with the local people, that is experiential travel
• It is about going beyond the beaten tourist tracks and getting into the spirit of a local culture. It is not about guidebooks, travel books, expensive chain hotels or resorts. It is about visiting a site not found in guidebooks, staying at a camp or a local stay, eating at a place recommended by the locals.
• If you can give something back to the place that you have visited and take back beautiful and life enriching memories, that is experiential travel.

We think it’s more about doing, getting under the skin of a place than just seeing.

 We are working on providing many such meaningful local experiences to the global community of experiential travellers. Do you just see a place? Have you started experiencing yet?

Making travel truly democratic

We have always believed that true travel is something that benefits all the stakeholders involved. Traditional Travel businesses have so far mostly focused on making travel easy for the travellers. Recent travel start-ups have also done a great job in easing travel pains for the travellers by offering tech-enabled services which help in researching, planning, booking and commuting. However, what remains to be focused upon is how the locals benefit from travel? This is where we come into the picture.

We are working on building a tech enabled platform to help locals benefit from mainstream travel. Think of it, who are the people who have the maximum destination specific expertise? Who are the people who know the most about the culture, nature, food, custom of a particular place? These people are the locals, the real destination experts. What if a traveller could get to feel, hear, see and taste a place in the most authentic way? We help the locals in crafting such experiences for the travel community. Travellers are slowly moving away from packaged holidays to real, experiential holidays. We are bringing on our platform, such real & authentic travel experiences crafted by the locals. When locals are made the real stakeholders of the travel industry and the travellers are provided real, soulful experiences in a destination, travel becomes truly democratic.

For the travellers, By the locals.

We love Homestays

We love home stays, don’t we. Economical, easy, authentic, meaningful and straight from the heart!

Village home stays are a splendid way to maximize your experience of a region! With an open mind and a little bit of adaptability you get to enjoy all the flavours of the village life, all at one place. When you interact with the locals, learn their cuisine, live their life for once, or simply bask in the sun, the experience broadens your outlook, transcends the soul and creates new lifelong bonds.

While you get to enjoy the riches of the village life, the local people directly benefit from your stay. Your stay ensures some economic benefit to your hosts as well as the village. This is helpful in generating alternative means of livelihood and taking the load away from the agricultural land.

The Green Locus is in the quest of connecting the traveller community with the local community and this is best done through developing and promoting home stays as possible stay options. Our home stays have been well appreciated by people who have travelled with us. Not to forget the benefits that the villagers have experienced in terms of alternate income, improvement in outlook and most importantly, the pride of having a meaningful life that can be shared with the world.

At present, we are running homestays in Nainital, Jageshwar, Almora, Mukteshwar and Leh-Ladakh. We are now expanding into other places of interest like Ranikhet, Rishikesh, Shimla, Dharamsala and McLeodGanj. We are fast growing our network of campsites and eco-resorts along with home-stays and plan to launch an app and a re-furbished website soon. Wishing you happy, responsible travel!

Our Homestay at Jageshwar (Almora)