Elements of an Extraordinary Tour

“I want to let you know how much I appreciated and was deeply moved by the journey your most wonderful guides provided.  I think that going on this journey was not only great fun and adventure, but perhaps a life-altering experience, as I found many assumptions and viewpoints continually challenged as the days unfolded. The trip was amazing in itself, but the combination of people made it very precious indeed.  The days in Laos remain very close to my heart.” Cora Li-Leger

Once in a while there is a sense of journey achieved on a tour that the word ‘tour' simply does not define; where the journey is inward as much as outward and the balance and connection between guests, guides and natives is extraordinary; where the ripples and footsteps left behind are only those mirrored within, leaving us feeling somehow the richer for it. One is left with a sense that barriers have been crossed, chasms bridged.

On the Trail

I recently experienced a remarkable 8-day eco-tour with a large group from British Columbia - 8 people - 7 in their 50s; a doctor, an artist, an anthropologist, a history professor and his 13 year-old daughter, a nurse, a physical therapist and a social worker. Neither did they all know one another before the trip began, nor did they really anticipate what they were getting into. Yet amongst them was a rare homogeneity, curiosity, openness, and degree of patience.

The trip started out with some last-minute, late-night changes of itinerary, a late start, a slow vehicle, learning en route that we had two vegetarians and not enough time to see a waterfall the first day: not an overly smooth beginning. Yet our guests remained open to the experience and the moment. That was auspicious.

The logistics of moving a group of this size through the wilderness for 8 days is too complicated to delineate within this article. Suffice it to say that at one point we had 10 porters. There were delays, occasional confusions, on-the-spot changes of itinerary, and unforeseen inconveniences; like traveling up a river rife with submerged rocks, logs and sandbars – at night with no light in a long-tail boat! There was definitely a whiff of danger. Yet this group took it all within stride.

For the next 8 days we traveled by long-tail boat and foot through the rugged terrain of the central limestone region of Laos, each day deeper - into the country and into the culture. The last village we stayed in was the most primitive plumbing-wise: a family pig and/or dog would follow you into the ‘big bathroom' – (the great outdoors) when you needed to go.

A Quick Nap

What are the elements of a great eco-tour? Some of the obvious are the places visited (location, location!), timing and pace of the itinerary, good ground logistics, knowledgeable and sensitive guides, good food and clement weather. There must be elements of exploration, of mystery and even the occasional proximity of danger that compels us to be in the here and now. Apart from these factors, there are two other essential elements involved.

Ultimately, the most important element in a tour is the client. Projection is often the greater part of perception. We tend to look at objects and experience things subjectively rather than objectively, through the filter of preconceptions, cultural upbringing and past experience. To open oneself enough to drop the veil of previous conception is the challenge. And this requires time and conscious effort.

A Lao Village Girl

So many people travel within the tight parameters of their own culture, to the degree that what they see and experience is more consistent with the concept of “virtual TV” than travel. (Where is the virtue in that?) What many seek is simply distraction from the everyday-ness of their lives, a vacation (from vacate ; to make empty) not education, edification or deeper awareness. They travel simply to be entertained.

The second element is the length of the trip. More often than not, people seeking adventure don't allow themselves enough time. Going into any environment you are not accustomed to requires acclimation. Quite naturally, upon sudden introduction to another culture or environment you will at first not fathom much of what you see, due to it's essential ‘foreignness'. One cannot expect to grasp much of the underlying tone of a place in 2 or 3 days – no matter what kind of previous preparatory research one has done. Images, smells and sounds, the language and lifestyle, the light, the vegetation and animals: at first very little seems familiar - so much lies beyond the scope of our frame of reference. One must have time to understand.

Unfortunately, most clients request eco-exprditions of only 4 days duration. About the time they are ready to journey deeper into a culture – they leave. Most will be impressed, most will be more than satisfied, but few will be genuinely affected by what they've seen and experienced.

The Breathtaking Lao Countryside

At best, a guide can show guests a door and open it for them, with the assurance that what they will find on the other side will not hurt them. To take the brave step over that threshold is something one can only do oneself. It requires courage and curiosity.

It can be quite frightening, stepping into the unfamiliar. So the undertaking of a guide is to provide enough sense of security, establish enough trust with the clients for them to take that step over the natural and cultural threshold by themselves. To set aside preconceptions and fears, to be more in tune, more aware is up to the traveler: to see yourself as a part of, not apart from, all you see and experience.

New Friends

Western philosophy's essential trend, mirroring that of technology, is to try and break down the the cosmos into pieces small enough to fit into our limited perceptions, bound by the confines of four dimensions, whereas the core of eastern philosophy is to, by looking inwards, expand and open our minds to receive the message of the whole.

An extraordinary tour is one where the journey made is on more than one level, the most important one being the journey within oneself. I look forward to many more extraordinary journeys into the interior with extraordinary people. I invite you to contact us for a journey which may change your lives.