A case for travelling with like-minded strangers
You don't have to do everything with your friends! 😉 (a much-delayed newsletter)
Our little team does this thing after our guests come back from their holidays. It’s a bit tech-averse in its simplicity, so don’t laugh. We like to call you up and have a chat. (Calling everyone is impossible, but we try our best.) On these casual chats, we’ve managed to glean some insights from our fixed-date group tours* (The Binsar Forest Trail, Sweet Valley Crossing, and our newest baby, The Brahmaputra Drift.)
Some discoveries:
It's a microtrend!: Some met on the trail, got pally, and made plans to travel to other places together. (You know who you are. How was the Coldplay concert?)
The rarest kinda WhatsApp group: Some WhatsApp groups we’ve made with y’all are very active (blessedly without fake news and geopolitical conspiracy theories, etc.).
Electoral Friendship bonds: There’s often a ‘bonding moment’ that brings folks closer in a way that’s missing from the touch-and-go friendships of our busy lives.
Same same, but different: Many of our guests have similar values concerning nature, life, and leisure. It isn’t uncommon to spot birders on tour. Jokes go down just as easily as serious matters and social topics. Friendships form over shared interests in design, music, film, YouTube, memes, coffee, technology, Shah Rukh, biryani, and an appreciation of the outdoors.
30**, dirty, and vibing: Being in your 30s is great. You’re confident, smarter than you were in your 20s, hydrated, moisturised, and you make great conversation - but it’s harder than ever to make new friends…
…except when you’re on one of our group tours. 😉
Getting the gang together
Like any good party, there's some amount of planning to make this happen.
We keep things small and intimate: The smaller the group, the deeper the interaction.
Logistics? Consider them handled!: The only L word you’ll be using is ‘love’ because we take on the stress of planning.Â
Call us doctors because we like to vet: The only criteria is a healthy respect for one another and all creatures great and small. (There are times when we’ve gently nudged guests in the direction of a group we know might be a better fit. Of course, there's no foolproof method. It’s a blend of many years of experience curating group tours, speaking with potential guests before booking, and gut instinct.)
We don’t do ads, paid promos, and influencer marketing: And therefore we attract people with genuine interests. Not bots.
Jokes (and hot takes) apart, you form a most congenial group on each trip… and we are so grateful to you for spreading the word, telling your friends, and coming back to us for more.
This is now a community of mini-communities…
We’ve connected and travelled with many of you across the country. Thanks for sharing and caring! Our Instagram now has more than 10,000 of you engaging with us.
To those new to the neighbourhood, welcome! We share posts that promote stunning homes that become backdrops for future memories, not just your Instagram feed. We extol the virtues of taking things slow, ignoring alarms, and having fun. We show off the art that some of you create on holiday. We spread the message of responsible travel.Â
…and a merry band of guinea pigs!
Thanks to this community, we managed to put together a group that formed the first batch of The Brahmaputra Drift. We asked eight frequent guests and longtime supporters to come test the waters and see what we’d been working on. We followed that with our next batch of guests who were travelling with us for the first time (this, we didn’t plan!). Both trips were a resounding success for us - our main metric being how much fun everyone was having. THANK YOU FOR JOINING US!
The Brahmaputra Drift is a one-of-a-kind river expedition conceptualised by our team in the surreal braided tributaries in Arunachal Pradesh and Assam. We talked about how we planned and tested out the Drift here in November.
In case you don’t know what we’re talking about, here’s a short film we made about The Brahmaputra Drift, to chronicle our first recce, the vision and idea behind ‘The Drift’, and to offer a glimpse into what you can expect.
We completed the season in February, and we’ll be doing this in October next, so get in touch if you’re interested!
We’ve ALSO considered planning a group trip to Ladakh this September
Ladakh is open between April and October. It’s remote and a long journey. It’s also not for everyone. If you’re looking for company in the land of many passes, get in touch with us. And if you’re not sure that’s a good idea, go back and read the newsletter again!
We also shared a post about customisable trips to Ladakh this year:
And finally, we’re back with a summer of high-altitude walks in Uttarakhand.
Our walking holidays have started again for the summer season!
We announced our dates for both The Binsar Forest Trail and Sweet Valley Crossing for the spring/summer season! If you (somehow) missed it on our Instagram, check out the dates below:
Revisit our catalogue of stays across the country, and check out our website.
Thank you for reading this and we’ll see you next month!