Welcome inside the world of a Conscious Luxury Travel Advisor.
But what does that even mean?
First, let me tell you what I do. I'm Kim, and I plan extraordinary trips. Seriously. I am not bragging about how amazing the trips are, although they are. I am saying that they are not ordinary, run-of-the-mill, "go find a pre-made trip at Costco" kind of trip. If you wanted an extraordinary birthday cake, you wouldn't go to the supermarket and grab a pre-made one, right? Either you are going to a baker and asking for exactly what you want that will be the perfectly right cake for the birthday person, or, perhaps, you will make it yourself. If you don't have the time, or know you are a terrible baker, then you hire the cake person.
Let's use another example. You want to buy a house. You know vaguely what you want, but wow, looking through all the listings on Zillow and all of those staged pictures that don't show the black mold on the ceiling is making you want to crawl up in a corner and cry. So you hire a realtor. Pretty straightforward. Same with your vacation. It's a major investment so you want to make sure you do it right, know what you are getting, and have the appropriate expertise on your side.
You want to go to... let's say, Sri Lanka (I am picking that one because it's one of my favorite places on earth). Now you can go online and try to figure it out yourself. Expedia. Zicasso. Whatever you choose to use. You can find an online tour company that will hand you their premade itineraries to all of the same places that they send everyone. Pretty cool. But what about the fact that you get carsick? Or hate curry? (ok, personally, I can't imagine hating curry, but you people are out there!)
I am going to find out that you love surfing, or snorkeling, or architecture, or cooking and whatever it is and we are going to start from there. I will learn that you like sleeping in or waking up early, that you hate curry but you love tea. That you have always wanted to learn to play cricket, and of course that you get carsick in the backseat. I will frame the trip around these personal preferences along with our partners on the ground in Sri Lanka. I will design an itinerary to make sure we find the best snorkeling spots and lets you stay in the most architecturally stunning properties. We will work out carsick-less transportation, and ensure that you always have meals that are not curries (I may cry while doing so). In other words, the trip will be specific to YOU.
That's my job. I get to know you so I can make your trip the best experience for you. That is the meaning of luxury.
But what about the "conscious" part? We live in a new world. One where we can't ignore the effect that tourism has on the places we visit. Whether that be the damage that tourism can have on the local ecosystems or the ways that tourists can both positively and negatively impact local communities. So let's travel consciously. Be mindful when we travel of how we travel, and that we are traveling into places where other people live, work, raise their children, and where generations to come will continue to live. We are only guests, and ideally, we should leave a place better because of our travels, not worse. Travel. Better
The train to the tea country in Sri Lanka... to inspire you!
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