THOUGHTS ABOUT TRAVELLING

What remains after a journey? Which scenes repeatedly come to mind? Which stories do we tell others? What makes a journey successful for me? What do I experience, and how do I experience it?

The following words and thoughts are an invitation to delve a little deeper into the concept of travel. Perhaps you will find these reflections inspiring; we would also be delighted to exchange thoughts with you. Please feel free to get in touch with us 😃

The Framework

With a customized tour plan, we create the framework for your journey. It tells you where you are heading, but it does not dictate every single minute of your trip – leaving you completely free to experience your journey within this structure. Having a framework is reassuring: it removes the need for constant planning and decision-making that can deplete your energy. Yet it remains “just” a framework; depending on how large and broadly defined it is, more or less space is left for your own personal experiences.

Our travel framework provides security while leaving plenty of room for your own experiences

Travel Happiness

By “travel happiness”, I mean those spontaneous small or large moments that cannot be planned, yet bring a sense of pure joy. By nature, we cannot schedule travel happiness into your itinerary. However, we can increase the chances of you experiencing it! We do this by keeping your itinerary flexible, by being open to spontaneous changes, by ensuring our guides are attentive and approachable, and by building in plenty of walks and strolls. Only those who have time, leisure, curiosity, open eyes and ears, and a welcoming mindset will encounter the serendipitous moments that truly enrich a journey. It might be a shared laugh over situational comedy with a shopkeeper, an unannounced ceremony in a monastery, a warm invitation for tea, a moving life story, a surprising natural wonder, a hidden hermitage, or a spontaneous game with local children. Are you curious? So are we!

An invitation for tea and something to laugh about – what more do you need for travel happiness?

Expanding Boundaries

A journey offers a wonderful opportunity to expand your personal boundaries – or at least to bump up against them more often. This can happen on a physical level (we can usually achieve more than we think, which gives us confidence for the next challenge) or on a mental level.

A small example: a member of a group tour shared that upon arriving in Delhi, and during her first few days in the car, all she saw was imminent traffic accidents. The chaotic traffic consumed her entire attention. Over the days, she realised that no accidents actually occurred and that traffic followed rules different from those she knew. Only then was she able to look past the cars and notice the shops along the roadside, the people walking or going about their work, the entrances to the buildings, and so on. Her vision had initially been narrow, but then it expanded.

It is fascinating to observe our own thoughts and interpretations, especially when something does not immediately fit into our familiar patterns. Could there be alternative explanations?

Thirdly, travel allows us to try new things. Here is another example from a group tour to Ladakh. When I asked the participants at the end about their personal highlights, everyone said it was crossing the 5,000-metre mountain pass – except for the oldest participant. She was proud that, despite not speaking a single word of English, she had managed to buy something at the market all by herself, price negotiation included.

Some boundaries are not as fixed as you might think

Setting Boundaries

Boundaries are equally important! Since you are traveling with a tour operator, we must occasionally set boundaries when it comes to your safety. As a tour company, we hold a duty of care, and our guides may need to prevent you from taking risks that, in a different context, would be your own responsibility. Why mention this here? Because guides occasionally report that travellers try to disregard safety instructions. It happens rarely, but enough for guides to mention it, so it feels right to highlight it here.

Other boundaries must be set by yourself! Too much unfamiliarity can turn into defensiveness; meeting too many people can become exhausting and cause you to withdraw; processing too many impressions can lead to sensory overload; and pushing yourself too hard physically can cause injury. Simply put: if you do not respect your own limits, you risk losing the joy of traveling. Our destinations are challenging – not only physically, but also mentally. I once guided a wonderful, open-minded group of women through Rajasthan. They met new people with warmth and curiosity. For their final day, I offered them a choice: visiting historic monuments or meeting a community of local widows. I was convinced they would choose the latter, yet they chose the monuments. I felt disappointed at first, but quickly turned proud: they had recognised their own limits! They had experienced so many intense cultural encounters that one more might have tipped their positive mood into exhaustion. I recognize this feeling myself, and not just from my early years in India: sometimes I simply need to step back.

Sitting alone in a hotel room with a good book to recharge after processing a wealth of impressions is entirely valid. Please take care of yourself!

A sensible boundary to draw, preventing one from feeling lost in an endless landscape

Resonance

Resonance is a term known from physics, originating from the Latin *resonare* (to echo or resound). It describes how something we encounter evokes a response within us. This can be one-sided (for instance, hiking through mountains might evoke a sense of lightness and joy) or mutual (after a meaningful conversation, the words and mood continue to resonate within both participants). The more resonance we experience while traveling, the more vivid and rewarding our memories will be. What does it take to create this resonance? Inner stillness and an open mind towards our surroundings.

A good idea: pausing in a monastery to reflect and feel the atmosphere

Interdependence

Interdependence translates as mutual dependence and is a core concept in Buddhist philosophy within the doctrine of dependent origination. Nothing exists independently or in isolation – neither human beings among themselves nor nature and human creation. Through globalisation, we have an intellectual understanding of the world’s interconnectedness. Yet experiencing it firsthand is quite different from simply knowing it conceptually. Travel does not occur in a vacuum; every moment involves interaction with others. All our choices have an impact on others, just as theirs affect us. How much money do I spend and on what? How am I perceived as an individual and as a representative of a group? How do I respond to others, especially in stressful situations? What resources (water, fuel, electricity, food, etc.) do I consume? It is worthwhile to reflect consciously on our decisions and their broader consequences. We can strive to make choices with positive outcomes, though total perfection is impossible. Furthermore, what is “positive” is not always clear-cut. Quick positive effects can turn negative over the long term or when viewed within a broader web of dependencies. The pause in travel during the COVID-19 pandemic had a short-term positive impact on air pollution, but a devastating effect on people working in tourism. Did it force them to find new livelihoods, and was that ultimately positive or negative?

Wise reflections from Buddhist philosophy encountered while traveling

Sustainability & Ethics

A public figure in India whom I deeply admire is Arundhati Roy. Having read several of her books and essays, one thought of hers has stayed with me: we cannot live without incurring some degree of responsibility or fault. What she means is this: we live on a planet with finite resources and immense environmental challenges. In modern consumer societies, our consumption often comes at the environment’s expense. Yet even as a self-sufficient forest dweller living entirely in harmony with nature, one might fail in one’s responsibilities to fellow humans by withholding social contribution. Furthermore, frugal resource consumption does not automatically make someone a considerate person. But we can make conscious choices. Long-haul air travel, for example, is inherently unecological. On the other hand, it generates income in host countries, fosters global understanding, and contributes to personal fulfilment. Only those who are content with themselves can interact well with others. How do we weigh these factors? That is a choice we leave to you!

For our part, we operate in tourism guided by a simple principle: acting to the best of our knowledge and conscience while granting travellers the freedom to make their own choices. As a tour operator, I have drawn one strict line: I do not offer scenic joyrides by aircraft. My environmental conscience simply will not allow it.

Thank you very much for visiting!

The Social Handprint

The concept of the ecological footprint measures our environmental impact. This aspect plays a major role in public discussions about travel and its environmental consequences. When we travel, we also leave an imprint on the people and the countries we visit. Travel carries not only an ecological dimension, but also a social one – particularly when visiting countries in the Global South, where issues of privilege and bias can easily surface. Broadly speaking, an imbalance exists: while a Western passport makes global movement easy and financial resources enable many Westerners to undertake long-distance travel, the reverse is rarely true. As travellers, we typically belong to a culture that holds both defining influence and the power of misinterpretation.

When we as travellers connect with people in host communities, it inevitably impacts them (recalling the principle of interdependence). How do they perceive us? Will we be remembered as a friendly, polite, and respectful guest, or as a know-it-all, a complainer, someone dismissive of local customs and people, or someone acting with entitlement or hygienic superiority? Do we tend to judge everything unfamiliar, or can we observe it with open-minded curiosity? How does our behaviour affect the person facing us? What human impression do we leave behind – not just as individuals, but as representatives of a group (travellers, Westerners, etc.)? And how does that affect the host community?

A small example: a large German tour group (not one of mine) attended a cooking class at an Indian resort. Initially, the teacher’s steps were met mostly with critical comments (“So much fat? That can’t be healthy. That spice level is bad for our stomachs. You ought to cook that longer,” etc.). When tasting the dishes, their expressions changed: “Oh, it actually tastes good!” Yet immediately they backtracked, fantasising about what they would prepare for the instructor back home (“A potato salad made like this or that – she would be amazed!”). I asked the cooking instructor how she felt about it. She shrugged: she was used to it, though occasionally she met genuinely interested guests.

My own social handprint is not always gentle and supportive. My hand sometimes blocks, gestures impatiently, or acts out of unrecognised privilege. Travel offers me a valuable opportunity to learn and grow.

Note: Public discussions around the terms “social footprint” or “social handprint” often define them differently from how I describe them here. I would be pleased if my interpretation gains ground – or if I discover a more precise term for it.

A handprint – how we leave it matters