India highlights vacation, 11 days

Planet

Our Welcome to India itinerary has a heavy focus on development through sustainable travel. India is an incredible country with numerous infrastructural challenges especially in regards to the environment. However, as a whole the country made numerous conservation efforts including the expansion of national parks and wildlife protection as well as plastic waste reduction.

We work with local partners that have an eye toward eco conservation and protection of the landscape, and specifically sustainable agriculture. While it challenging to ensure sourcing of organic produce in India, we are able to prioritize locally produced foods, especially fruits and vegetables. At our farm meal experience, all the vegetables and herbs are grown right on site. Any time we buy snacks for the road, we look for fresh and local bites; in India this might be fresh fruits, nuts and seeds as well as local curries and lentils.

On all of our trips, we focus on reduction of plastic and make sure that water jugs are available for refilling personal reusable water bottles. In the event of waste, recycle and composting, we direct client to the appropriate bins and disposal method. In India, drinking clean water is an absolute must and we provide guests with a special discount code for a Grayl water filter if they'd like to reduce plastic waste even more by drinking filtered tap water.

People

Our Welcome to India itinerary prioritizes locally owned suppliers including our boutique hotels, guest house stays, local guides, transportation providers, and restaurants. Most hotels in Indian cities are large so we make extra effort to find boutique, locally owned accommodations. Our community partner is an organic farm outside of Jaipur that has been transformational in the surrounding village by brining awareness and positive effects through sustainable agricultural practices.

We also visiting numerous community development programs including our restaurants. One is a social enterprise café that supports women that have experienced an acid attack. Another provides training and apprenticeship restaurant services skills for at-risk youth. We believe that a sound understanding of the local culture and community is essential to a transformative travel experience.

We also engage in a community partner activity to learn about social challenges in India. We'll have a presentation with time to engage, ask questions, and see first-hand the impact that they've had. 5% of trip sales are donated to the NGO partner.