As an off-the-beaten-path kind of traveler, you (and we!) know that your journeys are so much more than the destinations you visit. They’re not only physical trips but cultural, family-connection or even dream-tryout sojourns. That’s why we take great pride—and care—in crafting Private Custom Journeys.
Our Travel Advisors make your “own-way” travels simple: First, you tell us where you’d like to go and what you’d like to see and do. Then, using your desires as a compass, we make suggestions based on our 30 years of travel-planning experience and the local connections we’ve built over the decades. We let you know where we think a private naturalist or historian—one we know will fit your bill—will be able to give an extra measure of enrichment and deepness to your journey. Then you make the final choices that will mold your adventure into one that is uniquely yours and flavored with the true “spice” of a place instead of the usual, overcooked tourist offerings.
Maybe llama-trekking in the backcountry near Yellowstone National Park sounds like something right up your alley. We’ll customize an itinerary that’s tailor-made to your fitness level and capacity for dark-sky stargazing. Perhaps you want to learn how to fly-fish with your son or daughter. We’ll get you together with the right guide on the right waters. Should the nearby Beartooth Mountains start calling, we’ll help you hole up in a guesthouse on a family ranch. In the mornings, saddle your horse and ride into breathtaking, gorgeously green, alpine meadows surrounded by 12,000-foot peaks. During the long afternoons, curl up with a good book and note how squirrel and bird chatter are the only sounds you hear.
If Hollywood is where you want to hunker, take a road trip down the California Coast, starting in San Francisco. Steer your vehicle along the dramatic ocean cliffs that border the Pacific Coast Highway. Love delicious wines and the relaxed feeling a well-plotted vineyard imparts? Make a stop in California’s “other” wine country, Sonoma, partaking in wine-tasting tours and samples of the area’s farm-fresh foods. Want to learn how to surf? We’ll arrange a lesson off the white-sand beaches of Santa Monica, a sleepy town just north of Los Angeles.
Got an Alaska jones? We’ll get you into the remote —even by Alaska standards—Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, the largest in the National Park System. Fish on the wide-banked Kenai River, take a guided hike on a glacier, paddle the stunning Prince William Sound, run your own sled-dog team over snowy backcountry or sign up for an ATV tour. We’ll set you up with the right boat skippers, guides, outfitters and pilots who’ll make sure you’ll experience “The Last Frontier” in a way that’s relevant to you and on the budget you choose.
If warmer climes, such as those in Hawaii, make your heart beat faster, we can expedite your caving adventures in Kazumura and Kula Kai, your hikes on the Pu’u ‘O’o Trail or your crater walks in Volcanoes National Park. We’ll prepare a private rain forest perambulation to a gushing waterfall that splashes into a quiet pond and invites you to jump in for a cool swim. We can chart courses for a horseback ride on the historic Dahana Ranch, a climb up Mauna Kea to see the amazing views from its 13,796 summit, or a swimming encounter with dolphins in the morning and giant manta rays at night.
If you’re dreaming of more distant horizons, consider a custom, adventure-travel odyssey to Morocco. This small country tucked on the northern tip of Africa overflows with rich history, one of the greatest cuisines in the world and a landscape that ranges from mountains to Sahara Desert. See Marrakech and Fez, two of Morocco’s four Imperial Cities, with roots dating back thousands of years. Wander through narrow souks and vendor stalls before riding a camel back to your Sahara camp. Tap your foot to live music under a canopy of twinkling stars.
For your high-energy, adventure-loving side, travel to Costa Rica on a custom family vacation. Float down the Pacuare River, turn you knuckles white on an exhilarating rafting outing, or trek through the rain forest at dawn with a naturalist guide. Go canyoning—a mix of rafting, rappelling and waterfall jumping—or clip onto Costa Rica’s longest zip line, a thrilling zoom of nearly two miles! During a candlelight dinner, engage in some family share-time of best memories made.
Let us help you make your own way through the world, taking the road less traveled by, as poet Robert Frost so eloquently puts it. It truly does make all the difference.
