From an early age I always dreamed about faraway lands.
My passion for travel began when I was 4 years old and became curious about the tribes I saw wearing brightly colored clothes different than my own in a National Geographic magazine. Some of the pictures had women wearing bone earrings and the men had their faces painted in patterns. My mother read to me that the women wove their own clothes and the men were preparing to perform a sacred ceremony through dance. I vowed to her that one day I would visit that place and meet those tribes!
When I turned 18, I began traveling.
At first I visited the Yucatan, Chiapas and Oaxaca but struggled. How could I visit off the beaten path places to meet the villagers, learn about their culture and understand their customs and beliefs. My goal was to become a part of that place through meeting its people. This was the challenge and clearly defined during my first trip to Asia–Nepal.
I kept running into the same problems keeping me from achieving my goal:
- If I traveled alone there were safety and logistic issues since I had never been to Nepal or the places that I wanted to visit.
- Travel companies offered cookie cutter tours, visiting only the highlights of Nepal which were the same places everybody went. Trekking itineraries had the same routes.
- Travel groups were large and consisted at a minimum of 24 persons making 1 on 1 interaction with the local people impossible.
My incessant curiosity about becoming part of a culture drove me to better understand the travel industry in Kathmandu.
I realized then that I could not arrange the type of insider trip I wanted to do by myself. I needed help. With this craving in my heart, I walked into a small travel and trekking company on Durbar Marg. The owner of the travel company met with me personally. He said that he could help me get to those off the beaten path places and “special permit” areas which were at that time Mustang, Dolpa and Humla. I wanted to also travel to Tibet which was tricky even then. He assured me that with his help I could travel safely and have the meaningful journey that I longed for.
With his destination expertise and travel knowledge he created an itinerary for me that was perfect.
I could have never done it on my own or even with guidebooks as my particular travel aspiration was far too specific. With his help I traveled my own way. I went to villages where few people traveled and met the locals who took pride in their way of life and shared my desire for authentic interaction.
Finally, I felt that I was a part of where I traveled and everyone I met was forever a part of me.
Why do I share my story with you?
Because you, too, can travel to your dream destination safely, get off the beaten path and have a genuine experience–become a part of where you are.
At first we arranged tours to India, the Himalaya including Tibet and Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Indochina and other parts of Asia. But in 2011, after only 1 year, our repeat travelers wanted the same personalized service and unique experiences in other parts of the world. So we began “We Do More Than Asia”. We are proud to offer our themed interest tours worldwide.
In 2012 we added Teri’s Picks–our own tour brand created from our own personal experiences. These tours include activities specially designed to provide opportunities for the traveler to interact even closer with the local people through workshops, home visits, volunteer work or simply a sharing of interests.
We added photo tours in 2013, keeping with the same branding of customized for 1 to 2 persons and escorted small group tours which had a guaranteed departure of 4 persons and a maximum of 10 persons. Special requests included visiting a performing art school, meeting an artist at work weaving cloth and a private dance performance.
In 2014 we began work on a new photo tour collection called “A Different Perspective”. These tours will be designed to give curious travelers a chance to visit the best known “must see” places but with a different twist. Travelers will be able to explore off the beaten path destinations and be able to discover their people and belief systems which make those places special and different from the rest of the country.
As of January 1, 2015, Travels with Teri was owned and operated by TG TRAVEL GROUP LLC. Along with this expansion, our new product “A Different Perspective” is set to be launched in June, 2015.
TG TRAVEL GROUP LLC creates journeys for the curious traveler so that you can travel differently, “Travel Teri’s Way”.
— Teri Goldstein, owner of Travels with Teri
