Travel Philosophy

Besides the specific tours listed, I will read the guidebook and take you anywhere you want to go.  Egypt or the Red Sea?  What about Australia or New Zealand?  Or Ireland?  Or The Great Wall of China perhaps?

My tours are not like the big company tours.  I am an advocate for the traveler who wants a meaningful experience without being confined to out-of-the-way hotel chains or tourist traps where the tour company gets a commission for every tourist (carrying a wallet) who enters the out-of-the-way tacky souvenir shop (and where most items are made in another country!).

Being carted around on a tour bus means you go where the driver goes.  Consolidators and tour industry conglomerates charter entire airplane loads of people and fly them into Timbuktu.  There is no adventure in that!  This is why their costs are low.  They trap hundreds of people at once and when there are more people there are more dollars.  I believe you, the traveler, should be in charge.

On my tours, we are not confined to rigid schedules and every minute is not planned.  We have an itinerary which we can stray away from if an unexpected delight or cultural opportunity exists.  The night before each day, we will discuss the next day.  Maybe we will want to sleep in or get up early to see the fog rising off the Hindu temples in Dur Bar Square in downtown Kathmandu.  Strict itineraries usually don't have the moods and whims or passions of the travelers in mind.

I require travel insurance and have information on this for you.

On my tours, you are the boss, and I am the enabler.  I have knowledge of the good places to go and the cultural or adventurous things to do, and I will make the trip as smooth and as wonderful as possible.  It is as if I am a Peace Corps Volunteer living in another country, and you are a friend coming to visit me.  Through me, you have an instant IN into this far away world, the local culture, customs and traditions of the region.  Independent travelers need weeks and months to discover this sort of thing, and that is only if they have the time.

In my mind, the best way to travel is to visit friends who live and work in far away places.  However, unfortunately sometimes we don't have friends in all of those wonderful places, and that's why there is ME.

Because I work hard when I am not traveling, I have savings that I devote to my tours twice a year.  My prices are low because my company helps cover my costs.  This way, I do not need 30 people following me around from town to town.  We travel in small groups and as friends - not as guide and dollar-sign.

I'll even go half way around the world if only ONE person signs up.  The traveling part of my work, is enabling me to live the life I want to live.  I am willing to pay for that privilege at times which saves you money while also giving you the experience of having a personal guide - or more like - a friend who is there to pick you up at the airport, book hotels and show you around.

In some ways I am a nonprofit with a mission.  I am trying to break down deadly stereotypes and xenophobic fears of the outside world.  I think the death of any nation will be when the people stop traveling.  At the same time, I believe as Americans we have a distinct privilege to be able to travel.  For this, I am devoted to traveling with an open and flexible mind, to the point where I learn new things every second, and also to the point (I hope) that my presence in another place is not the least bit disruptive, disturbing or altering to the locals and their way of life.  There is, of course, a certain amount of interference when a visitor enters any new place, but if we are conscious travelers and self aware, we become reserved in our actions, and we can behave appropriately in just about any situation.  Traveling is mostly an educational experience.  We are by nature, students of the world.

On my trips, we are not attached to a 30 member group.  We are not stuck in the same place for the entire time.  My tours are varied, adventurous, active and ALWAYS interesting.  All you need is a sense of adventure, a good attitude and a few short days off work.  ;)

Sincerely,
Heather O'Neal
Of Global Interest LLC Adventure Travel
The Eighth Street Trekkers' Lodge B&B
120 Eighth Street
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48103
(734) 369-3107
ofglobal@aol.com