Conducted Tour

@notacinephile I have a confession to make to you. As a college student, one of my (and my wife's, then girlfriend) deepest ambition was to create a business of what back in those days called 'conducted tour'. In its backbone it was not too different from man-made-sightseeing. Out business plan was, we will organize an itinerary in Sikim Himalayas, and will take people to hiking a place called Dzongri and Goecha-La, which I used to frequent a lot those days. It was simple, elegant and effective. I have seen a few of my 'dada's do it during those days. That was my biggest ambition for a long time. It never left the drawing board :)

Fast-forward, nearly two decades later, my wife wanted to go on a solo backpacking trip, without the kids and me of course, so in 2019, she did this 'conducted backpacking trip' with REI (if you don't know REI you should google it) which took clients to the Lost Coast of California. The trail is not particulary difficult, but it requires some complex set of permitting and other logistics, so it is not exactly fun to do all that for a solo traveler. In addition, my wife was seeking bit of company at the time, someone different than her immediate family, so we both thought REI adventure will be a good idea. Mind you, we are both very experienced backpackers, she could have easily done it on her own, but she wanted the company of random fellow humans. You can see the group there, in the picture above, about as random as it gets! There were ex-teachers, fund managers, students, between job professionals, housewives, builders, coffee-growers.... all kinds of people!

It was a five day backpacking trip for her through some of the amazing rugged and secluded coastline that western United States have to offer. There were fun conversations at night over campfire and tent, and helpful friendship and support during the day.

There were vast black sand beaches to enjoy far away from civilization...

Food in the evening was spartan but fulfilling at the same time and was a communal event...

Evening and mornings were peaceful and far away from the crowd, or even another human other than the group of backpackers you are travelling with...

Camfires were simple gas-stove affair, as open fires were banned in California at the time...

And the big reward was at the end of the trip, where I waited with the kids at the strange, secluded town of Shelter Cove for 5 days, so that the kids can meet their mom at the end of her trip right on the beach!

So I hope you enjoyed this conducted tour. Not all have to be the way your described, although I do understand that is the more common occurrence. Recently a friend of mine and her girlfriend went on a conducted trip of Antractica via National Geographic. Currently this is the only way to take this trip. They had an amazing time and memories that will last a lifetime!