Make Friends While Traveling: Relate (The 5th R of Responsible Travel)

Make Friends While Traveling: Relate (The 5th R of Responsible Travel)

Discover how making friends during your travels can enrich your experiences and contribute to world peace. Through genuine interactions, sharing meals, or participating in local classes and activities, you can connect with host communities meaningfully. Embrace opportunities for mutual understanding and cooperation to build lasting friendships beyond borders.

The Best Traveler Mindset: Release (The Fourth R of Responsible Travel)

The Best Traveler Mindset: Release (The Fourth R of Responsible Travel)

Unlock the best traveler mindset with the power of release. Embrace uncertainty, step outside your comfort zone, shed expectations, and pack light—both physically and emotionally. Discover meaningful connections and experiences by letting go of control and expectations. Travel responsibly with curiosity and gratitude, creating impactful and unforgettable adventures.

Respectful Travel: Essential Tips and the Third R of Responsible Travel

Respectful Travel: Essential Tips and the Third R of Responsible Travel

Embrace respectful travel by treating local communities as gracious hosts, not mere backdrops for your adventures. Honor cultural traditions, support community-led initiatives, and protect local environments. By traveling with respect, you enrich your experiences and make a positive impact, leaving destinations better than you found them. How will you practice respectful travel on your next journey?

Rank Your Travel Options: The Second R of Responsible Travel

Rank Your Travel Options: The Second R of Responsible Travel

The second R (out of the 7 Rs of Responsible Travel) is Ranking. Ranking involves going a little deeper with the research (the first R) and prioritizing our options based on our personal travel goals and the best impact for the destination. Here are 4 questions you can ask to help you narrow down your decision regarding which businesses to support when you travel.

Three Practical Tips for Responsible Travel & Meeting Local People from My Trip to Guatemala

Three Practical Tips for Responsible Travel & Meeting Local People from My Trip to Guatemala

Do you stop to consider the impact of your travel on the communities you visit? Do you want to make responsible travel a routine practice in your trips? Do you want to help preserve nature, the cultural heritage, and develop friendships with the locals? Read on!

Responsible Expatting: How to Be Welcomed

Responsible Expatting: How to Be Welcomed

These days, Ecuador receives a lot of attention for being a paradise for expatriates—or expats. The cost of living, the climate, the wonderful people, the beautiful scenery and the slower pace of life tantalize us as we endure the hectic pace, commercialism, extreme temperatures and other shortcomings of life up here in the North. But…

Why I Could Never Live in Vilcabamba

Why I Could Never Live in Vilcabamba

Nestled below the steep mountains of Southern Ecuador, a winding one-hour bus ride south of Loja, lies Vilcabamba, in the Sacred Valley of Longevity–that place made famous for its high percentage of centenarians (people over 100 years old).  Researchers eventually found that this was a myth–Vilcabamba doesn’t actually have a higher percentage of centenarians–but overall…