Adventures Without Tourism
Why a GoGo trip might be right (Or wrong) for you
We are living in the Golden Age of picture-perfect places, carefully-crafted authenticity, and readily-collectible “once-in-a-lifetime” experiences.
GOGO trips are different. But are they right for you?
Reason #1
You’re looking for a journey.
You’re here to experience life as few have, in a world that few know. We’re here to show you just how vast & remarkable that world is. In this sense, our trips are less like vacations and more like immersive stories: more purposeful than recreational; more exhilarating than relaxing; and, we hope, more enlightening than simply educational. Our shared mission—to explore a Place to the absolute fullest within a limited timeframe—is ambitious, but it’s also what makes our journeys epic.
You’ll probably find yourself coming home a bit disheveled, but you’ll do so enriched, with a lifetime of lessons, stories & memories to look back on, and a deeper understanding of both yourself & the Place you left behind.
If you’re looking for a more conventional small group outing or a more technical, activity-based trip (like a moutaineering expedition, for example), we humbly suggest you look elsewhere. If you’re looking for an adventure with the potential to change the way you see the world, we suggest you keep reading.
Reason #2
You want to (truly) experience a Place.
Our trips are a reflection of our belief that experiencing a Place as it truly is—that is, the way it is even when we’re not around to see it—is the deepest & most enriching way to travel. Our itineraries push & pull us through as many of the diverse cultural, geographic, and historic realities that underlie a place’s existence as time allows, imparting both a “big picture” view of life in this part of the planet and an insight into its deeper essence.
We eschew conventional touristic trappings (thematic restaurants, gift shops, etc.), pre-arranged cultural demonstrations (dances, celebrations, etc.), and passive informational sessions (city tours, wine tastings, etc.) in favor of meticulous curation, compelling guiding, genuine interactions, constant immersion, and candid, unforced discussion.
We cover large distances, enjoy meals that span the full gamut of the culinary spectrum (from lovingly-but-shockingly rustic to sophisticated), keep company with folks from all walks of life (from cowboys & housewives to academics & entrepreneurs), and lay our heads in an incredibly diverse array of accommodations.
We pour ourselves into the minute details of our itineraries—the logistics, settings, accommodations, meals, personnel—but make room for the unexpected, with the understanding that unplanned moments are often times, in fact, precisely the authentic connections with a Place that we are here to seek.
Perhaps above all, we value each & every moment of our time together, whether we’re reveling in the glory of a hidden waterfall, catching our breath for 5 precious minutes in the shade of a buriti, or rubbing shoulders with curious locals at an impromptu session at the neighborhood watering hole.
The result is a different kind of understanding of a Place; a different kind of experience; and a different kind of reward. The way we see it, real life gives us everything we need for adventure. Our job is to frame it. Yours is to experience it. If that sounds good to you, you’ve come to the right place.
Reason #3
You want (real) adventure.
We reject the notion that truly enriching experiences can be designed en masse using the same formula (Destination + Accommodation + Activity) as packaged holiday tours. Ultimate Kilamanjaro Trek, Bike Patagonia, and Galapagos by Land & Sea are all surely incredible outings, but are they real adventures?
Our trips are a testament to our belief that experiences should be measured by their purpose, scope, and impact; not their accommodations, activities, or settings. Was there risk involved? Discovery? A moment of realization? Did you need to step outside of yourself—and remain there—in order to persevere? Did you come away wiser, stronger, appreciative? Did it change you?
We’re not here to take you trekking, overlanding, or horseback riding. We’re here to bring you into the living Story of a Place; to allow you to experience what life is truly like in a part of the world far from your own. Your thoughts, beliefs, body, and spirit may all be challenged. You will find yourself outside of your comfort zone for extended periods of time, usually in more ways than one. There is a risk that you will think differently of the world and yourself after.
In our minds, real adventures don’t simply offer us reprieve from our daily lives; they offer us perspective. You’ll know you’ve had one because you won’t be able to stop thinking about it, and because it will cause you to rethink everything.
Reason #4
You want to do something (truly) unique.
It isn’t an exaggeration (or even a humblebrag) to say we’ve never seen itineraries quite like as ours before, or that there are usually few—if any—other outfitters at all in the settings in which we operate.
We work alongside locals from all walks of life—from historians to cooks; biologists to business owners; miners to mayors; teachers, firemen, activists, and lots of folks in between—to develop the infrastructure necessary to house, feed, and guide visitors as we go—a rewarding but laborious process that requires us to become intimately involved with and, ultimately, uniquely specialized in the settings where we operate.
Once a Collection is ready, we guide each trip within it a limited number of times, for a limited number of travelers, enabling us to research & develop the next, and ensuring experiences that are unique not only in terms of their settings & itineraries, but also in the quality of their story-telling.
Crafting experiences that meet our standards isn’t a line of work for the faint of heart, but it’s a labor of love. The fact that you won’t find anything like them anywhere else probably tells you just how passionate we are about the process. It’s a privilege to be able to share the results with travelers like yourself.
Reason #5
You want to (meaningfully) contribute to the places you go.
As do we.
We got into this business because we wanted to share the Stories of Places that we love. It’s important to us that you understand that we are every bit as committed to the well-being & faithful portrayal of the Places we visit as we are to the incredible journeys of the travelers who come with us.
Travel always makes an impact. Let’s make it a positive one that it transcends the here & now.
Reason #6
You like the idea of working with explorers more than Experts.
In a multi-tiered industry teeming with moving parts & middlemen, our crew is a bit of a unicorn (or maybe a dinosaur?) in that we independently produce, research, design, and guide each & every trip ourselves.
We spent thousands of hours exploring routes, documenting trails & sites, examining literature, making maps, building networks & infrastructure, and running test trips prior to launching D/WT+LT, likely spending more time in the field documenting the Serra do Espinhaço & its inhabitants than any foreigner since Sir Richard Burton in the 1860’s.
Some of this workload is due to the lack of available resources where we operate (in 2022, for example, we organized the largest exploratory Expedition in the history of Sempre Vivas National Park on behalf of The Secret Garden), some of it is out of a desire to ensure the best possible experience for travelers (how could we trust a third-party operator to guide the most engaging, impactful experiences for our Clients?), and some of it is simply because we’re genuinely passionate about the work we do, from the field work to fielding pre-Expedition questions from travelers.
On a practical level, our approach means travelers have direct access to both the team behind a given Expedition’s itinerary and its Expedition Leaders, from Day 1. No 1-800 numbers, no Travel Experts, no third-party operators to work with. From your first pre-expedition inquiries until the final moments of your trip, and literally every step in between, we’ll be right there with you, communicating.
In fact, your experience with us has already begun.
Reason #7
You want to go bushwhacking.
Not in the literal sense (although we offer that, too), but insofar as the settings you’ll find yourself in during our trips—and often, the regions around them—tend to be removed from the greater tourism consciousness. In a world in which major regional destinations are routinely touted as being “off the beaten path”, the places we’re most interested in are closer to being off-the-radar.
In 2022, Patagonia received over 4 million visitors, with iconic Torres del Paine National Park accounting for 250,000 of them. Alaska received more than 2 million visitors, with daunting Gates of the Arctic National Park—the least visited N.P. in the U.S.—receiving 9,457 fly-ins. Meanwhile, Brazil’s Serra do Espinhaço Meridional, one of the most ecologically diverse places on earth (and the setting for D/WT+LT), hasn’t yet begun counting visitors, and in 2022, glorious Sempre Vivas National Park received less than 100, nearly all them researchers from the Brazilian academic community.
As explorers, this is exactly where we want to be. For travelers interested in profound cultural exploration, there is no greater privilege than to immerse in a Place that inspires the imagination and guards ways of life that reveal how vast our planet really is. In our minds, these are some of the fundamental ingredients of “true stories, real adventure”. The further we stray from “the path”, the more human—and enriching—our experiences become.
For travelers hoping to find the next big “off-the-beaten-path” destination, our trips may be a bit obscure. For those who’ve gone off the path before and dreamt of venturing deeper, they’re gifts of a lifetime.
Reason #8
You value authenticity over opulence.
We are living in the Golden Age of readily-collectible “once-in-a-lifetime adventures”; picture-perfect meals; and accommodations carefully crafted to appear authentic, but which are in fact made strictly for our consumption. Which we think is a shame, not only because these offerings so often physically resemble one another, but because the experiences we have in them—and the rewards we carry with us (more on that in a moment)—do, as well.
We’ve spilled plenty of ink on the subject already, but we may not be able to emphasize it enough: authenticity is at the absolute core of everything we do during our trips. You will see it in the settings that we choose, the places where we sleep, the foods that we eat, the company that we keep, and the way that we guide. In our minds, there simply is nothing more compelling, more profound, or more enriching than experiencing real life in a world far from our own.
If you’ve read this far, it’s likely that exploration is in your DNA. And if exploration is in your DNA, you don’t travel to feel like you’re at home.
Reason #9
You believe that travel is its own reward.
Stories, lessons, memories. Perspective, gratitude, joy. Discovery, camaraderie, enrichment. The knowledge that you ventured some place far away, experienced real adventure, made the world a better place, and came away with and a deeper understanding of both yourself & the Place you left behind.
You’ll get a GOGO tee shirt, expedition jacket, and water bottle, too, but we consider those more like tokens of our appreciation.
Reason #10