The Book of Go
our philosophy
foreword
There is no universal recipe for the adventure of a lifetime.
The world is simply too big; the ingredients too varied; the possibilities too great.
Ours is an immersive one based on exploration & discovery, with healthy doses of compelling characters (to enrich the experience), unforgettable settings (to allow it to linger on the mind), and meaningful contributions (to allow you to rest easy) thrown into the mix. A dash of challenge (to make it that much sweeter); a drop of the unexpected (to make it truly unique); and a hint of audacity (to cause you to rethink everything).
And of course, it begins (as any such recipe should) with authenticity.
Authenticity
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When it comes to travel, we believe that nothing—nothing—is more precious, more compelling, or more powerful than authenticity.
Being able to experience a foreign place & culture as they truly are is the key to immersion, a catalyst for enlightenment, and a hallmark of adventure.
We task ourselves with capturing authenticity during trips as much as possible, and to frame it in a way that encourages reflection long after the trip is over.
If we’re successful, everything else falls into place, and the transformative power of travel reveals itself.
That’s the gift of go.
Adventure
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Life is an adventure. Zip-lining is an activity.
They differ in their degrees of difficulty & risk, and in the richness of their rewards: One enlightens. the other entertains.
Our trips are usually active by definition—we crave motion, and we thrive under challenges—but they are adventurous by nature: designed to place travelers firmly outside of their comfort zones from the moment they arrive and not let up until the moment they go home.
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.
Immersion
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Imagine opening up a book… and then jumping in. It’s a lofty notion, but one we set out in earnest to achieve on each of our trips.
Immersion isn’t simply the process of arriving in a new place, though; it’s the process of absorbing it. Once achieved, the effects are magical: we are simultaneously removed from our own reality and placed into someone else’s.
Immersing within a limited timeframe requires open minds, diligent guides, and thoughtful itineraries—there is, after all, quite a lot to get you caught up on.
We cover as much ground physically & mentally as we can during our trips to help travelers contextualize the unique time & place they suddenly find themselves in.
Along the way, you may find that there is no better way to disconnect from the stresses & challenges of your daily life than to enter someone else’s.
Stories
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Stories are, without exaggeration, the basis for our existence as a company; our raison d'être. Our Mission isn’t to take people to beautiful places, it’s to allow them to experience how vast life is & can be.
As researchers, we have a never-ending task to dig as deep as we can into the fundamental truths that underlie the places we visit. As experience designers & guides, we are as dedicated to the veracity of the stories we tell & the faithful portrayal of the places we go as we are to the unforgettable experiences of the travelers we bring.
Real life is the greatest adventure of all. Our job is to share it. Yours is to experience it.
Travel
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All experiences—intentional or unrequested—have the power to transform our lives, but travel is unique in that it can expedite that process, and that it is a decision.
In our experience, the best trips often reveals truths—about the places we go, the people we are, and the world around us. Those truths, in turn, challenge us, gifting us with the perspective necessary to contextualize, transform, and enjoy our lives.
Discovery, perspective, gratitude, and enrichment aren’t on everyone’s bucket lists. But they’ll never stop being on ours.
Guests
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During our trips, we are guests of the people & places that we visit—not agents of change.
Here to converse, not to convert; to experience, not to resist; to observe, not to judge.
We have all been trained by someone, somewhere. There will be time when we all get home to reflect about that, and to learn about the things we saw & felt while we were gone.
Settings
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The thought of a new place, alone, is rarely enough to coax us from the comfort of our beds. The promise of experiencing something new & good in that place, though—well, that usually does the trick.
We are as drawn to unique & visually-arresting landscapes as much as the next traveler, but the themes that mark us will always be the interactions, emotions, and lessons we have within those surroundings.
Destinations are essential during trips (& elsewhere) because they propel us forward & allow us to keep dreaming—not of arriving, but of experiencing. Once we get there, though, we could be anywhere. Earth is a setting. Life is an experience.
Curation
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At its core, experience design is the industry of moments, and within the industry two techniques reign supreme.
Curation (framing a moment) & fabrication (staging a moment) are both valuable in their ability to convey human nature, but only curation is free of bias & bound by truth, and truth is where authenticity derives its power.
It’s far more practical to stage a moment than to wait for a candid one that may never come, but our assignments require us to portray places as they are, not as as we (or our guests, or even the communities themselves) would like them to be.
As researchers, we are tasked with identifying the truths that comprise a place & culture. As itinerary designers, our goal is to place travelers in position to experience that phenomena. As guides, our job is to call attention to those moments, and to help travelers contextualize their meaning.
If we do our jobs correctly, everything else falls into place, and the transformative power of authenticity is unlocked.
Luxuries
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Our trips are not designed to be luxurious in any conventional sense of the word—traveling at a “safe distance” from the world around us is not something that interests us. They are, however, luxuries: precious experiences that few have the opportunity & courage to live.
The rewards of traveling deeply in a foreign reality—discovery, perspective, gratitude, pride, satisfaction—are entirely superfluous in the context of modern life, yet every bit as enriching & challenging to attain as ever before.
For the right traveler, the opportunity to see the world through a different set of eyes is the ultimate luxury.
Giving
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At some point, giving back stops feeling like an optional act of goodwill and more like a dutiful act of good neighborliness—the natural consequence of caring deeply for a place & wanting to see it succeed.
To learn more, please click here.
Privileged
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In the past, we held other titles; led other lives.
Today, we are privileged to be exactly who we are, where we are: researchers, explorers, guides, story-tellers, business owners.
We’re good at our jobs because we take them seriously, and because we built them ourselves.
We put in long hours, think ahead, and believe whole-heartedly in the work we do. We have deep philosophies about travel because we have always traveled, and because we have spent a lifetime observing others who do (& don’t), too.
We aren’t fancy (we live out of backpacks), and we didn’t go into this for the money.
We did it because we felt we had a gift for traveling & we wanted to share it.
It’s as important for us to remember this as it is for you to know it. We strive for long-lasting & fruitful relationships and incredible experiences that we can all look back on fondly.
If that sounds good to you, we’re in.
We hope we can be of value to your journey, too.