Tel. +44 (0)1273 600030 (UK)
We provide all travellers with reusable bags and chopsticks in order to avoid waste and encourage use of “tea flasks” for drinking water (or tea, like the locals do!) so as not to purchase multiple plastic bottles. Safe drinking water available in all our accommodation and transport. Any bottles that are purchased are given to the community of waste collectors who rely on this for an income.
Food left over after group meals is collected and boxed up to be left where homeless/street people might easily find it and take it without them having to go through garbage for a meal.
All suppliers issued with RT recommendations in their local language and leaders and groups acting as “ambassadors” for spreading the RT message beyond just our travellers but also trying to involve the local tourism industry.
We include informal local language lessons to give our travellers a head start into understanding the culture and communicating with the people we meet along the way.
Wherever possible we take local transport in China and Russia. This can mean anything from public bus, trolley bus, tram or subway. We also have the opportunity to explore on bikes and on foot and travel overland on all our basix trips. When taking trains we travel 2nd or 3rd class (hard sleeper in China, kupe or platzkart in Russia) which is the way the majority of locals travel - this gives us maximum chance to meet and share stories, food, games and the journet with local travellers.
At the end of out journey we encourage our travellers to donate unwanted clothes, toiletries or other goods which we then distribute to local organisations.
Our tour leaders are all Chinese or Russian locals.
This trip is an epic journey traversing 3 national and through areas that area rarely visited by tourists. In particular this trip exposes the outer reaches of rural Mongolia and the vast taiga of Siberia, as well as the grandness of the huge cities of Beijing, Moscow and St Petersburg.
In Mongolia the itinerary takes in the beautiful Terelj National Park for 2 days in this grassland wilderness. The group stays in a traditional Ger camp, where they can experience the lives of nomadic families. The gers sleep up to 4 people with comfy beds and plenty of blankets. In the colder months you might want to stoke up the wood heater in the centre of the ger and you'll be toasty warm in no time! Horseriding is also an option here, and is a great way of learning more about the local people's lives.
In the heart of Siberia travellers head to Lystvyanka on the shores of Lake Baikal. Here accommodation is arranged in homestays - the group splits up as travellers are welcomed into the lives and homes of local Listvyanka villagers for two nights. This is a unique experience that allows immersion into the local way of life.
We invite every traveller who books a holiday via us to send in a review. Because we don't run the holidays they're completely independent and unedited... remember to read between the lines though, as two people on the same holiday can have different views!
