Our first priorities for where we stay are Safety and Cleanliness. Our typical accommodations are 3 or 4-star level places. These can be name brand hotels, boutique or independent hotels or even apartment or home stays. When staying in a city, we strive to stay near the historic center, so we have easy access to local sites and centers of activity and restaurants. Accommodations have in-room, private bathrooms unless otherwise noted (for example a home stay). We try to find places that have familiar amenities for our travelers, but sometimes bed arrangements, bathroom and shower sizes and lack of elevators may be unavoidable.

A typical tour day would include a breakfast provided at the hotel. On average we spend about half a day as a group visiting a site or engaging in a “hands-on” experience or interacting with local residents. The other half of the day, travelers can explore the location on their own (not formally as an entire group). Typically, we would have one meal a day provided (either lunch or dinner). The other meal of the day, individual travelers would be responsible for finding and providing themselves. This allows you to explore and try the local cuisine that appeals to you.

Our tours will have at most 12 travelers, including the tour leader. For increased comfort during travel, we would desire 1.5 seats per person. For example, if there are 8 travelers, ideally, we would have 12 seats of room—either in one vehicle or between two vehicles. This is negotiable depending on activity and/or distance to be travelled. All vehicles should be in excellent working condition and well maintained. All passengers must have access to a seatbelt. They should be cleaned at least daily. They should have both air conditioning and heating systems in good working condition.

Geographic Journeys specializes on small group touring with a focus on providing our clients a more in-depth experience in the destinations we visit. Our tours are also a more flexible experience for our guests by not overscheduling group activities. Different people have different interests and expectations of travel and we try to provide plenty of time for our clients to explore and relax doing the things that interest them.