Southern
Crossings
Tours and
Travel
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Registered Member |
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American Society |
We had a great trip and hope all is well with each of you. Thanks again for your help in planning an incredible trip to Peru that we will never forget! We enjoyed meeting you and spending time with you while on our vacation. Take care!
-Cindy Simonian and
friends, USA, Highlands Express June 2006
I had a
wonderful time, and found the information provided by my guide to be
extremely insightful. It helped to know the history behind the
buildings and the land as the country was and is now. The airport
pickups and drop offs were extremely convenient and took the worry
out of how to get there.
Most of all the people were very friendly and made me feel safe and
at ease.
Thank you Karen and Rene!
Regina DaCosta, Canada, Inca Blitz, September 2007
Our Travel
Philosophy
There are many ways
to travel. Some people pile on to a big, air-conditioned bus with forty
other tourists; others throw their rucksack over their shoulders and set
off into the sunset all by themselves. We've been in the business of
traveling for a while now and feel like we do it just right. There are
four cornerstones to our travel philosophy: avoiding large-group travel,
traveling safely, having a positive impact on the environment and the
cultures we visit, and making a constant and concerted effort to give
back to the local communities.
On a Southern Crossings trip, you will not feel like an anonymous tourist being piled onto the bus and herded relentlessly from destination to destination. Our tours are for individuals, friends, families and small groups, and we take pride in providing a personal and unique experience. This means we make a point of having dinner with all of our clients, helping you out with any particular interests or shopping items while you're here, and having a 24-hour local phone number for any questions you might have.
There are several ways we try to make your trip as safe as possible. On all of our tours, our guides are completely bilingual and have all lived and traveled extensively in the regions in which they work. And we utilize the most experienced and reputable crews for all of our adventure activities. Our adventure sport teams have a combined 30 years of experience and excellent safety records. Finally, we avoid using operators and airlines that have poor safety records or that we consider to be less reliable, even when their fares are considerably cheaper.
What's
positive-impact tourism? A lot of things, both big and small, like using
a trekking staff that packs out all of its garbage, or encouraging our
passengers not to hand out money or candy to the kids we encounter along
the way (we encourage postcards from home, school supplies or Polaroid
pictures instead). We recognize that any form of tourism has an impact
on its destination, but we try to make ours as positive as possible.
Finally, we truly
believe in giving back to the communities we visit, and we do it in a
unique way that we think you'll really like. Many tour companies pledge
to give a certain amount of sales to certain organizations, but you as
customers never actually see this happen
ing. On a Southern Crossings
trip, you do! As a matter of fact, you give it yourself. One percent of
our trip price goes to a children's charity which you can visit on your
trip. (If you don't have time to stop by, we still give the money...)
So if your trip costs $2000, we'll give $20 of that to the charity when
we visit. This way, you're not just passing through, you're actually
making a difference!