About the practice
We go first
The Travelling T is a private travel advisory for adventure and expedition travel. Before we send anyone somewhere, one of us has usually stood in it, slept in it, and written down what we would change.
Private travel advisory
Based in Canada, planning worldwide
Trevello, a member of Virtuoso
Our founder
Founded by Diana, to plan the trips she would want to be sent on
Diana founded The Travelling T and is its lead advisor. The idea she built it on is the one at the top of this page: we go first, so our clients are never the experiment.
She built the practice around the trips that take some getting to: polar voyages, safari and gorilla trekking, small ships, long rail journeys, wild coastlines. Places where the difference between a good trip and a hard one is usually a detail somebody forgot to check, such as a connection that does not leave enough margin, a lodge that is lovely and three hours from the trailhead, or a cabin directly above the engine.
She came to travel with a habit of checking every detail twice, and it still shapes how we plan. We read the small print on the voyage contract. We check that the transfer on day four actually exists. We ask the lodge which rooms face the river and which face the generator, and we write the answer down.
Then we book you somewhere worth coming back to at the end of the day. Adventure does not have to mean roughing it, and with Virtuoso benefits at the hotels that matter, it usually does not.
Ground level
Where we have actually been
This is the whole list, not a menu. Where a year appears, it comes from a field report or one of our own photo books, so it marks a trip we can show you, not a month we are guessing at. The places with no year are trips we have not written up yet. If somewhere is not on the list, we will tell you that before you have to ask.
Our own photographs, region by region
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Polar
- Antarctic Peninsula
- South Georgia
- The Drake Passage
- Ushuaia and Tierra del Fuego
Africa
- Botswana, Okavango Delta
- Rwanda, Volcanoes National Park
- Uganda, Bwindi
- Morocco, Marrakesh and the Atlas 2018
South America
- Peru, Sacred Valley, Machu Picchu, Colca Canyon and Rainbow Mountain 2020 · 2022
- Colombia, Filandia, the coffee region and Ciudad Perdida 2022
- Bolivia, La Paz and the Salar de Uyuni
- Ecuador 2015
Asia and the Pacific
- Indonesia, Raja Ampat 2025
- Indonesia, Manado and Bunaken 2025
- Indonesia, Bali and Komodo 2025
- Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur and Borneo 2025
- Japan 2025
- Singapore 2025
- Laos 2024
- Thailand 2010 · 2024
- Hong Kong 2024
The Middle East
- Jordan, Petra 2018
- Egypt, Sahl Hasheesh and the Red Sea 2018
Europe
- Italy, Florence and Tuscany 2019
- Portugal, the Douro Valley
- Malta
- Ireland 2024
North and Central America
- Mexico, Tulum, Chichen Itza, Sian Ka'an and Mayakoba 2022
- British Columbia, Yoho and Emerald Lake 2020
- Utah, Zion 2024
- Nicaragua 2014
- Panama 2014
- Central America, overland 2011
Thirty-three places across seven regions · Destination guides · Field reports in the journal
Slept in, not just seen
Places we have stayed
Five places we have stayed and photographed ourselves, with the one line of advice we would give a friend before they book. The full write-ups are on Where we have stayed.
How we work
Fewer clients, more attention, everything written down
The full process, and what it costs, is on How we work and fees. These are the habits underneath it.
One advisor from first email to home again
You will not be passed to a junior planner or a call centre. The person who designs the trip is the person who answers when something changes on day nine.
We check, then we recommend
Every lodge, ship and guide we suggest has been stayed in, sailed on or vetted by someone we trust. Where we have not been, we say so plainly and tell you how we checked.
Reasoning beside every choice
Your proposal explains why each property and routing was chosen, and what we turned down. You can disagree with any of it, and you will know exactly what you are disagreeing with.
A note to every hotel before you arrive
Which of you is celebrating, that you would rather be away from the lift, that you land at six in the morning. Ten minutes of our time, and the arrival feels different.
Margin built into the route
Expedition departures do not wait. We plan a buffer night before every ship and every bush flight, and we would rather you spend it in a good hotel than in an airport.
Honest about fit
If a trip is better booked direct, or another advisor knows the region better, we will tell you. It happens less often than you might think, and it is still the right thing to say.
Credentials
Who stands behind the booking
We book through our host agency, which holds the supplier relationships and the registrations listed here. You always pay a supplier or the host agency directly, never a personal account.
| Host agency | Trevello, a member of VirtuosoVirtuoso benefits at participating hotels, cruise lines and tour operators |
|---|---|
| Advisors | Adventure and expedition specialistsEvery trip planned and booked by an advisor, never a call centre |
| Specialties | Polar voyages, safari and wildlife, small ships, rail, wild coasts |
| Based | Canada, planning worldwide |
| Contact | info@thetravellingtunia.comReplies within one business day |
Start with a conversation
Tell us where you are thinking of going, and how you like to travel
A country and a rough month is a real starting point. We reply within one business day, and nothing commits you to anything.