‘Experiences help curate luxury’

Simran, Co-founder, OneLatitude, and an adventure travel operator, says her experience as a traveller helped her curate experiences for customers.

TT Bureau

Simran, Co-founder, OneLatitude, said that she started the company with the idea of helping travellers experience things they hadn’t before. “It was a huge leap of faith and it’s been incredibly rewarding. OneLatitude is a luxury outdoor holiday company, and our forte is in curating unique, fun-filled and luxurious experiences for families and individuals. Whether it’s staying in authentic Kyrgyz yurts, picnicking with a personal chef in the Himalayas or hiking Kilimanjaro, we personally lead and curate every single experience. With just one year in operation, we have organised handpicked adventures for groups in more than 10 destinations around the world,” she said.

On how did she feel being a women adventure travel guide/ operator, she said, “I have been a solo traveller all my adult life and have spent days at end exploring and driving around the world by myself. Honestly, I think my experience as a traveller has helped me curate experiences in advance for our travellers.”

She added, “I have met so many lovely women and men in this industry. While things may not always be easy as a woman in the outdoors, it’s been worth it and something I would not trade for anything.”

Travelling alone can be uncomfortable at times, especially if you are a woman. However, presence of other women on the trip helps. Asked if she, being a woman, has comforted other women on their trips, Simran replied, “I really hope so! Having another woman on a trip definitely adds as a layer of comfort for women travellers in our groups. Since, we host many family vacations, there is usually always a fair share of women on our trips. I hope that with so many women operators now in the adventure tourism space, more women are encouraged to go out there to travel and discover their passions.”

Regarding the safety of women travellers, she said: “All our trips are guided, which means that either I or my business partner (sometimes both) participates in each of our trips, which certainly adds a huge layer of comfort for our guests. We personally ensure the safety and well-being of all our guests, be it women or men.” “In addition, we only do small groups of no more than 14 adults. This ensures, we can give personal attention and care to each and every guest. It has also helped that we were able to build a credible support team around us and we have multiple checks in place even when we work with somebody new. We always say this to our guests and it resonates in everything we do “your safety is our top priority”.”

When asked being in the travel business for nearly two years how do you plan to envisage growth for women entrepreneurs/ guides, she shared: “It is only a matter of time before women take their space in this world, I truly believe that. There are so many women doing amazing things in the adventure tourism space and the Collective offer a platform for them to showcase their work and to help build, grow and collaborate with other incredible women.”