Going Local Experiences and Encounters on the Road

by Nicholas Kontis

Overview

Today’s traveler seeks authentic experiences, not just viewing awesome sites, taking must-see photo opportunities, and checking an item off of a bucket list. Today’s modern day explorers seek immersion, wisdom and better and greater understanding of people and places. Real life experiences are compelling people to travel and bridge cultures together. Travel opens us up to the wonders of the world, and to the serendipitous occurrences when different cultures merge. At the forefront of any journey, travel begins with people and protecting local society and wilderness. It’s a powerful lesson that cannot be learned staying home viewing travel shows on television. Included in the book are: • Ways to become part of the peer to peer, sharing economy, experiential travel movement. • Case studies in living overseas, seeking out culture through local cuisine and sharing a meal, volunteering while on the road, how an around the world adventure is a life changing involvement. • Learning what it means to be a responsible traveler and choosing operators who protect and give back to local societies. • Keynote interviews with world-renowned travel insiders on their perspectives on travel.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940154417614
Publisher:	Nicholas Kontis
Publication date:	10/12/2016
Sold by:	Smashwords
Format:	eBook
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Nicholas Kontis was born in Greece on one of the most breathtakingly beautiful islands in the world, Santorini. He was brought up in the cultural capital of the Americas, San Francisco. From a very young age, he developed a passion for travel as he shuttled between Athens and his California home during summer vacations. At age 12, he learned the meaning of travel immersion as he slept on couches in various relatives’ homes and learned to bake his own bread. At age 19, Nick did his first European stomp. He rented a car with two friends in Nice, France, and later participated in the annual “Running of the Bulls” in Pamplona, Spain, where he emerged unscathed. But it was a two-month trip to the Greek Islands at age 24 that truly changed his life. On idyllic Ios, he met a Swedish couple who swayed him to forfeit his return ticket home to embark on the journey of a lifetime. In the months that followed, he crossed the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent, traversed Southeast Asia, traveled overland in Australia from Darwin to Sydney and made his way across the South Pacific. Travelling the globe by train, plane, bicycle, boat and thumb (hitchhiking), even saving a baby in Bangladesh, Nick embraced a lifelong affection for travel. Upon returning to his native San Francisco with no job prospect in sight, Nick launched the first successful travel agency in the United States that specialized in discount around-the-world airfares. Before long, he had been featured on Arthur Frommer’s travel TV show and Peter Greenberg’s radio show … from Istanbul. Lonely Planet founder Tony Wheeler called him the “father of around-the-world airfares.” Today, Nick is an award-winning travel journalist who writes for numerous travel publications. He is proud that many fellow writers and travel specialists cite him as an inspiration in their decisions to pursue careers in the travel industry. Nick's first book is titled: “Going Local – Experiences and Encounters on the Road.” He still calls San Francisco home, while also spending time in the Napa Valley, Greece and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.