Singaporeans are getting more adventurous and creative with their travels – find out how and why
Photo: Walk Japan
Self-guided & guided ground tours
Travellers without a driver’s license have found another way to explore foreign countries with more freedom and flexibility. Virtually approaching locals for their recommendations, independent tourists are making use of services and apps such as Viator, CityButler and Withlocals to plan their own itineraries.
Such services allow visitors to experience not just the everyday life of locals, but also extraordinary and unique activities that can’t normally be accessed. For example, Viator offers a “Top Gun and Air Combat Experience” in Las Vegas and San Diego, USA, where you can take fun to new heights with a thrilling zero-gravity plane ride with trained pilots.
Photo: Jose Gil / Shutterstock
Viator’s general manager for Asia Pacific, Anita Ngai, told Weekender, “These unique experiences and VIP treatments are now within reach of the ordinary traveller, and they’re surprisingly affordable… It’s a form of accessible luxury.”
Travellers can even embark on self-guided walking tours that have been fully planned for them. Tour agency Walk Japan has launched the Kumano Wayfarer; a 7D6N tour that follows the UNESCO World Heritage Kumano Kudo, an ancient route that emperors, pilgrims and ascetic monks used to travel on by foot.
The itinerary spans the Nakahechi leg in rural Kyoto to Shingu, passing through forests, sacred grand shrines and views of the Pacific Ocean. The tour also settles all of your accommodation, which includes traditional Japanese tatami-mat inns and an onsen resort hotel.
Of course, you’ll have access to 24-hour English language emergency support, and can shorten or lengthen your itinerary.
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