Thistle Farms and the Center for Contemplative Justice
Nepal: August 20 – 26, 2023
ABOUT ELEVATE DESTINATIONS:
Elevate Destinations specializes in planning group travel for philanthropic organizations, as well as private travel for smaller groups and families. As international event planners, our Boston-based team is equipped to handle all of your on-the-ground arrangements, from airport transfers to extra nights in-country to a post-trip excursion.
We welcome any questions you have about how to prepare for your trip, in-country arrangements, and cultural information. For questions about your international flights, including how to purchase tickets, cancellations or delays, lost items, or layover arrangements, please contact your airline or booking agency directly.
For questions about travel insurance, please contact your insurance company.
ECOSYSTEM OF RESPONSIBLE TRAVEL:
Elevate Destinations believes that the act of travel is sacred. It has the power to transform lives and landscapes. Our goal is to use that power in the most positive way imaginable. Elevate Destinations was founded and operates as a social enterprise: philanthropy and positive social and environmental impact are key to our mission.
Whether you are traveling with a non profit group or are on vacation with your family, know that we design each trip conscientiously, facilitating travelers to fully experience, understand, and protect destination areas. Here are some of our current initiatives that contribute to our ecosystem of responsible travel:
Buy A Trip, Give A Trip: Every trip organized through Elevate Destinations allows a group of local children to visit tourist sites in their own country. Visiting historical sites, seeing conservation projects, and getting up close with wildlife is an immeasurable experience for local youth — many of who have never traveled out of their own villages.
Meaningful exchange with local people: We arrange gatherings with local non-profits, change-makers, and doers to bring humanity to non-profit work. This practice extends to our born-and-raised ground teams and guides, who are the experts of their own countries and excited to share their experiences with you.
Proactive conservation: We design our trips to support local conservation initiatives that rely on tourism as a source of funding. In this way, safeguarding wildlife and wilderness becomes an income-generator for local people.
Lodging with a purpose: Where possible, we choose accommodations that are doing the right thing, and doing it well. We vet for locally and responsibly-owned lodging that celebrates its environment, supports its local community and indulges guests with local luxuries.
Carbon offsetting: The travel included in all Elevate Destinations tours is carbon neutral, beginning with the arrival at your destination. We invite you to partner with Elevate Destinations and NativeEnergy to offset the emissions from your international airfare as well. Please visit this carbon calculator to make your entire trip carbon neutral.
Fighting human trafficking: We are a member of The CODE, which prevents human trafficking and human rights abuses in the travel and tourism industry. Elevate was the sixth travel company in the USA to agree to this policy and has led the way for many of our partners to join.
We continually evaluate our trips to include the most responsible travel guidelines available, and review partners for adherence to sustainability measures.
If you have any additional questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to:
Dominique Callimanopulos, Founder and President
dominique@elevatedestinations.com
Bethany Betzler, Private Travel Designer
bethany@elevatedestinations.com
