Destination Unlocked

Welcome back to the Destination Unlocked

Podcast with me, Daniel Edward.

Today on the Destination Unlocked Podcast, we are joined by Tess Bettison , who

works with Just a Drop, a wonderful charity based in the UK, but they

do projects around the world, all centered around the importance of water.

It’s one of these things that if you’re living somewhere like the UK, where

I’m from, you take water for granted.

But when you go out around the world and you realize how important water

is by seeing when people don’t have it, and Just a Drop works to make sure

that people in all communities all over the world do have access to safe,

hygienic, sanitary drinking water.

But as we learn in this conversation, their work stretches far beyond

just providing the water.

This is community enhancing, educational, health, equality.

There’s so much in it.

Not only that, we’ll be talking more generally about ethical travel.

Enjoy.

So, Tess, what are you unlocking for us today?

So I am unlocking today how we can use travel and tourism as

a force for good around the world.

I love this because I think this is so important.

Travel can be such a, a selfish and self-indulgent activity, or

it can be the total opposite.

And, the charity that you work with Just a Drop is an ideal example of how

we can really help the whole world.

In your case, it’s to do with water.

In other cases it’s to do with all sorts of other things, but travel can do good.

Do you wanna tell us a bit about your background before

we get into some of your trips?

What caught your eye about Just a Drop?

Why did you start working in this?

I was interested in international development

from a very early age.

I have always loved to travel and I was very fortunate enough that my parents

were able to take me on lots of lovely holidays and especially to areas where

there is a stark contrast of worlds.

And I remember visiting places such as Egypt and India where you would be

staying in a very nice hotel or resort.

And then right outside there’d be a completely different world of communities,

that were at risk and vulnerable.

And that really sparked my interest, in the international development sector.

Studied international development, and then I got into the charity sector

after a few years of traveling, and I think Just a Drop really encaptured a

sustainable international mission, but with a community focused element to it.

So really empowering local communities to own their own

solutions was a hugely important mission for me to be involved with.

So, a lasting impact that is community centered.

Yeah.

And community is at the heart of travel because it’s the people.

But going back to your childhood times, do you remember sort of that realization?

Was it something that your parents helped you see?

Was it something that you helped them see?

Because sometimes children see things in a much purer way.

I remember asking my parents why we were staying

in such a nice hotel, right next to a slum community in India.

That was a really standout memory of mine traveling when I was younger and

my parents were very good about it, and I think they wanted us to see me and

my sister to see the actual cultural realities of visiting places like India.

Where there is the wealthiest of the wealthy there.

And there’s also some very at risk communities there that don’t see

any of the financial fruition.

And I think that was a really big turning point in me realizing that travel and

tourism had the potential to do loads.

And it was raised questions then of seeing like, well, why can’t this very

obviously well off hotel be doing something about it, and that really

has sparked my interest in how travel and tourism can contribute.

And then Just a Drop was founded within travel and tourism sector,

so it’s a really good fit to empower these businesses to give back.

And there are businesses aren’t there, hotels and

tour groups, which do give back as part of their business model, they

support their local communities.

Yeah, absolutely.

And we are very proud to be working with some of these amazing businesses.

So we work with the likes of Radisson and PPHE Hotel Group, and they do initiatives

that support Just a Drop in our projects.

And then we have independent companies and independent

hotels that contribute as well.

It doesn’t matter the scale of the company, they can

all make a tangible impact.

We are gonna talk about a couple of examples in a little

bit, but I do want to ask you about.

Uh, well, I’m, what’s the right word?

Sustainability washing, greenwashing, good washing.

I, I’m not sure what the right word is, but a lot of brands like to jump on a

bandwagon and tokenize what they’re doing.

Hey, we are such a good company.

We are going to plant a tree for you.

Hey, we’re such a good company, we are going to dig a well for you.

How can you tell who’s using it as a marketing tool and who’s actually

providing good support to a community.

That’s a really good question because you do unfortunately

see a lot when people want to use sustainability as a checkbox

rather than actually having impact.

I think you can usually tell when it’s the questions people ask when they’re trying

to find out about you as a charity or a development organization, and they want to

hear stories from the actual communities.

They want to see tangible pictures, vid, they wanna see what they’re doing.

And sometimes people don’t even care as long as they can say it.

You can see when there’s a dismissive attitude to it, just

so they can have something to put on a sustainability report.

Sometimes the smaller projects have the greater impact, but just

for a smaller amount of people, and there is a beauty in that.

Working with rural, smaller communities, but they’re the ones who are at risk,

even though it’s not a big number for a sustainability report, those numbers

really do count and change lives.

, So companies who see the value in that.

They’re quite a good way to vet those out.

And as somebody who’s booking a holiday.

Is there a way, do you think that they can work out?

Yeah.

If I stay here, then I’m getting a really beautiful holiday.

I’m also indirectly supporting something, which is really valuable.

Is there a way for people to realize that when they’re booking.

Social media and websites for travel, booking agencies

and hotel groups and the likes.

They often you can easily find if they have a foundation, that’s a great

way to see what they’re supporting.

. So if on a foundation page you can usually see the individual projects

they’re supporting in that region.

Another great example is the Explore Foundation from Explore Travel, and

customers can donate directly to a project in the area they’re traveling to.

So, for example, the Explore Foundation are supporting a project in Nicaragua.

When customers are booking their Nicaragua holiday, they can

then donate to that project.

So there’s a real synergy there.

If you can see a direct impact you can have through your booking, that’s

a great way to see how your money is being spent on your holiday.

And Nicaragua is exactly where we’re going to be going

in a little bit in this conversation.

we do travel over there with you and your recollections of that trip, What

is the difference for you in doing good by donating, which you can do through

booking a very lovely hotel somewhere that you know will also support,

and doing good by doing, which is, I suppose, traveling out to somewhere

where it might not be so comfortable, but you’re actually directly connecting

with this community that you’re helping.

I think going out to those communities is

such a unique experience and.

It may not be a five six star resort like experience, but the people

you were meeting that what is what makes a destination is the people.

And I think sustainable travel and reframing what like a luxury experience is

to actually incorporate the people around the country and the culture that makes

the country different is super important.

And that is something that we’re trying to push within our own charity partners.

They’re fantastic.

And then you get food, you get dance, you get culture, you get language.

All of that is what makes destination so special.

And I think reminding the traveler that they’re going to a new country.

Yes, you can spend all your days in a resort and not really seeing the people,

but then that makes your holiday the same year in year out, so it is about

trying to sell that unique experience.

And experiences are the currency of travel now.

I think it’s the currency of life right now.

People don’t want things in the same way.

We’re very fortunate generally.

Certainly in the UK to generally have enough things.

On Instagram, I’ve been following quite a few backpackers now, and

they prove you don’t need things.

I was chatting with a guy called Bailey, backpack with Bailey is his thing online.

And he’s got seven kilograms.

That’s it.

He travels the whole world with seven kilograms.

It’s pretty extreme, but you clearly don’t need that much.

But experience wise, he’s racking them up.

And it’s interesting that that’s now turning into a luxury product.

I’ve been back packing, and I can tell you with full certainty

that it was not a luxury experience then!

It’s something I think everyone should do, but I think the more questionable elements

of it is what makes backpacking so fun.

And it’s the 20 bed hostel rooms and going down to a crowded kitchen

where you’re fighting over for a hob space to cook your 20p noodles.

I think that’s what makes backpacking so fun.

So I hope they don’t luxurise it too much because I think that really

takes away from what it should be.

Yeah, there’s something gritty and real about it.

I remember losing a lot of potential friends in a hostel where I had bought

some smoked cheese and I thought I would share this smoked cheese with everybody.

It was disgusting and I was going around offering it to everybody and I don’t

think I found anybody who liked it.

Then another time I tried sharing up, food is clearly not something

that I should get too involved in.

I bought some narwal from a supermarket in iceland, or Greenland,

I think it was Greenland actually.

And I, I sort of forced it upon people.

I was like, no, you’ve gotta try it.

It’s narwal.

And everybody was like, this thing is rank.

Yeah, I had that.

I, what was it, shark in Iceland?

Delicacy there I couldn’t, Hmm.

No, it was not for me, not for my taste was I’m sure for if you can

appreciate it, a delicacy and beautiful,

Apparently they have to ferment it so much because it’s

poisonous, so they’re fermenting it to get the

poison

out,

Oh,

and then they

feed it

to people.

no.

My favorite part about backpacking though, is if you happen

to fly between places and you’re backpacking, and it’s not a tiny,

tiny backpack that can go under the chair or whatever on the plane, then

when your backpack comes back out on the carousel, it’s in a little bucket

is so

cute and I, I have such fond memories of my.

Huge backpack, which would remember turling over so many times where you

just put it on and then you lose balance completely and just on your back in the

middle of like, it was like Buenos Aires I was in just rolling around and my

friend trying to flip me over the right way ’cause it was so stuffed to the brim.

Do you bring friends along for traveling, volunteering?

What would you say within your friendship community is popular thing to

do?

As a girl, when I went backpacking, I felt having a

friend come with me was for the best when I was going out to, I did South

America, so I did Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, and Peru until I got stuck.

A bad time to go backpacking.

I ended up being repatriated, by the Army, which is a whole other story.

But anyway, we got halfway through our trip that we intended

and that was, I think, smart ’cause I was fresh out of uni.

And it was good having a friend there.

However, I think solo traveling is something everyone

should do at least once.

‘Cause I did a solo trip to Australia a few years ago.

I felt confident then, ’cause I had traveled with someone else before.

So I think it’s good to do it with friends first.

So you find your feet, learn mistakes when you have the safety

net of having a person with you.

And then by yourself afterwards when you’ve take the training wheels off a

little bit and then go out for yourself.

And it’s nice doing something first with a friend.

It means that when things go wrong, which inevitably they, they do here and there

you have someone to laugh it off with.

Absolutely yes.

And things can go so wrong.

You can end up at a hostel and it’s closed in the middle of the night, and

you’ve got to be searching around in a very small town for somewhere to stay.

Like it all.

It all can happen.

And it is so nice to have somebody to go for it with at the same time and

then look back on together and laugh about it when it’s less terrifying.

I suppose some of the places that Just a Drop supports,

there’s not even hostel infrastructure.

Sometimes it’s just the local village

It is.

Yeah.

We primarily like to focus our work into rural communities, and that ties

in with travel companies who support us.

They’re able to support communities where tourism doesn’t

directly affect the people.

So that’s a further outreach than the direct city support would be.

And I think with rural communities, the issue with water, it depends on country

to country, but it’s providing that resource and the infrastructure for safe

and hygienic water supplies to be there.

Really important.

’cause water shouldn’t be a luxury, but it is in some of those regions.

So trying to change that narrative in the rural communities is what we’re

slowly plodding on and trying to do.

And this is a great moment to let people know, somebody’s new to

Just a Drop, what is the core mission?

Our Core mission was set up by our founder, Fiona Jeffrey.

the statistic that a child every 20 second dies from dirty water.

I think since then it’s come down, so it’s now every two minutes, but

that’s still, horrible statistic.

So tackling that global water crisis and how particularly, unfortunately,

women and children are hit really hard by the international water crises and.

It’s snowballed since then into not just water, but a whole program of

education, community development, agriculture, menstrual health that we do.

And water is at the heart of it because water is at the heart of everything.

It’s the bare necessity.

Tackling that crisis and trying to slowly build communities out of the poverty trap.

But it, the important part is, again, the community of owning it, and the

community is the one doing it, and we are just there to support them.

I, I just can’t believe that statistic, still.

720 children a day die because they don’t have

access to water or

Mm-hmm.

Wow.

It’s a heavy statistic,

And is this a largely rural urban issue, or is this a

country by country issue where it doesn’t actually matter which

part of the country you’re in?

The water issue is different country to country.

So we work in, for example, Kenya.

They are suffering the worst drought in 50 years at the moment.

So their issue is keeping water.

And so during the wet season is storing that water and keeping that water

and having access all year round.

’cause the dry season is hotter and longer than ever before.

So in regions like Kenya, we do.

Water tanks and we do sand dams, which are huge structures that naturally filters and

stores water across, dried out river beds.

And then that will raise the river, that’ll raise the local water table,

and then there’ll be a pump to the side where water is accessible all year

round for multiple villages at once, and that’s really fantastic, whereas.

In countries like Cambodia where we work, that’s quite a wet country.

It rains quite a lot.

However, the issue in Cambodia is a lot of the water is contaminated.

So what we do in Cambodia is biosand filters and they’re small

in-home water filter systems.

A similar mechanism to sand dams.

Really it’s using sand and a filtering agent.

So they took poor, dirty water in the top and then they have an in-home

source of water through the bio filters.

And so it really depends on the country and how we address the water issue there.

It’s very technical and these are big infrastructure

projects in some cases.

Yes.

Our projects vary from cost and scale quite significantly.

I’d say some projects can cost 5,000 pounds.

Some projects can cost 50,000 pounds.

So it really does vary.

And again, that is usually a regional factor of why but it’s very

interesting to learn about working for them and also trying to make

all our projects more sustainable.

So incorporating solar power and more sustainable materials that’s been

really growing as a part of our radar over the past few years as well.

And in terms of engaging with the local community,

is this also providing jobs?

uh.

A big part of what we do is we call it income generating practices

and income generating loans.

So in East Africa where we work once a community has a water solution,

we also do income generating loans, usually for women and ’cause it’s women

who are usually walking hours day to day to fetch water, once they have a

water resource in their community, they have freedom to work if they want to.

So we have provided microfinance training, so the likes of bookkeeping,

and small startup business loans to women.

And we’ve seen businesses, from agricultural shops to a hair

extension shop, which, I read a report from last week, which was lovely.

Women just particularly taking back some power and freedom.

Now they have water as again the starting line.

And providing those small loans.

I think they’re only equivalent to about 20 pounds and not that much at all.

But enough for them to start a business.

And then that goes back into the loan pot, as it were.

And then more women from that community can then take out a loan themselves,

and it’s a self-sufficient cycle.

Which really raises the community out of poverty.

It’s amazing and it does show how.

Really, from our perspective, such a little amount can make such a

big difference once you have dealt with that baseline of the water.

Absolutely.

Yes.

Water’s the starting line, and then there’s so many other steps, but we help.

I think we’ve really grown in the past few years in developing that holistic

approach of community development alongside water, and that is so important.

Are communities generally positive and receptive

to the international involvement, or is there a little bit of like

cultural negotiation to be done first?

There’s always cultural respect and I guess

negotiation as part of it.

But with our projects, we work with local in-country partners,

in every region that we work in.

And then the communities themselves, they approach our in-country partners first.

So it’s not like we’re flying in, dropping a well and leaving to a community, don’t

know what’s happening and don’t want it.

It’s very much negotiated on the ground first with our trusted in

country partner, and that goes to our programs team and then that gets

approved by our board of trustees.

So it’s a very secure and sustainable model to ensure that the communities are.

Safe.

They’re completely aware and they’re actually involved from the get go of

the solution that they’re getting.

And then they’re involved in the maintenance training as well.

So it’s a completely community orientated installation model that we use.

Let’s talk about a trip that you’ve taken, which

was to see what’s going on on the ground somewhere, Nicaragua.

Yes, I was very lucky.

And I spent about a week out there and I was taking two wonderful people from

BAC who are big partner of ours and have been supporting us for many years now.

And.

I got to visit, four or five different projects out there.

So we were busy, um, and we started off based in Managua and

then went rurally out to there.

I.

Talk us through the trip and sort of share your

in initial feelings towards it?

I think it was really important to actually see the direct

impact, as well as seeing projects in progress and understanding that as a

concept more when we first got to Managua, we had a day first to do the touristy bits

and what did you do?

oh, we went out to Lake Granada, which is beautiful.

I’d recommend anyone to do that.

And we had a little boat ride and went to a chocolate factory as well.

I think one of the people from BAC wanted to, it was a pipe making shop

as well, which was really beautiful.

You mean like smoking pipes?

Yes.

smoking

Do you know what came to my mind first?

A pipe.

My head was so in water.

I was like, okay, we’re making pipes.

And then you said, they’re beautiful.

And I was like, I’ve seen a lot of pipes, but I, I dunno if

I’ve ever called them Beautiful.

No, it was so lovely.

And the old town Managua I would recommend to anybody as well.

Just such great history there.

Everyone was very kind, and then we went up to El Alce, which was very fun

part of Nicaragua and that was where El Veer were based, our in-country partner.

And we met the team and then they drove us out to some villages where

we saw the water pipe solution.

So in Nicaragua, we do direct pipe systems from water tanks into people’s villages.

Usually gravity based engineering work, and we have some fantastic project

offices, from Just a Drop who volunteer and then they work with the teams out from

El Vene with the engineering solutions to that, and some of these villages are

very high up on some very steep hills.

And the pipe system takes some engineering that I’ll never be able to get my head

around, but are fantastic and go directly into villages, into homes, into schools.

We went to different regions like Terona, and El Grande, which was great as well.

We saw, high school there and they had just had their menstrual

health renewal training.

And that was great to see the curriculums for menstrual health.

That is a newer element of what Just a Drop does as well.

So seeing that in action was great.

And that was teaching for boys and girls, which is really important.

Seeing the different tanks and how well looked after they were by the

community and staying across increasingly more regional areas, was not the most

glamorous, but still felt completely safe and looked after by El Veer.

and where Were you staying?

Were you staying in somebody’s house that they’d created some

space for you or in a camp?

was, uh, lodgings.

It was still like inns hotel vibes.

The food was still fantastic.

The food is fantastic out there.

It was something I was really impressed by.

I had never been to Central America before, so I didn’t

really know what to expect.

But the food and the hospitality and the people We were very looked after

Especially the local water committees.

so, When we set up a water project in Nicaragua , we then establish

a local water committee with a president, a treasurer, a secretary,

that’s rotated every two years and it has to be 50% men and women.

And that’s a great way of community ownership.

Onwards.

And so meeting the water committees was a huge part of what we were doing out

there over the days we were there just to have direct conversations about what

they thought of the water solution and how the education programs had gone.

And I don’t think I’ll ever forget just the gratitude and the kindness

we were greeted with, as well as just seeing how hard the in-country

partner El Poviner were working.

So seeing that in action was all just really inspiring and really helps

motivate you when you’re in the office.

Behind a desk.

Emails deep on a Monday morning, you remember that?

And that’s a really, really empowering wake up call, I’d say.

What do you think is the thing that the locals

get the most out of those trips?

It’s sort of obvious from our perspective.

If we go out there, we see a totally different way of life.

We appreciate what we are able to contribute.

We appreciate what we’ve got at home without even having to worry about it.

What do you think the locals benefit.

I think it kind of humanizes who we are and we’re not just

like this entity who are, sending out this project, but I think as we are

in collaboration with, the in-country partner, they knew of us already and they.

had that link there.

And I think it was just nice for some to put faces to a name

that recognition was great.

and also I feel like it’s nice for them to be able to feed back to

us too, That was really valuable.

It’s so valuable to hear what’s working, what can be improved, and that firsthand

accounts we use in impact reports back to our trustees and to our programs team.

And I was saying like, would you mind being in an interview?

They’d love some of them really love it.

So that’s really fantastic.

it was so, so good just to hear that first hand account.

And I think it meant a lot for them to have those conversations with us too.

We don’t visit too much, we don’t want to disrupt the communities too much,

so we only visit when it’s necessary.

I think that’s a really good lesson for all of us in where to

position ourselves in this journey.

’cause sometimes you want to enjoy the moment of doing good, and

that’s perfectly fair and valid.

Sometimes you want to do good and let somebody else just experience the

benefit of it and step out of their way, quietly step back into the shadows.

Yeah, I think it’s very important to play that line of, yes, you

can help, but sometimes you can overstep.

and I think respecting communities and understanding that yes,

you can help and you can help towards, a project or a solution.

However, maybe a bunch of people flying out from the UK to build it

for them isn’t actually the best use of time and resources, and

isn’t the best for the community.

It’s actually better for the community to be involved doing it, and it’s

better to be employing locally and it is better to be actually providing jobs.

there’s that balance of people really wanting to be involved and really

wanting to do it, which is a great passion to have, but sometimes it’s

actually better to give that ownership to the people you’re trying to help

Is there any feedback that you picked up maybe in those interviews

that you were recording when you were over there from the locals that surprised you?

hearing how, I remember speaking in Nicuragua at a school.

And one mother was saying she went to the same school and how she wasn’t able

to go to school until she was much older than her daughter who is at school now

because she was walking to get water and stuff like that, in one generation

the difference of her life because of a water solution in a school, her daughter

could freely go to school without having that burden of going to fetch water.

And the reduction of illness in the community, and that was just a drop in

water related diseases that caused so much from school, from the young people.

So I didn’t think I’d get emotional out there too much.

I felt I’d be quite like professional and that, but I, I had a big old

blubber in the car afterwards, uh, because it was very touching.

Yeah, I was very surprised by my.

personal reaction to it.

It was just one generation and a whole lifetime of change.

That is amazing actually.

When you put it like that, it’s one generation difference and it

is a whole lifetime of change.

That’s just a, an amazing way of

putting

it.

it was, it was really beautiful to see.

So that was your Nicaragua trip.

You are about to go on a trip to see another

project.

Tell us

about

that one.

Yes, I’m going out to India with another fantastic

partner of ours, New Market holidays.

They operate tours in India and they’re really passionate about

supporting an Indian project.

they are supporting a rural village project out there, and I am very lucky to

be going out and escorting, a member of their team to go and visit the project.

I’ve been to India prior and it has a very special place in my heart and I’m

now very excited to be returning, but in a completely different capacity.

having like contributed to a mission that I thought about all those years

ago when I first visited India.

What’s the project that you’re going to be looking at?

What have you added to the community there?

It’s piped water system in a village.

And the education program, which is similar to the water

sanitation and hygiene, hand washing, and the introduction of a

sanitation and hygiene curriculum.

How do you feel when you get on the plane and head

out to see one of these projects?

Is it a buzz?

Is it excitement?

Is it nervousness?

both excited and nerves.

But mainly just.

getting to see something in reality that I’ve been reading reports on.

cause You think you have a picture in your head, so you’re imagining on the plane.

I remember when I was going out to Nicaragua, just picturing the reports.

I was thinking, oh, I have a pretty good idea of what it’s gonna I, I know it.

and then you get there and it’s like, it feels so different.

So I think going out for my second trip.

I’m gonna have no pre-judgment or anything like that, and I’m just gonna

embrace it from the get go, that I’m gonna be surprised, I can’t wait to

show the amazing impact they’ve had.

Do you document it for yourself as well?

Do you take lots of pictures or write a journal?

or

I take a little photo journal book thing with me, which

I like taking on my travels and.

I’m always the one taking pictures out of my friends and my family.

So I’ll be doing all the iPhone pictures, and I’ll have a work camera maybe too.

So.

I love that

it puts it all on a map.

Yes.

Oh, it’s so nice.

And that’s such a nice way when you do like a trip and it kind of, you

can zoom in and see exactly where you’ve been, that’s really special.

Do you use Polar Steps or any other app for your travels?

This is the second time in a week I’ve heard about Polar Steps

I really like it.

A friend of mine told me about it and I downloaded it and then

didn’t use it for about a year.

And then I thought, no, I’m actually gonna give this a go.

And you can turn the tracking mode on and depending on how

much you allow it to track, what it does, it tags you as you go.

And then you can drop in photos.

And the nice thing, and this just it, it indulges my laziness here.

You don’t have to go searching through the photos.

You click on a bit and it suggests the photos that you will want to connect

to that area because it just looks at the time that you took the photo

and the time that it did the tag,

and

that saves so much

time.

I can imagine.

That’s crazy.

So there’s my top app recommendation for you.

If somebody wants to support Just a Drop.

What is the most meaningful ways that they can get involved?

It’s on our website is www.justdrop.org.

And there you can find either we have a corporate partnership specific page.

So if you’re a business looking to support us, we have a direct contact

through our website that you can make.

We also have a direct donation on our website.

People can set up regular donations, legacy giving.

All the options are out there.

it’s very easy to navigate.

But we’re also present across all social media channels, at Just a Drop.

And we also like to promote everything we’re doing on there.

All right, so at least give a follow and maybe share some of

that content and then head to the website.

Just a drop.org, and then you can either support alongside your

company if you’ve got a company or you can donate individually.

Yeah, absolutely.

Nice.

I wanna think a bit more about the impact of tourism at an individual

level and something that I can’t shake from my mind, talking about water and

talking about tourism and holidays is how much water goes into a holiday.

Yes.

And surely there’s, there’s gotta be something that we

as individuals can do or can keep in mind to not be so wasteful.

Yes.

And there are so many options to try and be less wasteful on holidays

and whether that is booking for an agency that gives back in some way.

So you feel like there’s some kind of balance there or there are sustainable

suppliers for your luggage that you can now get luggage made out of all

the materials under the sun that are less harmful than the plastics on.

You can go through a resort hotel location that has a volunteering element to it.

I remember booking when I was in South America where we, where we worked,

you’d have to do a couple of hours a week in the local restaurant and giving

back to the community in that way.

But I think the main thing is.

If you are booking through a holiday agency or supplier, it’s checking

out what they’re doing as well to give back to the communities.

Through sustainability pages, you can find that out quite easily what they

do and seeing what resonates with you as a traveler and a consumer.

Are there any resources you’d recommend for somebody who really

likes the sound of this, hasn’t got any experience yet of doing it themselves, but

wants to travel with a bit more purpose?

the Local country tour guides.

Are the ones with the best knowledge of where you can really give back.

I’m gonna use Latin America as an example, as that’s the name popping to my head.

So Senderos are great if you’re booking for a travel, a group through there,

or if you’re looking to travel in Asia or Australasia, Inside Group.

They’re really good at tours that you actually get to give back

to the community and encounter local communities really well.

What are your thoughts on.

Over tourism because I think a lot of what we’ve spoken about today is about going

totally off the beaten track to places that most people don’t even know exist.

But if we really look at tourism, most people descend on the same place.

Yeah.

It’s a real issue and I think tourism is really realizing that.

So this past migration season in the Serengeti was awful.

I think ’cause tour guides were overselling to tour, so it

wasn’t all the travelers’ fault, but it was, uh, major issue.

So it turns out the Serengeti, there’s a massive crossway where I

believe it’s the bison, who they cross over this major passing and their

way was blocked by safari trucks.

And as a nature migration pattern that could have like catastrophic consequences.

It’s stuff like that, but now it’s down to the tour sellers.

It’s down to the guides and the agencies who are selling those tickets

to see an area’s capacity, not just for the travelers who are going,

but for the area surrounding it.

There needs to be a valuation of yes, what sells tickets, but also will that site

still be a spectacle in a few years if you keep disrupting it the way you are.

Which is why I would really recommend Inside Travel groups and other companies

where they encourage your tour to go off the beaten tourism track, and

explore areas that aren’t on your radar when you go, but they’ll be the

highest on your radar when you leave.

With ethical travel or volunteering or charity

work in the travel sphere.

What would you say is the top thing to do or see or aim for on a single trip?

For me personally, it would be a authentic Food street store.

I mean, I think that’s one of the best places to go to.

That’s how I feel like I’ve really hit a jackpot of seeing what a place is like.

A proper off the main track Food stall is a great place to start.

What would you say is a tourist trap to avoid?

A tourist trap to avoid.

I think the first tour you are offered when you get off a bus or a train.

Don’t do that one.

That’s a really And that’s, that’s actually, that’s so generalizable.

It works for pretty much anywhere around the world.

The person who jumps at you first is not always the best option.

you have a favorite time of year to head out on travels?

I really prefer off peak travel, not just for cost.

I hate busy crowds, and I think looking at the off peak season is worthwhile

for every sustainable traveler.

And again, that’s the overbooking thing, but also you’ll have a calmer experience,

you’ll be able to book the places you might not be able to book in high season.

Like there’s a specific boat tour or the specific island you wanna see.

It varies from country to country, but check when’s off

peak or just out of high season.

That’s the good middle bit.

What would you recommend as a top book or film that people could

check out if they’re interested in?

Doing a little bit more travel like, like you, and supporting the work of

Just a Drop.

For sustainable travel in particular, The

Ethical Traveler is really good.

Imogen Lapier, or something like that.

Or there’s the Atlas for Impossible Places, for the adventurous travelers

out there, which is a really good book, and that really encourages

off the beaten track travel.

Bettison your top food or drink that you’ve tried around

the world in your travel so far?

My South America backpacking trip was so memorable

for good and bad reasons.

Uh, thank you COVID, but Pisco that just saw me through the good times

and the bad times in South America.

So, I’d say that is my standout drink

What’s the difference between a Pisco and a Pisco sour?

Basically the same Pisco is the actual cocktail they make with

the egg whites and it’s pressure where Pisco is the straight, spirit they use.

Because I was warned when I went to South America,

they were like, stay off the Pisco

sours.

Yeah, they’re lethal.

I’ll.

My final question is, what’s your favorite authentic souvenir

that you’ve picked up from your travels?

In Nicaragua on my trip with Just a Drop, we went

to a weavery, I wanna say, that might be the complete wrong word.

This woman, wove her hats, bags little boxes.

I got a tiny little jewelry box that was hand woven by this lovely woman I watched

her finish it, which was really nice.

And she spoke to me about how long she’s been running the business.

That’s still on my bedside now.

And I think that’s pretty special.

Tess Bettison from Just a Drop.

Thank you so much for unlocking ethical travel and of course the

work of Just a Drop for us today.

Thank you very much.

It’s been a pleasure.

Well, that brings us to the end of this episode of

the Destination Unlocked Podcast.

Thanks again to Tess from Just a Drop.

Really interesting and eyeopening what can be achieved with the power of travel

and helping communities around the world.

And if you are interested to find out more about just a drop, I recommend

going to their website, justadrop.org.

Before you head off today.

Check that you’re following the Destination Unlocked podcast so

you can easily make your way back here the next time you want a

journey somewhere around the world.

I’ll see you then.

Bye.