UAE Travel Trend: Cleaning Up And No Fancy Hotels

Instead of just touring a place and coming back, the trip helps travellers understand their destinations on an intense level.

Imagine going on a holiday to a remote place, where you are on a ship alongside scientists and experts. While they collect and study samples from that area, you navigate the place in a little boat, speak to the locals, and clean it. If such a situation interests you, you can travel on an expedition. Foreseeing the demand for such sustainable and impactful trips, one company in the UAE started offering expedition travel in 2015. Over the years, Eduoutings, founded by college mates Mohamed Sufiyana and Payal Khubani, has catered to over 400 travellers of 35 nationalities. The company's expeditions are usually organised to 10 destinations, including the North Pole, Antarctica and Iceland at the Arabian Travel Mart. It introduced expeditious measures to the South Pole as well.

"When we started, we were the only ones offering this kind of service in the region," said Mohamed. Getting people to understand expedition travel was a challenge. But we knew that the trend would take off. We were ready, especially after the pandemic, when it became a trend."

You have to be inquisitive.

Per Payal, expedition travel is set apart from other trips by the experience it offers. "It involves a little bit of adventure and effort. You must be inquisitive; it takes you slightly off the beaten path. It is very different from commercial travel," she added. The itineraries in expedition travel are never guaranteed. "It depends on the sea and weather conditions. Even if you go to warmer destinations and travel around some archipelagos and islands, the itinerary is not guaranteed to go according to the plan. You have to expect the unexpected," said Payal. These trips offer a chance to get to see nature up close. "You get to see the geology and geography," said Mohamed. "You get to see the wildlife that is unique to the area and understand the ecosystem. You do activities special to that region; for instance, if they are in Antarctica, they will do hiking and kayaking. Whether from Norway or Iceland, they do Northern Lights dog sledging and snowmobiling. The idea is not that you just tour the place and come back. You understand the place on an intense level. So, it is a very memorable experience."

Life-changing experience

For many people, the trips with Eduoutings have been life-changing. "Most of our customers keep returning for more expeditions," said Payal. "And many of them also bring in their friends." One such person whose life saw a significant change because of expedition travel is Anikita. A corporate HR manager and confessed wanderlust, Ankita had already travelled to over 70 countries when she went on expedition travel. Once she returned, she quit her job and started her own travel company. "I first travelled with them in 2022 when I went to Antarctica and Norway. She recalled that I wanted to tick off the seven continents, so I chose it. I discovered that expedition travel is very different to solo travel.

Once in Antarctica, Anikita said she began thinking deeply about life. "It is one part of the world that makes you think very differently," she recalled. "I started to take stock of my life. Also, my interactions with Payal and Sufyan gave me the courage to listen to my true calling. In June 2023, I gave up my very cushy pay package in the corporate world and started the scary journey of being an entrepreneur with my own travel company.

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