Tailor made travel: Discover what shapes true adventure with Steppes

To be honest, I’ve always been a bit odd. I’ve always liked to do things my own way, to look at the world from a different angle, never content with having or seeing the same as everyone else. When others turned right, left always looked more interesting. 

I had to wear a suit to work for many years and was never comfortable. The suits I bought always seemed to be made for someone else, somebody who fit the idea of a person who wasn’t really me. So, I went to a tailor. I went bespoke.

I remember that first bespoke suit, made especially for me, vividly. The weight and style of the fabric, the way it fitted my shoulders; the lining, the subtle details that made it unmistakably mine. I was used to adjusting myself to fit the suit rather than the other way around but once I’d experienced the precision, comfort and quiet confidence of something made only for me – and the personal care that went into making it – it was difficult to go back to ‘off the peg’ clothing.It was only a matter of time before I realised my travels were following the same path.

I’d book holidays that were convenient: packaged itineraries, scheduled tours, hotel rooms chosen for their proximity to sights rather than for what they offered beyond a place to sleep. They ticked the boxes but something always felt like it was missing. The destinations felt familiar, even if I’d never been before. It was as if I was going on someone else’s holiday, stepping through a series of well-worn footprints, rather than making my own.

I decided to do it differently. I did what I’d done before – I went to a ‘tailor’. I went bespoke.

The first time I sat down with a travel consultant, they asked questions I’d never been asked before. Not just where I wanted to go or wanted to see, but they wanted to know why. They asked how I wanted to feel, what kind of traveller I was and who I was travelling with. They wanted to understand what made me tick. Slowly, my trip started to take shape – not from a template, but from me: my interests, my rhythms and my sense of curiosity.It felt different from the start, right from the planning through to the delivery. No rushing to catch up with a rigid schedule, no queuing for must-sees’ and must-dos’. Instead, there was space to follow an unexpected recommendation, to linger in my fascinations, to slow down when something caught my eye and to speed up when I was ready for the next thing.

I started to recognise the nuances of tailor-made travel in the same way I came to appreciate the finer points of my custom-made suits. The details mattered. The fabric of a journey, woven with experiences chosen for me rather than for the masses. There was comfort, not just in the quality, but in the knowledge that everything had been arranged with me in mind.

As with my wardrobe, I found myself reluctant to return to the world of ‘one-size-fits-all’. Once you’ve travelled like this, it’s hard to go back. It was never about luxury. It was about something deeper: the idea that my time, my interests and my perspective were worth considering. I realised it wasn’t about the destination, in the same way as it was never about ‘the suit’. It was about how it made me feel.Tailor-made travel doesn’t mean excessive planning or losing the spontaneity that makes travel so rewarding. Quite the opposite. It allows for a freedom that packaged trips rarely offer. It acknowledges that the most memorable experiences often happen in the moments between the planned ones. It makes sure that you’re not just another visitor. You’re exactly where you’re meant to be.

Once you’ve experienced that, there’s no going back.

Voted a Conde Nast Leading Specialist Tour Operator 2023 and 2024, Steppes Travel have been creating beautiful adventures and remarkable holidays for more than 30 years. +44(0) 1285402195

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