No Shit Trips

Trips, no traps!

    • Small details: The art of seeing

      Close up Sun Stone- Travel observation and mindfulness - No Shit Trips.
      Aztec Sun Stone, Museo Nacional de Antropología, Mexico City.

      The smartest travel-hearted people we’ve met have taught us to focus on the small details, since the major highlights we so admire are the result of everyday life actions and events.

      It is easy to credit a brilliant architect with the making of an impressive building, and to forget that it was the hands of humble bricklayers, carpenters, and smiths that made those ideas a tangible reality. Behind those workers stood families -perhaps wives that woke up early to cook breakfast for those hard-working husbands. Children that would accompany their parents to the construction site asking many questions about the exhausting tasks and possibly about their difficult lives as well.

      A magnificent building shows both the splendor of a given period of time, and the challenges faced by the hundreds of anonymous people who made it possible.

      Travel makes us richer and smarter if we pay close attention to details: What do or did people do? How do or did they live? What do or did they believe in? Why?

      When you travel, focus primarily on the people whose hands created the pieces of art that make up the stunning collections before your eyes. Maybe the voices that remain on them will teach us something we didn’t know we needed to learn.

      No Shit Trips

    • Your kind of traveler

      Backside of the Palace of Fine Arts next to Alameda Park, Mexico City

      Photographs don’t simply tell stories; they turn moments into small pieces of art. Just like the sculptor masters space and plasticity, and musicians perceive delicate sounds, it takes a special sensitivity to master not just the light and angles but also the timing when it comes to immortalizing the moment.

      A good photograph is worth a thousand videos.

      But what happens when we are so into the selfie that we miss the whole picture?

      What is your travel motivation? What inspires you? There are all kinds of travelers and by this post we mean to make you aware of yours, so you can choose the right destination, the right tour operator, the right guide. Not all companies, tours or guides are for everyone.

      Some companies will quickly show you the highlights, while some others will take you to a single place a day, but will lead according to your own pace. Some guides won’t party up too much but will tell you about the grandeur of a culture or the small hidden details of a museum’s gem.

      Many companies state to be different, and indeed they are, we all are. The question is: do their differences match your travel interests and expectations?

      No Shit Trips is more about chilled-out pace, we focus on present-day culture; history, art and nature. We believe that some places are worth taking the time to enjoy them in detail. That’s our kind of traveler.

      We are not meant for random viewers, we were born for travel-hearted people.

      No Shit Trips

    • Mountains: A precious perspective

      Mountains of State of Hidalgo, central Mexico.

      There is something about the mountains.

      Pre-columbian civilizations of present-day central Mexico believed they were a sort of vertical axis mundi, connecting the underworld, the surface of the earth and the heavens.

      Inspiring quotes advice to climb the mountains so you can see the whole picture; a perspective only possible after the long hike. Jesus would pray in the mountains, and his most powerful speech was delivered from one. Mountains are even mentioned in Sun Tzu’s Art of War as a metaphor for being solid, immovable.

      If only these gems of geology could talk…

      Mountains provide exceptional viewpoints and nest stunning sunsets.

      No matter where you travel to, we highly recommend a trip that takes you across or near them. In Mexico there are plenty of options: The mountain ranges of Querétaro and Hidalgo States, the ones in Oaxaca and Puebla, or even the ones on the southern limit of Mexico City. Adventure awaits!

      No Shit Trips

    • Travel, make the difference

      The purpose of travel and social impact - Meaningful exploration in Mexico - No Shit Trips.
      Rounded pyramid hidden at plain sight. Archaeological site of Cuicuilco, Mexico City.

      Travel does make the difference. While it may not be the solution to all of your trouble, it does give you perspective. Problems don’t look as big when seen from the window of a plane after take-off, or when compared to the immensity of the ocean. An awareness of our true dimensions and relevance awakes when you’re climbing a volcano and it suddenly releases steam, so majestically. Realizing the earth is alive, reminds you you are alive too, and you are part of it.

      Maybe travel had never been so vital as it is today, in a world where politicians warn us against other people saying they are the bad guys, perhaps we had better see for ourselves. We believe this is a time for creating bonds and building bridges rather than barriers. In a time when all of our tools help us communicate so easily, why would we isolate?. Self-confidence is easier to earn while hiking the world, as opposed to locking up at home and behind a screen.

      Travel revitalizes the things that matter and recalibrates the things that don’t. We believe it can heal people and thus it may contribute to heal our world.

      Travel is not merely and action, it is fundamentally an attitude. How many times have you passed by a historical or even a modern building without noticing its details or taking a moment to breathe and enjoy them, or ask about them? How many times have you passed by a tree or a flower without even wondering its name and the secrets of its nature?

      Travel does make the difference, and you might not be hundred percent aware of this, but when you travel you make the difference too.

      No Shit Trips

    • A bit of you in the world

      Mina de Acosta, Real del Monte, Mexico.

      There is a charming former mining town in central Mexico called Real del Monte. It is considered to be the cradle of soccer in Mexico. It was the British miners who took it there, along with their delicious pastries, which are now the super star of the local cuisine, under the name of “Pastes”, pronounced pah-s-teh-s. They can be either salty or sweet, but both are delicious alike.

      Real del Monte is a great place to chill out in the middle of green mountains. If you are so curious you can also get to learn a lot about metals and minerals, the development of mining, the challenges of the early mining facilities which put to the test the wit and boldness of the engineers and workers of the XVI, XVII and XVIII centuries. You get to learn about the small details of the daily life of miners, their joys and their sorrows.

      Just to mention another example: In Belo Horizonte, Brazil, you can visit the Mining Museum (Museu Mineiro), that is also a great place to learn about the same matter.

      History shows that humans can be so different and yet so similar in many ways. If you search enough you will surely find a bit of yourself somewhere else in the world; it might be a hidden little spot, but just to connect with it will turn out to be so meaningful that it will be worth every single mile that it takes to get there. Because when we practice conscious travel, it is delightful to find ourselves in the lives and the views of our hosts. It is as delightful to find a bit of them within our heart and soul.

      So don’t be drawn, rather, take the time to search for what makes you tick and be free-spirit enough to go there, even when it’s not the most popular or instagramable travel destination. Believe us, you’ll be greatly surprised.

      No Shit Trips

    • Good curiosity, bad curiosity

      Aztec Turquoise Disc. The displayed characters are possibly linked to astronomical elements.
      Museo del Templo Mayor, Mexico City.

      You know what they say, that curiosity killed the cat. But what would it be of science, art, technology, design, and life in general without curiosity?

      Financial coaches often say that there is good debt and bad debt. That the first one boosts your business while the second one buries your future. Isn’t curiosity somewhat similar?

      Ultimately, we have come to believe that curiosity is often confused with some other not-so-positive attitudes, but curiosity per se is such a gift, it’s like a fire that we must keep on burning; the closest we have to an eternal youth elixir.

      We have seen so much: People whose eyes were unable to see, traveling from the other side of the world and climbing all the way up to the top of a pyramid in Mexico, and then smile for the picture. People whose legs were unable to walk mesmerized by the impressive architecture of viceregal cities during a long tour by the cobblestone streets. People unable to hear, expressing in sign language how the view of a canyon took their breath away. People over 80 years old in such good shape in body and mind, and with the charm of a child just by the fire of their curiosity.

      Curiosity is a fire we must tend so it does not go out. However, if we feel like it has gone out already, good news is we can always light it again.

      Travel is one of the best ways to feed and boost our curiosity, our imagination, our creativity, our solving problem skills, our inspiration. Sometimes, often in fact, solutions are found in fresh air rather than in the four walls of an office.

      No Shit Trips

    • What does a No Shit Trip look like?

      Canals of Xochimilco, Mexico

      We came to exist because the world has changed. And so have the ways to travel.

      Modern technology allows and encourages travelers to explore destinations in a deeper, more personal and more flexible way. There are many cities and places around the globe where rigid itineraries dictated by tour operators can be omitted and the result is a way more enriching and satisfactory trip.

      However we have found a glitch: Technology is also leaving behind, so far at least, many interesting spots and trips that traditional itineraries always did too. As a consequence we have noticed a significant increase of mass tourism concentrated in very few destinations. This ultimately affects not only the receptive communities, but also travelers themselves, because quality in services tend to drop.

      We are aiming to balance. We know and we believe in the transformative, healing, bonding power of travel, the benefits it brings to communities not just in terms of economy but also in intercultural exchange. Travel gives both visitors and hosts a unique chance to get to know themselves much better and much deeper from both an insider’s and an outsider’s perspective.

      So for us, a No Shit Trip looks pretty much like a cheerful day where you get to do one or a few visits to spots that could be either interesting, relaxing, amusing, instructive or all of this at the same time and more. A trip that is planned in detail, with joy, excitement and awareness, but where flexibility is not excluded. No hurries, no worries, no traps and, of course, not pretentious, but simple and thus authentic.

      No Shit Trips