Anna Koziello and Nicolas Pernodet are launching the platform Local Xplorer. A site for everyone to share their tips, encounters, and itineraries during their travels. They left last Friday for a year to start filling their site.
“That’s what I seek in travel, the encounter with locals, learning from them and their traditional know-how,” confides Anna when she recounts her experience working with women in the rice fields in Asia. Local Xplorer was born from a couple with a passion for travel and adventure. One went to South Asia, Milan, and Singapore during her studies. The other lived for a year in Canada. Nicolas is also very much into nature and hiking. Their approach to travel has several points in common: exploration, encounters, and the freedom of expedition.
But after many discussions and realizing that more and more people were looking for the same type of travel, the duo wanted to bring concreteness to their ideas. Last July 7, the platform was created.
The collaborative site is designed with three parts. One to connect Xplorers and locals so that together, they share a traditional activity and enrich each other. This primary goal stands against activities offered by some agencies, which Anna calls the “perversion of local activity.” There will also be a practical guide section, where everyone can add advice (budget, transportation, experiences…) by destination. An alternative to forums to save time finding answers that don’t always address your questions. Finally, a section to share an itinerary with photos and writings. Everything will remain free and open “we don’t want to constrain the user,” explains Anna.
Last week, the couple left everything behind for a year-long journey through Central and South America. To enrich their currently empty site, they set out to explore 10 countries: “The goal is to get lost, not to know where to go” to find places to suggest. But even if the primary audience is explorers seeking adventure, it is also to offer more accessible immersions. “There are must-sees. You can’t go to Peru without visiting Machu Picchu, for example,” cites the creator.
