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Excursions with locals. How to find interesting excursions from locals on Tripster Travel Club

Many independent travelers have long mastered the skill of organizing excursions on their own, but such events are not always carried out in the most educational way. Sightseeing tours purchased from agencies can cost quite a large sum, and walking in a crowd of tourists trying to catch at least a little information is not always comfortable. Therefore, today excursions from local residents are becoming increasingly popular. This option is very convenient, because it involves an individual approach, takes into account all the wishes of the tourist and, in general, can contain much more interesting information than a standard excursion from a guide. Where to find locals who know everything about their city and how to book a tour with them, we tell you in detail in our article.

What is Tripster?

In 2013, an interesting resource appeared on the Internet called, which initially represented a kind of platform for travel enthusiasts, within which tourists exchanged their opinions and gave recommendations for visiting a particular attraction. But in just a few months, the site was transformed into a real travelers club, where it became possible to negotiate with local residents about organizing excursions.

Today on the website you can order individual tours of attractions in 485 cities around the world. More than 210 thousand people used the service in 2018 alone, most of whom were satisfied with the service they received. And there is nothing to be surprised here: after all, the guides are local residents, very creative and passionate people who know much more about their city than employees of travel agencies.

Who will be interested in the service?

First of all, Tripster is designed for independent, not package travelers. The site provides the opportunity to find unusual excursions from local residents who, in addition to standard sightseeing tours, will show you secret corners, organize tasting tours and allow you to immerse yourself in the cultural life of the city.

Curious and active tourists who are bored with monotonous excursions will find Tripster especially attractive. These activities allow travelers to climb to little-known rooftops for the best views of the city and go underground, testing their creativity in pottery, art and dance, tracking wine production technology and tasting different types of tea and coffee. As a rule, excursions from Russian-speaking local residents are as eventful as possible and fully meet the interests of tourists.

Benefits and Features

Tripster website services have a number of important advantages, including:

Wide choice of excursions. As we mentioned above, Tripster organizes tours in 433 cities around the world. Several guides can work at one site at once, so finding a suitable option here will not be difficult. And in addition to the most popular destinations, you can also find little-known cities on the site, whose local residents are ready to create all the conditions for tourists to get the most complete acquaintance with iconic places. It is noteworthy that today excursions from locals for locals are in great demand. For example, Moscow residents often go on trips with a guide who combines a story about the objects with exciting quests, puzzles and prizes.
Taking into account individual requirements. This is one of the most important advantages of Tripster. Firstly, the excursion will be organized exclusively for you and your companions and you will not find strangers at the event. Many guides from local residents recruit a group where the maximum number of people does not exceed 10. If there are more of you, then this issue is discussed individually with the guide. Secondly, the excursion will be organized according to your interests. To understand how important this is, it’s worth remembering at least the guides from Turkey or Egypt, with whom the main part of the tour takes place in textile, leather and carpet factories, rather than at the attraction itself.
Possibility to book a tour in advance. If you know the exact dates of your trip, you can make advance tour reservations using Tripster. And this is very convenient, because you don’t have to look for the right person on the spot yourself, spending precious time on this. A good guide will take care of all the nuances of the walk and will try to do it in the best possible way.
Opportunity to speak with a guide before booking an excursion. The site provides communication with local residents providing their services. You can ask them any questions you are interested in and only then make a decision about the reservation. And after making an advance payment you will be provided with the contact number of the guide. This way, you will have the opportunity to contact him and discuss all the details in more detail.
Small prepayment amount. Once you agree on a tour with a local resident, you need to pay 20% of the total cost of the service. This is done so that the conductor is confident in the seriousness of your intentions: after all, you are booking a specific time that will be denied to other clients. You give the rest of the amount to the guide at a personal meeting.
Promotions and discounts. Tripster often offers discounts to its users. To take full advantage of promotions, you must register on the site. You can often find various promotional codes here: some of them are valid for only a few days, but provide a good discount (up to 10%), others are longer, but the size of the discount in this case will be small (up to 5%).

How to book a tour?

So, if the travel dates have been determined and the travel plan has been drawn up, it’s time to take care of the main part of the tour - the excursions. Using the Tripster website is quite simple, but we decided to provide you with detailed instructions on how to use the system.

Step 1. Finding a suitable option

We are on the main page of the site, where you can see two search columns at once: one “Where are you going” - in the middle at the top and the second “Where are you going” - in the center. Both lines perform the same function. We enter the direction we need into any of them (in our case it will be) and click on the “Find” button.

Based on our request, the system was able to find 28 offers. To clarify the parameters of your search, we will use the form above, in which we indicate the dates we need, the number of people and the price range. Then click on the “Find” tab.

After adjusting the parameters, the number of offers was reduced to 3. In order to get acquainted with the presented excursions conducted by local residents, click on the photos.

A new window opens in front of us, where you can see information about the guide, information about the excursion itself, as well as a booking calendar. Busy days are highlighted in pink, free days are highlighted in green. Below the calendar are reviews of tourists who have already used the services of this local resident. Be sure to read other travelers' opinions about the guide and his organizational skills. After studying the information on all three offers, we chose the most budget option with a large number of positive reviews. Now click on the date we need in the presented calendar and move on to the next step.

After we clicked on the planned date, a form appeared in front of us. Here it is important to indicate the day of the proposed excursion, the number of tourists, first and last name, email address and telephone number. Below is a field in which you can ask the guide all your questions. Please note that by filling out this form, you are not yet booking an excursion, but are only declaring your intention. You can finally reserve your date after the guide answers your questions.

When you make the final decision to book an excursion, you need to make an advance payment for the service. It makes up 20% of the total tour amount. Payment can be made using a bank card or bank transfer. We choose a method convenient for us in the appropriate form. Here you can ask a question to the organizers and cancel your order if you are not satisfied with the guide’s answers.

After payment, a notification of the completed transaction will be sent to your email inbox. You will pay the rest at a personal meeting with the guide. This is exactly how the site works with excursions from local residents.

Is it possible to cancel a reservation?

If you have made an advance payment, but the trip is suddenly cancelled, I am ready to return the funds to you. The main thing in this situation is to contact the guide as soon as possible and inform him about the cancellation of the reservation. After this, it is important to notify the site’s support service by writing a letter to the administration at [email protected]. Refunds will be made in accordance with the system's refund policy:

the money will be refunded in full if you notify the cancellation of the reservation at least 5 days before the planned excursion
if the cancellation occurs less than 5 days before the agreed meeting, then the site is ready to refund the prepayment only if the trip is disrupted due to reasons beyond the tourist’s control (for example, flight cancellation)

It is also important to consider that if a local resident, having agreed with you, spent his own money on purchasing entrance tickets or made other expenses that cannot be compensated if the excursion is canceled, the prepayment will be returned minus the amount he spent.

Conclusion

Excursions from local residents are a tempting alternative to standard tourist walks. On the one hand, they provide the opportunity to enjoy the sights that interest you in an individual format, on the other hand, they reveal much more interesting information about the objects. At the same time, the organization of the walk takes place on a convenient day for you, taking into account exclusively your interests.

In this post:

Excursions in 300 cities from Tripster.ru

I, like most modern people, prefer to make the most of the Internet system. With it, you can order and pay online, or call a taxi. And from time to time I use the service of ordering and paying for online excursions. If I go to a country with a huge number of attractions, then in order to use my free time effectively, I use the service . Therefore, we will consider all its advantages and capabilities in more detail.

Opportunities and advantages of Tripster

The site has been operating since 2013, but in this relatively short time, it has been able to earn the trust of a huge number of travelers. What's most interesting is that the people who created it decided to take a completely different approach to organizing excursions. It involves organizing non-standard excursions, according to the preferences of each client. This is rare to see.

Features of Tripster.ru:

Guides who are delighted with their excursions. These people themselves develop the route in such a way that every guest of the city will be delighted. So that it will take your breath away from new amazing places and facts. The guides include people from different specialties. These are architects, journalists, art critics, historians, and so on;
Originality. The company uses standard approaches. Its motto is “No standard excursions.” Each walk is unique and inimitable, regardless of whether it is a visit to museum complexes or a “walk on the roofs”;
Individuality. The service for unusual excursions does not work with crowds of tourists. Exclusively individual programs are conducted, designed for one traveler and his companions. That’s why I personally liked the system; I don’t like platitudes.

Possibilities:

Independent choice of the author's excursion. That is, you yourself get acquainted with all the excursion programs of a particular guide, compiled by him independently. Read reviews from people who have already used this excursion program. And only then decide whether this option suits you or not.
Advance booking online. Personally, I am very pleased with this service. I booked a convenient day and time, arrived in the country or city, and rested. And then you can go on excursions.
Payment. This is actually a great option. To make an advance payment, you have the option of only 16% of the total cost. You give the rest of the money to the guide directly upon meeting. But that’s not all - if, for any reason, you are unable to attend the excursion, your money will be returned.

In my opinion, excellent conditions, unique service for individual excursions. You can find out more about all the offers on the official Tripster portal - experience.tripster.ru.

Advantages of online booking excursions

The list of advantages of online booking excursions to Tripster is quite impressive. But I would like to focus on the most important points:

Complete freedom of choice (independence from tour operators, ideal for people who want to plan their time independently);
Save time. There is no longer any need to spend hours on the Internet, selecting the most suitable excursion option. Everything is in one place;
Calm. A tourist can be sure that he will not be deceived, that excursion tickets will not be sold at inflated prices, and so on.

The portal is truly unique; you won’t find anything like this with any tour operator in the whole world.

How to place an order and payment

The process of finding a suitable option, booking and paying on the official portal is quite simple. For example, I do this:

I enter the Tripster portal - excursions from local residents;
I enter the desired city or country into the search engine;
I choose the excursion I like;
I decide on a suitable day and time;
I contact the guide and clarify all points of interest;
I enter personal data (last name and first name, email, phone number);
I make the payment, sometimes I pay only 16%, and the rest of the payment is already on the spot, to the guide.

There are a few more interesting points here. As soon as you make the payment (with a Visa or Mastercard - it doesn’t matter), the guide will see your phone number, and you will see it. Now it is possible to contact the guide at any time, before the scheduled day of the excursion. But until you complete the payment, communication is possible only on the portal. Well, as you can see, everything is simple, easy and accessible to the point of banality.

Standard excursions are becoming a thing of the past, when a crowd of tourists simultaneously tries to keep up with the guide, take a photo, and remember at least something from the speech, full of numbers, dates, and historical information. In the 21st century, an individual approach that takes into account the needs of each client wins, which is what we can boast about. Clients are offered an exclusive product created by a person who knows everything about his city and is able to captivate and intrigue the traveler.

Who is giving the tour?

In places where tourists gather, both in megacities and small towns, there will certainly be creative people with a considerable amount of knowledge. Among them may be professional historians and local historians, library workers, journalists and architects, teachers and art historians. The main thing is that these are caring, enthusiastic, sociable people with whom it is very interesting to spend time.

The future guide registers on the Tripster.ru website, undergoes an interview, presents the topic, and receives assistance in creating a unique project. The authors set the prices themselves, but competition is very high, so it is not in their interests to inflate the cost of the service.

Feedback from people about excursion trips is full of gratitude and appreciation, allowing us to better understand the specifics of the project.

Project Features

Created in 2013, the Tripster project began as a communication club where tourists exchanged impressions and shared valuable tips. As the community grew, it switched to autonomy, and within a few years it turned into a kind of travel club. Clients who register on the website are offered unusual excursions, the authors of which are local residents.

Indeed, who else can tell so captivatingly and knowledgeably about the history, customs, and interesting facts from the life of the city and its inhabitants? The walk, organized according to the author's script, will show local attractions from an unexpected perspective. From local residents, tourists learn information that guides from hotels or excursion bureaus never tell.

The first experiences of amateur excursions turned out to be successful and brought new clients. In all corners of the world, Russian-speaking guides were sought out, well versed in various fields - from wine and coffee to high art. If you have something to tell about your city, you can try your hand at making some money.

In addition to standard trips to places of worship, tourists:

explore the hidden corners of the city;
rise to the roofs and fall underground;
tasting different types of coffee and tea;
get acquainted with wine production technology;
try themselves in pottery and painting;
attend master classes on national dances;
go behind the scenes of the theater.

Family excursions, interesting for all family members regardless of age, turned out to be very popular. These are walks for curious people, the wonders of the Moscow Kremlin, the skyscrapers of Moscow City. For children over 14 years old, exciting quests with treasure hunts, riddles and prizes are offered.

Tripster provides the client with new opportunities:

non-standard approach;
individual programs;
a wide selection of excursions around the world (409 cities);
advance online booking;
payment on the spot;
safety guarantee.

Service designed for independent travelers. Mass excursions with a large number of people are not provided. Everything is purely individual. The group consists of only you and your companions. The guide himself sets the maximum number of wards, as a rule, no more than 10 people.

How to choose and book an excursion

So, you have decided to travel and want to make it interesting and meaningful. Your actions:

go to the official website;
enter the selected city or country in the window;
check out the offers and mark the option you like - look at the number of stars and read reviews;
select a free day on the calendar and enter a convenient time;
contact the guide and discuss the details;
provide your details (last name, first name, phone number, email address);
pay 16-20% of the total cost;
you give the rest of the amount to the guide personally.

Users highly appreciated the benefits of purchasing excursions online. You get freedom of action, do not depend on the tour operator, save time and save your nerves. The agreement concluded between the client and the site administration guarantees security and has legal force.

Payment details

People don't really like paying for services in advance. The service provides the user with the opportunity to first meet the future guide and make sure that the excursion program is suitable for him.

At the first stage, communication takes place in the form of correspondence on the website. Having finally decided, you transfer an advance to the guide. This can be done using Visa or Mastercard.

After this operation you receive the guide's phone number. In turn, your number will be revealed to him, and you will be able to keep in touch until the appointed date.

The main payment is made immediately before the excursion. If for some reason the meeting does not take place, the money will be returned to the card in full.

Promotions from Tripster

To get back part of the money spent on purchasing an excursion, authorization on the site allows you to take advantage of promotions and discounts, often timed to coincide with some significant date or before holidays.

Promotional codes for both periodic and permanent validity are posted on the site.

If you set a goal and track information about discounts, you can save from 5% to 10%. To take advantage of a nice gift:

come in;
select an excursion by clicking the “Order” button;
indicate the date and time;
Enter the current promotional code in the window at the bottom of the page.

The decision must be made quickly. Short promotional codes are valid for a short period of time – from 2 days to a week. The exception is long-term promotions, but the discount percentage will be less.

The project continues to develop, covering new, unknown corners of the planet. As a result, you will fill your vacation with new impressions and meet smart, enthusiastic people. You won't be bored!

I was truly fascinated by the idea of everything free in this world and especially such opportunities in travel! Only if recently I myself “ate free cheese”, now I decided to return the favor to the dear Universe and do something good, of course, for free!

Receive approval from above by e-mail and further follow the news in a group where advertisements for applications for gritters periodically appear;

First “catch” a foreigner who is interesting to you(remembering to correlate your language and other capabilities with the wishes of the guest) and declare your desire to become a griller for him on certain days and times;

From the project coordinator get guest contacts, promptly contact him and arrange a meeting, not forgetting about feedback from the coordinator so that he is aware of what is happening;

meet the guest, walk, chat, enjoy mutual acquaintance, and also take a photo together (even a selfie) and ask for feedback about the walk on the Tripadvisor website: link for St. Petersburg and for Moscow;

keep hunting for new foreign guests in your city!

Directly about your experience of participating in this project I can tell you a little for now, since my gritter debut took place quite recently. I was going to show Dostoevsky’s St. Petersburg to an aspiring Italian photographer, but in the end we walked around, it seems, the entire historical center of the city, fortunately the weather and free time allowed it. In addition to the traditional conversations about Russian culture (vodka-girls-bears), during the walk I took my new friend to the famous Pyshechnaya on Bolshaya Konyushennaya, and the excursion ended with a delicious dinner, which I got as a “thank you” for the hospitality. I won’t lie, it was nice)

Shared much richer experience of “guest breeding” with me one of the most active Moscow gritters Vera Kukoleva…

Vera, please tell us what funny incidents happened to your excursionists in Russia?

It is very touching to watch how foreigners diligently try to learn to read Russian and remember basic expressions. Instead of a long and terribly difficult “hello”, sometimes you get a familiar “hello!”, with which tourists intend to demonstrate their politeness in shops and hotels. Well, “Pestopakh” instead of “Restaurant” is a well-known story.

Once, excursionists from America asked “where I usually buy nesting dolls.” I immediately imagined how every weekend I go to sales of Russian folk toys at a student discount. I had to tell you that almost only tourists buy nesting dolls.

What negative emotions can you get from grilling?

Negative impressions from excursions are extremely rare. They are, rather, exceptions that confirm the rule that grilling always brings only joy. Sometimes it’s a shame when guests are completely uninterested in anything related to the history of the city or its architecture. Such people just want to “chat about life,” and preparing an excursion turns out to be useless. And for each walk I carefully prepare in advance: I select material, try to find something new and interesting.

The project is free, but it’s always nice to receive a “thank you” for your work. In what ways have foreign guests thanked you?

It’s very nice when guests bring me souvenirs from their country. Once a group from Brussels gave a box of real Belgian chocolate (delicious!), and tourists from Italy brought a traditional Neapolitan pendant for good luck. Some foreigners, knowing that the program is free, want to express their gratitude by tipping and paying for the excursion, but I never take money: for me it spoils the whole charm of the walk.

Meeting a gritter with tourists is like meeting good friends. We communicate easily, exchange stories about life in Russia and abroad. I give guests advice on how to best spend time in Moscow, where to go, how not to get lost in the metro. We often stay in touch after a walk and actually remain friends for a long time. Who would even think of taking money from friends? Therefore, I refuse “payment” on principle.

I thank Vera for a piece of her experience that she shared with us, and I hasten to torment you with questions creator of the Moscow gritter community Alexey Sotskov…

Alexey, please tell us how the idea of creating such a project was born?

A few years ago, I was planning a trip to New York City and was looking for free tours led by the residents themselves. I came across the Big Apple Greeter community, created to combat the stereotype that New York is a gang town. Local volunteers showed the guests not famous sights, but the real life of the American metropolis, which turned out to be not so dangerous.

I really liked the idea of this project and decided to organize something similar in Moscow. The emphasis was placed on linguistic students who lack language practice. There are a lot of conversation clubs and thematic lectures in foreign languages, but you usually have to pay to participate in them. And excursions for foreign guests are free conversational practice, and even in an extremely informal setting. In many cities, gritters are mostly older people who have a lot of free time, but in Russia, on the contrary, there are more young people.

How official is this organization and does it have some kind of “head office” that manages all regional ones?

Everything is currently managed by the virtual Global Greeter Network, which, however, has its own real president and even several departments responsible for marketing, accepting new members, etc. Every year, meetings of the global guitar community are held in various cities. There are plans to transfer the organization’s activities into an “official channel”, but for now this is all in the design stage. It's funny, but some members of the Global Greeter Network, for example, the same Big Apple Greeters, exist in a completely official form and are even sponsored by the city mayor's office.

I suspect that with such support, the New York gritter community is the most developed among its counterparts in other countries.

That's right, Big Apple Greeter is the most advanced, because they were at the origins of the movement, which began in 1992, while their “official bosses”, the Global Greeter Network, appeared only in 2005. Currently, the New York Greeters Association has more than 70 members who conduct about 150 excursions per month. However, it should be noted that such a high figure is achieved due to domestic tourists, that is, Americans from other states. We, unlike Big Apple Greeter, are more focused on working with guests from abroad.

Then let's just move on to the Russian gritter movement, tell us a little about its indicators.

The Moscow community of gritters will soon turn 4 years old, and the St. Petersburg community has been functioning for only 10 months. There are 70 registered participants in the capital, and about 40 in the Northern capital. As for the number of excursions, this very much depends on the time of year. During the season in Moscow, about 50 walks with foreign guests are held per month, and in winter - only 20. In St. Petersburg, the numbers are still quite modest: only 40 excursions since the creation of the community. However, it should be noted that the number of interested tourists increases every year, so we hope that we will continue to grow and develop!

All I can do is thank Alexey for the interesting conversation and wish the greeters of both capitals more interesting guests from all over the world!

Excursions for independent travelers and vacationers on the official website of the Tripster agency. Book unusual excursions and walks from locals and make your trip unique and unforgettable. Tours are offered in almost 400 cities around the world.

Tripster and unusual excursions

The Tripster service offers 2.5 thousand unusual excursions from local residents in 340 cities around the world. They are organized and conducted mainly by our former compatriots currently living in these countries. Russia is also very widely represented. In addition to individual excursions, the Tripster website, in the “Trips” section, offers entire unique trips around your home country and Bali.

Tripster is a platform where guides - local residents and travelers - meet. The guide offers the service the option of an excursion or a themed walk in his place of residence, and Tripster posts it on his website. Before posting, the service can make suggestions to the local resident on how to improve his unusual excursion and make it truly unique and attractive to tourists.

The tourist, in turn, finds an offer for an unusual excursion or a themed walk from a local resident on the Tripster website and books it.

All unusual excursions offered on the site were invented by guides - local residents, sometimes with improvements made on the advice of the Tripster service, but always tested and reliable. On this site you will not find bus tours for large groups of tourists with boring, rote speeches from guides. You will plunge into a world inaccessible to ordinary travelers who book standard excursions “for everyone”, you will receive unique, unforgettable experiences during your trip and personal communication with a guide - a local resident.

Selecting and ordering an excursion online

By going to , answer the question “Where are you going?” in the search form by selecting a place from the drop-down list or entering it manually. As a result, all proposals from local residents for unusual excursions and walks will be displayed, indicating their name and price. By clicking on the selected offer, you will be redirected to a page with a detailed description of the excursion, a widget with a booking button and a link to contact a local guide.

All excursions offered on the Tripster website are unique, and before booking the one that interests you, contact the guide via the link on the website and ask him all your questions related to the theme and organization of the event. If you have received answers to all your questions, go to the “Book” tab, select the date, start time of the excursion, the number of tourists, your name, contact information and click the “Submit” button.

After the guide confirms the selected excursion, his contact information will become available to you: phone and email, by which you can contact him directly to clarify individual details.

The uniqueness of unusual excursions and walks booked on the Tripster website also lies in the fact that, together with a guide - a local resident, you can make adjustments to the event so that it best suits your desires: change the route, add or exclude places visited, change the time of stay in them and so on.

After all issues regarding the event have been resolved, you pay 16% of the cost of the excursion on the Tripster website, and the rest of the amount is transferred to the guide - a local resident after conducting an unusual excursion or walk.

If your trip does not take place, the Tripster service will return the prepayment.

Cancellation of a booked excursion

If you decide to cancel a booked unusual excursion, then

firstly, inform your local guide about this;
secondly, cancel the order on the Tripster website.

If you cancel 6 days or more in advance, your deposit will be refunded in full. If the excursion is canceled 5 days or less in advance, the decision to refund the prepayment depends on the guide.

To receive a refund, please send a request to the email listed in the “Return Policy” section of the Tripster website. The prepayment will be returned to the same card from which it was received.

Visit and make your trip unique and memorable with unusual excursions and walks from locals.