What inspired you to work for Beyond Travels?
One of my greatest passions began in childhood. As an Ecuadorian with half of my family from the United States, I loved bringing my American family to Ecuador and sharing my culture, people, and country with them.
I quickly realized these visits were much more than vacations. My family learned, connected, changed, and had an incredible time, while the local businesses and communities that welcomed them benefited economically.
I saw the power of creating a true win-win through travel, and that realization has shaped my entire life. I have dedicated my life to creating meaningful travel experiences that transform visitors while generating positive, lasting benefits for local businesses, communities, and the places they call home.
What advice would you tell your pre-travel self?
Travel differently. Get out of the hotel. Meet local people.
Seek out rural farmers who are willing to welcome you, share a meal, tell their stories, and show you their way of life. Farmers often carry generations of knowledge about growing food, cooking, forests, plants, and the natural world that you simply cannot find in a guidebook.
In Senegal on a horse and cart
Describe a typical day at work.
In the Office
- One-on-one conversations with potential travelers, travel organizations, staff, and local providers
- Writing emails
- Posting on social media
In the Field
- Visiting schools and going to conferences
- Leading groups in the Amazon Rainforest, Galápagos Islands, Costa Rica, and Senegal
Why do you do what you do?
On a mission to create positive change through the joy of travel.
What is your favorite part of your job?
Designing and implementing travel experiences
How do you use your education and international background in your current role?
I love what I do so much that I have built my entire life around travel and intercultural understanding. I live it, study it, work in it, and create transformative travel experiences for others.
From my education in international education to living, studying, and working across cultures, everything I have done has centered on connecting people and helping them understand the world and one another more deeply.
Travel isn’t just my career. It is my life’s passion and purpose.
Why should someone choose Beyond Travels over competitors?
What Makes Beyond Travels Different
- Experienced Leadership and a Bridge Between Cultures
Andy Gavilanes, founder and CEO, has approximately 30 years of international experience. Half Ecuadorian and half American, he speaks four languages, has lived and worked across the Americas, Europe, and Asia, served in the Peace Corps, and holds a Master’s in International Education. This experience allows us to understand both travelers and host communities and create meaningful, transformational connections between them. - We Go Beyond the Tourist Experience
We go off the beaten path and immerse visitors in local communities. We plant, harvest, cook, dance, learn, and spend time with people in their homes, farms and communities.
We avoid the “tip of the iceberg” experience where travelers simply visit attractions, stay in resorts and interact with locals only as service providers. We are travelers, not tourists. Our long-standing local relationships give visitors access to authentic experiences most tourists never discover. - We Practice Presence
We encourage visitors to slow down and truly experience where they are. Listen to the birds. Smell the forest. Feel the sun. Swim, walk, meditate and simply be present.
Presence and curiosity transform the travel experience. - We Believe in Experiential Learning
We don't just show you something. We want you to do it.
Plant and harvest instead of simply touring a farm. Cook instead of just eating. Dance instead of watching. Make crafts instead of buying them. Participate rather than observe.
Learning by doing creates deeper understanding and connection. - Every Experience Is Customized
We don't believe in one-size-fits-all travel. We learn about you, your interests and goals, then tailor the experience accordingly.
We balance adventure, learning, connection, rest, comfort and opportunities to step outside your comfort zone. Our goal is more than a great vacation. It is personal growth and transformation. - Small, Boutique and Human
We are intentionally small. This allows us to remain personal, flexible and responsive.
You are not a reservation number. We treat you like a human being, and like friends and family.
Our size allows us to adapt programs, respond to individual interests and maintain genuine relationships with both visitors and local communities. - We Support Rural Communities and Forests
We work primarily with rural farming and forest communities, creating income through tourism while supporting their livelihoods, knowledge, products and connection to the land.
Visitors don't simply observe these communities. They build relationships with them and learn from them. In return, communities benefit economically and gain new opportunities to share their knowledge and culture. - We Help People Reconnect
Modern life increasingly separates people from nature, community, movement and meaningful hands-on experiences.
Our programs offer the opposite: walking through forests, harvesting food, preparing meals, working with your hands, spending time with local people and practicing presence.
We take people out of the screen and into the forest. Out of isolation and into community. Out of sitting and into movement. Out of distraction and into presence. - We Take Care of Our People
International travel involves risks, and we take safety seriously. Our years of local experience have built strong relationships with doctors, hospitals, transportation providers, emergency services and other resources.
We know who to call and what to do when something goes wrong.
We take care of our people. - Relationships Continue After the Trip
Our relationship doesn't end when the program does. Visitors often remain connected with us and with the communities they visited.
We aim to create long-term relationships, not transactions.
Our Philosophy
- Travel with purpose. Learn by doing. Be present. Go deeper. Build real relationships. Support local communities. Step outside your comfort zone. Grow. Transform. Don't just visit a place. Become part of it.
In a Costa Rican Forest Farm
What is Beyond Travels' mission and how do you continue to work toward it?
Our mission is to create transformative experiences for travelers while creating meaningful, positive impact in the cultures and environments they visit.
We are constantly asking ourselves how we can make that impact stronger. Rather than following a fixed model, we continually explore new ideas, adapt our programs, and incorporate concepts that can help us achieve our mission more effectively.
For our travelers, we are increasingly focusing on the concept of presence. We believe that being truly present is one of the most important tools for learning, connecting, and experiencing life deeply.
Many people in Western societies today spend much of their lives indoors, sitting behind computers and looking at phones. At the same time, burnout, isolation, anxiety, and depression are increasingly common.
Our programs offer an opportunity to step away from that environment and reconnect with some fundamental human practices: being outdoors, moving our bodies, preparing food, working with our hands, learning from others, and being part of a community.
We visit rural farmers and forest communities not simply to observe them, but to learn from their knowledge, values, and ways of life. Participants may harvest food, plant, prepare traditional foods and medicines, walk through forests, and spend meaningful time with local people. These experiences can reconnect travelers with practices and values that have become increasingly disconnected from everyday life in much of the Western world.
By intentionally practicing presence during our programs, travelers are able to slow down, pay attention, build deeper relationships, and ultimately take much more away from their experience.
At the same time, we have become increasingly focused on working with rural farmers and forest communities because they are often among the people who need economic opportunities most and are directly connected to the protection of the forests and ecosystems around them.
Our goal is therefore a genuine two-way exchange: travelers are transformed through meaningful experiences and learning, while host communities and environments benefit from the relationships, opportunities, and support that responsible travel can create.
We see our work as an ongoing process of learning, adapting, and finding better ways to make travel a force for personal transformation, intercultural understanding, community benefit, and environmental conservation.
In a farm in Costa Rica
What hopes do you have for the future for Beyond Travels?
The goal is to increase our positive impact on visitors, communities, and forests while preserving the quality and essence of the experience. We do not want to grow simply for the sake of growth.
If we grow too much, the experience can become standardized and industrialized, losing the personal, intimate, boutique character that makes our programs transformative.
Are there any developments with Beyond Travels that you would like to share with us?
We now work in the Amazon Rainforest of Ecuador, the Galápagos Islands, Costa Rica, and Senegal in West Africa. Across these destinations, we have narrowed our focus to visiting and working with rural farmers and forest communities, creating experiences that positively impact both their lives and the forests they depend on.
We also focus strongly on presence as a way to improve the quality and lasting impact of the experience. We want visitors to be fully present during their stay, listening, being curious, and genuinely connecting with the people and places they encounter.
We cultivate this through breathing, meditation, silent forest walks, and hands-on activities that encourage participants to slow down, pay attention, and experience their surroundings more deeply.
What makes Beyond Travels easy to market to potential participants?
We offer a world-class product in a rapidly growing market. More travelers are seeking purposeful experiences that allow them to learn, transform, and positively impact the places they visit. That is exactly what we provide.
We work with individuals and groups of all ages, customizing each experience around their interests, goals, and needs. Our combination of meaningful impact, deep immersion, and personalized experiences creates a unique boutique product that is difficult to replicate.
What do you hope participants take away from your programs?
Through our experiences, travelers:
- Learn how people live in other parts of the world and gain a deeper understanding of different cultures.
- Recognize their own privilege and the importance of caring for people, communities, and the planet.
- Learn values, knowledge, and practices from rural farmers and forest communities.
- Develop stronger intercultural communication and language skills.
- Find greater purpose, meaning, excitement, and motivation in their lives.
- Discover how their choices can positively impact themselves, others, and the environment.
- Learn about the history, geography, current events, challenges, and successes of the places they visit.
- Practice presence and experience the importance of connecting with nature and the forest.
- Rediscover the value of being outdoors, moving their bodies, growing and harvesting food, making food and medicine, and spending meaningful time in community.
On a swing off a precipice in the Andes Mountains in Ecuador
- Break out of their routines and comfort zones, creating new pathways for personal and communal growth.
- Return home inspired to see their communities and their own lives differently and to make positive changes.
Travel is more than seeing the world. It is a way to grow, connect, and return home with the desire and ability to make life better for yourself and others.
What does meaningful travel mean to you?
It’s important not to settle for “tip of the iceberg” travel, where you only experience the pretty, superficial parts of a culture and place: the architecture, tourist food, resort beaches, piña coladas, and staged cultural performances. When the only interaction you have with locals is with the people serving you, you’re missing so much of what a place has to offer.
Get out. Learn how to cook a local meal. Learn the dance instead of just watching it. Talk with farmers and families. Learn about the challenges and realities of the country, not just its beauty. Go off the beaten path, be curious, and bring your business to communities that are often overlooked.
Some of the most meaningful travel experiences come from the people and places farthest from the tourist trail.
