You will stay in simple but comfortable hotels, guest houses, and homestays, which have shared space for discussions and evening get-togethers. Most of our accommodation will be in twin shared accommodation. Student groups will be a mix of twin and dorm accommodation. If you wish to have a single room please let us know.

Most of the travel will be in minibuses and taxis. We will take overnight sleeper train journeys and use autorickshaws, and boats for local transport.

Some days will involve very early mornings, and some days will involve a lot of travelling from one location to another, where the journey is at the heart of the day’s activities, as opposed to simply a means to getting somewhere. You will be able to ask questions at each place that we stop. Questioning, enquiry, exploring, and observing are all very much part of the process of travelling.

Kiran Sahi from the Stepwell Team takes the lead for all of our trips supported by our coordinating team in India. Each trip is a guided and supported travel experience and you will be accompanied by our team throughout. They will coordinate and meet with you before the trip to talk through the process of the journey and how to prepare. They will meet you on arrival in India and will guide you throughout the journey to interpret, explain and facilitate the journey.

The costs for each of our journeys vary, depending on the needs of the suggested itinerary of travel and accommodation and the size of the group. As a guide, most of our adult ‘learning journey’ projects cost around the region of £1000 per week (without flight.) School and student groups have a lower cost due to dorm accommodation. The final cost will depend on the final itinerary that you choose. We hope that this will help to give a sense of the cost involved. Please be in touch with us via this link and we will send you the suggested itinerary, the relevant cost, and what is included.

We have a thorough pre-trip preparation process to work closely with you from the point of booking until the trip ends in India to ensure you are fully supported, adhering to British Standards (BS8848):

Our preparation pack: This includes pre-trip operational logistics, information about the accommodation and facilities of where you will be staying, travel advice, kit lists, and health and safety guidance. We will give advice and guidance for purchasing flights, insurance, and obtaining visas that participants purchase alongside our support. We require that your flights are purchased through a travel company that provides ATOL protection for your bookings.

Meetings: We will organise a meeting to go through the preparation pack together and to cover your needs and questions nearer to the trip, looking specifically at health and safety guidance, how to travel responsibly in India, how to stay safe whilst travelling in India. For school groups we can visit your school to meet with parents.

Communication: For our adult groups a social media group is created via WhatsApp for keeping all participants in touch with each other before, during and after the visit, for sharing common questions and logistical information. For our school groups we work closely with the school to establish robust communications processes as part of our risk assessment and risk management protocols.

On arrival in India, we will provide you with a written resource booklet created specifically for your visit, highlighting health and safety for travel in India, travel guidance, and essential contact details. The booklet includes written case study material to support the experiences and excursions, suggesting activities to help you engage with the places you visit.

Our journeys in India require that participants book a return flight to India independently or as part of a school group booking, timed to arrive and depart at the relevant Indian airports according to the programme of travel in India. This allows for flexibility of flight costs and carriers and allows adult rticipants to travel before/after the journey in India if they wish. We require that you purchase a flight that includes ATOL protection.

The trip is carefully assessed with risk management procedures and security protocol in place to ensure that the programme adheres to British Standards (BS8848). We work closely with school staff, putting in place robust communlcation processes and alligning with safeguarding and security policies. Our adult trips are run on the basis and understanding that you are joining a group of independent adults and will be responsible for your own safety alongside the support, care and guidance that we provide throughout.

Your finances are protected securely through Travel Vault which is authorised and regulated by The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). ABTA, ATOL and AITO also recognise them.