There are trailblazers in the travel line, who, with their personal inspirations and passionate beliefs can carry their clients with them on some incredible reimagined journeys. It’s these inspirations and passionate beliefs, in fact, which define the new perspectives the traveller gathers even about tried and tested holiday destinations–typical examples being Jaipur and Udaipur in Rajasthan, Kashmir, national capital Delhi and many others.
Shilpa Sharma, co-founder of Jaypore.com, and also co- founder of a concept regional cuisine restaurant called Mustard in Goa and Mumbai has done just that when she launched Breakaway in 2011. Not only was it inspired by her personal travel experiences, it was also driven by the need to curate bespoke ‘Beyond the Brochure’ experiential journeys around India for solo travellers and FITs looking for an immersive and 'slow travel’ approach to experiencing India. As she sees it, Breakaway is a platform for offbeat /learning oriented and curated experiential tourism concepts.
What’s also unique about her travel programmes is that these journeys offer in-depth, insider-view experiences about crafts and textile, culinary, social enterprise interactions–culled from her professional exposure in her role as an advisor for businesses in the craft, textile and lifestyle space The confidence in the immersive experiences Breakaway curates for its travellers comes from leveraging those associations and relationships. This adds that very special touch in the community interaction based tours in the areas of her expertise. It’s this incredible network which also allows for ready access to those professionals in these related areas, which most people in the travel fraternity may not provide. For Breakaway, there is no one size that fits all.
If you pick any of the tours, say in the field of textiles, it will come home to you very quickly that when it’s curated by a domain expert, you can enjoy far greater value from the experience than from someone who randomly picked up names in the field off a list used by all and sundry. The fine-tuning which drives these customised experiences involves a close study of the traveller’s profile, area of interest, and the desired level of interactions for a satisfying tour.Run away from the mundane and take a deep dive into inspirational trips such as the Craft and Textile Trail in Srinagar; One Day Textile Trail in Kanchpuram; A Textile Trail in Ahmedabad; Check out the Textile Trail in the Holy City of Varanasi; Textile Trail in Udaipur; Block-Printing workshop in Jaipur; Delhi Art Walk et al.
The growth and success of this endeavour has been built on the strength of repeat customers and word-of-mouth endorsements. Also, the limitless desire to go the extra mile to ensure deeper, greater value-addition to the tours continues to pay rich dividends for future growth plans. Despite the challenges, there are fresh opportunities for more creative programmes. There is always the desire to deliver an illuminating experience that is also influenced by the powerful beliefs that have driven Breakaway’s own journey into the travel space.