What would be the point of travelling for pleasure if everywhere we visited was identical to the place we’d come from? 

I love listening to travel programmes on the radio and letting my mind wander off into dreams of exploration and adventure. One of my favourite shows is Excess Baggage on Radio 4 at 10am every Saturday and I recommend it to all lovers of travel.

Not your average tourist trap - Romanian Tripbod Daniel shares a real slice of local life

On the most recent show (which you can hear again on the BBC website) the guest contributor was talking about Sicily as a place to avoid homogeneous travel experiences and my ears pricked up. The homogenisation of local culture was one of the reasons we started building the Tripbod network.

As more people travel and venture overseas, mass travel pervades and renders delicate cultures powerless to the onslaught of ‘investment in tourism’ – massive hotel complexes, chain restaurants and homogenisation of previously unique indigenous areas. I believe most people don’t want this but feel there’s a lack the choice. As we work harder we have less time to travel and the ease of the package appeals.

This is where innovations like Tripbod come in – all the ease without the footprint. Easier than walking into a travel agency, where the person behind the desk has little insight of the destination, is connecting online with a trusted local expert to plan the trip with or for you. Your time and money goes a lot further and into the hands of people who need it most.

That's one way to get the groceries - explore Estonia by kick-sled with Tripbod Aivar

And I’m not just talking about developing areas here, I’m talking about everywhere – this is as applicable to visitors coming to the UK in 2012 as it is to travellers visiting Kenya. Going local is the best deal for all.

As an effort to ward off cultural homogenisation, Tripbod.com is a platform for all of us to share our stories of the local cultures and traditions that make us proud. What unites us as a global community is the frustration that visitors coming to our destination so often get trapped in tourist areas. They leave without having experienced the real place or connected with the wonderful people who live there still once they have left.

We are these local people. We are Tripbods and we work together to ensure more travellers get off the beaten path and celebrate with us the unique stories about the places we live in and love.

Join us.

Other great resources for the culture-conscious traveller:

• Make Travel Fair blog network
• Tourism Concern organisation
• Conscious Tourism blog

Tripbod HQ is nestled in the heart of London and at this time of year we can’t help but feel all festive, especially when visiting the various local markets that are bustling with gift shoppers.

This picture is of Covent Garden market, beautifully decorated with enormous red baubles and stunning lights. The smell of mulled wine and spices wafts through the halls as traders busily stock up their stalls.

Our favourite festive place for ‘meetings’ has been over rich hot chocolates in this beautiful chocolate shop at Borough Market. The shop traces the history of the cocoa bean and the chocolate trade, as well as being a stauch fair trade promoter. It really is a feast for the eyes as well as your taste buds, making for a special festive hideaway (a top tip for any romantics out there!)

Not everyone celebrates Christmas of course, but nevertheless there is a real atmosphere of positivity, celebration and warmth as we reach the end of the year.

It’s also a time of year when nostalgia tends to creep in as you hark back to the year gone by before looking to the year ahead. And what a year it’s been! The Tripbod team has grown and grown, both in the HQ office as well as the global family of Tripbods. We’ve launched partnerships, won several accolades and launched our ‘big vision’ – the new web platform: an ‘eBay for local travel experiences, with soul’!

So it’s been a big year for tripbod.com and all involved… but if you think that was big, just wait for 2012. Expect more exciting partnerships, more brilliant Tripbods stationed across the globe, and campaigns aimed at making travel a great deal better for all.

So we just wanted to say a Merry Christmas to one and all, with very best wishes for the new year ahead. May all your dreams of adventures come true!

Best wishes,

Sally, Liz, Pete, Martin and Colin – and on behalf of the global Tripbod community.

Sal, Pete and Liz enjoying the new Tripbod HQ roof garden this summer

There are many reasons why tripbod.com works: because a great local contact always makes the world of difference to a trip; because travel has become a commodity and maybe we don’t want to see and do the same thing as every other visitor; and also because everyone can be a Tripbod. Just living somewhere means you collect local knowledge, even if you don’t mean to, and that knowledge holds great value.

tripbod.com is a place where anyone can share their local knowledge and, in doing so, enjoy a pride-filled ambassadorial role which can also generate some extra income. We have long worked with travel writers, for example, who in recent years have suffered a dramatic change to their working life. Content is increasingly undervalued, hence so is their time. So what about planning your perfect trip to Portugal with the person who actually wrote the guidebook? Everyone wins.

There is a real problem in the UK, and no doubt further afield, with skilled writers finding rewarding work, so if tripbod.com offers an outlet for that talent, whilst ensuring time is fairly remunerated, then it’s a wonderful thing.

It doesn’t stop there, of course, and we are always interested in how tripbod.com can become a rewarding job for people who need flexibility. Full-time mums for example – your knowledge is immense! You could help families visiting your area plan how to get around with a pushchair, where to find the child-friendly cafes and great playgrounds, and much more besides.

So we’re really excited that the recent launch of the new tripbod.com could be a ground-breaking opportunity in employment, engagement and the giving everyone the chance to become an entrepreneur.

Join the tribe.

Since the launch of the all new tripbod.com last week, friends have asked what the difference is with the new platform. We have tried to answer this question on our Origins page, but I also wanted to give a brief summary here.

Since 2007 our goal has been to support and encourage travellers to ‘go local’ and ensure the benefits from tourism are felt at the the community level, when often they are not. We started with a gap year and volunteering website called YourSafePlanet, but it quickly became clear that the concept of a trusted local contact strikes a chord with most independent travellers, and so we launched tripbod.com: a place where we can all connect online with a like-minded local person in our destination to help plan the perfect trip.

We were over the moon when travellers told us ‘I could not have had the holiday I dreamed of without your help’ and then went on to tell us the best part of their trip was meeting their Tripbod for a coffee, a meal, or a wander around a local market….

We have learned that we cannot predict what wonderful experiences result from a simple connection, and so we have created a platform that allows for just that – for the community to decide what they want to offer as Tripbods, and for visitors to connect directly with Tripbods and request tailored advice and individual local experiences.

So the new tripbod.com is a bit like an eBay for travel…. but with soul! It’s about taking travel back to its roots and giving a voice to the people behind the places.

We believe travel is about exploration, adventure and learning from the inspiring people behind the places we visit. These people are Tripbods. These people are you.

Please join us.