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About us
We are, Chantal and Dennis Becker from beautiful Saskatoon! We have been happily married for over 22 years. Lots of people must have bet against our marriage as we have 21 years difference but we are still going strong, loving life and each other!
We are well-traveled and we have put foot into 104 countries & territories. Chantal is the force behind our adventures. One of our trips even landed Dennis to a 2-week hospital stay in Bali (nothing related to Bali itself but viral encephalitis) in 2015. This did not deter Dennis from travelling to less travelled destinations! This difficult situation brought much positivity in our lives as we now have an “adoptive son” Dewa, his wife Ayu and his 2 children, Ode and Ayu (this is a long story and we can share this with you over a drink somewhere!).
Dennis at Siloam Hospital in Bali with his neuro surgeon
Chantal, Dennis and Dewa in Bali
We returned to Bali in 2017 and Ayu (in the centre and in pink) celebrated her 8th birthday while Chantal and Dennis were there…. It was her first ever birthday party!
Chantal’s friend gave this birthday card for Ayu with about $5 US in it. Most beautiful reaction ever!
Ayu’s birthday gift from Chantal and Dennis
We love to discover different countries. In 2019, Chantal realized that the next thing to do on her “places to see” was a safari in Tanzania. She also knew if they would go to the continent of Africa, they had to experience “gorilla trekking”. Chantal wondered how to sell it to Dennis but when she first introduced the idea, astonishingly, Dennis was onboard right away!
This eastern Africa trip had been always put on the back burner (without Dennis’ knowledge) as the prices as seen online were always too expensive for The Beckers’ wallet! But, Chantal’s best quality is without a doubt, perseverance!
After Dennis’ consent to travel to Africa, Chantal started reading/planning the best itinerary for gorilla trekking and safaris. Well, you can trek gorillas only in 2 countries: Rwanda and Tanzania. The cost of gorilla permits were then $1,500 in Rwanda and $600 in Uganda. Uganda won the heart of Chantal right away as she loves quality/price. Quality/price is Chantal’s travel motto!
A 12-day itinerary was then born for Uganda. Then, she tackled Tanzania and an 8-day itinerary was then born.
Travelling to Africa is without a doubt expensive, there is no way around it. However, when comparing apples with apples, Chantal knew she had created an awesome trip at the best quality/price! Chantal doesn’t want to guess how many hours she put into creating Jan-Feb 2020 Eastern Africa trip but it is A LOT. But she LOVES planning trips!
Fast forward to 2023, Dennis and Chantal can tell you from the bottom of their hearts that their trips to Eastern Africa has exceeded by far their expectations. The wildlife was beyond imaginable but most of all, Chantal and Dennis made life long friendships. This is extremely important to them when travelling. Their most cherished memories while travelling always involved forming some type of friendship with the locals (as I am writing this, I just received an email from my friend (our taxi driver) in Zanzibar, Tanzania!).
We were invited to Ivan's house (our driver)
We visited a pygmy village
Awesome welcoming from our drivers/guides in Tanzania
Dressing up Masai!
What did Jeff find for us?
We went hunting with the Bushmen
WE BELIEVE IN
1. Questioning yourself: Are you adventurous? Do you want a romantic vacation? Do you want to relax versus being on the go? Do you want to be in cities or in nature?
We believe travellers should question themselves as to where they want to go and what they want to experience. We are strongly advising you to not compromise or settle for just any destination but to travel where you are passionate about even if it means saving a little longer. Life is too short, travel to your dream destination and not for “a not so great” destination.
2. We believe in value. Value does not mean bottom price but quality/price. Dennis and I have slept in 5 star hotels but we have also stayed in 2 star hotels. Chantal does her research and decides by considering value and our needs. Here is a small example. In 2014, Chantal convinced Dear Husband (DH) to discover Asia by cruising on a cruise ship as it was eliminating his argument that he would get sick eating in Asia… After he agreed to the 28-day cruise, Chantal worked on a pre-cruise. A pre-cruise is discovering areas you can not see on the cruise. To Chantal’s delight, DH agreed.
Then, Chantal worked on a post-cruise (I know, she is mischievous)! A post-cruise, is about discovering other locations you have never seen close to the disembarkation area. DH agreed again, maybe because he was tired of Chantal’s nagging…. Total days away 72 days. To be able to afford such a long trip, Chantal had to be wise with the decision making which included value. We stayed at a 5* Marriott in Bali but we also stayed at a 2* hotel in Saigon. DH did not think it was a good idea but Chantal reassured him she had researched for hours and we would be happy. Did we? Absolutely. The only draw back was the size of the room, a bit small. We could live with it for 3 nights. So this is what we are talking about when we mention value. 3 nights in Vietnam, we could live in a small room with a great location AND great reviews. Bali, 10 nights, we wanted a great room for this length of time. We paid less in Saigon and way more in Bali. It's all about value and quality/price.
Chantal and Vietnam's custom officers
We love to meet new friends!
Chantal loves to organize small group tours when cruising...
'When in Rome do as the Romans do'
or should we say
'When in Japan do as the geishas do'
3. We believe in independent travelling. Let me explain what we mean. You can be an independent traveller in an organized vacation. I hope I am not losing you! There are different degrees of independent travelling:
a backpacker going wherever his/her heart dictates, I would rate it 10/10 on a scale of independence
a pre-cruise, a cruise and a post cruise. I would rate this a 6/10 on a scale of independence.
a bus tour where the traveller has to follow the everyday itinerary 1/10 on a scale of independence
Sometimes, you don't have the choice and have to opt for something very structured like a bus tour (like discovering China for example).
4. We believe in a simplified life. If researching and planning is not your bag then don't get frustrated and leave it to someone else. Use that time positively instead. Life is too short, do something you have passion for.
5. We believe in 'Social Conscious Travel'. Just don’t see the world. Make it better. Planet Earth is an amazing place, but it’s far from perfect. A social conscious traveler is the one who during his/her visit to any place, leaves more positive impacts than negative ones and helps to spread the values of equality and prosperity. As an ambassador of Canada, let people see and learn the good things from you through your actions and behaviour. We want to bring this concept to our fellow travellers and help them change people’s Lives. We know what we are talking about as we have experienced it. We have a few stories for you that we can share later… This is your chance to leave behind a piece of yourself at your next destination through genuinely investing in the people. Why not live every day with Passion & Purpose even while travelling!
Chiang Mai: we took a worker from our small hotel to the dentist as he would not smile for good reason
After much dental work, we received this photo 2 months later of smiling Johnny (not his real name)
6. We deeply believe in customized itineraries, let me tell you why. I guess we are pretty picky travellers. When we visit a new destination, we want to see everything that interests us at a leisurely pace. This is why we usually don't get excited with bus tours. They are moving at an insane pace. So when Chantal researched Australia, she quickly realized a bus tour was not perfect for us. A cruise was not going to be ideal either. So after lots of research and thinking, we decided to that we would spend about a week at 5 different locations. We flew from place to place to place and rented a car for a week. Our 6 week-trip was outstanding. Was it a cheap trip? No but we believe it was great value for our needs. This vacation was customized exactly to what we wanted to see at a slow pace. We saw Melbourne, the Great Ocean Road, the Great Barrier Reef, Whitsundays, Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Blue Mountains and Sydney. Australia is one of our favourite countries.
This is what I have done for the tours in Uganda and Tanzania. Think of me as your personal butler!
In summary, my
favourite words are
VALUE - CUSTOMIZED ITINERARIES - RESEARCH/PLANNING - INDEPENDENT TRAVELER IN AN ORGANIZED VACATION
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