More Than Three Decades of Walking the World
WAI started with a simple belief: the best way to understand a place is to walk through it. Everything we've built since 1989 is a proof of that idea.
Close to the Ground Since 1989
“Close to the ground” is the phrase that captures everything WAI believes about travel. The further you get from the tourist infrastructure — the big hotels, the tour buses, the restaurants with picture menus — the closer you get to the actual place. Its rhythms. Its character. The people who live there.
Walking makes that possible. It's the oldest form of exploration, and we believe it's still the purest.
Walking slows us down and gives our senses a chance to connect with our surroundings. Sights, sounds, smells, textures — even the tastes of a destination become real and focused when you see the world from a walker's point of view. You hear the morning call to prayer echoing across a square. You smell bread from a village oven. You notice the way light falls on an old stone wall. None of that happens from a tour bus seat.
We also call this travel philosophy “safe but not scripted.” Our itineraries are carefully structured so the highlights land — and flexible enough to let the unplanned moments happen. The unexpected café. The stranger who becomes a friend. The wrong turn that leads to the better view. Part of an authentic journey is being open to it.
Walking clubs and local partners
Many of our walks bring an added dimension that no guide can manufacture: we partner with local walking clubs — including Volksport clubs, the American Volksport Association (AVA), and walking organizations around the world — to share the trail with local, everyday citizens who simply love walking and enjoy sharing it with visitors. Walking with a retired teacher from Bavaria, or a farmer who's hiked these hills his whole life, is a different experience than walking with a guide who explains what you're seeing. It's the difference between visiting a place and briefly belonging to it.
Built on a Simple Idea. Refined for 37+ Years.
Walking Adventures International started with a high school history teacher named George Friesen who believed the best classroom was the one you walked through. In 1989, he built a tour formula around that belief — a blend of walking and motorcoach travel that let people feel a destination instead of just observe it. Two to four hours on foot every day, at a pace that let your senses catch up with your surroundings.
It worked better than anyone expected.
In 1992, George's son Dan joined the business and spent the next three decades turning a family passion project into something that circled the globe. Africa. Antarctica. Asia. South America. The Pacific. One continent at a time, with every itinerary built from scratch by guides who'd walked the routes themselves. By the time Dan stepped back, WAI had reached all 7 continents, 60+ destinations, and a 37-year track record built entirely on the quality of the experience — not on marketing.
In 2025, WAI entered a new chapter. Scott Isom — the guide who has led more WAI tours than anyone, on more continents, in more countries — stepped into the role of Adventurer in Chief. Alongside him is Hugo Palma, founder of Borealis — an adventure travel company specializing in off-the-beaten-path destinations, with deep expertise in trekking and touring across Europe and Africa. Where most operators follow well-worn routes, Borealis has spent years building itineraries in places that reward the curious traveler willing to go a little further.
Hugo brings that reach, a network of destination partnerships built over years on the ground, and a fresh perspective that complements everything WAI has built. Together, Scott and Hugo lead a team that is expanding what WAI can offer — while carrying the same standards George and Dan established from the beginning.
Built by Guides. Shaped by Travelers.
These aren't talking points. They're the decisions we make every time we build a trip — and the things our travelers notice, often on the first day.
Two guides on every trip
Every WAI adventure is led by two experienced guides — one to lead, one to support. There's always someone to walk alongside you, answer a question, or make sure no one feels left behind. On international tours, a national guide joins the team with local knowledge no outsider can replicate.
Every itinerary built from scratch
We don't license tours from wholesalers. We don't repackage other companies' itineraries. Every WAI tour is designed by guides who've walked the routes themselves — who know the right approach, the right pace, and the details that never make it into any guidebook.
Refined every time we run it
No two editions of a WAI tour are exactly alike. We walk every route, listen to every piece of feedback, and come back the following year with a sharper itinerary. The best stops stay. The ones that didn't land get rethought. After 37 years of this, the good stuff has had a long time to rise to the surface.
Shaped by the people who travel with us
Our travelers vote on destinations with refundable Early Bird deposits — so the calendar reflects what they actually want to experience, not what's convenient for us to run. We read every piece of feedback, from the formal survey to the conversation on the last night of a trip. The single best source of intelligence on what makes a great WAI tour is the people who've been on one — and we take that seriously.
The People Who Keep Coming Back
On any given WAI tour, more than half the travelers have been with us before. Some are on their fourth adventure. Some their eighth. A few have been coming since George was still leading trips.
They don't come back because of loyalty programs or early-bird promotions. They come back because of the people they met the first time.
The community that's grown around WAI over 37 years is honestly the thing we're most proud of. It's not something you design. It's what happens when you put curious people in beautiful places, slow them down enough to actually meet each other, and run the same kind of trip well enough that they want to do it again.
“I always look forward to the ‘off the beaten track’ experiences. The occasional ‘surprises’ are always an added bonus. I rave about WAI to everyone — walkers or not.”
— Margie M., Gaithersburg, MD
