FAQ

Indie Horizons is a consulting agency founded by Andromachos Dimitrokallis in 2015, providing business coaching workshops, interactive storytelling scenarios, and experience design services, using travel experiences as educational material and personal development tool. Our clients include business and non-profit organisations, educational institutions, coaching and wellness groups, travel professionals, individual travellers, and everyone passionate and eager to explore and learn from the wondrous sights and insights that our world has to offer.

“Indie” comes from “independent” (like indie music), which highlights our focus to independent travellers. “Horizons” because we want our trips to help you broaden your horizons, whether in geographical, cultural, or any other sense. No matter how close or how far you set these horizons, always aim to travel beyond them!

Travel Coaching is the use of travel experiences as educational material and personal development tools, providing powerful inspiration and insightful food for thought. Beyond a simple tailored travel planning experience, Travel Coaching means creating more meaningful trips, aiming to provide “coaching through immersive travelling”. Each trip should ideally broaden your horizons, challenge your limits, and help you explore new concepts and possibilities.

We provide consultancy and education services, not tourism services, therefore we are not travel agents or tour operators.  This means we can provide you with in-depth information and personalised travel planning, but not any classic tourist services. Although our itineraries are designed to be self-guided, we may accompany you along your journey as travel facilitators, to ensure you get the most out of your learning experience, but this does not mean that we are tour guides or directors.

Of course you can, everyone is entitled to travel in any way they desire. The aim of Indie Horizons is to create a travel learning experience, so the main focus is on the coaching breadcrumbs, the insightful food for thought we embed in our itineraries. So in essence, once we design the outline of the trip, you can organise the details and proceed with the bookings in any manner you feel more comfortable with, on your own, through your preferred travel agency, or through our own partners. If you need any assistance, a personal travel coaching session will provide you with all the necessary information or further details you might need, plus you can always research and book several travel services directly from our self-booking page.

If you prefer to organise the trip on your own, today there is plenty of information to be found online, about almost any place in the world. However, at the end of the day, it all goes down to accumulated experience. If you have designed 10 trips, you know many things, but less so than someone who has designed 100 trips or even more. Also, a lot of online information is one-sided: a backpacker blogger has a different travel style than a laid-back flashpacker. And for travellers today, the problem is too much information, which often makes it extremely difficult to discover that particular review or piece of advice which you need to decide.

Alternatively, a travel agency is an easy way to organise a trip care free, although better suited to all-inclusive tourist packages. However, a true travel learning experience should be an intimate one, therefore we suggest that your travel party is a small one, no more than 4-8 people (or even better solo travel). To be profitable, most travel agencies prefer to deal exclusively with larger groups, often more than 16 people, so make sure you organise a private trip just for you and the members of your organisation. Also, try to create an authentic and sustainable trip, supporting small boutique hotels and local businesses, instead of the faceless international 5* resorts often preferred by travel agencies.

First, select your destination, or browse through our trip pages for additional inspiration. The next step is to contact us to discuss your ideas, and we will design a unique tailored itinerary, according to your specifications, just for you and your organisation. Once we have finished researching and creating your trip, we will go again through the details together, to do any last-minute fine tuning. At the end, you will receive a detailed programme with embedded coaching breadcrumbs and personalised suggestions of things to see and experience, in-depth information about the destination, a map with all the important points of interest, and all the necessary payment links for flights, accommodation, transportation, and local activities. Of course, we are always here to provide any additional help you might need with additional coaching sessions, before, during, and after your trip.

As we want to provide a highly personalised experience to all our travellers, we recommend planning a trip about 3-6 months before departure. This will enable us to find the best possible deals, according to your own budget, needs,  and travel style, creating an even more amazing trip for you. Last-minute planning is also possible, but this would mean less attention from us, limited availability at the destination, and probably higher prices.

Of course you can, all trips are tailored to the specifications and needs of the participant travellers. However, the itineraries we propose are usually set during the ideal season for each destination, to ensure you will enjoy all the important sights and experiences each place has to offer, in the most convenient way possible.

Not all our destinations/itineraries are listed in our website, to save space and not overburden visitors with information. Contact us to see if we can cover your needs by our existing research. If we need to perform new research, it is still possible, but understandably we may require additional time and charge extra fees for our effort.

Usually, we design our itineraries with 2-4 people in mind, which means couples and small groups of friends which can fit into a single car. We do not recommend having more than 8 travellers in your group, as the less people in your party, the more ground you will be able to cover. This also allows maximum flexibility and the creation of more specialised trips, better tailored to the specific interests of each traveller.

The indicative cost listed in our itineraries is not corresponding to some bundled tour package, but is the rough answer to the question “how much it costs to travel to X destination”. It is the average rounded sum of all the suggested components of the trip (such as accommodation, transportation, and activities), based on past experience. You will notice that this indicative cost is around 50% less than a travel agency (excluding flight tickets). That happens for a variety of reasons, but mainly because our itineraries are meant to be self-guided, accessing the local operators directly without any international middlemen, and with the flexibility to use more authentic and budget-conscious options. The exact cost of any particular trip can only be calculated after all the bookings are completed, although it is often even lower than the indicative amount.

All methods of payment are online, to ensure traceability and easiness of use. We support all major credit cards, direct bank transfer, and of course PayPal. Minor banking fees may apply depending on the case.

All associated trip costs (such as flights, accommodation, or local activities) are paid directly by the travellers, and therefore considered to be third party payments. Although we do provide all the necessary information and recommendations, these services are not part of Indie Horizons, and follow their own respective cancellation policy. We strongly suggest to our travellers to book a travel insurance for their entire trip, to cover against contingencies.

For travellers preferring to pay a single combo price for all trip costs, they can use the help of our partner travel agencies, or one of their own preference.

Our travel coaching fees are always prepaid and non-refundable. A deposit of 50% is usually required for the booking of our services. This applies to private sessions, group experiences, and trip design services. Once we finish our research and hand you over your personalised itinerary and coaching breadcrumbs, you may always do the trip at some later point if you decide to postpone for any reason.

If a coaching session or experience is ever cancelled or rescheduled by us, for any reason, participants are entitled to a refund, rebooking to a different date, or convert the facilitated experience to a self guided itinerary.

There are many ways to do so! You can offer your travellers our personal travel coaching sessions and our signature hand-crafted itineraries, adding a unique touch and immense extra value to your own travel services. If you are a boutique agency, this will enable you to create personalised trips to any part of the world, increasing your brand name and customer satisfaction at no additional cost. If you are a larger agency, we can help with those categories you often have to disregard (budget-conscious travellers or groups of less than 8 people), therefore allowing you to allocate precious human resources to more profitable operations while still retaining your customers. In addition to the above, as business consultants specialising in the travel industry and change management, we can also help you organise and further develop your business, coping with the ever-changing modern environment. It is always a win-win deal!

Please feel free to contact us through email, WhatsApp, Skype/Zoom, or the social media. We’re here to talk!

• By choosing to travel with our help, or participate in the events and activities of our Travel Club, you automatically accept our terms and conditions.
• Indie Horizons is a consulting agency providing travel coaching workshops and experience design services to business and non-profit organisations, educational institutions, professionals and individuals.
• All workshop and itinerary details are flexible and tailored to the preferences of the participant travellers, including dates, length, destinations visited, accommodation, transportation, local activities and overall cost.
• Indie Horizons is not a travel agency or tour operator, and does not offer tourist services. Trips, events, and activities are organised with the assistance of local agencies and operators whenever needed.
• Indie Horizons services are limited to travel consulting, providing information and suggestions regarding accommodation, transportation, sightseeing and local activities at the destination, including indicative costs. However, the selection, booking, and payment of such services is the sole responsibility of the participant travellers.
• Travellers participate in trips and events at their own risk, and should be prepared accordingly for the selected activities. The itinerary may get altered or even cancelled by the organisers or travel facilitators, depending on the local conditions.
• Travellers are by no means obliged to follow our suggestions, and if they do so they act on their own accord. Indie Horizons does not bear any liability for incidents happening in the destination, or during our events and activities, regardless of these taking place while following our suggestions or using the services of our recommended local partners.
• Although we have strictly selected our local partners among the best available, Indie Horizons does not have or accept any liability regarding their conducted services.
• All information provided by Indie Horizons we try to be as accurate as possible at the time it is given, although unwittingly mistakes might occur. The use of common sense, official or local advice, and the reality of the destination should always take precedence over our research and suggestions.
• Indie Horizons will always try to inform the traveller as best as possible about the conditions and requirements needed for each trip. However, the traveller is the sole responsible for the suitable and timely preparation for the trip, including passport, visa, medical or other special requirements.
• Travellers are kindly requested to comply with the directives of the local guides, respect the local culture and norms, and take steps to minimise their impact to the environment.
• If travelling with a travel facilitator, these people are there to provide you with assistance and information regarding the destination, to the best of their ability. However, they are not meant to be tour guides or liable for your own personal belongings and well being.
• For any cancellation or mishap, whether from the traveller’s part, the local operator’s part, or due to extraordinary events such as strikes, natural hazards, or local unrest, refund can only be made according to the policy of the local operator or your travel insurance. Rest assured that Indie Horizons will also offer assistance to our travellers to the best of our ability.
• To cover against all odds, we strongly suggest our travellers to complement their booking with travel insurance from a reputable international company, for their entire trip.
• Indie Horizons reserves the right to refuse its services in certain cases, such as to minors, to people disregarding its travel policies or the policies of its local partners, or on legal, ethical, and medical grounds.
• Indie Horizons reserves the right to update its terms and conditions without prior notice.

• By using our website, you are agreeing to our terms and conditions.
• Any trip information mentioned in our website and social media is for travel inspiration and reference purpose only. Prices are indicative, based on past experience, to provide a rough estimate about the cost of a trip to any particular destination.
• All uploaded media (visual, audio, text or information) on display in our website are the property of Indie Horizons and protected by international copyright laws.

• At Indie Horizons, we prefer things to be simple, not legal mumbo jumbo. We are doing our best to comply with any legal requirements, and to protect our travellers’ information.
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• Should you choose to share with us (for example via contact forms, email, or social media) any personal information (such as your name or email), rest assure that this will be stored safely in our database, and will never be shared with any third party. We are using this information to contact you, and design an even better travelling experience for you. No sensitive/financial data is ever being stored or processed by us. Contact us if you ever want your information to be deleted or need to know exactly what we have collected about you.
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• This privacy policy might get updated from time to time, to comply with any new legal requirements, but in principle will remain the same.