What Is Immersion Travel? 11 Tips You Need To Know

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Defining Immersion Travel

Immersion travel can be described as having intimate, local interactions and authentic cultural experiences. A traveler wishing to be immersed into a particular place or destination is likely to go deeper than the average tourist while also giving back to the local community.

“Go deeper & give back”

Those that set out with purpose and meaning to discover non-commercialised experiences are at the heart of what I consider culture immersion travel.

Instead of relying on a big tour operator or staying with an international hotel chain, their travel will more likely be DIY (do it yourself) style, meaning it could be a little bit unpredictable and adventurous.

Immersive travelers will focus on making connections. They will not only meet locals, but will probably find some like minded travelers along the way too. They want to participate and appreciate local culture while also respecting it.

Immersion travel experiences should be ethical and beneficial to the community. This means that locals should get to celebrate their culture while educating tourists and making a sustainable living.

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Why Immersion Travel?

From talking with others and my own opinion, I think people choose immersive travel because it interrupts monotony. It can pop someone’s safety bubble, broaden their comfort zone, and build confidence.

Being immersed can lead to expanding knowledge and stripping away stereotypes. It can help open opportunities and build connections. There is more of a chance to experience authentic culture and learn / practice a language.

Besides just personal development, it is also easy to implement, cost effective and will help local economies. By taking on immersion travel, a traveler helps aid in the protection and preservation of other cultures.

Is Immersion Travel For You?

Here are some questions to ask yourself:

Are you open to being completely engulfed by new sights, sounds, smells, people, and challenges?
Do you want to experience the world in hopes of understanding it better?
Are you not afraid to talk to locals about real life topics like politics and the local economy?
Do you want to get away from selfie culture, bucket list mentality, and big vacation resorts?
Do you want to travel with purpose for meaningful experiences (the kind that are unique and can not be replicated by big group tour companies)

11 Ways To Adopt Immersion Travel

#1 Share A Meal With A Local / Learn To Make Local Cuisine

Besides the obvious fact that food is a huge part of every society, food can also teach us so much about history, and each other. Discovering local foodie gems is pretty much what I live for.

Usually, the easiest way is to visit a restaurant known for being run by locals and have local dishes.

These can be found a number of ways, but I check on Tripadvisor by searching ‘local food’.

Diving even deeper into the local scene could require a little more digging and effort. Thanks to new apps and websites, it is starting to get simpler though!

An amazing online platform to help you get into the local foodie scene is Eatwith!

Discover how you can connect with locals by visiting local markets together, attending a local taught cooking class, or sharing a meal in a local home.

Use my code, CD2C35BB on Eatwith to get €10 of free credit when you do your first experience!

If you are interested in finding the most authentic food experiences, read my guide here.

#2 Learn Some Of The Language

There is no better time to learn a new language than when you are surrounded by native speakers. If you find yourself in a place where your language is not spoken, it could be time to sink or swim. Going home hungry from a restaurant sounds terrible, so as to avoid this, try to learn some of the basics before traveling to a new place.

Once you are there, try to embrace being around a foreign language. There is a strange feeling of being surrounded by people but not understanding anything. It is certainly a new challenge to undertake, but totally worth it when you are able to successfully order food!

#3 Volunteer With A Local Charity

The easiest way to make sure your time and effort stays in the community is to go to a local charitable organisation. If you have a particular skill, make sure to let them know so you can contribute in the best possible way.

As an example, if you are a business owner in daily life, you could bring your expertise to a local organisation that teaches and empowers women through business classes.

I would not suggest supporting international organisations, even if they have a local branch/office where you are. I am sure there are some ethical multi-national charities, but many times their practices do not fully benefit local people.

#4 Work Abroad

Depending on where you live and what country you are a citizen of, determines how easy it is to work abroad. In the US where I grew up, a person would have to have a well paying job in a particular sector in order to be sent overseas to work at a different office.

With this in mind, I know many people would not have a company or work field that does this. A solution to this can be ‘Working Holiday Visas’! Many countries have agreements with other countries to allow for citizens to go live somewhere else for anywhere from 6 months to a few years.

Depending on where you are from determines where you can go and how long you can stay. There are other factors and requirements to check for each different WHA like your age, how much money you have saved, whether you are or were just a student, etc.

As an American citizen, we have a few different countries we can choose from. I did a ‘Working Holiday Authorisation’ in the Republic of Ireland for a year. It is a really cool, eye opening experience that you should try if you are able to.

#5 Visit A Local Market

Local markets are the epitome of present day culture. They are so great to people watch, try local snacks and drinks, purchase fresh food for cooking at home, make new friends, practice the language, find handmade treasures, support the local economy, and so much more.

They can be calm and colourful or chaotic and smelly. You never know what you are going to get and that is the beauty of it. Embrace both the good and the bad for the full experience.

#6 Do Travel Volunteering / Homestay

The whole site of Maptrekking is all about doing travel volunteering and homestays. We are all for it!! They are an excellent way of having an automatic in with the locals because you are literally staying with them.

You are bound to get amazing recommendations and probably some delicious meals. Our favourite way to live with locals is through a volunteering platform called Workaway! We highly recommend signing up for it if you want to be immersed into a culture.

Homestay is great for finding local families to stay with at an affordable price. You get to feel right at home when you arrive and it’s perfect for short or long term stays. Get €20/$25 off your first Homestay trip!

TrustedHousesitters helps you stay in wonderful places for free by house sitting and caring for cute pets. You can find unique & amazing accommodation that would normally be hundreds per night!

Purchasing a 1 year membership is $119/€99, which gives you access to unlimited, worldwide house sitting opportunities. They have more than all other housesitting websites in the world combined!

#7 Participate In A Local Sport Team / Club

Let us be honest here, sport is not everyone’s cup of tea. The beauty of participating in community sport is that it is not really about the sport but about being with others and making connections.

Community sport should not be super competitive and if it is, usually there is more of a recreational team as well. Many people think they have to be good at the sport, but it is only for fun so try not to take it so seriously.

Besides meeting locals, sport is another way to learn about history. Many places have sports that are unique to that country or even a particular region!

Ireland is a great example for having unique, local sports like Camogie or Gaelic Football.

#8 Find Unique Transport To Go On

This is an extremely simple tip but pretty much almost guarantees an interesting time. Most of the funniest travel memories I have is because of public transport.

In our world, you can fly to most places and be there so much faster than any options we had 100 years ago. My suggestion is to look for alternative forms of transport to try even though it will most likely be much slower than flying.

Train travel is one of my favourite ways to go somewhere! Ferry rides are also quite fun. Did you know that on a clear day in many places in Northern Ireland, you can physically see Scotland and the Isle of Man. How cool is that?

There are options to take the ferry to both too, though my Northern Irish friend does warn me that the crossing to Scotland can be quite rough so make sure to take your motion sickness medication!

#9 Study Abroad

Similar to the #4 Work Abroad option, this option is not for everyone unfortunately. Study abroad programs can often be quite expensive, especially if you are from the US or living in the US.

In America, it can be challenging enough just to pay for a normal university degree! Most study abroad programs are not covered by government grants or loans, so they have to be paid out of the student’s pocket. So unless you are rolling in cash, and let us be real, most people are not, it is not a likely option.

There are ways around it though! There are scholarships specifically for studying abroad that can be applied for in your own country (these seem to be more obvious to people) and scholarships for international students at universities around the world (many people forget to check on those).

I was able to study abroad in Scotland and loved it! I would highly recommend it because for me it was life changing

#10 Go To Meetups To Make Friends

With so many ways to connect online, travelers have so many options at their fingertips to connect and find in-person meet ups. Many cities and towns have arranged language cafes / exchanges where travelers can mix with locals to help practice the language they are learning.

There are also online travel communities (like Couchsurfing) that will arrange meet ups.

#11 Local Road Trip

When someone thinks of a road trip, they might automatically picture a week long road trip across a country or region. Instead, for culture immersion, try to take a day long road trip where you come back to your same accommodation at the end of the night. This will limit how far you can go which means you will be taking a localised road trip!

Local road trips can be amazing for an immersive travel experience because it usually means you can take your time and get lost even. Since you are not trying to get to your next accommodation that is still 5 hours away, you can relax and let your curiosity out.

So many times I have ended up in an area that did not look interesting on google maps but turned out to be stunning, a true hidden gem. They were all because we let go of planning and a strict itinerary!

These are the places that you will find amazing vistas, cute highway cafes, and friendly locals. Do not be afraid to take a road trip away from popular tourist sites to discover local life.