Jonathan Coleman is the Co-CEO of the UnTours Foundation. He just returned from his first trip to Switzerland, on a Swiss Untour. Here are his impressions.
When traveling, one meets interesting people. It’s an inevitable truth and an undeniable draw for those of us who feel the need to travel deep within our souls.
When traveling with UnTours, the interesting people meet you. They pick you up from the airport, share their best tips about how to navigate your new environment and where to find those hidden treasures that only locals know about, and take you on a weekly adventure.
When traveling with UnTours in Switzerland, you meet Urs, the Swiss version of the energizer bunny…a yodeling energizer bunny. Urs leads the Swiss Oberland Untour experiences and shares his love of his home region with a contagious positivity that makes every gondola ride even more special.
He also yodels. A lot. He yodels on trains, on docks, and walking down a path. He yodels with a ukulele and yodels acapella. Urs is the real life version of Switzerland from the travel brochures.
A few Untourists recently had the good luck of being in town when Urs was singing in a concert in a centuries-old cathedral in the charming, lakeside city of Thun. A tenor in the choir (he doesn’t only use his beautiful voice for yodeling), Urs was proud to invite them to the concert and provide backstage access. It was, in their words, “one of those experiences that we’ll never forget, and would have never stumbled upon on our own.”
This is what makes UnTours special – it allows you to travel independently and at your own pace, but included in the package is that local friend you wish you had in every location you visit.
The best travelers trust that fate will bring them the unique experiences they are looking for. It usually succeeds and when it doesn’t, well, there’s a story to tell about that as well.
Traveling with UnTours gives some space for fate to do its work, but it also sets the stage for it, ensuring that those special moments occur with more regularity. And, when something goes wrong, Urs (or his equivalent in other locales) is just a phone call away. Ready to clear things up, offer advice, and send you yodeling on your way to another amazing day.
Meet Urs on an Untour to Switzerland!