Mentoring and Support Chörten

Mentoring for My Journey

How to Make the Most of Learning Opportunities

terrestrial part

Chörten assistance during all a US trip, from boarding to return to Brazil. With our experience, within the possibilities in these countries, we quickly resolve any type of unforeseen event that may occur, in the best possible way. Also, after so many years of accompanying Travellers, living and traveling in these regions, we will assist you with more information and tips beyond those we already anticipated and talked about before the trip, which we will think about quite naturally during your days here, as we understand what is most enjoying the regions you are traveling to. In addition to our communication via Whatsapp, probably in the same time zone, all Chörten Travelers will also have Guilherme's phone number which, for emergencies as for the fifth support above (here) will be connected 24 hours a day / 7 days a week throughout your trip, from the moment you go to the airport in Brazil until you return home in Brazil;

Arrivals and Departures When opting for the assisted transfer service, these are carried out by our local partners, with Guilherme Samel, director of Chörten, contacting them by telephone. For example, upon your international arrival from Brazil to India or Nepal and at other moments of the trip when necessary, Chörten accompanies your arrival from before your flight lands until you arrive at your hotel to always ensure that it will be carried out with complete calm, support and quality, as we will explain in our briefing. Likewise, during your international departure back to Brazil and whenever necessary during the trip, we accompany you from when you are at your hotel to the airport (on your arrival, check-in and boarding) almost as if we were traveling together, in person. When you opt for independent transfers, Chörten will take great care in the same way, whether we are using a local taxi, Uber or whatever you prefer;

Visits as agreed and mentioned in the travel program, your tickets are included in the price of your Trip whether it supports Logistics and Travel Organization with Local Operations or independently (supports explained above here). Therefore, when you opt for this Support with Local Operations and accompaniment by a guide, these entrance fees will be paid by the local guides. And when you choose this Support Independently or with Local Operations but with the visit without a local guide, these entrance fees already have their values ​​set out in the value of the trip program and will be paid by the Travelers;

local guides They will accompany you on visits to monuments and other tours in general, except in regions that we believe would be more pleasant to visit without guides, so each Traveler prefers, we agree and mention in the trip program.

land transport on all visits, transfers and trips in own vehicles as agreed and described in the travel program;

Hotels in double rooms in the hotels mentioned on the accommodation page. In general, check-ins are at 14pm and check-outs are at 12pm. If you need an earlier check-in on your arrival or a late check-out on your departure from Delhi/Kathmandu, such as at any other time during your trip, please let us know in advance so we can check prices, availability and make reservations. as you wish.

Single room supplement in case of your preference or need if you are not a partner for accommodation in a double room;

Food: breakfasts are included in hotel rates for all trips. Specifically in the Ladakh region and in Bhutan lunch and dinner are also included except bottled drinks;

Visas and Special Permissions to Bhutan and central Tibet (not eastern Tibet in the Kham region) are included in the land part of travel programs to these regions;

Does not include:

– Meals and drinks except breakfast (exception on days in Ladakh and Bhutan which includes lunch and dinner as mentioned above). On average we can consider that with US$ 25 to 35 a day we can eat very well in these countries, depending on what, where and how much we eat. In large cities, like Delhi, the price may be a little higher and in smaller cities, like Rishikesh, much lower;

– Transport where not mentioned in the program;

– Tips (very important in these cultures), except for trips with specialists supported by local operators, of which we take care of a large part, remaining around US$ 8 to 10 per day, carefully explained in the trip briefing;

– Voluntary contributions to monasteries, temples and Dharma teachers that we can find while traveling;

– Visas for India and Nepal. know more here;

– Travel insurance: very important and therefore highly recommended. Check with your credit card to see if they offer travel insurance if you use it when purchasing an international ticket. Depending on the age of the traveller, they usually cost between 10 and 20 USD per day of travel. More information here;

– Entrance fees to the monuments for a camera and/or camcorder, when applicable;

– Program changes in case of political, natural, climatic, flight cancellation, epidemic, new fees and taxes, etc. by governments and/or local service providers in Brazil/India/Nepal/Bhutan/Tibet;

Domestic Air

Class economical;

Price Plans: we usually pass prices with a safety margin if the fares have increased a little at the time of purchasing the ticket. Normally with these margins we do not have surprises of higher values ​​than expected. When we obtain lower rates at the time of purchase than those anticipated, the difference, of course, will be passed on in full to Travelers. If, quite rare, the fares increase more than expected even with a certain margin, in these rare cases (I honestly don't remember when the last time happened) we will naturally need to update this value with the Travelers;

Weight : maximum allowed for checked bag on flights within India: 15kg, between India/Nepal/Bhutan/Tibet: around 20kg. Excess weight may be charged by the airline at check-in: around US$ 8 per extra kg;

Forecasting Both of you values subjects a alteração without prior notice from the airlines, which will only be confirmed at the time of purchasing the ticket;

International Flights

advance: In general, the sooner we issue our tickets, the better fares and routes we find. But this is certainly not a rule, so it will always be this way. Promotional rates are unpredictable, tend to end very quickly and have extremely high rates for any type of change in the future. These, when available, are very worthwhile if we have very certain departure and return dates, that is, the main program and extensions that we will make;

Buy: it is always prudent to wait for confirmation from the group to purchase the international air ticket. We confirm our groups with a very small number of people;

More information: on here;

Service Providers, Infrastructure and Local Cultures

We have extensive experience in operating travel in these countries. We work with the best local partners within the possibilities of each region. Even so, it is important to keep in mind that the quality of local services and infrastructure (hotels, transport, food, etc) are not the same as in Brazil, Europe and North America. Most of the time they will surprise us very positively, for example, for their human qualities and, sometimes, even for the technical aspect of the service. But unforeseen and problems must happen. It is work, responsibility and pleasure even on the part of Chörten to anticipate them and, when necessary, take care of circumventing them in the best possible way. So that, in this way, Travelers have the most important responsibility: to enjoy the trip in the most peaceful, pleasant and profitable way possible. As part of this responsibility, we understand that we are traveling in these incredible countries and cultures, very different from ours in many ways and that teach us so much.

With the preparations for the trip well taken care of, with all our assistance and support, from boarding the flight here in Brazil until your return, you will see that your trip will be very smooth, well cared for, very well enjoyed, fun, with significant lessons that we will bring from come back and they will be of great value to us in our lives.

Each region of these countries has its peculiarities with regard to accommodation, domestic air, special permits, visas and weather services that we are very used to working with and we will explain them carefully in our briefing. We consider it important that you, as a Chörten Traveller to these two specific regions, already understand these points about Bhutan (here) and Tibet (here).

Exchange

https://economia.uol.com.br/cotacoes/cambio/dolar-turismo-estados-unidos-historico.jhtm

For aerial law The exchange rate also varies from airline to airline, which also usually has a value between the commercial sales dollar and the tourist dollar, to be checked at the time of purchase.

The exchange rate used by cards de credit When Independent Travelers pay for their hotels during their trip, for example, when we pay for restaurants and stores that accept international cards, it also varies from card to card. Normally between commercial and tourism. Even though the card presents a card at the time of purchase and another exchange rate on the invoice, the exchange rate considered will be the one they indicate when paying the invoice. Any adjustment (quite common) will be charged or deducted from the following month's invoice;

Cards International Travel cards like Wise and Nomad tend to have much better exchange rates than credit cards, whether for paying for independent hotels or some restaurants, as they have a guaranteed exchange rate at the time of top-ups, without fluctuations in the future like with credit cards. More information: here;

Change and Cancellation Policies

Os Supports Chörten, They are 100% refundable until the moment each Support begins to be delivered individually as explained in Mentoring, Support and Investment Possibilities, more specifically in Start with 1 Support:  here. Chörten support that has already started to be offered can be used on future trips. Chörten support not offered will be refunded in full. Regarding changes to part of the travel program already worked on, that is, the program set up and/or reservations made, the number of days with new services after the change will be considered as new additional days in the total duration of the trip as explained: here.

The cancellation policies of providers de services locations (specific cases explained below) become valid from the moment we commit and confirm our reservations, so that we can then make our initial or full payment. Keep in mind that our local partners work MUCH harder than usual, to meet the level of care and personalization we have from this very important moment in the trip. Cancellation policies vary from service provider to service provider (hotels, airlines, etc.). For larger hotels, in general, cancellations up to 60 days before the start of the trip will have payments refunded almost in full. This way in advance there are usually small cancellation fees from local airlines, train tickets and local operators. From 45 days before the start of the trip, cancellation rates increase gradually, varying from service provider to service provider. Still, we will certainly do our best and talk to each service provider to see what reimbursement we can get even after this date. Regarding air tickets specifically, each airline and fare has its own cancellation policy.

Small providers de services such as small hotels, with few rooms or sometimes even with a good number of rooms but in more remote regions, with a simpler structure and way of working than large hotels in large cities, which do not usually guarantee the reservation/availability of rooms without a payment, they make an exception for us solely because of our reputation, immense care and responsibility towards them. Otherwise they would not guarantee our rooms before payment, as they do not guarantee with common travel agencies and operators. They will no longer make our rooms available to other guests, groups and so on. So, from the moment we decide and confirm our dates in their small hotels, our dates, stays and payments are confirmed with them. We cannot move without paying a moving fee or, depending on the advance and size of the hotel, paying in full for the stay. Emphasizing: only in the case of small hotels with few rooms or a very simple structure.

Payment Method, Reservations and Rates

Os Supports Chörten, can be paid in full or as they are offered as explained in Mentoring, Support and Investment Possibilities, more specifically in Start with 1 Support (here).

Confirmation and the work? Both of you hotels, availability e rates Both of you air domestic: hotels and local service providers confirm their reservations and services upon payment of 50% of the land cost and 100% of the domestic air fare;

Sale operators locations: they are used to customers, for example, from Europe who plan their trips well in advance, paying for the entire trip 120 days before it starts. With our partnership of many years, understanding how we are used to payments in Brazil, they accept payment up to 60 days before the trip and, if necessary, we can talk to them about a deadline, not too long but a little different;

Payment direct to operators locations: Today is relatively simple and can be a cool way to save on fees and taxes.

Payments Both of you providers de services locations and the traveling com logistics e organization independent: some hotels charge at the time of online booking, some between the time of booking and stay, and most end up charging in person at check-in or check-out. Normally they can be paid by card but as it is common for the internet not to work and the card machine not to work, it is important to be ready to pay in cash (we will talk about this in the briefing). Domestic air travel for this logistics format and travel organization are paid at the time of purchasing the ticket.

Payment using account bank da Chörten, No. Brazil: there are no taxes for paying invoices for services from our local partners (transport, tours, hotels). For India there is no IRRF tax on international transfers as long as Brazil has an agreement with that country. This way we can use Chörten's account for the transfer. For Nepal, there is IRRF and, therefore, we suggest that you make this transfer directly to the operator, thinking that this way, legally, you will not incur significant and unnecessary extra costs. If it helps, we explain how to make this transfer, how we can do it together, in a relatively simple and certainly more economical way.

For payment via account da Chörten, we request payment from morning No. melted do Brazil so that we can make the transfer to local time zone operators here in India or Nepal, with less risk of exchange rate variation, as explained in Exchange rate above (here).

Next steps

To continue organizing your trip, we kindly ask:

- Application form: on here
- Copy (scan) of passport: more information here
- Initial payment: explained above in Payment Method here

Benefits to pay local service providers as soon as possible:

– In the case of group trips, the trip and the group will be confirmed sooner.
– On all trips, the chances of getting the best hotel options in each region, with their best rates, are greater, as is the case with domestic airlines;

How can we help?