Welcome to Linger! And and thanks a ton for having considered a responsible choice for your vacation!

These are all beautiful places, where nature nurtures, and our staff takes the best care of you to take you back to your ajji-mane – your grandma’s home in the village – where love, food, fresh air and joy always made it the best vacation you ever had 🙂

As you plan to come to our location, here’s some things you should keep in mind.

• We’re not a resort. What we mean when we say this is that we try and keep the places true to how we found them – the natural beauty of the place, the flora/fauna, contours, landscape, pathways, streams, architecture, livelihoods – the core reasons we liked them in the first place! Even as we seek to prepare the place to make it comfortable for guests, we try and walk the tightrope between that and disturbing and changing as little as we can.

• We do not like plastic. Sadly, plastic is a reality all around us – and despite our best intentions a lot finds its way into the kitchen and supplies we buy. And we have no means of responsibly disposing the same (if there is any, indeed, anywhere at all!). Cities are better equipped to handle plastic and other waste – so we do request you carry whatever you need to bring along back to the city. We’ll help collect and pack it for the return trip.

• No bottled water. As an extension of the above, we absolutely avoid packaged drinking water in plastic bottles. And discourage guests to buy the same on their vacation and journey – carry a few refillable bottles from home and we’ll refill the same for your trip back home. At our properties, we reuse cleaned out wine bottles – the water itself is from fresh springs, wells and streams – and then filtered to be completely safe.

• We’re amidst nature. And that includes trees of various kinds, moths, birds, bees, frogs spiders, and insects of many hues all around, snakes out there in the estates, bears around the campsites and elephants and tigers at Corbett! These creatures own the space just like we do, and unless threatened, do not seek to harm us. We avoid city-style pest control and excessive bug spraying. There’s meshes and regular cleaning to keep your room as devoid of these as possible. However, quite like in the city and in traffic, there are sensible ‘rules’ to follow around the estates, farms and forests, and once you transcend the teeny fear we all have – having grown too used to extremely sterile places in the city – it’s a beautiful, connected world out there that’s alive and vibrant! Reconnect with it.

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• We’re around people’s homes. While our locations are usually in large farms and estates, others live around, and sound carries far in quiet places. We try our best to fit in and coexist respectfully to the extent possible – and it’s imperative to not be too loud, or intrusive, or spread excessive light pollution so that we do not disturb folks around as they go on with their lives.

• And in their places. So we respect and explore deeper local stories, local food, local livelihoods, flora/fauna, architecture. Our staff has a lot of freedom when it comes to the kitchen, your experiences, etc, and we like to take pride in and showcase their place, their livelihoods and what’s special there. Chat them up and a lot becomes possible. Because we believe travel is about a handshake, not a “consumer” product as such.

• Question Needs. We do have some backup power, but sometimes the power outages in some remote locations can last for days altogether. We do have gensets in a few locations, but we hate using them unless it’s critical. There are numerous lights, but it’s nicer to use just what’s needed. And we’ll happily set up a bonfire, but wood is a resource best used sustainably. Sometimes it’s easier to catch the afternoon breeze through an open window, and not be worried about  the odd moth flying in. And hot water on demand in the Himalayas using the traditional hamam is plenty – it takes more effort for the staff but it also saves water and firewood since you heat and use only how much you need. Part of the beauty of many of these places is in the simplicity, and we request you to pause and check your assumptions about what’s necessary, what’s a must have, and what luxury actually could mean.

• A different way to think, to travel! A great metaphor for how life in the city vs that out there is comes from most of our kitchens : in the city you decide on a recipe, list the ingredients, buy them, cook and serve the planned dishes. Out there, you look around and see what’s available that day, or in that season, and at that point. And then decide what to cook, and how to cook it, and then prepare a dish more in sync with everything. At Linger, we want you and your experience to be more in sync, connected with the real things around, people, seasons – all that truly matters.

Welcome to Linger again!