Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
farmhouse, or cottage in an out-of-the-way neighborhood far from the haunts of most camera-
toting tourists. For example, one Untour to Italy includes a ground-floor apartment on a farm
near Assisi, with a private swimming pool and “healing garden,” a Ping-Pong table, a bocce
court, a ceramic studio, and bicycles you can use to ride into the quaint village of Cannara.
The owner even offers occasional olive oil tastings. Because your home-like lodgings come
with a kitchen and utensils and because you're shopping at the local butcher shop, bakery,
and grocer's, picking up your mail at the local post office, and in every other way enjoying
a residential experience, you end up not with a run-of-the-mill tour but with an “untour.” As
Hal Taussig sees it, “When people have contact with a way of life different from their own,
they are much less willing to make war on other cultures.”
The most interesting thing about Untours is that all profits are plowed into the Untours
Foundation, which gives low-interest start-up loans to people who normally couldn't get
loans. Since the foundation began in 1992, it has given hundreds of loans to such organiz-
ations as Greensgrow, a hydroponic vegetable supplier in Philadelphia run by single moms;
a vegetarian restaurant in Saigon that supports street children; and a water-bottling company
that addresses clean-water issues in developing countries. The Taussigs, who don't take salar-
ies from their company, believe in living simply and sharing the profits of their business to
create a better world. The company's altruism hasn't gone unnoticed. In 1999, Untours re-
ceived the “Most Generous Company in America” award from Paul Newman and
George
magazine.
Prices for a two-week Untour start at less than $1,000 (without airfare). The Italian Un-
tour described above ranges from $2,219 to $2,649 (based on double occupancy), depending
on the season, and includes airfare from New York, a ride from the airport, and two weeks'
accommodations.
Untours Foundation,
P.O. Box 405, Media, PA 19063, 888-868-6871 or 610-565-5242,
www.untours.com.
