A 25-year-old’s quest for sustainable tourism with local flavours

Bengaluru-based Shreyas Danappa had a sheltered upbringing, and he had not travelled at all until he joined college. Before his final year, in 2017, Shreyas went on a solo trip to Himachal Pradesh, Kashmir, and Ladakh.

He had found the feeling of independence through travelling. And, there was no stopping for him.

The following year, after his graduation, 25-year-old Shreyas took a year-long break to travel across India—from Bengaluru to Sikkim to Nepal and the rest of the country—on his motorbike.

“I was hoping for this ‘gap year’ trip to satiate me enough to get back into the rat race, but it never happened. On the contrary, I got more addicted to travelling,” Shreyas tells SocialStory.

To sustain his travel dreams, he tried his luck with gigs related to travelling, including freelance content writing, running a homestay in Sikkim, teaching English to the monks at the monastery, etc.

In fact, Shreyas also got into the content creation space and was operating a travel-related YouTube channel. Although he did not enjoy making content, he wanted to share his passion for travel with others. 

In 2021, Shreyas launched Map My Stories—a community-centric, immersive travel experience project—where he curates sustainable travel solutions from his personal travels.

Roads less travelled

An avid solo traveller, Shreyas would visit remote villages and spend weeks to months, completely immersing himself in the place and building…