Behind Hit the Road: Cambodia with Large Minority

While we recently introduced you to Ric Gazarian, the man behind Hit the Road: Cambodia, it’s time to introduce you to the organizers of the entire event, Large Minority.

Large Minority was founded to make impossible adventures, possible. They created this business to provide travellers with some of the most unique adventures ever experienced. There’s no better way to explain this methodology than to interview the founders themselves. This is our in depth interview with Julian Carnall and Juan Paredes.

Tell us a little more about your team!

We started our adventure travel company in 2009. Our co-founders come from Colombia and Kenya and are split between Miami and London. Both Juan and I have been travelling from a young age and although we come from very different parts of the world, our love for travel is the same. We don’t have any permanent staff but during events our freelance local staff numbers swell to at least 30, which keeps things interesting. We hope to be able to take on our first full time employee at the end of 2016. Keep an eye out if you’re interested.

What sparked your interest to create Large Minority in the first place?

Both of us have always been keen travelers and have lived all over the map. Our initial drive to create LM came when we were working corporate travel jobs in Dubai and felt like something was missing. That something, was to create novel, life-changing travel experiences with a responsible mindset. We decided to create adventure challenges where people, from all walks of life, could genuinely come together and discover amazing destinations with likeminded travellers. 

Can you explain how your challenges are designed to benefit the countries you visit?

From the get-go we donate 10% of participant registration fees towards charitable projects, which include social and environmental aspects. This ensures that everyone contributes and gets involved with the local communities. We source all event merchandising locally, support small businesses and follow sustainable travel policies.

How do you come up with your routes for the challenges?

It’s a mixture of past experience and recce trips combined with a bit of luck and almost certainly a fortunate stroke of serendipity. We try to stay away form main roads and tourist sites as much as we can. Give us a dusty path and potholes over a new road any time! We also look for the ideal balance between adventure and comfort, making sure to include as much diversity as possible.

What has been your biggest success or accomplishment with Large Minority so far?

Being able to change the lives of more than 350 travelers since 2009 whilst raising over $126,000 (directly and indirectly) for charitable causes in truly amazing destinations.

Can you share an inspiring story when you felt your project was most fulfilling?

It’s tough to choose just one! We’ve had proposals, honeymoons, anniversaries and many more special celebrations during our events. We’ve also been able to help many people in need along the way. The school visits we organize are always very touching, planting tress with the children is always magical. Perhaps one of the most touching moments, was in Jaffna, Sri Lanka in 2012 when we donated wheelchairs, crutches, bicycles and medical equipment to IDP’s from the civil war. The community response was overwhelming.

What’s coming up next? Any new tours or rallies in the making?

We have lots of plans in new destinations such as Colombia, where we will be launching the Amazon Rainforest Survival Challenge in 2o17. We also hope to add Nepal and Bhutan amongst other places to our list.

Any inspirational words of encouragement for our Travel Massive members who may be interested in jumping on board?

If you’re looking for a truly unique, life-changing travel experience then make sure to join one of our trips! Check out some of our previous client testimonials for some additional encouragement. We are also very happy to say that we are offering all travel massive members an exclusive 10% off all our challenges, valid until the end of 2016.

Are there any ways travel bloggers can get involved with any of your challenges?

Actually, I am glad you asked, we are currently looking for 2 teams of travel bloggers (teams of 2 or 3) to enter the Lanka Challenge in Sri Lanka, and our new Philippines sailing challenge this year. If you are the right candidate, we will offer a free entry for your team on the challenge. If you are interested and think you fit the build, please contact us on info@largeminority.com