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On her recent solo Remote Lands trip to India, Alyssa Duncan stayed with the Maharajah of Burdwan and his wife in their palace overlooking Mt. Katchenjunga. But Duncan also visited Hayden Hall in Darjeeling, a non-profit foundation that teaches poor women to be self-sufficient; a working tea plantation; and a Tibetan refugee center where she heard tales of fleeing from Chinese rule. “I met people I never would have met before on a regular luxury vacation,” says Duncan. “It was individual and authentic. And I was treated like a family friend, not a paying guest.”

Which is exactly the kind of experience that Catherine Heald, Chairman and CEO of Remote Lands, set out to offer travelers when she founded her company to create bespoke trips in Asia. From Burma to Bhutan, Heald and her partner Jay Tindall have an extensive list of contacts and friends on whom they rely to make singular trips for their clients.

“I love the contrast of going five-star and then having real adventures,” explains Heald, who lived in Asia for seven years. “We believe it’s a richer, more authentic experience if you spend time with people from all walks of life.” Heald recently sent her sister, Pepper Roukas, to the remote hill country in northern Laos where Roukas and her husband George spent time with a local tribe. “We did a two-hour trek into the mountains to have lunch with a family who cut and sell bamboo for a living,” says Roukas. “My husband was skeptical of the plan at first, but then he said it was the best part of the trip.”

To learn about her clients, Heald gives them a long questionnaire and discusses when and where they want to travel. She advises, for example, not to travel to India or Cambodia in July, because of the heat, but in the same period, Malaysia or Bali would be fine. Once a client settles on the time and place, Remote Lands tailors an itineraries to suit their interests. The company’s first private jet journey last October focused on cuisine and culture and was hosted by well-known writers Gael Greene and Simon Winchester. –Sunshine Flint

Read about an opportunity to teach English in Hanoi.