Arthur's Blog: Vayable Promises Clients Different and Memorable Experiences in Major Cities or Islands

In 500 cities and other locations across the globe, individuals have signed up to lead you on a walking tour that promises a different experience of their city or home location. In the south Pacific, the "king" of a particular island will take you fishing. In London, a street artist will show you the best of the graffiti found in urban areas; another will take you shopping in Paris; still another will lead you to small, off-beat restaurants where the chefs will invite you into their kitchens to explain a distinctive approach to cooking. And in San Francisco's poverty-afflicted Tenderloin district, a homeless man seeking to earn income, will show you the highlights of the sometimes shocking urban life in a low-income district.
All these are "experience tours" offered by a one-year-old website called Vayable.com, for which I predict a prosperous future. The tours are inexpensive, they can be conducted for as few as one person, they are found in the world's leading and most popular locations, and they are growing in popularity.
But are they safe? Vayable claims to vet the reliability of each of their volunteer guides. But obviously, and in some instances, you'd be wise to request references -- the name and phone number of someone who has already taken one of the tours in question. Apart from that checking, Vayable itself holds on to your payment until after the tour has been completed and only releases the fund to the tour guide upon hearing from you that everything was delivered as promised.
Recently in San Francisco, my daughter used Vayable to come up with that otherwise-unemployed tour guide of the "tenderloin," and reports on a highly successful, provocative and instructive view of the kind of life led by our less fortunate fellow citizens. But bear in mind that Vayable will also provide you with a far-more-standard, but equally instructive, experience of the literary history of a particular city, conducted by a totally respectable resident with a penchant for higher matters.
Looking for a new and better experience through travel? I'm intrigued by Vayable, and suggest that you'll be tempted to make use of the new service after you've examined some of their offerings at Vayable.com.