A week in Las Galeras, Dominican Republic, where the whole resort is essentially ours. Two things are locked in: a full-day catamaran into Los Haitises National Park, and a Dominican cooking class night that turns the group into friends. Everything else is yours to pick from a menu when you arrive — scuba, the waterfall hike, ATV, horseback, the seven-beach walk, spa, town runs, or nothing at all. Twenty spots. Ten rooms. Jeff and Jillian handle the rest.

The most fun trip of your life. New friends from a small, hand-picked group of 20. Stories nobody will believe — the waterfall hike, the catamaran sunset, the ATV detour, the secret beach you almost had to yourself. A folder of pro photos that look like they belong on a magazine cover. The kind of memories you'll be telling for decades.

Araya Resort sits in Las Galeras, on the Samaná Peninsula — one of the most beautiful, least crowded corners of the Caribbean. Infinity pool over the bay, yoga shala, farm-to-table restaurant, full spa. We essentially take the place over for the week.

The trip is built around two things we know are great, and a lot of open space around them. The locked-in moments: a full-day catamaran into Los Haitises National Park (mangrove channels, sea caves, hidden beaches, the kind of day everyone remembers), and a Dominican cooking class one night that's hands-on, social, and the best way we've found to turn a group of strangers into a group of friends.

Everything else is yours. When you arrive, we hand you a menu of optional activities — scuba dives, ATV tours, horseback rides, the El Limón waterfall hike, the seven-beach walk, massages, town shopping runs, snorkeling, paddleboarding — and you build the days that sound like fun to you. Jeff will be diving with whoever wants to dive. Jillian will be at the cooking class. Nobody is in two places at once, but everyone meets back up at group dinners.

No schedule grid. No homework. Sleep in if you want. The trip works as hard as you want it to.

Adventure travelers — the kind who get bored at all-inclusive resorts and want a real reason to leave their lounge chair.

Couples and friend pairs who want to share an adventure together, and solo travelers who'd rather meet a new circle of people than disappear into a couples' resort.

Anyone who's been on a trip that tried to do too many things — retreat plus mastermind plus vacation — and wants the antidote: one trip, one promise, no homework.

Reasonably fit and reasonably curious. The high-intensity activities are accessible to most adults. The low-intensity track is genuinely good — not a consolation prize.

Not for: people looking for a structured retreat with daily breakouts, business planning, or guided self-work. This is the fun-only trip. We have other trips for the deeper-dive stuff.

Meet Your Hosts

Jeff Holst and Jillian Sidoti are entrepreneurs, investors, and seasoned travelers who have hosted small-group trips around the world. They believe the best trips are the ones you remember in detail twenty years later — not the ones you can barely picture a month after you get home. That bias toward memorable shapes everything about how they design these weeks.

Jeff is an investor, author of "No Bad Days," and a global traveler who has visited dozens of countries. He's a guy who would rather hike to the waterfall than read about it.

Jillian is an entrepreneur, attorney, and serial business builder who has spent her career creating communities. She has a knack for putting the right group of people in the right place at the right time — which is, in the end, what makes a trip unforgettable.

Together they handle every detail so you can show up with a swimsuit and a sense of humor.

Here's the menu you'll choose from when you arrive. Mix, match, skip, or pick something every day — totally up to you. We'll coordinate logistics and book the slots once we know who wants what.

On the water: scuba diving, snorkeling trips, paddleboarding, a sunset sail.

On the land: ATV tour through the peninsula, horseback ride to El Limón Waterfall, the El Limón hike, the legendary seven-beach walk along the coast.

Around the resort and town: spa appointments and massages, yoga at the shala, shopping runs into Las Galeras, Samaná town day trip.

Also always available: the infinity pool, a book, a hammock, a nap, doing absolutely nothing. Some of the best days of the trip will be that one.

Welcome dinner under the stars. Fly into Samaná (AZS), Puerto Plata (POP), or Santiago (STI) and ride the group transfer to Araya. Drop your bags, meet the group at the infinity pool for sunset cocktails, then a welcome dinner on the terrace. No alarm clocks. No agenda. Just hellos.

The one big group adventure, and it's a stunner. A full-day private catamaran charter into Los Haitises National Park — mangrove channels, sea caves, hidden beaches, Taíno cave paintings, bird colonies you can't see anywhere else in the Caribbean. Lunch and drinks on board. Whole group, one boat, one unforgettable day. Which day of the week this happens depends on weather and the captain's schedule — we'll lock it in once everyone's booked.

Hands-down one of the best things we did last time. A private Dominican cooking class one evening — we cook, we drink, we eat what we made, together. Social, hands-on, and the kind of night that turns a group of travelers into a group of friends. Pick a night, any night — we'll schedule it on the ground based on what the group wants.

Here's what makes this trip different. The rest of the week is yours. No fixed schedule, no syllabus, no group calendar. When you arrive, we hand you a menu of optional adventures — scuba dives, ATV tours, horseback rides, the El Limón waterfall, the seven-beach walk, massages, snorkeling, town runs — and you pick what sounds like fun. Jeff dives with whoever wants to dive. Jillian's at the cooking class. Most days a small group will be doing something, you join or skip. Or you do nothing and sit by the pool with a book. That's a perfect day too.

Final breakfast on the terrace. Group transfers to AZS, POP, and STI based on your flight. Hugs, tears, group chat created, dates marked for the next one. Fly home with a folder of photos and a story for every dinner party for the next decade.