Tramica
APPLY TO BE AN EXPERT
FOR LOCAL EXPERTS
Every city has a soul.
You know where it lives.
The soul of your city - the real restaurants, the studios and galleries, the streets that visitors never find - lives in your knowledge and your network. Tramica connects you with travellers who want all of it. Before they arrive.
APPLY TO BECOME AN EXPERT
Every city has a soul.
Most travellers never find it.
The tourist layer of every city - the hotels, the Michelin restaurants, the Instagram locations - is converging. Paris and Tokyo and London look increasingly similar through that lens. What makes each city genuinely different lives in the second layer. The soull. And most travellers never reach it - not because they don't want to, but because they have no way in.
WHAT TRAMICA EXPERTS DO
You are the way in.
Your years of genuine embeddedness - the relationships you've built, the knowledge you carry, the access you have - are the door. Tramica connects you with discerning travellers who arrive with a full range of interests: food and wine, architecture, history, art, walking routes. The 48-72 hour research phase is where you consult your network to address all of it.
A private 90-minute session, before the traveller leaves home. You consult your network, do the research that only a lovcal can do, and deliver a beautifully wriitten guide. You stay available during their trip. You open a door that no guidebook, algorithm, or tour operator can.
WHO TRAMICA EXPERTS ARE
Practitioners.
Not tourism professionals.
The craftperson
A ceramicist, a textile artist, a furniture maker, a glassblower. Someone whose primary work is a craft that is deeply embedded in the culture of their city. They know the studios, the materials, the seasonal rhythms, the people.
"Yuki holds the door to Kyoto's craft world - eighteen years of genuine embededness."
The scholar
An architectural historian, a food anthropologist, a cultural geographer. Someone who has spent years studying what makes their city's built environment, food culture, or social fabric genuinely specific. They can read the city like a text.
"Cen reads Istanbul's architecture as a conversation between civilisations."
The practitioner
A chef, a restaurateur, a sommelier, a food writer. Someone whose professional life has given them access to the food culture of a city from the inside - the markets, the producers, the restaurants, the food stands that locals actually go to.
"Manuel knows the Lisbon that exists behind closed doors."
The gallerist or curator
Someone embedded in the contemporary art or design scene of a city. They know what's happening now, which spaces matter, which artists are worth watching, and how the scene has evolved - things no guide captures in real time.
"The living cultural intelligence no publication can keep current"
The creative
A writer, a filmmaker, a musician, a photographer who has spent years documenting the city from the inside. They know its character, its light, its rhythm, its contradictions - and can convey it in a way that is genuinely moving.
"Someone who has looked at this city for long enough to really see it."
The connector
Someone who simply knows everyone - the community organiser, the neighbourhood institution, the person every local calls when they need something. Not a specialist in one domain but a key who opens many doors.
"The person who knows the city through its people."
What you are not.
Tramica is deliberately not a tourism platform. The experts who do this best are seldom people who think of themselves as guides. If any of the following describes how you see yourself, Tramica is probably not right for you
Not a licensed tour guide
Tourism qualifications are not what make a Tramica expert. Genuine knowledge and genuine embeddedness are. We look for people whose primary life is in the city, not the tourism industry
Not a general knowledge resource
Tramica experts know something deeply - a craft, a culture, a neighbourhood, a food scene. Breadth without depth is less valuable than depth in one area. Specialists are what travellers need.
Not someone who works primarily with tourists
The knowledge we look for comes from being embedded in teh local world, not from being embedded in the tourist one. The best experts are often people who have never worked in travel at all.
Not someone who recommends what's popular
Our travellers can find popular. they come to Tramica for what's true. The recommendations that change a trip are specific, considered, and often counterintuitive. If you know what's really worth knowing - that's what we need.
A session in four steps.
HOW IT WORKS
01
Read the intake form
Before the session, you'll receive a detailed profile of the traveller - their interests, what they've loved before, what they want to feel, anything they want to avoid. You prepare specifically for them.
02
The 90-minute session
A private video call with the traveller before they leave home. You listen, you ask, you share. You plan their trip from your genuine knowledge - not a script, not a template. Specifically for them
03
Research & consultation
Over 48-72 hours, you consult your network, make calls, check access, and fill the gaps the session revealed. This is the work only a genuine isider can do - and makes the guide genuinely extraordinary.
04
Deliver the guide
A beautifully written city guide, crafted specifically for this traveller. Day-by-day, mapped, with your personal context on every recommendation. Then you're available by message during the trip.
WHAT YOU EARN
Your knowledge.
Your terms.
YOUR SHARE OF EVERY SESSION
60%
You keep 60% of every session fee. Founding experts receive 80% for the first 10 sessions while we establish the model together.
PER SIGNATURE SESSION
$167
At 4 sessions a week, that's $2,700 per month. At 8 sessions, $5,400. Your schedule, your pace.
TIME PER SESSION
3-4hrs
Intake review, the session itself, research and network consultation, and guide writing. At $167 per session, that's over $40 per hour - strong for most cities.
YOUR WEDNESDAY
Yours
Your studio day, your research day, your day off - protected by default. No sessions on days that you close. Your work comes first. Just block out the days you need.
THE COLLECTIVE TIER
Contribute your knowledge.
An hour. $60. No session to manage.
When a traveller books a Collective session - bringing together two or three specialists - you can participate as a secondary expert. You receive a focused AI-generated brief containing only the information relevant to your specialism. You contribute your knowledge, you get paid. The primary expert handles the session, the traveller relationship, and the guide synthesis.
YOU RECEIVE
A focused brief
An AI-generated document pulling exactly the information relevant to your specialism from the session - the traveller's interests, their questions, the gaps the primary expert needs you to fill.
Nothing irrelevant. Everything you need.
YOU DO
About an hour's work
Read the brief. Contribute your specialist knowledge - the restaurants, the galleries, the history - written form for the primary expert to incorporate into the guide. No video call. No traveller management. Just your knowledge.
YOU EARN
$60
Per contribution. One contribution per week is $3,120 per year in supplementary income for a modest time commitment. No session management. No guide writing. just your knowledge, fairly compensated.
WHO IS THIS FOR
Senior practitioners who want to contribute their knowledge without managing traveller relationships. Specialists who have a deep body of knowledge in one area that complements other experts. People who want to be part of Tramica without the full commitment of primary sessions.
HOW TO PARTICIPATE
Tell us about your specialism in your application. Tramica will match you as a secondary contributor on Collective sessions where your knowledge is the right fit. You set your availability. You accept or decline each contribution request. If you want to participate as both a primary and secondary expert with different travellers, that is fine too.
WHAT WE ASK OF YOU
Depth over volume.
Tramica is not a side hustle platform. The travellers who book a session are spending real money and trusting you with what is possibly a once-in-a-lifetime trip. What we ask is not complicated - but it is genuine.
Prepare for every session
Read the intake form before you meet. know something specific about the tris traveller before you speak to them. The session should feel personal, not generic.
Consult your network genuinely
Use the 48-72 hour research window. Make the call to check reservation availability. Ask the colleague who knows the studio you recommend. This is what makes the guide extraordinary.
Contribute to the expert community
The city WhatsApp group is where experts help each other improve their guides. Share what you know. Respond when someone needs your specialism. The community makes everyone better.
Be available during the trip
Not constantly - but present. A traveller who messages because they need something in real time trusted you when they booked. A quick response makes an enormous difference to their experience.
THE CODE OF CONDUCT
We pay you for knowledge.
Not for outcomes.
Tramica experts do not receive commission on bookings, referral fees from suppliers, or any outcome-based compensation. This is a deliberate design decision - not an oversight. The moment an expert has a financial stake in what gets booked, the trust relationship that makes Tramica valuable is at risk. We protect that relationship by keeping it clean.
WHAT THIS MEANS FOR YOU
You recommend what you genuinely believe is best for each traveller, independent of any personal or corporate financial interest. Not what is easiest to describe. Not what is most convenient. Your professional reputation and your expert judgement are your only guides.
WHAT THIS MEANS FOR THE TRAVELLER
Every Tramica traveller knows that their expert has no financial interest in what they recommend - independent of any commercial relationship. The advice they receive is honest. The guide reflects what the expert would tell a close friend.
THE FOUR PRINCIPLES - OUR CODE OF CONDUCT
1
Recommendation independence. Recommend what is genuinely best for this traveller - regardless of what benefits you, or Tramica commercially.
1
Recommendation independence. Recommend what is genuinely best for this traveller - regardless of what benefits you, or Tramica commercially.
1
Recommendation independence. Recommend what is genuinely best for this traveller - regardless of what benefits you, or Tramica commercially.
1
Recommendation independence. Recommend what is genuinely best for this traveller - regardless of what benefits you, or Tramica commercially.
2
Conflict disclosure. Personal relationships with recommended suppliers are not prohibited - but they must be disclosed in the guide. Transparency strengthens trust; concealment destroys it.
1
Recommendation independence. Recommend what is genuinely best for this traveller - regardless of what benefits you, or Tramica commercially.
1
Recommendation independence. Recommend what is genuinely best for this traveller - regardless of what benefits you, or Tramica commercially.
3
No supplier compensation. Never accept payments, gifts, or complimentary access from a supplier in exchange for Tramica recommendation.
1
Recommendation independence. Recommend what is genuinely best for this traveller - regardless of what benefits you, or Tramica commercially.
1
Recommendation independence. Recommend what is genuinely best for this traveller - regardless of what benefits you, or Tramica commercially.
4
Practitioner first. Your primary professional identity is as a practitioner - artist, historian, food writer, architect, etc. - not as a guide or tourism professional. Tramica sessions are secondary activity, not your primary business.
1
Recommendation independence. Recommend what is genuinely best for this traveller - regardless of what benefits you, or Tramica commercially.
1
Recommendation independence. Recommend what is genuinely best for this traveller - regardless of what benefits you, or Tramica commercially.
Every Tramica expert acknowledges and signs this code of conduct before their first. The full code of conduct - including disclosure requirements, enforcement process, and the acknowledgement form - provided during expert onboarding. Apply below to begin the process.
Tell us about
your city.
We review every application personally. We're not looking for the most qualified person - we're looking for the person who holds the most genuine knowledge of, and love for, their city, and who wants to share it with people who are genuinely hungry for it.
If that's you - we'd love to hear from you.
We respond to every application within 5 working days. If we think there's a fit, we'll arrange a brief conversation before anything else. No commitment required from either side until we're both certain.
*Even if we don't currently cover your city, we'd still love to hear from you. We are always looking to expand our geographic coverage.
Tramica
Every city has a soul
© 2026 Tramica · Confidential · Pre-launch