Hello and Welcome!

I am so glad you are reading my new blog. Austin and I had a blog once before while traveling through South America for 3 months, mostly for the purpose of keeping our family and friends in the loop while we traveled. But this blog will not be that. While I might talk about our travels - past or present - the focus will not be informing our families what we are doing. Instead I’ll be discussing more general topics that we felt were underserved in the travel blog and guide community.

First, I want to talk about how to plan travel, not necessarily as in the nitty-gritty details of what to do where and how, but as in how to choose trips based on your travel style or by understanding your personal preferences. This idea came to us after a recent trip to Hawaii that was not what we were expecting. Not that our trip wasn’t amazing and beautiful, - we are so glad we went - it just wasn’t what we were expecting. But I'll talk more about that in another post. Basically, we didn't take into account what kind of travelers we were, we didn't do much research ahead of time (because it was kind of a spontaneous decision to go), and we didn't reflect on our own personal needs before deciding to go to this particular destination.

In my own experience, and I think (or maybe I wrongly assume) in most people's experiences, I haven’t always stopped to consider why I was going to visit a place before deciding to go. I and presumably many others choose destinations because they are popular or well known or have a good reputation. Vice versa, people avoid destinations because they only hear bad things about them on the news or they don't know anything about them and assume they are unsafe. We want to help correct this. This blog will alternately discuss popular destinations (like Hawaii), and less popular destinations that may not even be on your travel radar (like Sri Lanka or Ecuador). Essentially, we want to help people choose places that make sense for their interests, travel style, and comfort level.

The other part of this blog will be about impact and intentions. I recently finished a master's degree in Anthropology (crazy!) and for my thesis, I researched volunteer tourism in Guatemala. Ah travel, philanthropy, and culture, these are a few of my favorite things. But really, this research combines three topics I feel very passionate about and allowed me to not only learn more about another culture but also make an impact in how travel and volunteerism/ development aid affect local populations that are meant to be the beneficiaries. During my research I read and read and read some more about tourism and volunteerism and development and the combination of all of those, the pros and cons, from the volunteer perspective, from the development agency perspective, and from the local perspective. I interviewed locals who were the recipients and participants of these things, I participated myself in some volunteer work, and then I wrote a hundred page paper synthesizing it all. My biggest conclusion from all of this was, people genuinely have good intentions when they travel or volunteer, but the execution of the process could use some work.

With this blog we want to provide a resource for people who want to travel “well”. Well is of course very vague but in this context we just mean to have a good impact whether that be socially, economically, environmentally, or even personally, in the planning process, during the actual trip, and after you get back home. We want to give people ideas of what to consider, how to research a destination, how to be mindful of these impacts DURING their travel, how to be culturally sensitive and aware, and where to even look to find these kinds of information. We want you to be better informed before you go, have a better time while you're there, and leave a place better than you found it.

So, I know that was a lot to take in so I’ll start wrapping it up. I wanted to give you an idea of what kind of blog this will be. In short, I want you to have as meaningful, beneficial, and successful travels as possible, no matter where it is you choose to go or how you choose to do it (backpacking, luxury, slow travel, tour groups, etc). I won't give you bullet point or listed itineraries for specific destinations, but I will help you become a better and more responsible traveler (hopefully) and maybe show you that travel is more accessible than you think.

I also want to hear from you!! If you have a particular question or experience that you want to ask or share, please reach out and tell us! Also, I am figuring this out as I go, both blogging in general and this topic, so please don't judge too harshly just yet. :)

So with that, I will finally stop writing and let you get on with your life. I hope you'll keep reading and keep traveling.

Thanks again and happy travels! :)

- Sami