The Travel Type {AFAR}

One evening this week when I should have been working on my thesis - like I should be doing right now - I came across AFAR. While I've heard mention of it several times before, something about this visit grabbed me. Rather being taken directly to the magazine - which is a great alternative to what is typically on newsstands, as its focus is on experiential and local travel (and unfortunately only available in the US) - I was redirected to their latest addition, Afar Connect. The process to sign up is free and really simple, and in doing it you respond to fun questions and learn what kind of traveler personality you are (I'm a "cultural explorer" - see below). Based on your responses, questions are generated that you'll likely be able to help with, as you serve as the "local" expert. It acts a bit like Twitter (one of my favorite addictions these days) meets travel, where you're given brief snippets of what like-minded people are looking for, and then you're invited to share as many tips and insights as you want, as well as having the freedom to search the archives and see what other ideas people have shared. The process is really streamlined, fun, and addictive. It also - like my thesis - shows how 2-way communication and human involvement and interaction is the future of travel.

P.S. This week two great articles by Lara Dunston went up: An Entrepreneurial Model for Travel Writers Working in an Evolving Media and A Model of Travel Writing: Lara Dunston Spills on GranTourismo. And it was through this Chat with Fred Dust of IDEO by Shaun Harris where I first learned about AFAR's recent work "creating connections between travelers and locals instead of travelers and travel experts."

{images via AFAR}