May 15 – Why 2021 Travel Will Be More Meaningful Than Ever

Mike Parker, General Manager of Atlas Obscura Trips, shares his thoughts about a return to travel in 2021.

In the background of our socially distant days, a sense of community and solidarity hums through our quiet streets and shuttered gathering places. In New York, it reaches a daily crescendo at 7 p.m., when neighbors step onto their stoops and fire escapes cheering for the health workers caring for patients amid the pandemic. 

This daily gesture of gratitude is powerful, but we know that gestures can’t replace actions. The hope, though, is that the sound resonates beyond the immediate moment, that it reminds us we’re connected and moves us to be better citizens of our world. 

At Atlas Obscura, this sense of community and responsibility underlies all of our trips, even as their overriding spirit is one of curiosity and joy. Travel, after all, is nothing without human connection, and that connection is only meaningful if it serves as a conduit for positive impact. We travel, we connect, and, if we do it right, the journey doesn’t stop there. The effect reverberates—in the places we’ve been, in the lives of those we met, in our own lives and communities. 

At the beginning of the year, we committed to maximizing the positive impact of our trips; we design our journeys to support the livelihoods, passions, and traditions of the trip leaders, small businesses, and local collaborators who make our adventures possible. By traveling, you help them champion and protect the places they love.

Our commitment is more critical now than ever, and it’s taken on a new dimension. If we’re going to keep traveling—and we are—then we owe it to you, and the people and places we visit, to do it right. We’re implementing expansive new health and safety measures so we can uphold our commitment to operating responsibly while continuing to create wondrous experiences for our travelers and the global community. 

This period of relative stillness has renewed our sense of how precious travel is to us and how valuable it can be to the people who count on us to visit. Whether you want to road-trip in California’s Redwood National Park or lie in wonder gazing up at the Northern Lights through the glass roof of a cabin in Russia’s Arctic taiga, your next trip has the potential to take on new meaning. Let’s make it matter.