Building Community Through Travel

Every vagabonder travels for different reasons. Some like to visit the most famous museums the world has to offer. Some want to hike the tallest mountains and deepest canyons. Others hope to experience cultures completely different than their own. Then there are the foodies hoping to taste that next bite of Heaven, the gap-year students looking to party and have a good time, and the quarter-life crisis travelers hitting the open road instead of settling down.

There are countless different types of travelers out there. Even though everyone has different priorities when it comes to travel, one thing usually remains constant for any vagabonder. We are all part of a unique community. Anyone who puts a priority on indie travel can easily reach out – through blogs, forums, facebook, and twitter – and find an entire community of like-minded people looking to share, help, and simply talk about what we love – traveling.

This feeling of camaraderie is one of the biggest reasons I sought out a job in the field of travel. I love the people I meet on the road. I love interacting with bloggers. I love seeing what’s going on with my travel friends around the world on Facebook and Twitter. I was fortunate enough to jump on board with BootsnAll, where one of our core values as a company to is make meaningful connections, which is what I think travel is all about. Sure the sites and the food and the beautiful scenery are all great, but the connections I have made because of travel are what I love most about it.

And now I get to do it on a daily basis as my job. When researching a recent article about round the world travel budgets, I was ecstatic that so many people came forward to help. Complete strangers were willing to share personal, financial details with me and the rest of the interwebs. When the story published, more people came forward to offer their opinion in the comments. And even though the comments were conflicting, having a nice, healthy debate and hearing other’s perspectives is part of what travel is all about. We know that we all travel differently, and experiences like these help drive that point home. The great thing is that we all get the opportunity to share our experiences with one another. I plan on writing a follow-up to the budget article, so if you have traveled long-term before and want to help out, leave a comment below, and I will get in touch.

Another feature we are rolling out soon are traveler profiles. The purpose behind this project is to feature other travelers – who they are, where they are from, what type of trips they have taken and would like to take. The goal is to build a database of travelers who are hoping to talk, share, and help each other out. Most travel lovers can’t get enough travel talk, and this is just another way to connect with each other, so if any of you Vagabonding readers want to join in, just leave a comment below.

The travel community is mostly comprised of open-minded, outgoing individuals who have a zest for life that may be a bit different than others. Many of us have different life priorities, and hooking up with others who have similar interests and goals is always a positive.

What is your favorite part of the travel community? Do you make an effort to join in? Comment below to share your thoughts.