Post Your Highlights, Win a Trip to India!
AFAR travelers are mobile, and so is AFAR! We’ve launched our first app, available now in the iTunes store.
To celebrate, we’re launching Catch, a 6-week photo challenge in which we invite you to post your best Highlights around weekly themes.
The celebration doesn’t stop there (that wouldn’t really suffice, right?). We’ll pick one winner from each of the themes, and that winning Highlight will be featured on the home page. Then, at the end of the contest, one grand prize winner will be awarded a trip to India on SWISS International Air Lines, plus five nights’ at Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces.
In order to be eligible please follow these easy steps:
1. Download the mobile app, available in the iTunes store.
2. Sign into your AFAR.com profile on your mobile. (So we know you’ve downloaded it!)
3. Start uploading your Highlights! You can upload your entries from the site or the app. We’ve come up with two themes a week for you to post about; please put the name of the theme somewhere in the post so we can find your entry. And remember: a good Highlight is not just a pretty photo. We want specifics! Describe an experience that others can repeat when they’re traveling or just in your neighborhood.
About those themes: we think they’re just broad enough to be titillating and just specific enough to be enticing. We’ve listed them below so that you can plan ahead. Interpret them your way; tell an untold story. Be a local expert or a travel luminary. And did we mention we love a good laugh?
Be sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook, as well as Pinterest, where we’ll be posting the entries. Good luck, and have fun! (And don’t forget to read the official rules for all the fine print!)
WEEK 1 February 16th - 22nd
RENDEZVOUS. Where do you meet up? A great café, a friendly stoop, a romantic restaurant…
RITUAL. No, we’re not talking about your bathtub. What discoveries do you return to? Where you have your coffee, where you return to for a recharge—a yoga retreat in Tulum, or the undiscovered Croatian beach town.
WEEK 2 February 23rd – 29th
DELICIOUS. Everyone talks about food; we want to hear the real details. A perfect ramen discovery in the middle of Paris. The best place for avocados at your local farmers market.
ARE WE THERE YET? Embarking on your daily commute or navigating the Japanese subway. What surprises have you uncovered while getting from point A to point B that AFAR travelers would want to hear about?
WEEK 3 March 1st – 7th
ADRENALINE. What places or activities get your blood pumping? Share with us the free-diving spot or the hot-air balloon ride that you can’t stop thinking about.
LOST. Getting lost leads to discoveries that the guidebooks would never lead you towards. Once you’ve regained your bearings, tell us where you were when you found your gem of a Highlight.
WEEK 4 March 8th – 14th
ON TOP OF THE WORLD. A stunning view, a unique moment, literally free falling—what gives you that limitless feeling? How can AFAR travelers share it?
OASIS. Whether sought out in the dessert or created in the comfort of your own city, we all need an oasis. And no, this isn’t about your bathtub either. It could be a quiet hotel room, a bar that serves the perfect margarita, or a country retreat where you can walk for miles.
WEEK 5 March 15th – 21st
FIASCO. The unpredictability of travel means sometimes our plans end in utter failure. Missed flights, wrong turns, incomprehensible directions. How did you turn a failure into success?
STAY. Where you drop your bags. Where you feel like resting a while. A poolside lounge, a perfect hotel room, a hospitable local.
WEEK 6 March 22nd – 28th
UNLIKELY ART. Share some undiscovered beauty. Give us a street art tour of downtown Los Angeles, a perfect portrait in an otherwise unremarkable Amsterdam museum, a Tokyo pop-up gallery that’s only open after midnight.
MARKETS. Outdoors or indoors, produce or crafts; where do you discover the colors, flavors, and culture of a place? What amazing finds have you brought home from a market?
Thank you to our sponsors, SWISS and Taj!





Local Experts have earned their titles based on their great Highlights and neighborhood savvy.
Nothing for droids? Anyway we can still compete?
Hi Colin,
Thanks for asking and you can definitely still enter! The Android version is coming out very soon and I'll keep you posted (fingers crossed it'll be ready next week). In the meantime you can still contribute your highlights to the themes. Just make sure to download the app and sign in first thing when it's released.
Good luck!
Allison
Community Manager for AFAR
Just tried three times and got an "unknown error" logging in with my Facebook. Tried on the website and it works fine. Is this a problem other people are having?
Yes, App for Android please!
I dont have a phone where I can download apps? How can we enter?
Local Experts have earned their titles based on their great Highlights and neighborhood savvy.
In the theme descriptions when it says "you" should that be taken literally?
Excited to see these highlights!
I also couldn't log in on my phone using the AFAR app.. help please :)
What about for Blackberry?
Hey Allison... So loyal Afar supporters without a smart-phone are just out of luck? Pardon me while I make my way to the back of the bus now. (Tsk-tsk) ;-)
It's a bit unfair don't you think, that those of us without phone apps, twitter or facebook can't enter to win certain trips. Doesn't being an avid reader of Afar count for anything?!
Yes as a for profit entity, you need to provide a way for anyone to enter a contest without having to buy anything or own a specific device/product. It is the law in most states Only legimate charity fundraising raffles can actually get around this. Great magazine though.
Local Experts have earned their titles based on their great Highlights and neighborhood savvy.
You have access to the site correct? Upload your pictures here. Surely someone you know has a smart phone or tab and wouldn't mind if you downloading the app and signing in...geez. Instead of complaining about the current situation have some intuition and think of a solution.
AFAR is celebrating a very exciting release and the fact that there are mobile opportunities to share Highlights now. It is unfortunate that there aren't apps available for all phones currently, but this is definitely an appropriate way to launch the movement. And Colin (an active CATCH! contender) just gave everyone a great alternative to those who don't have iPhones or Androids. Cheers and good luck to everyone! I am loving the Highlights entered so far.
Hello All,
Thanks for reading the post and sharing your feedback. The Catch contest is our way of celebrating the release of the first ever AFAR App so, naturally, we are asking you check it out to participate. Thanks Colin for sharing a great idea- for AFAR.com users who would like to compete but do not own their own smart phone or tablet device, ask a friend to download it and sign in there.
Of course we don't want to leave anyone out so we are also running two other contests that do not have an app component, huzzah! Check these out:
Enter to win a 5 night trip to Brussels:
http://win.afar.com/flanders/
Enter to win a 4 day trip to Arizona:
http://win.afar.com/scottsdale/
I'll keep you posted on the release of the Android version as well as the winners of our weekly themes. If you have any other comments or questions feel free to email me. In the meantime I'm so excited to read your wonderful highlights!
Best wishes and happy travels,
Allison
Community Manager for AFAR
community@afar.com
Local Experts have earned their titles based on their great Highlights and neighborhood savvy.
Is there anyway to confirm that we have in fact signed in once?
I hate to yell out " that's discrimination." If the so-called trip to India give away is genuine, not fake, it should be open to all AFAR avid readers, and not to only those who have these funky applications on their phones. -- v r veluri
Local Experts have earned their titles based on their great Highlights and neighborhood savvy.
If we have a highlight that was posted before this competition began can we change the title and description to make it fit the theme?
While this maybe irrelevance to the competition, I cannot help but wonder why is the banner display an image of Thailand when it is a competition for a trip to India? I don't think anyone would like it when their country got mixed with others.
Hi,
Of course you can change your descriptions on past highlights and enter them into the contest. In face, we encourage it! To improve your chances of winning and learn more about what makes a great Highlight, read Greg's post here:
http://www.afar.com/afar/introducing-highlights-and-the-afar-mobile-app
Travelers are uploading their highlights from around the world to win Catch! While a picture of India would be appropriate, we wanted to convey that you can share highlights from anywhere on our mobile. (We also loved Lindsay's Highlight "Tuk Tuks": http://www.afar.com/highlights/tuk-tuks.)
Good luck and happy travels,
Allison
Community Manager for AFAR
community@afar.com
Local Experts have earned their titles based on their great Highlights and neighborhood savvy.
Ahh...clarification--thanks to Colin for asking the question about the possibility of 're-theming' past highlights, and thanks to Allison for answering it!
I tried uploading my highlight photo two times from my iPhone AFAR app, without luck. The app indicated it was loading for over 10 minutes. Other sites upload quickly, so I don't think it was my phone. So I went to your site and uploaded my U Bein Bridge photo from there. I hope that works for the contest.
Hi Patty, Sorry for the glitch in the app! I will send the issue to the development team and see if they can sort it out. You can definitely upload highlights for Catch on AFAR.com! Good luck and thanks so much for bringing this to our attention.
are all highlights entered into the contest, then?
Hi Allison. I posted a couple of highlights for the STAY theme yesterday (March 21st) but they're showing up on the AFAR site as having been posted on March 22nd. Will my STAY posts be disqualified from the Catch contest? Thanks.