When Joe and I first came up with the idea of a media company for experiential travelers, almost everyone asked us, “Why are you starting a print magazine? Shouldn’t you be doing this on the Web?”
Through beautiful imagery and compelling narratives, magazines have the ability to inspire and transport readers. A well-curated magazine can carry you away to another place and into the hearts and minds of others. This is what we wanted to create with our magazine.
The reception to our first three issues has been incredibly gratifying. AFAR has really struck a chord with people who want to explore and grow through travel. We keep getting better with each new issue.
Now we’re expanding to the Web, and we’re excited about the possibilities. Rather than showcase content from the magazine, the new AFAR.com will be a resource where you can ask questions and gather information that will enable you to have unique travel experiences.
How? AFAR.com will bring together our community: people who, like you, try to get beneath the surface of a place and look for the distinctive in all that they do. AFAR.com will connect you with fellow travelers and locals who share your interests, and provide tips that will take you deep inside cultures. We see AFAR.com as the ultimate guide for experiential travelers, one that provides advice personalized to you.
For the site to work, we need your help. We’re looking for an elite group of curious, well-traveled, interesting, and influential people who are willing to help us test the site before we roll it out to the public in September. If you would like to throw your hat in the ring, please visit private.afar.com and fill out a questionnaire that will help us put together a group that represents the AFAR community. This is an opportunity to get in on the ground floor, to influence the direction of AFAR.com, and to share your expertise with other like-minded global citizens.
Thanks in advance for your support in helping us continue to expand AFAR’s worldwide community of experiential travelers, and enabling all of us to better experience the diversity and wonders of the world.
Good travels,
Greg Sullivan
FOUNDER & CEO
This appeared in the May/June 2010 issue
