Travel + Storytelling

When we as human beings seek it out, we find our ability to connect with others through shared experience. Dialogue, conversation, and deep listening bring us closer to not only each other, but to who we are as well. There are few other conduits that are more suited to this than storytelling. Throughout human history storytellers and the subjects of those stories have shaped our cultures, our politics, and our very lives. Truly the telling of stories is basic to our humanity. So how can travel, and more specifically immersive travel experiences, build on the traditions of storytelling as a way to bring good and love into the world?

Travel, at its best, is a medium for personal exploration and the empowerment of people and communities.  When travel experiences can be created that give that opportunity for the sharing of personal experiences we start to see something amazing happen. People begin to see themselves in others. This is a powerful experience and something that is often lacking in modern society. I can recall many instances when traveling where I have met people who, at first, I seem to share little with but over time come to understand how truly connected we are. These are seminal moments of realization that truly changed who I am and truly shape how I see the world.

This experience can only happen if a space is created where people can share their stories and be empowered to understand the value of their life experience. In addition we must also open our ears and our hearts to accepting the stories of others into our understanding of the world. True value must be placed on stories and life experience for them to influence the world around us. When those two things happen the true power of travel and storytelling come together to fundamentally change the world.

With those ideas and that understanding it has become clear that here at Travel Life Adventures, and in all of our personal travel lives, that we must place a focus on the telling and hearing of stories as a method to connect people and broaden human understanding. We have some exciting new ideas in the works that we hope will place more emphasis on the stories of the people we work with and the communities they live in. Over time we hope to build on this idea and begin to create an interconnected web that can bind us all together no matter our differing lives and homes. So how can we do that?

  1. Sharing Stories: We are in the process of compiling and collecting the stories of people we have met, we work with, and have influenced our lives and business. Our goal in the future is to share these in a way that highlights the voice of those telling story and allows others to connect with that voice.
  2. Connect People: With the telling of stories and the use of immersive travel experiences we have the unique opportunity to bring stories to life. When you hear or read a story that touches you it still has a distance to it. What we hope to do is eliminate that distance by providing an opportunity to travel and meet the people behind the stories. Essentially to allow stories to dictate travel experiences and influence not only our business model, but the services we provide to you.
  3. Empower Communities: There is so much noise in the world and those with the loudest voice seem to drown out the rest of us. By giving a platform to those people and places that are not heard we can lift up their voices and validate their existence in our modern and changing world. Especially in indigenous communities we see a gradual loss of culture and way of life. By allowing those stories to have a louder voice we hope to empower communities to stand and be heard.

We hope this will be a re-imagining of sorts of our business model and how we do things. What we want to see happen is for you, the would-be traveler, to also re-imagine what your experiences can be. That along with adventure and fun and experiences you can find something deeper in connecting with places and people. That through a new and different way of traveling you can find a new and different understanding of the world.

Stay tuned to our website, blog, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to be part of this new imagining of travel.

Tanner @TLA

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