To celebrate National Travel and Tourism week and their Faces of Travel initiative, we asked Adara employees and clients around the globe: “What does travel mean to you?”
Travel is Adara’s DNA. We believe travel fuels curiosity, opens our minds and brings people together socially, culturally and intellectually. Nothing broadens our horizons like traveling does. At Adara, we believe travel brings us together for a more understanding, harmonious and diverse world.
Here is what travel means to our colleagues and customers, in their own words:
Oleg Yanchinskiy
Software Engineer – UI, Adara
Hometown: Sacramento, CA
Travel to me means visiting a place you’re unfamiliar with in hopes of getting a better understanding not only of the world around you but also of yourself. You visit distant lands to see what mysteries the world has to offer, all of the beautiful places in the world, and how mankind has adapted to living there. As you travel you immerse yourself in new cultures and see the world from a different angle. When you come back, you have a better appreciation of the land you visited and carry that experience with you for the rest of your life.
Katie Cook
Director of Digital Marketing, Austin CVB
Austin, TX
Travel means making memories with my loved ones. Whether I go on a family vacation with my husband and kids or have a girls’ weekend in a new city with my best friend, I love travel because of the experiences I have with my favorite people. Travel enriches our lives with new cultures and perspectives, but it also strengthens our relationships with loved ones.
Jen Nilsson
Director, Destination Analytics, Adara
Hometown: Portland, Oregon
Traveling reminds me of who I am. It can be so easy to lose perspective in the hustle of everyday life. When I leave home and remove myself from the deadlines and the demands and the to-do lists, I tend to take the time to look around and remember how small I really am in this big old world of ours. And when I take the time to look outward, it’s nearly impossible not to look inward.
Kyle Edmiston
Assistant Secretary at Louisiana Office of Tourism
Baton Rouge, LA
Travel is the opportunity to experience a short stay in a different culture. Whether I am traveling to another town within my state or to another country, each destination provides something special and different from where I live. It is these experiences that make travel worth the time, effort and money expended to make them possible.
Bhavin Surela
Director, Software Engineering, Adara
Hometown: Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India
For a person like me, who lives far from his home country, travel often means going home, meeting family and old friends, revisiting places where you were born or brought up. Every time you go, it’s a different experience. However, in more general sense, travel to me is like relaxing. It gives me a fresh outlook on my day to day activities while at the same time appreciating the creativity of different places and people.
Cory Jobe
Director of Illinois Office of Tourism
Springfield, IL
Travel to me means stepping outside of my routine and seeing, tasting or experiencing something new. I love to explore Illinois’ charming small towns to experience local flavors and find hidden gems – whether it’s eating local cuisine and tasting local craft beers and spirits or touring historic sites and taking in beautiful scenic vistas.
Evelyn Huynh
Director, Global Ad Operations, Adara
Hometown: San Jose, CA
Travel creates opportunities for me to experience personal growth, exploration, education, creativity, and mindfulness. I make a conscious effort to absorb as much culture and life as I can when I leave work and home behind. I look for opportunities for artistic expression when traveling abroad through the lens of my camera. It’s a delicate balance between living in the moment and capturing the moment, but I love doing both, and always make a point of challenging myself to do both when I travel.
Sarah Kerper
Account Executive, Adara
Hometown: Long Island, NY
For as long as I can remember, I’ve had the wanderlust. Traveling is the exclamation point in my life! It is an opportunity to break your daily routine, live in the moment, learn about the world around you, and open your eyes to a new adventure!
Chinmay Gandhi
Director, Software Engineering, Adara
Hometown: Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India
Travel means many things to me. Primarily, it means “discovery” to me. Discovery of the culture and history of the place I visit. Discovery of the fauna and flora of the place. Discovery of the local food. Discovery of the local music. And hopefully discovery of the self in the process. Travel means personal and family time. I normally try to switch off most social network and messaging apps while I am leisure traveling.
David Morrow
Vice President, Global Marketing, Adara
Hometown: Belfast, Northern Ireland
Travel to me is life. The knowledge I gain through travel, the experiences I have, the people I meet and the memories I create are the riches that I gather in life. A new car, new clothes and a nice house are all nice to have but my travel experiences are what make me feel blessed. Travel has made me richer, wiser and has made me a better person.
I have traveled to around 65 countries across North and South America, Europe, Africa, Middle East, Asia and Australia and have enjoyed every one of them. Each one conjures up different memories, different feelings, different people. I don’t regret a single penny I have spent on travel.
People often tell me that I am so lucky to get to travel – it’s a choice, not luck – I have made other sacrifices to make this happen and am delighted with my choices every day!
My aim is to join the “Century Club” – 100 countries visited – it’s a pretty exclusive club!