Introducing the Indie Travel Manifesto

The following is a guest post from Adam Seper of BootsnAll.

Backpacking in Thailand (photo: David Lee)

[W]e all travel differently. Some enjoy an all-inclusive resort with easy food and drink access. Some like going the B&B route.

Others have their favorite hotel chains that they always stay in. Many prefer staying in a dorm room in a hostel eating ramen and drinking the cheapest local beer.

No matter what your preference, there is no right or wrong way to travel. There's only what you prefer.

At BootsnAll, we like to refer to ourselves as the One-Stop Indie Travel Guide. But what exactly does Indie Travel mean? What makes an indie traveler?

Over the past several months, we came together as a company and really tried to put a definition to it. We wanted to define what our priorities were as indie travelers, not as a way to portray our travel preference as best, but to make connections with others who feel the same way about travel that we do.

It all starts with our core values. As a company, we came up with several core values that drive the content we produce and the services we offer. Those four core values are:

• Embrace change
• Love learning
• Make meaningful connections
• Work & play with passion 

Not only do we do our jobs based on these four core values, but we all live our lives and travel by the same ideals. These core values are at the root of what we feel makes an indie traveler. But we are a small company, so we want to get the input of other travelers.

So we teamed up with travel writer Rolf Potts, a long time contributor to BootsnAll, and we created the Indie Travel Manifesto.

This is not meant to encourage everyone to travel like we do. We know that this only appeals to a certain sector of the travel world, so we hope to reach out to all the indie travelers out there and share this manifesto.

The spirit of this site, Go Backpacking, encompasses perfectly how we feel about indie travel. Dave gives you all the tools necessary to get out there and have an indie travel experience.

We want our fellow indie travelers to take action with the manifesto. We want you to be a part of it.

We'd love you to read it. Vote on it. Discuss it. Sign it. And share it.

There are 24 statements on the manifesto that we think defines what an indie traveler is.

Do you agree?

Guest Blogger

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