Sometimes, our exotic getaways get as routine as our daily lives.

We go to the same places with the same people at the same time of year, every year.

There’s something to be said for knowing a destination just as well as the locals — the non-tourist dining spots, shortcuts, and best places to catch the sun set — whether we’re talking about a sleepy beach town, a sprawling mountain retreat, or a dude ranch only accessible by dirt road.

But there is potentially a much more impactful upside to diverse travel. And when we state “diverse,” we mean it in every possible sense: travel companions, destinations, and itineraries.

It’s not just a hunch, either. Science is on our side.

Exhibit A: researchers who found that those who varied their physical locations reported feeling happy, excited, and even relaxed — among other positive emotions, according to a Nature Neuroscience paper.¹

And then there’s Exhibit B, which shows that not just diverse travel destinations, but people too can enhance our wellbeing. Living your life with a high level of inclusiveness — in other words, embracing people of all ages, genders, races, ethnicities, etc. — can make someone four times more likely to experience high wellbeing, according to a study in Psychology Today.²

Let’s take a closer look at how planning diverse travel can make for truly life-changing experiences.

Change Up Your Travel Mates

There’s nothing to knock about families building a lifetime of memories at the same lake house each year. Or former classmates recreating Spring Break at the same beachfront condo – albeit with better snacks and earlier bedtimes.

But when you travel with all the same folks, time and again, you set the stage for a fairly predictable experience.

Broadening your circle of travel companions means you can experience the same destination in a whole new way. Or explore new places with new faces. It’s also a way to help someone who might not otherwise make the trip, for reasons ranging from accessibility issues to simply not being able to find their own travel companions.

When assembling your travel party, it’s important to be thoughtful about inclusion while avoiding tokenism, which means inviting someone to join your trip for the wrong reasons. For example, if you plan to visit a country in which English is not the native language, don’t simply invite a native speaker of that destination to join your crew because you believe it will make for an easier trip.

Reflect on why you want to ask someone to join your diverse travel party to ensure it’s a genuine, authentic invitation.³

Step Out of Your Comfort Zone

OK, so you have a fresh crew of travel companions ready to embark on diverse travel. But where exactly do you go?

Here’s a tip: don’t worry so much about the specific destination as the way you’ll engage with your new surroundings.

For starters, consider the businesses you’re supporting. At Allianz Global Assistance, we’re never going to tell you not to support specific travel brands, but if we have the opportunity to open your eyes to some new choices, we’ll take it.

With that in mind, consider this: COVID isn’t the only gale force that’s impacted travel over the past two years. Diversity and inclusion have also gained momentum, and these forces of change are set to play a role long after the pandemic departs.

But before you can be a woke traveler, there’s plenty of learning and listening that needs to occur, which calls for a thoughtful approach to diverse travel. One new tool in this journey is an activity guide called Field Trip, which prompts travelers to pause and think hard about monuments they encounter in their backyard or abroad. Yes, monuments are everywhere. And when you’re actually looking for them, they’re often more abundant than you ever realized. But do you know the history behind them, who created them, and what they represent? Field Trip, developed by Monument Lab, offers worksheets to help you look at these historical markers from a new angle.⁴

This focus on diverse travel has also sparked the launch of new minority-owned businesses in the travel space, as well as shining a new light on existing brands. Take CrushGlobal, a new travel planning service that focuses on digging into a destination’s unique diversity, and features businesses owned by Black people. The service takes the shape of detailed travel guides, from southern road trips to national park treks and wine country tours. These guides plan out each day while accommodating a range of budgets — sharing history, vendor suggestions, restaurant recommendations, and more.⁴

This is probably a good time to mention that even trips aimed to expose you to diverse people and places with the best intentions need to keep in mind the dangers of cultural appropriation. That’s because there can be a fine line between honoring others’ customs and exploiting them for your own benefit. For example, are you donning native garb to take some selfies for your Instagram feed? Or have your hosts invited you to try on local dress to better see the world from their shoes? Some forms of cultural appropriation are quite obvious — imitating the local accent vs. learning and using the language to communicate, for example. But others can be quite difficult to discern. Our best advice is to research the culture and customs of any destination you’ll be visiting, and if you still don’t know whether an act would be disrespectful, simply ask.⁵

If you don’t know who to ask, or are having trouble finding minority-owned businesses in the travel space, we can help. All Allianz Global Assistance travel insurance plans come with a Concierge benefit, which connects you with travel experts who can help you build and troubleshoot a diverse travel itinerary. And as an added bonus, you’ll find plans that add plenty of peace of mind with benefits ranging from Trip Cancellation to Emergency Medical Transportation.

As you’ve seen, making the decision to plan a trip that broadens your cultural horizons is merely the first step in what can be a long journey. But the pay-off for approaching diverse travel with the objective of connecting with new people and places in mind is invaluable: new friends, new favorite places, and a whole new mindset.

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