Dear reader,

It’s resolution season. Wherever you fall on the New Year’s spectrum—from “I set 75 goals each January!” to “resolutions, schmesolutions” (if that’s you, please don’t tune out yet)—I think we can all agree that 2021 will be a special year. Especially when it comes to travel.

I tend to fall on the overly optimistic side of goal setting, with those good intentions fading slowly as the year progresses. I’m reining that in this year, but I know that one of my resolutions will involve my travel life, inspired by this essay from AFAR contributor Eric Weiner. He calls the piece a “travel manifesto,” but I see it as more of a better-travel blueprint that we mere mortals can pick and choose from.

Illustration by VectorLe/Shutterstock

Intentional travel is not a new idea, but most of us have never spent so much time away from travel. And there’s significant opportunity in that. “It’s easier for us to kickstart new habits at these natural breaks in our lives,” said Yale professor Laurie Santos during our interview in 2019, “and those little moments of defining yourself differently do seem to change our motivation.”

For better or for worse, 2020 was essentially one giant break from our routines. So here’s my question—to myself and to you: How do you want to define yourself as a traveler in this next chapter?

Maybe you’ve enjoyed a new, slower pace of life in recent months and want to extend that to your trips. Maybe you want to make sustainability a cornerstone of your travel life. Maybe you want to be more attuned and responsive to injustices around the world. Maybe you want to be happier, wherever you go.

Whatever that means to you, I hope you’ll take a few moments, now that the bubbly has run dry and we’re two weeks into this new year, to meditate on that question and to share it—with me, with your family, on Instagram. Research shows that we’re more likely to keep resolutions we share with others, so here goes:

As I pledged in AFAR’s staff resolutions, my intention—sparked by AFAR contributor Shahnaz Habib—is to release the “must-sees.” In an essay for the Guardian, Habib writes: “The truth, frightening and liberating, is that nothing in the world is a must-do.” Every time I read that line I feel a shiver of freedom. Imagine the possibilities that come from charting your own course so genuinely? Maybe you already travel like that (and if you do, please share your secrets), but I struggle with my desire to see all the things.

Illustration by GoodStudio/Shutterstock

In 2021, I’ll (attempt to) let go of my list-driven, no-time-to-rest approach and try something new. I can’t help but think of recent episodes of our podcast, Travel Tales by AFAR: Each story is deeply personal and ungoverned by conventional “shoulds.” Lavinia Spalding traveled to Spain to study with three revolutionary female flamenco guitar players. Heather Greenwood Davis followed a group of Black teenagers in Ghana—and confronted her own limitations. In our latest episode, Carmen Maria Machado explores Rio de Janeiro on her own terms (which includes a stop at a very off-the-beaten-path museum).

Their voices—and the words of Shahnaz Habib and Eric Weiner—will linger in my ear as 2021 unfolds. I hope you, too, will allow their wisdom to shape your future journeys.

Happy listening,

Aislyn Greene

Senior editor

@aislynj