Atlas Obscura Staff Re-evaluate Travel for Personal Growth and Connection

Key Quotes

"my new year's travel resolution is to take my kid back to the places where we lived when he was really young but doesn't necessarily remember he was born in saudi arabia and then we lived in istanbul turkey and then we lived in beirut lebanon and also during that time we visited italy yemen iraq poland the czech republic but he probably doesn't remember very much of it because he was only four years old when we moved back to the us so now that he is a teenager we want to go and rediscover some of those places together to access those memories and have new experiences so that's my resolution rediscovery of places that i have loved so much places where i worked so hard and that i can't wait to see again"

Kelly McEvers explains her resolution is to revisit places from her son's early childhood, aiming to reconnect him with his past and create new shared memories. McEvers highlights the value of rediscovering locations that hold personal significance and past experiences.

"i have two travel new year's resolutions so the first one is over the last couple of years i've started going to this fairly small but excellent music festival near me in san diego it's called summergrass it's a bluegrass festival it's held at this antique steam and gas engine museum and they have all these cool craftsmen on the property that are doing like weaving demonstrations and blacksmithing demonstrations and while you're listening to music so it's just a really fun time and i would love to learn more about other smaller music festivals that would be fun to travel to you know i mean the big ones also sound great but i'm just curious about what kind of more niche festivals are out there that i can get into you know um and related to that another speaking of niche festivals i've been watching a lot of the x files and i would really like to go to a cryptid festival this year just scratching the surface researching there are it seems many many many towns across the us and elsewhere that have annual festivals dedicated to their local mythical creatures you know there's the big ones there's like the bigfoot festival the mothman festival there's the loch ness monster festival but i'm also curious about the smaller ones you know the like hyper local cryptid festivals"

Amanda McGallan shares two resolutions: seeking out smaller, niche music festivals and attending cryptid festivals. McGallan expresses a curiosity for less mainstream events, indicating a desire to explore unique cultural gatherings beyond the well-known large-scale festivals.

"in 2026 at the top of my travel plans is the intention to go to some sort of big nerdy convention it can be an anime convention it can be a gaming convention ideally it would be comic con but i just really want to go somewhere to be with people who enjoy the things that i do as much as i do when i was a kid i was really open about my love of anime and cartoons and gaming it was a part of how i connected with people it also was something that i would wrote my family into sometime to time i remember in i think it was 1999 burger king came out with these gold plated pokemon cards and i got my parents to drive to every burger king that was around us over several weekends trying to get these cards unfortunately i didn't but as i got older it just didn't feel cool you know even feel like something that i was telling people about and i think i just sort of drifted away from those things i don't know sometime in my 30s i got back into it again"

Jerome Campbell plans to attend a "big nerdy convention" in 2026, such as an anime, gaming, or Comic-Con event. Campbell reflects on how his childhood openness about his interests, like anime and gaming, facilitated social connections, and he now seeks to recapture that sense of community.

"this year i did not do so well with airports um i went on this really nice family trip earlier this year my whole family like met up in nashville we were all going to see a concert at the ryman auditorium which is just really famous historic auditorium the grand ole opry was recorded there for multiple years it was this like bucket list thing that my mom wanted to do so it was great we all got there we were in the car driving to the theater and i got this notification that my flight was taking off at the exact same time that the concert was supposed to begin and i realized that i had booked my plane ticket for the same night as the concert instead of the next night which is what i meant to do it put a bit of a damper on the concert having to buy a whole new plane ticket uh quickly from the back seat of that car but we worked it out it was fine but i had never done anything like that before in my life i was it was like a really out of character for me and i felt crazy so that's one piece of my new year's travel resolution don't book flights on the wrong days and then also man i have this bad habit of if a flight is like 10 cheaper but at a horrendous hour of the day like leaving at 6 am or leaving at 11 pm i will do that instead of the one that's like marginally more expensive and leaves at a normal hour so yeah my new year's travel resolution is to be better at airports and flights kind of lame but really affects my life a lot"

Johanna Mayor's travel resolution addresses her past difficulties with airports, specifically mentioning booking a flight for the wrong day which caused her to miss a concert. Mayor also intends to avoid flights at inconvenient hours, even if they are cheaper, aiming for a smoother travel experience.

"i love walking and just last year in the summer of 2025 they opened up a new lane on the queensboro bridge that i love to walk because it's only for pedestrians and not cyclists so for this new year i want to continue my long walks but i want to try to walk new routes new avenues new bridges and perhaps document what i see and find along the way i've realized that walking is really therapeutic for me it helps me rest at night and it's a pretty good workout my intention is to plan a solo trip simply because i want to challenge myself i'm not someone who likes to plan or make decisions on their own but i think it's time for me to change that"

Manuela Morales plans to continue her long walks in the new year, exploring new routes and bridges, and documenting her observations. Morales also intends to plan a solo trip as a personal challenge, pushing herself to make decisions and plan independently.

"next we want to hear stories about the places you have stayed during your travels tell us why you picked that place how did you find it who did you go with what made the experience of staying there good or bad this could be a hotel a cabin even a friend's place maybe you had a terrible experience at a five star hotel after booking it months ahead of time maybe you had no running water at a motel you were staying at and had to find other ways to take a shower or maybe you got lost finding your way to a