Giving Thanks / Saying Goodbye / Looking Forward

Travel
by Hal Amen Nov 24, 2010
Dinner

Hal, Carlo, and crew in Brooklyn

Trips editor Hal Amen reflects on recent changes at the site.

CARLO IS LEAVING. This makes me sad.

I remember the first time Carlo appeared on my radar. It was in the Matador forums. I’d posted a request for suggestions for good travel printers, needing to take one with me on a year-long trip through South America. Carlo (or, as I met him then, vagabonderz) responded to say he had no suggestions but that it sounded crazy to travel with a printer. Had I tried googling it?

I thought this was a silly thing to say. But he was the only person who replied. And over time, once I’d gotten to know him better, first online and then in person, I’d look back on the forum dialogue as an example of the passion he has for travel, for the Matador community, and his willingness to help you find an answer even when he doesn’t know it himself.

And that’s essentially what we did over the next year and a half, helped each other figure out how to run a travel blog and run it well. Getting Trips to where it is today was a total joint effort, and I’m thankful for having had a partner like Carlo on the journey. (Oh, and he let me crash on his pullout in NYC, which was also awesome).

Now he’s at BNT, and I’m thankful for that too, because I know how stoked he is to be taking lead on the site that got him into Matador in the first place.

* * *

As Carlo moves down the block, he gives an opportunity to our hitherto behind-the-scenes but always industrious intern Sarah Park to step up and take ownership. Together, Sarah and I are ready to keep pushing Trips, putting up ground-level guides to overlooked places and doing our best to inspire folks to hit the road. Check out our About page for a full manifesto.

We like feedback. What works for you on the site? What doesn’t? What areas (either topical or geographical) would you like to see covered more/less? Let us know in the comments, or email me at hal[at]matadornetwork[dot]com.

Fire us up. We’ll try to do the same.

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