The process of creating Travelier began just weeks after COVID-19 became a legitimate issue on the planet’s radar (read: from the very beginning, there were doubts). Not the least of which was, “What do I, Jeffrey Matthew Kirkwood, who’s been an international DJ for the last 15 years, know about starting and running a magazine?”
Friends and family had a universal reaction: “Let me get this straight. You are starting a TRAVEL magazine… at the onset of a global pandemic.” I would laugh self-deprecatingly (extra self-deprecating laughter when I told my father) and reply, “Yes, I am. But I would argue that this is a brilliant time to start a travel magazine, BECAUSE of the impending restrictions to travel.”
You see, I was imagining the END of the crisis: people chomping at the bit to travel again, businesses and tourism boards desperate to advertise their destinations in order to get the industry back on track. As Travelier (pronounced Travel-eer, like cavalier) is a mostly Canadian content magazine, it would serve a much-needed purpose during the pandemic whereby Canadians would be provided with ideas for local adventure within their own country, removing the need for international flights and scary foreign country COVID-related incidents. The Rebirth of the Road Trip Age! The Golden Age of the Staycation!
Our brand purpose is to develop a stronger connection for Canadians to their own country by exploring the diversity of experiences, people and cultures in Canada, and for international tourists to discover the best Canada has to offer.
To this end, we have done our best to cover as much of Canada as we can. North to south, east to west. It hasn’t been easy, as different parts of the country have been on stricter lockdown measures than others (the east coast, for example, has been extremely closed off).
Another priority for us at Travelier is to hold tight to a philosophy of inclusion. This means not just young and old, gay and straight, experienced and inexperienced, but also readers on a budget, readers without a budget, readers who love city life, and readers who would love to spend the night in a lighthouse-turned-guesthouse on a rocky and remote shore.
Of course, over the eight months we have been working to launch the site, even road trips and staycations have become unfeasible. So now, as we launch this project for you, we here at Travelier are NOT encouraging you to travel. We want you to stay safe and sound, tucked into your homes, scheduling Zoom calls with friends and family both local and overseas, perfecting the recipes you’ve been meaning to take a stab at for ages. What we are here to do for you now is simply to share some of our favourite winter experiences for you to add to your when-we-can-travel-again list.
One of our modus operandi is to share stories that are entertaining, even if you’re not travelling. So. Here are our very first offerings. We hope they will entertain you, inspire you and give you some vicarious travel life to recharge your passion for travel.
And last but perhaps most important, we want to remind you that things WILL get better and travel WILL resume. When it does, we hope some of our selections will be adventures you choose to experience for yourselves.—Jeff
