W
HEN AFAR FOUNDERS
Greg Sullivan and
Joe Diaz tell the story
of AFAR’s birth, it
always starts in India
in 2007. The friends had been traveling there
for weeks, exploring the country without set
plans, meeting entrepreneurs, artists, and even
gurus. One day toward the end of their trip,
Sullivan and Diaz were kicking back on a beach
in Goa, drinking Kingfisher beer, thinking
about everyone they’d met, when the idea came
to them. What if they started a travel media
company for travelers who embraced local
culture and the realities of travel? “ We wanted
to avoid the supermodel on the elephant on the
deserted beach vibe,” Diaz says. “That’s a fantasy.
We wanted to do something that spoke to seeing
and celebrating the world as it really was.”
When they returned to the States, without any
experience in publishing or the travel industry, they
bought four books about how to start a magazine:
three by editors, one by an
accountant. At the time,
the United States was
on the brink of the Great
Recession. They called
the accountant first. As
they look back, it wasn’t
the economic climate that
scared them the most,
though. “It was whether
we’d do something
we could be proud of,”
Sullivan recalls. They
set to work creating a
magazine dedicated to openness and curiosity,
with stories that respected and appreciated our
differences while honoring our commonalities.
With this issue, our 64th, AFAR is celebrating 10
years of sharing stories we’re proud of.
Diaz and Sullivan are looking forward to the
next decade with the same optimism they had back
when AFAR began. “That’s what travel is all about,”
says Diaz. “The journey from where you wake up in
the morning to where you rest your head at night
can be really interesting, provided that you infuse it
with the values that are most important to you.”“WE WANTED
TO DO
SOMETHING
THAT
SPOKE TO
SEEING AND
CELEBRATING
THE WORLD
AS IT REALLY
WAS.”
88 AFAR SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019