About

What can I find here?

There are four main content areas, plus a blog and a podcast for you to explore. I recommend starting with #1 and continuing on down the list. The blog and the podcast contain a ton of awesome information about the latest and greatest travel research, travel destination specifics, interesting happenings in the travel industry, and tips and tricks about how to be an intelligent traveler, so don’t forget those!

1. The traveler personality quiz will help you understand what type of traveler you are. Quiz results will tell you your traveler personality type and suggest some destinations that might interest you.

2. The ‘Impacts of traveling’ (start with impacts and sustainability) section discusses common impacts that travelers can have on the host community. Understanding potential positive and negative impacts that you may have can help you become amore conscientious traveler.

3. The ‘How do I plan a trip?’ (start with my travel planning strategy guide) section provides links that will allow you to plan trips intelligently, efficiently, and inexpensively. I only post links to sites that I have used myself, and provide in-depth recommendations about why they are great.

4. Through blog posts and podcasts, I’ll introduce you to the latest research on travel and tourism, explore actions you can take to travel with intentionality,  and discuss interesting topics that can make your travels easier, more interesting, and fun.

The Trip Doctor Travel Philosophy

My travel philosophy is simple: Be as informed as possible. About yourself and your travel style, wants, and needs. About potential impacts you can have in your travels. About your destination and its history. About the people and places within your destination. About how to book trips efficiently. Knowing as much as you can about all these things will help you be aware of how you can have a positive impact on your travel destination. I know it isn’t always possible to be a completely sustainable traveler or get a completely authentic experience – but if you educate yourself prior to travel at least you can make informed decisions about your travel and the impacts you may have. Does this mean you need to become fluent in French before taking that trip to Paris? Absolutely not; but knowing a handful of French phrases will get you farther than you may think – and may be appreciated a great deal by those you interact with during your travels (which, coincidentally, is a positive sociocultural impact).

About The Trip Doctor

Who am I and why should you care what I have to say about travel? My name is Evan Jordan – I’m a tourism professor at Indiana University in the United States. I have a Ph.D. in Sustainable Tourism and Protected Area Management, and I’ve studied tourism for the last 16 years of my life. I’ve also worked in the travel and tourism industry for a big portion of that time. If you’re interested in my research, I have open source versions of all of my published research here. If you want the official versions, you can access them through my Google Scholar profile here.

I’ve traveled to more places than some and a lot less than others – I still have a laundry list of places I’d like to get to in this lifetime, although most of my travel these days is decided by academic conferences and weddings! In total, I’ve traveled to 35 U.S. states and 23 countries. I’ve lived in five different states in the U.S. (Michigan, Illinois, South Carolina, Hawaii, and Arizona), and lived temporarily in two other countries (Jamaica and Belgium). These experiences have helped shape the way I see the world and provided grounded examples of the things I’ve studied and teach about in the classroom. Travel, like life, is a continual education, and I hope to continue learning for the rest of my days.

What is the purpose of this site?

This website will help you learn how to be intelligent in your travels. About what type of traveler you are and you want to be. About the type of impacts you want to have. About the type of trips you want to take and how to book them efficiently and inexpensively.