Every trip has a color. So do you.
A hard trip, together
A couple of years ago, our whole family went to Peru. It was a hard trip: several flights, a train, long days in the heat, and places none of us had ever seen. We were a big group, and three of the grandkids were with us, ages 6, 7 and 9. Kids always add something extra. They were so excited to see the animals and experience the Amazon.
We made it work because we had people with strong travel skills, and each of them took a part. Shaena and I speak Spanish, so we did a lot of the talking for the group. Jeff, Tenia and Andrew each handled different pieces of the trip. Nobody had to carry all of it, and the kids got to watch how it's done.
The comment I didn't know how to answer
Partway through the trip, I posted about it. A friend commented that she wanted to go to Peru and take the exact trip we were on.
I shuddered. It wasn't that she couldn't travel. She just wouldn't have had what we had: people beside her who knew how to handle it. I didn't know how to reply without it sounding like "you can't."
So we started talking as a family. How do you describe the kind of trip we were on? How do you help someone figure out what they're ready for? And sometimes we don't want a complicated trip at all. We want a vacation with very few decisions. We needed words for all of that, and we didn't have them yet.
The color wheel
Later in the trip, we visited an art gallery in Lima that had an exhibit about color. In a frame on the wall was an old color wheel labeled Prismatic. The cool colors, blue and purple and green, sat on one side. The warm ones, yellow and orange and red, sat on the other.
I stood there looking at it, and it clicked. Cooler is easier. That was the way to describe it.
Start at purple and follow the wheel around: blue, green, yellow, orange, and finally red hot. As the trip heats up, what you need to know has to grow too.
The Prismatic color wheel in Lima.
Six colors, cool to red hot
That became the Journey Spectrum. Each color describes how much a trip asks of you.
Purple: calm, curated and planned. Everything is handled. You rest and exhale.
Blue: structured, with cultural depth. Guided days, rich culture, and a few decisions of your own.
Green: balanced and loosely planned. Lodging set, days loose, and room to wander, in the city or the country.
Yellow: flexible and adventure-ready. New roads, new people, and changing course along the way.
Orange: immersive and self-guided. You plan your own routes and figure things out as you go.
Red: all-in and transformative. Remote places, few comforts, and problems you solve yourself.
No color is better than another. A purple trip isn't less than a red one. Some seasons of life call for a trip where all you do is rest, and that's a good trip.
Two colors, not one
That comment on my post had two questions hiding in it. What kind of trip was it? And was she ready for it? So the Journey Spectrum gives you two colors.
Your Travel Acumen is the color of the skills you have today: how you handle planning, getting around, talking with people, packing, changing plans, and keeping a record of it all. Your Next Adventure is the color of the trip you want to take next.
They don't have to match. Someone with red-hot skills might want a purple trip right now, and that's a fine choice. But when your next trip is warmer than your skills, you know what to work on before you go.
Skills are learned, and best learned together
Over the years I've taken a lot of people on trips. What they learn is that travel isn't rocket science. It's coping skills, because something hard always comes up. Once you have the skills, you can handle a complicated trip, even if you choose a tour.
The more skills you build, the more colors you get to choose from. You may never take a red trip, and that's fine. Red skills just mean any trip is yours to pick.
In Peru, we saw that the fastest way to build those skills is together, with the people who already have them showing the way. Parents forget they need to pass these skills on. Doing it as a family makes it fun for everyone, and the kids learn by doing it alongside you. Ours were 6, 7 and 9 in Peru, and they were already watching how it's done.
Find your color
We built a free app so your family can find your two colors. It's two short quizzes, about five minutes in all. On your trip, it gives you small daily challenges, a Daily Stori, to grow your skills together. When you come home, it all lands in a family journal of what you did and who you became.
Your color is a starting point, not a limit. Find yours at journey.explorestori.com