INTRO

We are building a community of Web3 travelers and builders.

It seems that our society has undergone a tremendous change in the social and cultural environment in the last two years. The rapid adoption of NFTs set a domino effect that is impacting every industry in the world. And travel is no different.

There are over 300 million people who own crypto assets (Triple A). Metamask - a popular Ethereum wallet - surpassed 30 million monthly active users and is growing rapidly from month to month. (Decrypt, 2022) A16Z raised 1.5 billion to invest in Web3 (Forbes, 2022). There has been a big rise of DAOs, bringing new ways of collaboration and organizing people together and building communities. NFTs were used as means of:

• issuing school certificates (d.MBA, 2022)
• crowdfunding for an NFT only membership restaurant (FlyFish Club, 2022)
• using NFTs instead of wedding rings (Twitter, 2021)

All these people adopting these tools, including us, travel.

Moreover, the travel industry is also slowly riding the Web3 bandwagon, with new decentralized organizations and services being built from the ground up. Most of them seem to be disrupting the short-term rental services. We need these decentralized services. But we also need new experiences, i.e. activities that give us a sense of place, and easier connections between like-minded people.

CATERING FOR THE NEW TRAVELER

Now that we have a new segment of Web3 and crypto native travelers, we see a need for new types of experiences and connections. We see a need to serve these new types of travelers in a new way.

But who will do this? The public tourist boards and the traditional travel agencies and hoteliers will not be able to meet these needs. These organizations have not yet grasped and are not yet living the new cultural phenomenon and Web 3.0 ethos. We need decentralized services that appeal to the Web3 traveler. We need a Web3 Lonely Planet, TripAdvisor, Airbnb, Marriot, ...

Most people from the Web3 sector work remotely, spread all over the world. Yes, they are part of some cool communities living on Discord servers, Twitter and emerging metaverses. Yes, they have found their tribe online. But without the H2H connection IRL and shared living spaces, they can get lonely.

That's why we are going to focus on experiences that connect different Web3 travelers and reinforce the sense of belonging we all strive for.

WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO AND HOW?

Our mission is to connect and empower Web3 travelers with new, meaningful experiences.

How are we going to achieve this?

• By building a community of Web3 and crypto savvy travelers online and IRL

We have already started to build a community of Web3 travelers and bridging the gap between online and IRL hangouts.

• Organizing retreats and meetups around the world where Web3 people and communities can come together and build meaningful relationships

We organized the 1st Web3 retreat in Slovenia in a stunning location. In August, we’re organizing the first NFT dinner in Slovenia and in September, we’re organizing a Web3 camping retreat on a mysterious Greek island, Leros. Our goal is to regularly bring people together IRL and enable the community to autonomously organize their own events around the world.

• Build and connect them with coliving spaces around the world

We already have our first location in Slovenia (where the 1st retreat happened) which we plan to transform into a coliving/coworking space for Web3 travelers. Besides that, we’re looking for partnership with other communities for and land owners who would be interested in setting up a joint coliving model.

• Offering meaningful and inspiring experiences that convey an authentic sense of place

In Web2, the core members of our community built a marketplace for local and authentic experiences, focused on helping small travel businesses. As we’re shifting into Web3, we see again the importance of highlighting and offering these experiences that convey an authentic sense of place.

• Educate about new Web3 travel trends (blogs, newsletter, podcast, etc.)

As in terms of society, we are not yet close to proper understanding of what Web3 technology can enable and how it can transform the travel sector. That’s why we will focus on bridging this gap by educating about the concepts and trends of Web3 by using different mediums (we already did a workshop at the largest Scout gathering in Slovenia).

• Innovate and test the use of new technologies in the travel sector

Without testing and innovating new technologies, the travel sector will stay behind and never reach its full potential. The first thing we will test together with the community is verifying NFT tickets at the events we’re organizing with a new app built by one of our members.

• By showcasing the Web3 ecosystem for travel

Not all solutions for Web3 Travelers are going to be developed under our umbrella. We will constantly strive to showcase all the best projects/products/services that Web3 Travelers can use. One of the goals is to create an online directorate for these services so that they are accessible to all when we decide to travel. In the next phase we plan to connect with these projects and create common benefits for our members.

Our goal is to build a community that:

• Enables its members (Web3 travelers) to decide what kind of experiences they want to engage in.
• Can decide where and how to organize IRL events and meetups.
• Encourages contributors to create services and products for other Web3 travelers.
• Travels, builds and potentially lives together.

It seems that we are again on an expedition to discover and build the new Grand Tour that later tourists will look at.

THE GRAND TOUR YOU SAY? TELL ME MORE

The Grand Tour is probably the first major tourist movement.

It was a journey to certain cities and places in Western Europe, undertaken primarily, but not exclusively, for educational and pleasure purposes.

Like all tourist movements, the Grand Tour was the product of a particular social and cultural environment.

The Web3 seems to be big enough to bring about such a social and cultural change, and it is our task to document it, learn about it, teach others about it, and create new products, services, and experiences from it.

Who went on a Grand Tour?

The Grand Tour was extremely exclusive and was undertaken only by very wealthy people, especially the sons of the aristocracy. The reason for this was that travel was both difficult and expensive. Travelers carried very little money for fear of robbery. Instead, they took letters of credit from their London banks, which they then presented in the big cities.

The new Grand Tour we are building together should be inclusive from the start. That's one of the reasons we are creating this community. We want to document and share knowledge about the Web3 revolution that is likely to transform many industries, including travel and culture. To this end, we will launch our own community-curated newsletter and podcast.

Just as travel was difficult and expensive in the Grand Tour era, there are many hurdles in Web3 that individuals must overcome to participate. As a community, we can ensure that every new member has a positive experience exploring Web3 initiatives online and IRL.

In the 1850s, tourism was still largely unindustrialized. There were few services specifically designed to meet their needs.

One example: tourists could take advantage of what was known as the veturino system (in Italy). This involved a contract between the traveler and a carriage hirer who would accompany them for a specified period of time or between specific locations. This method was slow because the horses could not be changed, but it was more flexible than traveling by mail.

And that's the phase we are in right now, as there are but few Web3 solutions that cater to Web3 and crypto travelers. So we are creating our own veturino system for all those curious Web3 Native Travelers.

Over the next few months, we will be gradually rolling out cool Web3 experiences that this new breed of travelers can take on their pilgrimage around the world.

We will be closely following interesting projects in the Web3 space, from DAOs to pfp NFTs, that will change our culture and create a new breed of cultural travelers.

SHORT-TERM ACTIVITIES

• Setting up the Discord server, social media channels and start building a community of like minded people
• Organize the first pilot creative retreat for Web3 builders from Slovenia
• Launch our website
• Start a newsletter publication and a podcast
• Begin formalizing first partnerships
• Organize the first European Web3 camp
• Issue NFTs as tickets for our first events
• Organize ourselves as a DAO on Qvrse platform

LONG-TERM ACTIVITIES

Some ideas that are on the plate for the community to build:

• Set up the first Web3 coliving space in Slovenia or/and Greece
• Web3 Experiences marketplace
• NFTs as digital souvenirs
• PFP NFT collection for Web3 Travelers
• Create decentralized travel guides

HOW CAN I JOIN?

A new Grand Tour is about to begin, and you're invited to join in on this exciting journey.

Become an early contributor to the New cultural movement and build a new Grand Tour in our Discord channel - https://discord.gg/YJZdjVn8fs

You can support our efforts by collecting this Article for a price of a coffee. Why is this important? You can read more in the article From Creators to Leaders.