Traveling Differently: Our Context Approach to Coronavirus

Dear Curious Traveler,

Here at Context, our ultimate aim is to live up to our name. To give something “Context” is to connect the dots between eras, geographies, and cultures; it's to weave us all together as part of a larger, shared narrative.

It’s that very shared narrative, in fact, that’s at the nexus of the current coronavirus crisis. Experiencing the spread of COVID-19 and witnessing the impact it has had on your travel plans, our scholar’s livelihoods, and the lives of our staff (many of whom are currently managing through mandatory quarantines) have been sobering, to say the least. Yet, we believe that the answer isn’t to travel less: it’s to travel differently.

There's no one solution for travelers trying to navigate today’s situation, and our collective circumstances are changing daily. But, we’re firm proponents of the fact that any type of travel—be it abroad, domestic, or armchair—is the best form of education. We're also optimistic believers that, once we're all healthy and safe, travel will return with gusto. To that end, we're hard at work building experiences to keep the windows of the world open, both now and in the future: 

• As dedicated lifelong learners, we don’t see any reason why the world has to be off limits when you stay at home. We’re keen to keep our minds lively by bringing Context to you—wherever you may be—through online seminars with our scholars, podcasts, and ongoing contributions to our In Context blog.
  
• With Spring Break and Summer holidays looming, we’re also eager for future explorations of domestic destinations as a flight-free means of experiencing the richness of our own backyards. In addition to our existing cities like New York, Boston, and Montreal, we’re in the midst of building out new U.S. offerings (hint: think Southern) that will highlight the remarkable heterogeneity of our country’s own culinary, artistic, and environmental histories.
• Finally: We're eager for the days when we can once again support global communities and scholars with in-person visits. Although we've proactively canceled all of our tours through the end of March, we are continuing to develop new experiences in places like Greece and Russia, so that we're ready to quench your curiosities once travels resume. 

Now more than ever, developing a shared understanding of the world around us and recognizing our role in the broader community is critical in being a curious traveler—and a responsible global citizen. We wish you health and understanding, in any form that your travel takes.

We’re all in this together. 

Context