01.04.2014

The Genesis of Passion Passport

01.04.2014

The Genesis of Passion Passport

How Passion Passport, a travel blog and travel community, came to life.

In 2012, after a couple of years living the life of a commodities trader in Hong Kong, I was ready for a new adventure. Carrying a negative attitude and burnt out from eighty-hour workweeks, I didn’t know what my next step would be.

I had always maintained an interest in both photography and travel. When I set out on a round-the-world trip, I didn’t know if there was a way to marry both of those passions. But a year later, I was a changed man: I was upbeat, energized and ready to tackle new goals. Travel had forever altered the course of my life.

As a result of my many positive journeys, I decided to found Passion Passport. Passion Passport was created as a community of storytellers, photographers and explorers united by the transformative power of trips just like mine. The idea was to feature content that could help inspire and prepare members of our burgeoning community for adventures that they hoped to undertake.

I also dreamed of finding a way to fund the journeys of aspiring travelers who had unique projects ideas that involved travel. I saw that many travel companies around the world were giving away travel prizes to specific destinations like Paris or Barcelona without telling the incredible stories that resulted from sponsoring such adventures. Additionally, these companies weren’t taking into consideration the fact that the person who won the trip may not want to go on the trip that the company had pre-arranged for them.

As such, the idea for The Bucket List Initiative was born, which has quickly become one of the pillars of Passion Passport. Every quarter, members of our community apply on our website and put into words their dream trip and how they would like to document it. Passion Passport puts the power of the choice back into the hands of the traveler.

Four judges from the travel industry read and assess the applications and choose four finalists. From there, our community votes on which project will be funded. A month later, the winner heads out on their dream trip and documents their adventure through PassionPassport.com.

Funding these kinds of adventures has enriched my life. Already, Passion Passport has helped three members of our community complete their dream trips — and in just a couple of days, the winner of our fourth round will be announced. You can have an effect on the result: head over to  www.passionpassport.com and vote now!

Zach Glassman

Zach is the son of a travel-writing father and a wanderlust mother who met on a bus in Guatemala. He grew up following his father through Central America. Most recently, he spent three years based in both Beijing and Hong Kong, which allowed him to explore the lands of Australasia.
A polyglot, Zach considers language to be travel’s greatest sidekick and is always eager to use language as a means to immerse himself in a new culture. As a photographer, he has worked with both professionals and amateurs in many corners of the globe.

www.zachglassman.com
www.passionpassport.com

Instagram:@zachspassport
Twitter: @zachspassport
Facebook: www.facebook.com/passionpassport

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