We launched the Fairytrail free plan, so be sure to download ASAP. With the free plan, you’ll be able to view 30 profiles per day and make unlimited connections. Try our new plan today.
Community Giveaway
At Fairytrail, we stand for joy, healthy lifestyle, and supportive community. We want to start giving back to our community of 7.6k members on Facebook and Instagram.
We’re still developing the exciting bucket list feature but did you know you can submit ideas to help shape the future of Fairytrail? Vote for your favorite ideas and submit ideas here. For those who want to get involved or volunteer, we’d love to chat– drop us a note at team@fairytrail.app
Fairytrail is often described as Tinder for travelers. However, after 5 years of experimenting in dating and becoming the number one dating app for remote workers, we found that the current dating app concept doesn’t work well because of market dynamics and business incentives (see original thesis).
In this article, we’ll share our findings and our new approach.
Gender imbalance
Despite our focus on remote dating which evens out gender imbalance compared to intra-city dating, there’s still a lot of overall gender imbalance which makes it difficult to match.
Let’s take a look at Monthly Active User gender split on Fairytrail as of Jan 1, 2024
Gender Split For Fairytrail: Friends & Dating For Travelers
Compare this to when we were a travel matching and booking app in 2019 and 2020. The concept was we’d help you find a romantic partner to go on a fun adventure with, then you’d safely book the activity on our platform. Read a review of how it worked. This was our gender ratio.
Gender Split For Fairytrail: Adventure Matching
Note: We pivoted to a traditional dating app for travelers because we couldn’t earn revenue selling adventures during Covid in 2020.
Losing users too quickly
Some users would find their romantic partner in a week, while others would feel demoralized and leave in a week. Businesses are hard with extreme churn. We’d need crazy incoming traffic to support this.
Revenue is tied to keeping users
We didn’t want to offer 3 month, 6 month, or 1 year plans to keep our users on our platform when our purpose was to help people find love quickly. There is a dating app paradox here.
Unhealthy behaviors
When it comes to love, people become a bit crazy. There’s a lot of emotions, hurt feelings, and burnout. This went against our philosophy to improve health and relationships.
When Fairytrail was a friends and dating app, it was hard for people to make friends because there was a dating feel. People couldn’t just connect because they found each other interesting. Even with clear labels it was confusing as people often didn’t even know themselves if they wanted to date or be friends with the other person.
The trail ahead
Our solution is to avoid dating. Instead, just get people connected and out on adventures. Relationships are built through experiences, and our job is to make it safer and more exciting. We’ll realize our mission to improve health by getting people out in the sun, getting fresh air, walking, and deepening connections.
The new version of Fairytrail is all about discovering fun activities and finding people to do it with. Get inspired with fun activities, build your bucket list, and connect with travelers to make your dreams come true. Read about our redesigned adventure matching app here.
We excited to announce a new feature to help you discover inspiring bucket list activities, create your own bucket list, and connect with fellow travelers who share your dreams.
To promote the launch, we’re doing one of the bucket list activities– sail the Greek Islands. We are giving away 5 free spots (3 already filled with influencers with 100k+ followers). If you’re interested in helping us promote our launch, follow us on Instagram @fairytrailapp and comment “bucket list”. Ideally, you should be in the remote work or travel space and have 10k+ followers.
Why we made a social bucket list app
When we go to work and watch Netflix on repeat, it’s easy to forget how beautiful and magical our world is.
The truth is we’re so lucky to be alive and our time on this planet is short. We have a world of incredible experiences just waiting for us. Unfortunately, many of us don’t know where to start and who to do it with.
Our bucket list helps you discover fun things to do, save it to your own list, and connect with people to do it together.
With our social bucket list, you’ll feel grateful to be alive and inspired. You’ll find people who want to join you on your quests and dreams.
How did we get this idea for this?
We discovered Fairytrail members are already making bucket lists– in their head, spreadsheets, Pinterest, notes app. When I heard about their dream activities it blew my mind and got me excited. I wanted to steal their ideas and join them. These activities brought me a sense of excitement and gratitude.
To give you an idea, here’s what some of their bucket list activities include
Shear a sheep
Sail the Greek Islands in a yacht
Fly a Kite at the Cervia International Kite Festival
Gamble at The Venetian Macao in Macao, China
Eat at an Undersea Restaurant Ithaa (Maldivian for ‘pearl’), on the Maldivian island of Rangalifnolhu
Cage-Dive with Crocodiles in Darwin City, Australia
Attend the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona, Spain as a Spectator
Drink Beer at Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany
Shark diving off the coast of South Africa
Visit Harbin Ice Festival
Kayak in the Bioluminescent Bay of Fajardo, Puerto Rico
Float in the Dead Sea
Move to Peru and run a hostel
Cycle from San Francisco to Los Angeles
Go to the Peruvian Amazon for 8 days with shamans on an Ayahuasva retreat
Do a week long silent meditation retreat in Thailand
Live on a remote Colombian coffee farm
Go on a psychic retreat to an Italian castle in Tuscany
Attend a Taylor Swift concert
Visit Finland to stay in an igloo
Ride the Trans-Siberian Express across Asia
Skydive 1st time
Walk on the Great Wall of China
What is the Greek sailing trip about?
One of the bucket list activities is sailing the Greek Islands, and we wanted to make it come true. The yacht we’re chartering is the Sun Odyssey 440, a French sailboat that was designed by Philippe Briand and winner of World Boat of the Year: Most Innovative and the Family Cruiser European Yacht of the Year.
We’ll be inviting influencers who want to help us promote Fairytrail and experience the dream of sailing in the Mediterranean Sea. We’ll be departing from and returning to D-Marin Gouvia Marina in Corfu.
In return for helping us with promotion, you’ll get a dream adventure island hopping in Greece. Opportunity to shoot amazing footage for yourself. Hang out and promote with other influencers and the Fairytrail & Nomads Insure team. Possible mentions in press coverage.
We’re targeting this trip to happen mid August, 2024.
Thanks for reading! See you on Fairytrail, the magical travel matching & bucket list app.
I’m Taige, founder of Fairytrail, a freemium travel buddy app for remote workers. We launched our new monetization feature a month ago. Shoutout to Mixpanel for their startup friendly free plan.
Key Question
The question was how much of a free trial should we give to users? If we don’t give enough of a trial, people won’t trust us and won’t see value. If we give too much, people may naturally churn and we won’t be able to monetize.
Since we are a startup, user growth is more important than monetization. However, charging can be great for growth. In Elad Gil’s High Growth Handbook, Marc Andreessen says , “Companies that charge more can better fund both their distribution efforts and their ongoing R&D efforts. Charging more is a key lever to be able to grow. And the companies that charge more therefore tend to grow faster.”
Experiment
When we launched the feature, we setup an A/B test to measure
Conversion to paid
Engagement (i.e. matches, chats)
Retention
Quality (e.g. profiles reported)
We split users into two groups: 50% of users were able to send 3 connect requests before we ask them to pay. 50% of users were able to send 30 free connect requests. Note: There’s still a verify with friends option so technically users never have to pay to use this app. They just need to do the work of inviting a remote worker friend to the app to verify them.
Verify Screen
Test Group A : 3 free connects before being asked to verify
Test Group B : 30 free connects before being asked to verify
My hypothesis was that sending 3 connect requests would be enough to build trust with our users and offering more would not help much.
We’d see higher conversion rate to paid. We’d see less engagement due to users being restricted. We’d see a lower retention rate as some users would delete their accounts because of the friction and they have a lower chance to start a chat. We’d see a higher quality user base as paying users are more intentional.
Expected Results
Metric
3 Free Connects
30 Free Connects
Conversion to Paid
Baseline +5%
Baseline
Engagement
Baseline -5%
Baseline
Retention
Baseline -5%
Baseline
Reported Profiles
Baseline -5%
Baseline
Findings
After running our experiment for 30 days, here’s what we found.
Conversion To Paid
3 Free Connects group had a 10% higher conversion rate. Time to convert was 1.5 days instead of 2.6 days. Asking for payment sooner, led to more payment sooner.
Paid Conversion Rate
Engagement
On the other hand, the 30 Free Connects group had a much higher match rate as measured by users having at least one match, 87% vs. 60%. Higher match rate is better!
Match Rate
30 Free Connects group had 7% more engagement events per day per user than the 3 Free Connects group. Higher engagement is good, so that’s another win for 30 free connects.
Daily Avg Events Per User
Retention
Both test groups had a weekly retention of around 70% at the 4 week mark. The 30 Free Connects group had a 5% higher retention after 4 weeks… which could add up. That said, you can already see the 3 Free Connects group retention rate start to flatten out which is exciting for long term retention.
Weekly Retention
Quality
Users in 3 Free Connect Group surprisingly had a higher % of being blocked/reported at least once but this minor and not stat sig.
Actual Results
Metric
3 Free Connects
30 Free Connects
Conversion to Paid (Signed Up to Paid)
+ 26% (+10%)
22%
Engagement ( Daily Core Events / User )
10.6 (-7%)
11.3
Retention (4 weeks)
67% (- 4%)
71%
Reported Profiles (% of profiles blocked/flagged)
0.5% (+0.3%)
0.2%
Conclusion
When we allowed sending only 3 free connect requests, the conversion to paid increased while retention dropped as expected. Since engagement and retention are more important for us than monetization, it makes sense for us to give 30 free connects instead of 3. The tradeoff is worth it as it seems we don’t need to monetize immediately and we haven’t found a good way to use our revenue to grow. We tried some ads and it was $30+ per install.
Another interesting observation is users in the 30 Free Connects group were more willing to subscribe to a premium plan. 4.6% of the 3 Free Connects group were on a premium plan, while the 5.5% of the 30 Free Connects group were on a premium plan.
Perhaps the extra free connects allowed them to trust us more and better understand the value. Perhaps it’s the reciprocity effect.
Tier Distribution
For clarity, free means the user paid $9.99 for a one-time verification (or verified with friends) and is on the free plan. Gated means the user cannot send more connect requests until they verify. Silver and gold mean the user is paying a monthly subscription for a premium plan.
We’ll be doing more fun experiments in the future. Follow me on LinkedIn or Twitter to read the next one.
Fairytrail is redesigned for finding nomadic friends and adventures worldwide!
For those interested in our journey, please read on. Or skip to the bottom to see what’s new.
How It Began
My name is Taige, a product manager living in San Francisco at the time. Many of my friends complained they don’t travel because they don’t have anyone to travel with, so they’d stay home and Netflix.
I’ve spent most of my career in marketplaces and built a couple apps before, so I thought it’d be fun to build a marketplace where people could match on adventures. Airbnb had recently launched Airbnb Adventures so there was existing inventory. We just had to connect those who were interested in the same activities. In the winter of 2019, we launched Fairytrail to help people match on adventures by Airbnb, GetYourGuide, and Viator.
We launched by posting in a few travel Facebook groups and saw some strong interest.
We had thousands of users and even started to get bookings!
As we were preparing to fundraise, Covid hit and our commission-based travel booking business model fell apart because people couldn’t travel anymore.
Instead of shutting it down completely, we made a pivot to become a friends and dating app because the vast majority of our members were single remote workers. The team disbanded, and I joined Indeed’s Incubator team. In the meantime, Fairytrail continued to grow.
Today, the Fairytrail community counts over 50,000 members and is the world’s largest social app for nomads.
Why We’re Building Again
I had considered other startup ideas during my time away from building Fairytrail. However, what drew me back to Fairytrail importance of the problem and our thousands of users.
Meaningful Work
It’s not easy out there, especially for people who aren’t always in one place. There’s a perspicuous lack of support and community for remote workers, nomads, and travelers. Having moved around a lot growing up and now a remote worker, I deeply understand the challenges and want to address the problem of loneliness.
There’s a Chinese proverb that says “happiness is doubled when shared. Sadness is halved.” Strong, supportive relationships are one of the biggest factors for wellbeing, and there’s nothing more meaningful to me than helping people find happiness through great relationships.
Strong Demand
I receive daily emails about app issues, which I take as a positive sign. It shows users are engaged and care enough to provide feedback. This motivated me to keep going.
Our Research
As I worked on a refresh of the app, it was clear users felt more strongly about making connections rather than discovering/booking adventures.
Members were split on how they used Fairytrail. About 50% were using it for finding travel buddies and 50% were using it for short term and long term relationships.
Knowing the app brings hope in dark times is truly touching.
What’s New
Fairytrail members inspired us to completely redesign the app with a focus on making connections and chatting. Here’s what you can expect.
Nomad specific features
Unique tools to help you meet fellow explorers. Profiles now display your nationality and mobility, whether hybrid or fully remote. To make it easier to plan meetups, you can now search users by their upcoming destinations.
Better user experience
No more adventure matching and other steps that create friction. Now, it only takes 1 minute to sign up and start connecting.
Solo travelers, couples, or families
You can now create an account for yourself, you and a partner, or even your entire family. Choose to match with other solo travelers, couples, or nomad families.
Real profiles
99.99% of Fairytrail users are real people. Our fraud detection, human moderators, and verification system help ensure a high quality environment and safety.
Free forever plan
Use Fairytrail for free forever after verification. Power users can opt for a silver or gold plan for a premium experience.
No more bugs
Completely rebuilt app. No more broken push notifications, payment errors, and photos not uploading.
Get The New App
The new Fairytrail app is now available in the App Store and Play Store. Existing users just need to update the app and log in. If you forgot your password or never created one, simply reset your password.
Thanks again for believing in us and your support.
When we launched Fairytrail, the goal was to help people explore the world with someone they like.
Today, we’d like to announce… friends mode.
Why We Made “Only Friends”
We surveyed our existing users and found that 68% of our users are interested in making friends. The vast majority of those who answered yes were women who wanted to make friends with other women.
How To Enable “Only Friends”
On the Fairytrail app, to set yourself as looking for friends only, go to Settings -> Edit Profile. Tap the text under the heading Intentions. Then select “Only Friends“.
The other option you can choose is Dating & Friends. All new users are defaulted into Dating & Friends. We don’t have a dating only option because the majority of daters are also open to making friends.
How To Search “Only Friends”
Set your explore preferences as you do normally, go to Settings -> Set Preferences. Select the attributes that you’d like to see in your friends.
For example, if you want a male friend, set your preferences to male. If you want female, set to female. If you want both, set to any.
We took out the optimization for sexual preferences, so if you chose male, then so you will see all male profiles no matter if straight, gay, bi, etc.
You can see what the other person’s intentions are when you view their profile. Here’s an example only friends profile.
Here’s an example of a Dating & Friends profile. (Face hidden because it’s a real user).
Let us know what you think at team@fairytrail.app. We’re always looking to improve, so send us your questions and feedback!
Fairytrail helps people find adventures, friends, and even a life partner. Campfire is a community for digital nomads, world citizens, and world explorers. LittleQuest is the company behind the products. The feature picture at the top is courtesy of @skipwithgrace.
July 21, 2024 Update: Fairytrail has been redesigned as an adventure buddy matching app. Fairytrail can be used 100% for free to make connections and chat– simply, use the explore tab to send connect requests and match.
After exceeding certain usage and safety limits, you may be prompted to verify. Entrance fee has been rebranded as verification because verification is more standard across social media (e.g. Twitter, Instagram, Tinder, LinkedIn).
Payment is one of the ways to verify accounts. We tried introducing verify with friends and other methods but Apple has made us remove those methods. We are exploring other ways to have people verify their profiles. If you need assistance with verification, contact us here.
Why a dating app has an entrance fee and the story behind it.
Step into Fairytrail and you’ll soon meet a park ranger …
On Fairytrail, all users are asked to pay a one-time entrance fee after a certain level of usage. Luckily, the entrance fee is only $2.99.
Our app is similar to a virtual national park. You come here to explore and meet awesome people from around the world. We work hard to bring you great people, keep the place running, and provide customer service. Once you buy a ticket to enter, you’re in and can stay as long as you like.
However, we also made the app to be 100% for free for anyone who can’t afford to pay and is sincere. Wholesomeness is at the heart of Fairytrail.
My family was very poor when we first moved to the USA from China. We couldn’t afford much. I wore donated clothes until grade 4 (one of which said Jennifer on it– my name is Taige). My mom worked 3 jobs and the food bank helped make ends meet. I am forever grateful for the kindness in people. One of my favorite childhood memories was attending summer camp– it’s hard to describe how amazing it was to sleep in a cabin, go canoeing, collect the daily ration from the tuck shop, sing by the campfire, and form the purest of friendships. It was all possible because of kind sponsors from the local church.
My life has been enriched by kind people. And as much as possible, I’d like to pass that on. We’re all in this world together. Although sometimes we can only see our own hardships, everyone has hardships. We can intentionally choose to be good to each other and make the world a friendlier place.
If you are not in a position to pay the entrance fee, reply to the welcome email and I will verify you manually to grant you free access. I will do my best to reply to you within 5-7 days.
If you are experiencing technical payment issues, you can pay with credit card here or pay with Paypal here . Also, let us know the email you signed up with. We will manually find you in our system and upgrade you. UPDATE: Quite some people are emailing me about how to pay entrance and support the app after getting verified manually for free and using the app for a while. There isn’t a way, but you can use the Paypal link above to send a donation.
…
If you’re interested in why we have an entrance fee, here’s the story …
Like many world wonders and national parks, Fairytrail started off free. Anyone could come in, explore, and enjoy. However, when we got to over 3,000 users, scammers started flooding into our world.
Even with 3 levels of fraud detection (we’re up to 7 now), it created heavy load for us and almost every day we received emails from people stating they had interacted with scammers. Some had been led on for weeks. Some felt violated. Some completely gave up on dating. They were heartbreaking emails.
Here are some emails with identifying information redacted that marked the arrival of scammers.
After reading many emails like these, we knew we had to fight back.
So we did what most dating apps won’t do– put up a paywall to fight scammers. Scammers would pay $3 and get disabled the next day (it takes some time for our fraud detection mechanisms to work). It was pretty cool to fight back and take money from scammers.
Soon, we saw a massive reduction in scam accounts being created. Emails like the ones above stopped coming in altogether.
We now have over 99.99% real users (based on fake/bad user reported and internal audits).
But it had a big cost for us too.
When we did this, it reduced our growth rate.
Not all real users want to pay. After all, there are free dating apps out there such as Tinder and Bumble. Some people didn’t trust us. Some people weren’t serious about dating. Some couldn’t afford it.
We were considering other verification systems such as phone number verification when we realized the paywall actually created a much better user experience. Perhaps people would want a dating app that has higher quality, more intentional people.
The truth is a dating app’s greatest asset is its users. A party is great because of the people at the party, and a dating app is great because of its users.
Here’s what we noticed:
1. People saved time and had a better experience.
Although we saw fewer users, we saw higher quality users. Since users paid $3, it meant they valued meeting someone (money talks). They completed their profiles. They intended to meet in person.
Users were wasting less time looking at low quality profiles. By cutting out just 10 low quality profiles, we can save a total of 56 hours for our users.
This created a better overall experience— less time spent swiping per match.
One of my philosophies is life is precious so I hate wasting time. (That’s why we do everything we can to get people on life changing adventures as quickly as possible– things like not showing people who already skipped you, who aren’t active, who have incompatible preferences, etc.)
2. It fostered a respectful, caring culture.
When people paid for something, they valued it more. In Yellowstone National Park, tour guides used to give water away for free. Guess what happened? People wasted it and littered. So tour guides tried charging just 50 cents and people stopped leaving half empty bottles all over the place. Suddenly, people cared.
Tour guides were able to help people change their mindset and behavior to care by charging a nominal amount.
To end toxic dating culture, we can’t think of people as free anymore. And we won’t because we paid a price.
3. It provided a premium experience and choice for consumers.
It feels good to spend money on yourself so you can have a premium experience. It feels great to be in the company of quality people.
Almost all dating apps are free, so there’s very little choice for consumers who want quality over quantity.
Now for the first time, there is a premium dating app so you can meet quality people. And the interesting thing is women are just as willing to pay as men.
Conclusion
Fairytrail is a place for people who are sincere in their quest for love and adventure. 99% of our active users pay the entrance fee and about 1% opt for the manual verification. It currently takes me 2.5 minutes to manually verify each user, so it does take several days for me to get to people. Thank you for your patience if you are opting for manual verification. I read each of my hundreds of daily emails, so no need to follow up unless it’s been a couple weeks.
I don’t believe the battle with scammers is over. They will constantly think of new ways to infiltrate our world and we will continue to fight them. For now, the entrance fee is working both in terms of keeping scammers out by draining their wallets and attracting sincere, quality people.
I care about everyone on Fairytrail and Campfire (our non-dating, social group). It’s a pleasure and honor to build this community together. Please continue to report bad actors and send me feedback, so we can improve your favorite dating and travel matching app. Our app is great because of its people, so thank you for making Fairytrail such a beautiful and kind place.
Recently, we received an email with some constructive feedback from a kind user who was LGBT. She expressed concerns about the queer friendliness of our app.
We’re a really different kind of dating app and there are many things we do that are not orthodox. For example, we monetize on travel bookings (suspended due to covid and Apple). We charge a small entrance fee to keep our community safe from bots and scammers. We humanize online dating by limiting your active matches to 12. We encourage you to explore the world by recommending places and adventures for you and your match to discover together. We are also a friendship-making app.
Some have called Fairytrail the most wholesome dating app ever.
But how are we supporting LGBT and gender fluidity?
Non-binary Genders
Non-binary is used to describe people who feel their gender cannot be defined within the margins of gender binary. They understand their gender in a way that goes beyond simply identifying as either a man or woman.
On Fairytrail, you can only choose man or woman at the moment. The reason is all users who use Fairytrail must choose a character. Choosing a character ties to a core Fairytrail mission to make dating less superficial. We want to capture and elevate personality in online dating.
It’s impossible to delineate a person who has needs, values, views, traits, preferences, and temperaments (often which are changing) in just an online profile. Even dating for six weeks can only reveal so much.
That’s why most people are so focused on looks because photos can depict it so well. (We made a video about it.)
That said, we are doing better than most dating apps when it comes to making online dating less superficial. We leverage these characters to give insights into someone’s personality and identity.
All characters are mapped to MBTI and Enneagram types. If you don’t know anything about personality MBTI, these archetypes can still give you cues on people’s personality and identity.
We haven’t quite cracked how to do this with fairytale characters yet, and as a startup, we have limited Product, Design, and Engineering resources to tackle this. If this is an area you feel passionate about, please do reach out to us at team@fairytrail.app.
Any help would greatly be appreciated! For example, which characters should we use? What should be the search mapping? Would you be okay with your sexual preferences displayed on your profile?
Alternatively, it would be super fun to create just a non-binary or LGBT version of Fairytrail. We’ve also gotten many requests for us to make a friends only version and a couples version. There are so many traveling couples! Sadly, we haven’t had the resources to work on those either.
LGBT
LGBT describe people’s sexual orientation or gender identity. LGBT includes lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender.
U.S. adults estimate that nearly one in four Americans (23.6%) are gay or lesbian, and the latest 2021 study find an estimated 5.6% of adults in the United States identify as LGBT.
Historically on most dating apps, they ask you what’s your sexual orientation.
On Fairytrail, LGBT sexual preferences are supported behind the scenes.
No need to tell us your sexual orientation. We can easily infer this based on your search preferences and only show you someone who might like you back. For example, if you’re a homosexual female, you would be seen only by homosexual and bisexual females.
Fairytrail Sexual Preferences Matrix
We try to save people’s time, so try to optimize where we can and don’t like explicitly asking for things we can infer.
So we fully support LGBT and if you have suggestions for improving our LGBT friendliness or want to help, please get in touch with us! We’re always looking to improve.
That said, I do recognize there is a liquidity problem for the LGBT user segment. Some of our few 1-star reviews are regarding not getting enough matches as a queer person. We are working hard to grow awareness for Fairytrail. As we get more awareness and users, the smaller 5% LGBT segment will get more matches.
“Women who reported sitting for more than 6 hours during their leisure time had an approximately 40% higher all-cause death rate, and men had an approximately 20% higher death rate.” – American Journal of Epidemiology
“Women who sat more than 7 hours a day and women who did no physical activity were more likely to have depressive symptoms than women who sat less than 4 hours a day and who met physical activity guidelines, respectively.” – American Journal of Preventative Medicine
“According to the World Health Organization, physical inactivity is the fourth leading cause to global mortality. Being a freelancer who primarily earns an income from my laptop, this puts me on the frontline for chronic diseases and that terrifies me.” – Fairytrail member
What’s even more scary, as I am writing this article, I am strengthening these statistics. Chances are that you, as the reader, are too.
Somewhere between the lavish lifestyle blog posts and “how I trained for my first 5k” video tutorials, a critical piece of information is silenced; the gruesome amount of sedentary hours that freelancers face.
Considering that there are over 57 million freelancers in the United States alone, this is a topic that needs consistent attention. To bring consciousness to the potential long term affects of a sedentary lifestyle, we must observe some of the short-term symptoms.
Here are some physical health struggles that freelancers regularly experience:
Joint pain / stiffness
Weight gain or unhealthy weight loss
Bad posture & back pain
Slow metabolism / digestion issues
Easily fatigued from exercise
Most of these issues are simply caused by the excess of sedentary tasks and restrictions of range of movement. Whereas, 9-5 jobs in food service or hospitality require you being active on your feet for long hours. And considering that we are collectively experiencing the restrictions of COVID-19, those who regularly did their due- diligence of attending the gym are hindered as well.
But overcoming adversity is what fabricates the best entrepreneurs, right?
These burdens are not enough to counterbalance the benefits of being a freelancer, they are just conditions to note while entertaining this way of living.
So what are some ways to incorporate health & physical activity into your busy life?
1) Modify your tasks
That zoom call you have in 20 mins?
Maybe no one will mind if you are on a brisk walk during the call, or chime in between sets.That is if you use mute as needed that way no one is a victim to your awkward heavy breathing.
Just starting to brainstorm ideas on a new pitch or project?
Put down the pen, close the computer and brainstorm on the go. Get your blood moving and as ideas come to mind. Open up notepad on your phone and type or voice record them so that the can be marveled on later.
Don’t have time?
You are 100% right! You don’t have time, that’s why you have to make it.
I know that is a broken-record statement, But in all honesty we operate in a trifecta of the Mind, body , and spirit. This trifecta works like turning gears, and when one gear gets neglected, it isn’t a long grace period till the other gears suffer the ache as well. Lucky for you, being a freelancer demands being creative.
And MOVEMENT fuels CREATIVITY.
A study conducted in 2014 by Stanford University suggested that “out of the 48 participants, 81% improved their creative output while walking”.
As far as each individual goes, their creative juices are enhanced by 60% JUST BY WALKING. The experiment further claimed that extending your activity to the outdoors can expose even more benefits.
“Think about it, they are called creative juices for a reason, right? When you exercise, your heart rate increases, which sends more blood flow to the brain. As blood flow increases, your brain inherits more oxygen. Physical activity is not just for your body, it’s the key ingredient to helping your brain be a well-lubricated machine.”
Any movement is better than none. As long as you are getting your heart rate up in some way to increase your blood flow, you will benefit. Use your creativity to innovate ways to weave movement medicine into your everyday life.
If you can find wiggle room, use it to wiggle!
2) Make movement your first priority.
We have all been there; Setting the alarm for 5:45 am in regards to squeeze some morning cardio in before you start your day. You turn to respond to your alarm and one of 2 things happen:
You hit snooze and sleep in past your goals
You find yourself knee-deep in emails and internal pressure to start crafting new content, completely putting AM movement on hold.Staaaahp. Don’t do this.
Remember a great benefit to being a digital nomad is having more time to yourself and not having to be rushed into a workplace everyday that has overhead.
Don’t let your phone or laptop be that overhead.
Your body is the vehicle that drives everything in your life and business. Don’t put it on the back burner.
3) Set the pace for the day.
As soon as your eyes open in the AM, your cortisol levels rise. Why not use that flight response to fuel a good morning workout? (which in return, will REDUCE overall stress). Not to mention, if you give yourself too much time, your entrepreneurial ego will negotiate “more important” things you can be doing with your time than tending to your health. Also, if you get your physical activity out of the way first thing in the morning, you will have the rest of the day to be working more effectively with a clean conscience knowing that you put your health first.
Benefits of A.M. workout include:
You will burn up to 20%, due to being in a fasted state.
No problem! Everyone is different. If A.M. workouts come with too much resistance, then that may not be your peak hour to work-out.
“I have found that my workouts are more effective in the morning, but honestly some people feel they reap the most benefits from their workouts in the evening. A great way to determine whether your workouts are most efficient in the morning or evening is to listen to your body and journal your energy levels throughout the day. Whatever times of the day you’ve documented that you were the most energetic, try and plug in some physical activity during those times and see how you feel.”
Your body digests food a lot better when it knows that it is going to actively need it, but if you are sedentary for most hours, your digestive tract may become sedentary as well.
If you are going to be sitting for a while, is it necessary to eat dense foods such as pizza and steak that digest slower and will sit in your stomach like a log? Fuel your body as necessary to your activity level. That way you dont experience a calorie surplus resulting in weight gain or calorie deficit, resulting in fatigue.
“Energy input should equal energy output – that’s the key! Know that your body is going to be using whatever you are putting into it. If you predict a slower-moving day ahead of you, adjust your food consumption accordingly.”
Chew slowly and thoroughly to ensure that your lax-day compensates your digestive system. Possibly drink tea or just warm liquids to nurture your metabolism throughout the day.
5) You don’t need a gym or equipment to have a killer workout.
Whether you are a freelancer who doesn’t have space for equipment during travels or a gym junkie who is deprived due to COVID-19 , it’s time to get innovative with your exercise.
Here’s a tip, YOUR BODY IS YOUR BEST DUMBELL. And no, i did not just call you dumb.
Your body is with you wherever you go (duh), might as well use it! Here are 50 bodyweight exercises that you can perform literally anywhere. If you want to add a little more heat, resistance bands are flooding the fitness industry. They are perfect for light traveling and can be used anywhere in multiple ways. If you are someone who is is interested in using technology as a fitness tool, check out out article on our recommended best fitness apps.
“ I have a good feeling that because of the coronavirus, people are going to start taking it upon themselves to integrate fitness into their everyday life rather than strictly going to the gym 2x a week. Gyms are amazing, but you don’t need them to get a great workout in. There is TONS of free workout content all over the internet that require very little space and no equipment. Most of them can be done in under 10 minutes! If you are someone that needs a little more guidance I suggest you find a fitness influencer that you truly vibe with and support them. You are helping them as they are helping you.” – Bella Gonzalez
James had a similar response when asked “what effects do you think this pandemic will have of the fitness industry?”
“I think people are going to come out of this quarantine feeling better than they did before. Overall, for some people, this was a very necessary pause to reset their mind, body, and spirit. A pause that has given them the time to consider what they value in their daily routine and to integrate activities to look after their well-being. You really only need a small space to perform a decent workout at any intensity level.” – James Leung
6) Your body can stand almost anything. It’s your mind that you have to convince.
“It’s important to keep your ‘mindful movement-toggle’ turned on in all circumstances. When you are traveling, find ways to marble physical activity into your vacation, that way you are not taking away from your experience nor are you neglecting your body. It doesn’t have to be anything crazy. It could be as simple as walking to your next tourist destination rather than Ubering, squatting with your backpack on, a short jog on the beach, taking the stairs to your hotel room rather than the elevator. Yoga mats and resistance bands are lightweight and you can use them anywhere. Seriously ANYTHING to get your blood pumping and to remind your body that you are always being mindful by finding ways to take care of it.” – Bella Gonzalez
“It’s easy to slip into an unmotivated mindset. But if you look around, you will find inspiration everywhere. If you are conscious of the science-backed reasons of how physical activity greatly improves your overall wellness, it becomes a no-brainer as to why you are going to do it despite any outside factors. Bruce Lee says, ‘think and you shall become’, if you think with a wellness mindset, a wellness lifestyle will start to surround you.” – James Leung
There will always be a way that your mind will try and convince you not exercise, but none of those reasons are valid.
Without your body & it’s optimal health, you wouldn’t be eligible to experience all the greatness life has to offer.
So rather than putting your health last, put it first!
James Leung is a traveller, wellness-teacher, trainer, and content creator for BALM. James is using his past education and inherited skills to apply them to his passion: Living and promoting a wellness lifestyle from anywhere in the world. When not travelling, James predominantly resides in London. Although he enjoys all things wellness related, he highly enjoys martial arts in yoga.
Next destination: Thailand.
If you would like to get to know James better, you can find him on instagram @jamesjleung or @balm.welness
Bella Gonzalez is a free-spirited freelancer/yoga teacher who uses her knowledge as a graphic designer to supply income and connect with the world while fulfilling her dreams of endless exploration. All-in-one package and a true go-getter.
Big news! We’re the first dating app to offer people the ability to match and go on virtual adventures powered by Airbnb, Walk, and Viator (part of TripAdvisor).
Here’s how it started.
The Coronavirus is lockdown is really getting to me and everyone on the Fairytrail team. Many of us are feeling like we’re going crazy– gaining more weight and developing more anxieties from the lack of social support and interaction.
This is unlike normal remote work conditions. As a remote workers, we could go to to the beach. Hang out with friends. Go out on dates. Go to the gym, fitness classes, and church. Travel.
We’re not alone.
With travel restrictions and shelter-in-place, nearly half of Americans report that the coronavirus crisis is affecting their mental health. And an alarming projection from the national public health group Well Being Trust estimates that 75,000 Americans could die from drug or alcohol misuse and suicide related to COVID-19. “You’re having feelings of isolation and loneliness like you’ve never had before,” says psychologist Dr. Kevin Gilliland.
Virtual travel dates.
Viator launched live virtual tours a few weeks ago as a way to keep travel alive in some way.
At first we were hesitant, but reviews from people who have done it reminded us that travel isn’t just about seeing the site and taking photos. It’s also about the stories, history, meeting people, and experiencing cultures.
Here’s one review from a person who went on a virtual tour:
“This was my first ever virtual tour and I had no idea what to expect. It was essentially a super-interactive conference call with a super host. Lula was very energetic and knowledgeable guide. Although you are just sitting in front of your computer for the whole thing, he kept the experience very engaging and informative. Great value for money and a really nice way to spend an hour.”
– Mairt, Magic of Film Themed Virtual Tour of London
Could this be a novel way for people in lockdown to connect, be entertained, and build a relationship in this challenging time?
These virtual adventures allow us to learn new things, meet people from different cultures, and experience something live and fun with people we like. They start at only $6 and are available worldwide.
So we decided to add it to our app. Video call dates are great, but can just talking all the time can get stale, especially for those who have been talking for weeks.
How our app works.
Single people make a free profile on Fairytrail and match with each other (just like on Tinder or Bumble).
Once users match, Fairytrail recommends different virtual tours to them from Viator and Airbnb based on their profiles. Users aren’t able to talk at this stage. They simply choose the tours they like.
If there’s overlap in the tours picked, Fairytrail connects the users to talk and show them the cheapest matched tour. They can message, video call, and even book the matched tour.
Examples.
Pick adventures from this screen.
When you tap an adventure, you see the details.
We’re excited. Looking forward to you guys trying it out! Let me know your thoughts. Download the app here.
By the way, you can still match on destinations for future travel. We haven’t removed that function.
Today, Covid-19 was officially designated as a pandemic by WHO.
We strongly advise not to travel for your own safety, to minimize the disaster impact, and to be considerate to those who are most vulnerable.
Here’s some basics:
Coronavirus can stay in the air for 30 minutes
People can infect each other from over 14.7 feet (4.5m) away
Coronaviruses can survive on surfaces for 3 days (the flu only survives for 24 hours)
Incubation period is typically 5-14 days but can be up to 27 days
Why do we care?
At Fairytrail, we have been following COVID-19 daily since it started in China. Companies such as Microsoft, Twitter, Google, Warner Brothers, and many others have asked or required their employees to work from home. The world is adjusting to quarantine, and many people are experiencing remote work for the first time.
Most popular dating apps like Tinder, Bumble, Hinge, and Coffee Meets Bagel are very old school, connecting people for offline dates which isn’t safe nor healthy in the Coronavirus period.
People are now more isolated and in need of meaningful, loving connections than ever before.
As a startup, we don’t have that much money to donate or pathology expertise, but we do have a video dating product and a social community which helps people with their romantic and social needs.
We’re designed for remote workers, people who are isolated. We allow them to connect with other people in the same situation, so they can develop meaningful connections and loving relationships. Dates happen over video chat.
Fairytrail is a video dating app.
Since the Coronavirus started, we’ve seen a significant reduction in travel. Planes are flying nearly empty. Conferences and festivals cancelled.
We’ve even seen a reduction in our app usage.
This is because many users mistakenly believe they need to be traveling or travel to use the app. This is untrue and probably due our our travel-focused marketing.
Travel is not required to create connections.
Our main value comes from video chat. The truth is users will spend most of their time video chatting with people they like. They may go on 5-10 video chat first dates before they feel enough conviction to start thinking about meeting on a trip together. If and when they meet is completely up to them.
The biggest value we add to people’s lives is to connect them to like-minded people they like but would otherwise never meet.
We allow users to conveniently date from anywhere– living rooms, airports, Ubers, hotel rooms, and conference rooms.
Scheduling and logistics are much easier when you don’t need to commute to the date or wait until you’re in town again. It’s like Netflix, not TV– it works around your life. And it’s free. And it’s safe.
The future.
The Coronavirus pandemic is real and serious.
If you feel alone, isolated– don’t despair. There’s people who are like you out there. There’s no reason why you should have to feel emotionally isolated just because you are physically isolated.
Here are the things we believe at Fairytrail and serve as our guiding principles.
1. The world is a beautiful, magical place.
We see what we want to see. There’s beauty in our world and we choose not to let it pass us by. That’s not to say the world isn’t a cruel and dangerous place. That’s why we focus on safety. We just prefer to be surrounded by others who also see beauty and feel grateful to be alive.
2. It’s better to be in the present.
We don’t want users to miss life’s magical moments by focusing on a glowing screen thinking it will solve all their problems. We want to focus on gratitude and improving our lives today– in the moment. Life and time are precious. That’s why we show you amazing people non-invasively and limit daily usage.
3. People are the doors to opportunity.
We believe in putting people first. All else will follow. Unlike other travel companies that focus on destination first, we believe who you travel with is more important than where you go. Who you match with may open a door to a completely new world.
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Fairytrail lets people match and make friends online for dating before meeting on real-world, group adventures. Campfire is a community for digital nomads, world citizens, and world explorers. LittleQuest is the company behind the products.
On Jan 4th, 2020, Maggie from New York, NY and Jun Xiang from Sunnyvale, CA traveled to Denver, CO on a Fairytrail Adventure supplied by Airbnb. The Glacier Hike and Geothermal Cave Pools experience was led by Tyler, a local tour guide who started his tour company in 2019. The travel group size was 7 people plus Tyler.
A few words from the adventure leader.
“We arrived at the glacier and the weather couldn’t have been better. This was one of my first tours I carried sleds up to the top of the trail and all the guests seemed to love it. The whole group kept engaging in dialogue. It was one of the best groups I have had.”
— Tyler DeVries, Airbnb Experiences & TripAdvisor travel guide and Owner of Adventure Colorado Tours
The story as told by software engineer and world explorer Maggie Chan.
Part I. Connecting
Jun Xiang was my first match on Fairytrail after liking each other based on our dating profiles and then overlapping on a mutual interest in the adventure package to Quebec City. I broke the ice once the chat option opened up to see how this new app works and started a conversation with Jun Xiang.
We followed the encouraged protocol of setting up a video chat and connected on Facebook Messenger. This new way of approaching online dating was interesting to me and I wanted to see where it would go.
On our first virtual date, I went to a cafe in New York City with my laptop and met Jun Xiang streaming from his bedroom in California.
The first thing that stood out to me when he spoke was his accent. Honestly, it was never something that even crossed my mind going into this experience, so it was a wonderful thing to learn about him before meeting him in person.
I immediately felt like my world was broadening and it was an incredible privilege to be able to connect with a real human being on the other end of the stream.
He looked just as cute as his pictures. I immediately felt like my world was broadening and it was an incredible privilege to be able to connect with a real human being on the other end of the stream. I think this type of exposure to one another was critical in the beginning to form trust and a relationship with Jun Xiang. I felt like it was a good match because we were both on this app with the intent to both travel and date as single adults. You definitely need to be of a certain mindset to be open to this kind of unique experience.
As we began researching what it would cost to travel to Quebec City, we became a bit discouraged when the cost of flights during our mutually available travel time was over $1000 USD for each of us for a flight on such short notice. Fortunately, the creator of the app, Taige Zhang, reached out to us to ask if we had any questions or feedback. When I told him about the issue, he explained that we didn’t have to book the adventure we matched on, and that it is only a suggestion to get the conversation started. He encouraged us to choose any destination that would better fit our constraints.
We decided to narrow down a location within the US that we both wanted to explore. We settled on Denver, CO for an Airbnb Experience package that included a glacier hike, a local pizza stop, and a trip to the local hot spring caves. It sounded like an awesome adventure that neither of us had experienced before. Looking forward to this adventure together gave us both something to bond over and keep in touch about before our trip.
Fairytrail added a level of intentionality that required both parties to be actively involved from the beginning, and connect on a visual/audio/human level before ever meeting in person.
Part II. Previous Online Dating Experience
Prior to trying Fairytrail, I had been using Tinder to browse the local singles during my travels to Asia, and Hinge to find dates in my hometown when I returned to New York City. It was exciting and fun for me to connect with people on these apps, but more often than not, conversations would get stale and interest would wane before we ever settled on a meeting date. Fairytrail added a level of intentionality that required both parties to be actively involved from the beginning, and connect on a visual/audio/human level before ever meeting in person.
A change of pace from the half-hearted swipes on every other dating app that doesn’t prioritize actual human interaction over chats and match stats.
The people you come across on Fairytrail are of a certain mindset, probably very similar to yours: Single, spontaneous, travel-bug-bitten adventurers looking for a new experience with a new travel partner. I love that these connections are two-fold: romantic interest and adventure-based. If the sparks don’t fly with your match, at least you have one person to join you for a new adventure, and possibly a new friend for life. Definitely a change of pace from the half-hearted swipes on every other dating app that doesn’t prioritize actual human interaction over chats and match stats!
Jun Xiang and I chose the most interesting adventure we could find in Denver, Colorado: A hike up a glacier mountain, local Colorado pizza (I didn’t know there was a Colorado style!), and a visit to the hot spring caves.
Part III. Booking The Trip
Fairytrail was the intermediate between Jun Xiang and I for the trip booking experience. Each of us added Travel Money to our Fairytrail accounts to cover a majority of the Airbnb Experience package cost ($120). Fairytrail generously covered the remainder ($30), as we were one of the first couples to reserve a trip through the app.
By putting our funds into Travel Money, Jun Xiang and I each made a financial commitment to our meeting and trip experience.
After each of us deposited the money into our Travel Money accounts, Taige and the Fairytrail team took care of booking the reservation for us. By putting our funds into Travel Money, Jun Xiang and I each made a financial commitment to our meeting and trip experience. This gave us both reassurance that we were both interested and invested in this new unique experience. Jun Xiang even had his airfare booked through Fairytrail while I took care of my own.
Part IV. The Adventure
Our experience on the glacier hike adventure was awesome! We met our tour guide, his sister the designated photographer, his friend who assisted as a driver, and other fellow adventurers at a Whole Foods in downtown Denver. Other people on the trip were a solo female traveler and a mother and daughter.
We briefly got to know each other before breaking up into two cars to make the trip to St. Mary’s Glacier for our hike. There was unexpected traffic and we arrived at our starting place an hour and a half behind schedule. Luckily, none of us had obligations after the scheduled end of our day trip, and we proceeded with the original itinerary.
Our tour guide supplied us with crampons (traction chains with spikes for hiking) for our boots, water and a snack and we set off on a slow and steady paced hike up to the glacier area where a lake was frozen solid. We stopped every few minutes so that everyone could get acclimated to the elevation and not get sick.
Our guide purchased new snow sleds to try, and after we made it to the frozen lake and snapped some photos, some of us climbed a ways up the mountain to sled down and skid freely across the frozen lake.
It was exhilarating! It was definitely a unique experience that I’ve never had before, and quite beautiful to take in the sights. Jun Xiang and I took some fun photos in the snow and enjoyed romping around on the frozen lake.
After the hike, we piled back into the cars and backtracked a bit back towards Denver and stopped in Idaho Springs for Colorado-style pizza (thin bottom but thick and fluffy crust!).
This part was not covered by our adventure package, but was a great break in the itinerary to try the local cuisine. The restaurant was nestled among very cute town shops that we were able to browse for souvenirs before and after our meal.
Jun Xiang and I rode in the same car together and our tour guide was aware that we were on a unique trip together through Fairytrail. When we were separated during the hot springs time, both of us were asked about our experiences using the app to book our trip together! Jun Xiang and I also bonded with other people on the tour and shared our favorite music and hobbies with each other over the car trips and lunch. The time we spent together was very fun and tiring. Being together at the end of the day, we grabbed tacos and drinks and kept our weekend long date going.
It was like we were almost an established couple, partnered up and taking on this new city, positive and open to new experiences and discoveries.
The next day of our trip, we wandered around Downtown Denver on foot to explore the shops, restaurants, and street art on our own. It was like we were almost an established couple, partnered up and taking on this new city, positive and open to new experiences and discoveries. I felt quite close to Jun Xiang and we mutually agreed that we got along very well as travel buddies. My Fairytrail Adventure was definitely worth it!
Part V. The Fairytrail Experience
Prior to going on my Fairytrail Adventure, I shared my plans with some friends who were incredulous but supportive! I’m definitely the more outgoing and adventurous one of some of my friends, so it was exciting to be able to try something new and continue to recommend to my friends!
I feel incredibly lucky to have matched someone like Jun Xiang that I felt very comfortable with and was easily able to build trust with, as we are both honest and straightforward people who also happened to work in different aspects of the same industry. I definitely would not have randomly met him outside of the app, as my typical dating location range is still within my own city, and Jun Xiang lives across the country.
Our hobbies are different but our personalities complement each other. I would encourage any adventurer friends of mine to give Fairytrail a try if they are looking for their next spontaneous trip and are open to meeting a new partner!
These are the magical words of Maggie Chan. If you would like to share your story, contact us.
So what do people love the most about Fairytrail? Here’s a short summary of why travelers love Fairytrail.
1. Biggest EVER Olympic-sized dating pool.
We have one dating market instead of tiny fragmented markets. This means more efficiency and choice. Instead of only being seen in your city, you can be seen in hundreds of other cities in your country, and even other countries! That’s a 30X dating pool increase.
2. Most time savings.
Commuting sucks. Fairytrail lets you video chat from the convenience of where you are. Value your time by vetting your dates before investing in a date. No commute. Plus it’s safer.
3. Save money big time.
Traveling to a first date can be very pricey. Uber can cost $10 each way and drinks around $10. That’s $30 just to see if you like someone.
4. Date while on the road.
Most dating apps are location-based which means you can’t actually go on dates if you’re traveling or always moving. Luckily on Fairytrail, people are open to dating with video chat, so you can date from the hotel, airport, office– anywhere.
5. Find like-minded people.
If you are passionate about travel, curious about other cultures, and want to explore the world, there is no better dating app than Fairytrail. Couchsurfing, Airbnb, and Instagram are pretty cool, but they’re not dating apps.
6. Explore the world without leaving home.
On Fairytrail, you can meet people from other cultures and places without leaving home. It’s like getting that magical human part of travel even when you don’t have time to travel.
7. Dates are more fun.
Have adventures with someone you like. What could be better than that? Make the most of your time and have memorable life experiences instead of forgettable coffee dates.
8. Higher chance for love.
Going on an adventure together lets you spend quality time with the person to determine chemistry and compatibility. Furthermore, going on a journey is a bonding experience, so you’ll have a higher chance of developing a relationship.
9. Be pickier about who you want to meet.
Fairytrail allows you to filter for age, personality, nationality, and more, so you can date who you want, not just who’s down the street. More filters to come! That’s why travelers love Fairytrail.
All our adventures are in groups and lead by professional guides (expect the cruises). It’s safer than being an Uber with just the driver. Plus we’ll verify the identity of you and your match during the booking (just like Airbnb does) and won’t purchase tickets until both parties have paid, so no one is on the hook.
11. Teamwork makes the dream work.
Fairytrail is all about the alignment of user interests with business interests. You want to have amazing adventures/dates. And we’ll do everything we can to help you with that. One dream. No tricks, no fakes because you can’t go on a date with a fake profile. We’ll even help you pick our your best photos. One dream.
12. Gateway to your next adventure.
If you don’t know where to travel or where to live next, this is the perfect app to help you find your next adventure. People are the doors to opportunity. Fairytrail brings the world’s people to your fingertips. Another reason why travelers love Fairytrail.
What matters when it comes to relationships and compatibility is your partner’s identity and personality. We allow people to filter for the Myers Briggs types they’d most like to meet using our fairytale character representations. And nationality because that is highly correlated with a person’s identity.
Conclusion
We hope one of these reasons applies to you.
Our mission is to help people explore the world with someone they like. Our focus is on safety and fun. We value our community which means you .
Fairytrail is a travel adventure dating app that connects single travelers on group journeys and activities. Its mission is to help people explore the world’s cultures and places with someone they like.
Why do we have characters from folklore on Fairytrail?
Fairytrail uses widely-recognized characters mapped to Myers Briggs and Enneagram types to help people get a sense of personality before meeting in person. This can help you find compatible travel partners, friends, and even romantic relationships.
1. To elevate personality.
It’s very hard to know what someone is like as a person from their online profile. Who someone chooses as their character on Fairytrail says a lot about their personality and identity. Each character is mapped to MBTI and Enneagram types.
2. To help you understand who you have chemistry with.
Characters also help you understand which personality types you have chemistry with. Had a great interaction with someone? Check their character. Hmm… Robin Hood. Maybe you get along better with people who prioritize doing good.
3. To help you search more effectively.
Many apps let you search for people based on age, ethnicity, etc. but what about the thing that really matters in a relationship, your partner’s essence (identity + personality)? On Fairytrail, you get to search for that.
Who should you choose? Read about our the archetypes we use in our app.
Lastly, we love culture and fairy tale stories are rich in culture.
They are seen across nations and cultures: Native American folklore, Chinese myths, Icelandic legends, African fables, and German fairy tales. At Fairytrail, we are intensely curious about people, places, and cultures. Fairytales, folklore, fables, parables, and stories are what make us human.
Fairytrail is a travel adventure dating app that connects single travelers on group journeys and activities. Its mission is to help people explore the world’s cultures and places with someone they like.
We destroyed the iPod business with the iPhone. At Fairytrail, it’s no different. We believe we can only be successful when we put our users’ interests ahead of ours. Here’s how we are reinventing the online dating business.
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Dear Brave, Early Explorers of Fairytrail,
We are at 200+ strong monthly active users just a couple weeks after our soft launch. Not bad. We purposely haven’t issued a press release yet because we are still perfecting Fairytrail with your help.
Talking About A Revolution
We sincerely appreciate your input as we build towards a revolutionary online dating app with a business model that is closely aligned with user interests.
Most online dating apps want you to be addicted to their screens so that they can keep earning billions of dollars from subscriptions, power-ups, and ads. Even if you aren’t paying, they want you addicted to their platform for their paying members. There is a serious conflict of interest.
We are different. We understand users want to find someone, so they get on with their lives– to have amazing life experiences with someone they like. We give our users exactly that and our main revenue stream is tied to that. Just like Uber and Lyft sell rides because customers want rides — we sell adventure dates because our users want breathtaking dating experiences.
We also have a travel product planned for couples that we successfully bring into a relationship, so we won’t lose 100% of our users. Unlike other dating apps, we aren’t afraid of being too successful. Our incentives are morally and financially aligned with our users’.
When I worked at Apple,Steve Jobs preached cannibalizing our own business. We destroyed the iPod business with the iPhone. At Fairytrail, it’s no different. We believe we can only be successful when we put our users’ interests ahead of our own.
Here are three of the many changes we implemented last week because of you.
Thank You, Dana
Dana didn’t like how we limited her to only seeing about ten new people per day. On Bumble or Tinder, you can easily swipe through hundreds of people per day.
We have a limit to prevent people from getting burned out on dating (just like Coffee Meets Bagel does). People should enjoy their lives and not be addicted to online dating apps.
We want to be in the background, so people can focus on living in the moment. And every day, we’ll sprinkle their lives with like-minded, kind people and travel opportunities.
We want to break screen addiction. We don’t think it’s healthy to be glued to apps. In fact, I use an app that locks up my screen when I spend too much time on it. We believe in being present with what’s around us, improving our real lives, and not missing the magic of the moment by focusing on what’s to come.
With that philosophy in mind, we designed our app to be non-invasive in terms of bringing you new people and opportunities.
After we explained this, she was excited and in agreement, but pointed out our app doesn’t explain any of that. It just leaves users in the dark.
So we’ve improved our messaging.
That said, we recognize that people want to start connecting with others as quickly as possible. This means we will increase the number of people per search once we have more users in the coming weeks.
Thank You, Steve
Steve felt our online dating app wasn’t lively enough. There wasn’t enough buzz. He wanted to connect with other digital nomads and loves the community that we are building. He’s curious about other people’s exciting lives and wants to engage with them non-romantically.
So we introduced Fairytrail Campfire…
Fairytrail Campfire is a place where like-minded world explorers can connect in a social, non-romantic setting. Where they can share stories, what they’re up to, opportunities, and connect outside of dating.
Thank You, Mark
Mark said that Fairytrail was his travel inspiration app. He loves the feeling that he could be off on an adventure at a moment’s notice. They say dreaming, planning, and talking about travel can be as exhilarating as the travel experience itself.
The effects of travel aren’t felt only during and after your trip – in fact, even just the anticipation of going on vacation can boost your mood. People are at their happiest when they have a vacation planned, a study by the University of Surrey found, and are also more positive about their health, economic situation and general quality of life.
A study by Cornell University also found that we get more happiness from anticipating a travel experience in comparison to anticipating buying a new possession. It turns out that money can buy you happiness, but just not in the way we expected!
So we’ve added a little travel fund to help you anticipate your next trip. Every time you search, there’s a chance that Oly, your little dating sidekick, can find travel credit on his path. Just add the travel credit to your profile, and you can use it when booking your adventure.
We hope over time, you’ll contribute your own funds to this, so that you budget for amazing life experiences with people who’ve done things like, “Hiking through the hills in Myanmar” (F34), “Camping on the Great Wall of China”(F26), “Gorilla trekking in the DR of Congo” (F40), “Taking a dive into the Amazon” (F30), “Flying to India on a whim with two friends to sit in silence for 10 days to learn Vipassana meditation” (M25), “Bribing my way into a Bolivian prison” (M36), and “Escaping a charging rhino by climbing a tree in Nepal” (F29).
On a side note, I’d like to include screenshots of the users mentioned above, but I haven’t asked for their written approval. If you’d like to volunteer yours, just let me know!
One Last Note About Who You Are Recommended
My friend Mike recently asked, “Why don’t I see more users?”
I told him, did you know we reject about 30% of people who sign up? You’ll never see those people because they’re hidden from search. Disapproved people are those who we don’t think are suitable for our platform due to bad photos, poor culture fit, safety or risk factors, and lack of sincerity in their profile.
We also don’t show you all the users.
We only show you people who are looking for the same type of relationship. If you are looking for a casual fling, we’re 100% not showing you someone who’s looking for a serious relationship.
We don’t show you users who’ve already passed on you. What’s the point of impressing you with the profile of a beautiful person if there’s no chance you’ll match?
We do put people who liked you in your search results first, so we don’t keep them waiting.
Everything we do is designed to create the most value for our users. That means we optimize for matches, interactions, and magical travel experiences.
If you have any feedback for us so we can serve you better, please contact us or leave a comment below.
Fairytrail is a travel adventure dating app that connects single travelers on group journeys and activities. Its mission is to help people explore the world’s cultures and places with someone they like.
We sent this email to all our users today announcing our product update. Here’s the story of the magical corridor and why it was created.
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Dear Peter,
We’re constantly working to improve your experience and instigate your next adventure with someone you like.
Here’s what we changed about your app and why.
A Magical Corridor?
Last week, we had 4 adventure matches. We learned that people value each other way more than the adventure itself. It’s who you’re with, not where you go.
With that insight, over the weekend we added a chat room which we call a magical corridor. It allows a total of 6 messages to be exchanged. This allows the matched couple to figure out if they like each other before they exchange contact information and video chat.
Many dating apps do free intros. Our concern is that we don’t value free. A tour guide in Yellowstone once told me he gave water away on his tours and people wasted it. He started to charge $1 for 4 bottles (basically free) and people started treating it with respect and value. It could be the same in our case.
We want to create sincere interactions amongst users. A 100% refundable trip deposit was a way for us to determine who was sincere, so we could protect them from those who aren’t.
Unfortunately, this caused too much friction for our users and for us, so we took it out. We still want people to value and treat each other with respect, so we decided to limit active matches to only 6. We hope this creates a kinder experience where we can be intentional with our conversations. We hope it prevents ghosting which is when one person stops responding for no reason. Since users can only see 6 matches at once, they are incentivized to unmatch which sends a clear signal to the other person that there’s no chemistry and no desire to continue.
Thank you for joining us on this journey to build the world’s safest remote dating app. We’re still trying to figure out who our early adopters are but many of you seem to have heard about us through the Remote Year community. We appreciate you spreading the word.
Fairytrail is a travel adventure dating app that connects single travelers on group journeys and activities. Its mission is to help people explore the world’s cultures and places with someone they like.
Maybe it’s best if I start with my principles first, then I will talk about why I made a dating app for remote workers and travelers. After all, why anyone does anything in life starts off with their beliefs and world views.
I don’t believe the goal of life is to be happy.
It doesn’t really make sense to optimize for happiness, money, fun, etc. No matter how high you get, you can always get higher. No matter how rich you get, there’s someone richer. The only thing that truly matters at the end of the day is, are you doing what you find meaningful?
Happiness is just a shadow that follows us when we are grateful and have great relationships – I don’t really think about it. Instead, I focus on my values and what gives my life meaning. Because that is what gives me consistent satisfaction and self-fulfillment– there’s nothing better than when your life is consistent with your beliefs.
Chasing meaningfulness is something that may be hard or even painful. But to me, it is much more important than pursuing money or happiness. Fairytrail is meaningful to me.
Here’s why I decided to make it.
1. Our world is beautiful and magical.
Having lived in five countries and countless cities from Winnipeg to London to Shanghai to Berlin to Palo Alto, I am in awe of the world and its people.
Seemingly casual moments like longboarding next to an abandoned church past a crowd of Turkish people and several prostitutes in West Berlin to meet my Chinese-German friends for late-night Turkish tripe soup was truly extraordinary upon reflection.
The world is such a wondrous place. To live in one place all my life feels illogical. Like having a big house but only using one room.
Having walked the streets of Marrakech and lived in Agadir with a Moroccan college student with nothing but two mattresses and a chair in a room next to a goat pen, I learned so much about Muslim people and how their lives can be so vastly different from mine in a beautiful way.
A German girlfriend showed me that in her world, people don’t rinse the detergent off dishes. That also completely blew my mind…
My mission is to help people experience more of the world because it’s the most beautiful thing to me– to see all its wonders, to appreciate all its cultures, and to cherish its fragile moments.
I must say the first time I saw a flying fish from a boat in Greece, I thought it was the most remarkable thing in the world.
Under the desert stars. Photo courtesy of @skipwithgrace
Or maybe it was the night stars in the Sahara Desert and how they seemed to shine brighter than any club I’ve been to in London.
Or the fireflies dancing outside the window of our cottage on the Amalfi coast. Life felt magical. That feeling of awe and wonder is a feeling that I constantly chase.
To explore the world and its people brings me so much joy. For a period of my life, I would only date people who spoke a language I didn’t speak. Maybe I’m greedy to want to experience all that life has to offer. To live life to the fullest. To appreciate our awe-inspiring world.
But chasing happiness, it’s a losing game. What is more meaningful is helping people discover the beauty of our world. To help them feel truly alive and connected.
At the end of the day, I don’t want to just suck out all life has to offer and take all the experiences I can get. I want to give back and contribute to it.
The first movie I saw, Lion King, said that “there’s more to see than can ever be seen” and since that day, I have been lucky to see and experience so much. I want to share that feeling of wonder with the world.
Family Vacation To The Great Wall Of China
Building towards a family and Fairytrail are what gives my life meaning. Exploring the world makes me who I am.
So why build a dating app for remote workers and travelers? Why not just build a travel buddy app, VR travel solution, write a book, or create some travel documentaries?
2. Online dating is a disliked solution to a real human need.
I’ve worked in consumer electronics, social gaming, FinTech, B2B SasS, ride-hailing, marketplaces, on-demand delivery, and health tech. So why something as dirty as dating?
Dating has had a bad reputation. Maybe because like gambling it’s too easy to prey on the needy. So you have all those horrible fake dating apps. Maybe because there’s still this idea you can’t find someone in real life, so you need to turn to the online world.
But that’s fading fast as we turn to online for everything from food to bus schedules to Thai massages, all at a tap or a click.
Online dating is now mainstream. In fact, online is the number one way couples in the USA meet as of 2017. Currently, 39% of new couples first meet online and experts predict that to increase to 70% by 2040.
But dating is still difficult. Ask anyone. Even people who get a bunch of matches need to sift through and find the right person. And the actual dating experience can be emotionally draining, often feeling like a chore.
A loving relationship is a huge human need. Finding the right person isn’t easy. Maybe we’re too picky now in a world with movies from Hollywood, furniture from Scandinavia, songs from Korea, and tomatoes from Spain. Whatever music, food, and goods that we want are available to us. So how can we suddenly be less picky about our partners when we can be so selective about everything else in our lives?
And it’s not a bad thing we have a choice and are pickier.
Because finding a partner is truly an important decision. That person will have more of an impact on your life than any other relationship going forward.
What dating apps do now is great because they expose you to people you otherwise would almost never meet in your city.
But it’s flawed in four painful ways.
1. Diversity: Every city has its own type of people. Do you expect to find the same types of people in Atlanta as Shanghai? They have different world views, beliefs, and values. For example, there are many ethnic groups in New York, yet the vibe of the people tend to be the same. Where can you meet your most compatible partner? Which city would you thrive in? Be the happiest? What if you’re living in the wrong city?
2. Numbers: Did you know that the median population size of the top 300 largest cities in America is only 165,000? The biggest city in Maine only has 66,882 people, which translates to 31 eligible singles (calculation). And only 55% of the world’s population lives in cities. What’s someone who doesn’t even live in a city to do?
3. Experience: Dating apps currently don’t care about your dating experience. They care about getting you matched, not what happens after. They don’t care that guys get stressed about planning dates. Or girls feel like they don’t have a say in what those dates are. And both are frustrated with the laborious coffee date to vet attractiveness, creepiness, and chemistry.
4. Conflict of Interest: Dating apps don’t have your interest in mind. When you want to reply to your potential partner’s messages, you’re shown more matches. An endless queue of beautiful people is waiting to meet you. They want to keep you dating. They want to keep you swiping. Their $6 billion dollars is tied to you being single and using their app. Their interest is keeping you glued to their screens when your interest is to find someone so you can get on with your life and have amazing adventures together.
I want to build a product that addresses these points. Wouldn’t it be better if the dates were more fun and safe? What if you could be exposed to more and different types of people who could show you the world in ways you never knew? What if the dating app’s interest was aligned with yours?
3. People are becoming hyper mobile.
I’ve had long-distance relationships before and many of my friends are currently in healthy long-distance relationships. It always struck me as strange that people do it even though it sucks.
It even seems more common than before. Why is that?
I. Remote and freelance work are on the rise.
“More than one-third (36 percent) of U.S. workers are in the gig economy.”
Think about your Lyft or Uber driver. The designer you hired on Upwork. How easy is it for them to move somewhere else?
Then there’s aspirations to be truly remote. MBO Partners found 38% of Americans with traditional jobs have an interest in becoming a digital nomad in the next 3 years. Already more than 4.8 million American workers describe themselves as digital nomads.
68% of millennials are more interested in a job that can be worked remotely. Google Trends tells a similar story of growing interest in the digital nomad (DN) movement.
III. Political mobility. Immigration is at record levels. In 2017, the USA has an immigration rate 3 times that of the 1970s. Germany more than doubled its immigration rate since the 1990s.
IV. Peace! The world is actually more interconnected and peaceful than ever. See the nice steep decline? That’s where we are!
Source: Our World in Data
There’s a strong need for a dating app for remote workers.
4. People are choosing to date online more. And just more.
Booming Global Travel And Tourism Is Driving Economies And Job Growth – The travel and tourism sector grew more in 2018 than all other economic sectors but one, adding a record $8.8 trillion to the world’s combined Gross Domestic Product – up from $8.3 trillion in 2017 – as well as 319 million new jobs.
That’s why the world needs a dating app for travelers and remote workers.
Conclusion
What does that mean for dating?
We will have more choice in who we date. Just like in almost every industry, we’ve got more choices over the years. Dating won’t be limited to local anymore.
We will have more fun dating. We’ll actually get to explore the world, try new foods, and see new places and cultures– with people who intrigue us.
We will be more interconnected. The world is vastly different but as we meet and date more types of people, people from other cultures, we’ll build bridges to form a more empathetic and unified world.
So that’s why we’re building Fairytrail. We are building an app to help single people meet their partners. We are building an app for people who want to embrace what the world has to offer. We also have a product for couples coming out soon.
Fairytrail Castle. Photo courtesy of @skipwithgrace on Instagram
Our simple mission is to help people explore the world with someone they like.
Life is short, so we don’t think it should be wasted doing the ordinary. Nothing is better than being on a journey with someone you love. Make life and dating special and memorable.
Choose experiences that make you feel alive.
Life holds amazing possibilities. We’re here to help you discover those through new people and world exploration.
Fairytrail is the future of dating. And if we can unite the world along the way by creating caring relationships across countries, creeds, cultures, races, and classes that is something to truly be excited about.
Fairytrail is a travel adventure dating app that connects single travelers on group journeys and activities. Its mission is to help people explore the world’s cultures and places with someone they like.
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