# @kirstenalana on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/CEjrIkxhpc3
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/2429403-kirstenalana-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/dfe55565e6.jpg
- **Posted:** 2020-08-31T14:41:23.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Kirsten Alana (@KirstenAlana) — https://gondola.cc/KirstenAlana

## Caption

You responded to my poll & questions in Stories saying you’re interested in ideas for road trip travel, that you’re planning to take a road trip or want to be given ideas of places you can visit responsibly when it’s possible for you to do so. So when I was given the opportunity to test drive a Lincoln for a week, I knew immediately that I wanted to head to Sonoma. Not only are they a destination that relies on tourism and I felt called to support that. But also for a long time I’ve been hearing about the cooperation between kindtraveler & sonomacounty to encourage responsible travel. I wanted to see for myself what that looks like. 🌻 Kind is a give + get booking platform. Reserving your hotel stays with them, gives directly to organizations that have a net positive impact on local communities around the world. In Sonoma, the goals go deeper. 🌲 It’s the perfect compliment to SonomaCounty’s status as a DSO (destination stewardship organization). Most tourism boards are run as DMOs (destination management organization). While that doesn’t have to be a bad thing, it doesn’t tend to have on average as net positive an impact as a DSO could and does. 🌎 Just the difference in the meanings of the words stewardship and management, hint at the potential for good. That subtle shift alone probably doesn’t account for how much safer I felt in Sonoma than in other parts of California. But I’m happy to report that I think Sonoma does feel as safe as a place can right now in the USA, in terms of travel. Locals keep an appropriate distance, everyone wears masks. Cleanliness is taken seriously. Businesses adhere to rules that keep everyone safe. And everyone I met was so happy to learn I was a tourist who valued all of that. 😊 For more on the practices of Kind and Sonoma as well as more ideas about responsible travel right now, I’m going to link to some articles in my Stories as I continue to share my day to day there and this is all archived in my profile as a Highlight called ‘Sonoma’ so you can reference later too. 🏕 Kind provided my hotel stays, all expenses were mine, I'm not being paid to talk about Sonoma. ❤️ #travelkindly #lifeopensup #sonomacounty #kindtraveler

## Stats

- **Views:** 0
- **Likes:** 638
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- **Comments:** 70

## Tags

kindtraveler, sonomacounty, lifeopensup, travelkindly

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