Johanna Jainchill
The U.S. is loudly touting its 250th birthday this year, with a yearlong party focusing on the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the American Revolution.
At least eight states are also revving up for a different celebration: the 100th anniversary of Route 66's 1926 establishment. Celebrations will kick off from its starting point in Chicago and span 2,448 miles to Santa Monica, Calif.
The hoopla around these anniversaries reminded me of a four-day swing I took through Kentucky last summer. It was my first visit to the state, and I was impressed by its many homegrown attributes.
Those Kentucky-bred offerings include bourbon, recognized by Congress as "America's Native Spirit"; horse racing's shining moment, the Kentucky Derby, held at Louisville's Churchill Downs each spring; and bluegrass music, an Appalachian invention believed to be started by a Kentuckian and named for the state's famous grass.
Jordan Skora, marketing communications manager for Louisville Tourism, characterized Kentucky's contributions for me as "that taste of classic America, or some Americana."
I recently listened to a discussion about the "return to real" trend on Chris Campbell's "Food for Thought Leadership" podcast. That conversation focused on food, but I later called up his guest, Robyn Carter, the CEO of Jump Rope Innovation, a trends and innovation consultancy, to talk about how the trend translates to travel.
It manifests itself, she said, in people looking for real experiences and connection.
For those who have been following travel trends the last few years, this won't sound groundbreaking. The desire for authenticity in travel is far from new, but what makes it even more relevant now is the intersection of reality and AI, which has accelerated demand for authenticity by creating a world with so much inauthenticity.
For example, when my 12-year-old son sees a photo or video online of something that could be described as an incredible feat, his first question is almost always, "Is this real?"
It's sad that years of online manipulation, accelerated by AI's ability to fool even the keenest of eyes, has created such a skeptical generation.
But it's also made the world, and younger generations especially, hungry for things that can't be manipulated and to see things for themselves.
What people are looking for now, Carter said, is finding what's real. Maybe that's found going at a slower pace and limiting places visited in order to do deeper dives in understanding how people live in those places.
"It's less about, 'How can I be really efficient and check all the boxes on all of the important tourist things to do here and take all the Instagram photos.' That starts to feel artificial and sort of engineered," she said.
A recent ChatGPT ad shows a brother and sister in a car with the on-screen prompt, "Help me plan a trip with my sister over break." ChatGPT goes on to plan a route with activities chosen by an AI bot that "fit y'all perfectly." (I'd like to think I, or a good travel advisor, could plan an itinerary that fits my siblings more perfectly than an AI bot).
Which brings me back to Kentucky and the reasons people travel. You don't need to go to Kentucky to sip bourbon, but there is something special about talking to the people distilling it and learning that the water from the nearby river and the limestone it's running through gives the spirit its unique flavor profile.
Based on my conversation with Carter, what would really take that experience to the next level would be creating a human connection around it. Meeting the family behind the distillery, or a member of a bluegrass band to understand their passion around this uniquely American music. Or one of the legendary bartenders who spent decades serving mint juleps at Churchill Downs.
Being able to offer these kinds of experiences is something AI can't do, and a reason that travel advisors are back, Carter said.
"There's so much information out there that it just becomes overwhelming. People are looking for trusted advisors to help guide them towards these real experiences so they don't go somewhere and end up in the 'Times Square' of that place."
For many people, traveling around the U.S. might not seem as culturally interesting as going abroad, but considering the connections people crave and the landmark anniversaries being celebrated in the U.S. this year, it might be just the trip for 2026.
"I think in this country right now, we're so divided that anything that we can do to understand each other better and understand the values that we all share, that's very important to us as a culture," Carter said. "People want to feel something, they want to be part of something. Especially right now. It's a great time to get out and try to make those connections."