Editor's note: helping you Rediscover America during a global pandemic

Just like so many of you, 2020 has been quite a wild ride for me. In February, I was handed over the reins to Budget Travel as its Publisher. At the beginning of March, a tornado hit my neighborhood in East Nashville. Then the COVID-19 pandemic largely wiped out the travel industry’s immediate future (and ad budgets). It truly would not surprise me if next week, the alien invasion sent us all back to phase 1. 2020 is a crazy ride.

East Nashville after tornadoes hit on March 2, 2020. Photo by Laura Brown

As the Publisher of a travel magazine during a global pandemic, I’ve been wrestling with this moral question: how can we ethically promote travel at this strange moment in history?

We’ve gone to great lengths to answer this question. We’ve had a full team researching and extrapolating the ways COVID is affecting travel. We’ve reached out to local tourism boards for their recommendations. We’ve polled you, Budget Travel’s readers, to understand how your travel has been affected by the pandemic (the answer: a lot). And many of us have road-tripped across the Southeast to see it all for ourselves. We’ve been writing all summer.

I am proud to announce that this week, Budget Travel is launching ‘Rediscover America,’ a content series that will focus entirely on how Americans can safely explore this beautiful country of ours.

We’ll focus on road trips and amazing getaways you can drive to in all parts of the country, and promote activities that can be done while maintaining adequate social distancing. We will share travel deals that can be booked flexibly into 2021. We will adhere to CDC guidelines and advocate for wearing masks. Most importantly, we’ll remain flexible to adapt to new information and circumstances.

If we work hard enough as a society, there may come a time in the future when we can all relax a bit. Until then, our commitment to promoting safe travel is not up for debate.

Keep checking Budgetravel.com for fresh inspiration, and let us help you Rediscover America.

* This article was originally published here