Despite continued travel uncertainty, after 24 months of pent-up wanderlust many are determined to make 2022 their “year of travel.” With many cautions still in place for travelers, pandemic-inspired trends continue to flourish – including the resurgence of the road trip and the desire to find more meaningful experiences that truly connect us with people and places (see AirBnb’s 2021 report on the “Year of Meaningful Travel”).

With so much pressure to make our travel journeys everything we hoped for in 2022, Truity teamed up with HearHere, the road trip storytelling app, to develop a “What’s Your Roadtrip Personality?” test based on the Big Five personality system. It’s designed to help would-be travelers pin-point exactly what kinds of trips they’ll find most joy-filled and fulfilling. 

Co-founded by actor Kevin Costner, HearHere was featured as one of the year’s stand-out new travel apps in the New York Times. Now, they’ve partnered with Truity to offer recommended itineraries and audio stories based on one’s unique personality type – culled from the app’s rich repository of thousands of stories that reveal the secret histories, fascinating local heroes and cultural significance of destinations across California.  

“When you think of your most memorable travel experiences, they tend to be both deeply personal and transformative – a truly amazing trip usually speaks somehow to the core of who we are, our interests, likes and dislikes of course, but also our deeper aspirations, wants and hopes,” said Molly Owens, Truity’s CEO and Founder. “There is often a reason your most amazing vacation stands out in your mind – beyond the 5-star hotel you stayed in. Chances are that certain experiences or stories you connected with along the way, resonated with you based on your core personality preferences.” 

In honor of National Plan for Vacation Day, the “What’s Your Roadtrip Personality” test is available as of today as a free tool and you can take it here.

“Our goal is simple: provide the right story at the right time. It’s a transformational way to explore the country, as if the roads are talking to you. Collecting the experiences of the past in a way people can easily enjoy is creating an entirely new future for travel.” said Kevin Costner of HearHere. 

“Because travel is so personal, we are thrilled to team up with Truity to help travelers find their way to their most memorable travel experiences yet in 2022,” adds Woody Sears, CEO of HearHere.

The What’s Your RoadTrip Personality test measures your core preferences within the Big Five personality system that are most likely to influence travel and assigns test-takers one of eight traveler archetypes. These range from the Culture Hound to the Nonstop Nomad (the latter being the type most suited to picking up and committing to a 2-3 month road trip or a remote-working vacation, for example).  In addition to the test and travel tips based on your type, Truity and HearHere – both California-based companies  – teamed up to develop customized California road trip itineraries and collections of audio stories, for each traveler archetype.  As one of the leading tourism destinations in the world, road trippers in the Golden State are spoiled for choice with mountains, deserts, coastlines and world-class cities – the state annually dominates the best places to visit list.

The Big Five Factor model of personality is the most widely accepted personality theory in the scientific community. Differences in the Big Five personality factors help us to understand why people may react differently, behave differently and see things differently on a trip as opposed to others in the same situation. 

The “What’s Your Travel Personality? test scores users for the personality factors within the Big Five that are most likely to influence travel:

  • Openness - Culture: High scorers like new and unfamiliar experiences; low scorers may prefer to visit familiar locations or those that have an element of tradition for them. Openness describes a person’s tendency to think in abstract, complex ways. High scorers tend to be creative, adventurous and intellectual. They enjoy discovering novel experiences, and people who are high in openness tend to enjoy the arts and seek out unusual, complex forms of self-expression. People who are low in openness are often skeptical of the arts and prefer to focus on more practical pursuits. Low scorers tend to be practical, conventional and focused on the concrete. 
  • Conscientiousness - Structure: Conscientiousness describes a person’s ability to exercise self-discipline and control in order to pursue their goals. High scorers are organized and determined, and are able to forego immediate gratification for the sake of long-term achievement. Low scorers are impulsive and easily sidetracked.High scorers will want to do lots of research, plan days ahead of time, make advance bookings; low scorers will prefer to play things by ear and do what they feel like at the moment.
  • Extraversion- Energy: Extraversion describes a person’s inclination to seek stimulation from the outside world, especially in the form of attention from other people. Extraverts engage actively with others to earn friendship, admiration, power, status, excitement, and romance. Introverts, on the other hand, conserve their energy, and do not work as hard to earn these social rewards. High scorers will be attracted to trips with lots of stimulation, a fast pace, and high energy activities; low scorers will want to have more space and time to process experiences and will need more downtime.

The test measures your preferences across these traits and assigns you one of the eight Traveler Archetypes below. Although users can use their personality profile to help inform more fulfilling trips in any destination, the reports offer recommended trips in California based on your travel personality with the help of the HearHere app.

  • The Trip Maximizer: With a fearsome stack of museum tickets, rezzies and must-see attractions, this type likes to cram as much as you can into one epic road trip.  Travel tip: Travel-mates can find their go-getter energy exhausting – so exhausting, that they may never talk to you again! 
  • The Culture Hound: This type is all about mind-expanding experiences and tapping into the zeitgeist of a time and place. Travel tip: Although tempted to seek out every experience, this type also needs plenty of “downtime” to soak in the real culture and feel of a place. 
  • The Nonstop Nomad: This type is all about “seizing the day” — preferring to jump from activity to activity as the mood strikes. Travel tip: A short trip can leave this type craving much, much more – they are uniquely suited to picking up on the digital nomad trend and relocating to a region for a stint. 
  • The Self-Driving Explorer: This type is an adaptable observer who likes to take in new experiences at their own pace. Travel tip: This type loves serendipitous discoveries and being the captain of their own ship (or VW van), making them a perfect candidate for road tripping.
  • The Travel Taskmaster: This type can have very specific ideas about what people, plans and places should make up their trip. They thrive on packed schedules and togetherness-boosting activities. Travel Tip: Often the Clark Griswold of their travel group (see: Chevy Chase’s character from the Vacation movies), this type has to remember to try and not get too worked up when things don’t go to plan!
  • The No Limits Adventurer: This type is an action-oriented adventurer who likes to enjoy the moment and have “no-holds-barred” good times with loved ones.  Travel tip: This personality can be a whirlwind of “do” and not have much patience for waiting, downtime or crowds. Outdoor vacations and group adventures are where this type is a viking!
  • The Creature of Comfort: This type loves carefully planned, 5-star trips that pamper them – and don’t take you too far outside their personal comfort zone. Travel tip: This type should remember that constantly bemoaning the state of their WiFi coverage or inability to Postmate themself vegan sushi, can be a drag for fellow travelers. 
  • The Zen Traveler: This type is a low-key relaxer who just wants to focus on the moment and have a chill time – without too many plans or demands on their time. Travel tip: This type may want to just avoid trips with high-energy travel go-getters entirely – but if they can’t, they can channel how laid back they are and make sure to carve out their own down time. 

“A growing number of people are looking to better understand their core motivations through the lens of personality type – to help find deeper meaning and fulfillment in their careers, relationships, living situations and more. Given that so many have put off travel for so long, we wanted to design a test that helps people build travel experiences that will be truly meaningful at a personal level,” added Owens. “Differences in Big Five personality factors can help us understand why one woman’s dream trip can be another’s tedious nightmare, so we hope this test will help people find their most fulfilling trip ever.”  

To learn more about your overarching Big Five personality traits, take Truity’s full, validated Big Five Test here.

Abby Lunardini
Abby Lunardini is Truity’s CMO. Before coming to Truity, she held marketing & communications roles in philanthropy, politics and the private sector. Abby is a political and true crime junkie, and is also really into airplanes. She is an ISFJ and Enneagram 3, who lives with her husband and three small, busy humans in a home that (despite her control freak tendencies) has a distinct “lord of the flies” vibe.
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