Why are we called Blue Dot?

We knew we wanted to start a company together. We knew what kind of company we wanted it to be. We had a plan to build everything out. Now, we needed a name.

We had no idea how hard choosing a name would be.

We wanted something meaningful—rooted in travel, exploration, perspective, education. Something that spoke to the mission. We threw around hundreds of ideas. Matt liked references to Copernicus, but they didn’t quite land (and Rich couldn’t spell them). Rich liked “Edventure,” but it felt a little too on the nose—and the URL was already taken. Every time we got close, the name was either taken or didn’t stick

We had Blue Marble on the short list the entire time, but it was already in use. Still, we liked the feel of it. Matt ran it through a name generator for fresh ideas. Out came Blue World, One World, Wenden Tours, Blue Classroom—and somewhere in the middle: Blue Dot.

Blue Dot stood out immediately. It felt familiar, though we couldn't place why at first.

We looked it up and found the Carl Sagan reference—the “pale blue dot,” photographed from 3.7 billion miles away by Voyager 1. And the passage that followed:

“There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.”
- Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot, 1994

The full passage can be found here: https://www.planetary.org/worlds/pale-blue-dot

And that was it. The name stuck.
Icon of the Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament standing tall over the Thames on a clear day
Florence’s Duomo rising above terracotta rooftops with hazy Tuscan hills in the background

There’s so much in that passage that spoke to us. The idea that this planet is our only home—and that it deserves to be explored in full. That the cultures, conflicts, and empires Sagan references shape who we are as a people. They’re the history of the world, and there’s no better way to understand them than by going out and seeing them yourself.

That life here is rare and precious, and with that comes a responsibility to do something meaningful—like travel, learn, and growth. And that ultimately, travel builds empathy. It connects people. It reminds us that on this tiny dot, everyone is a neighbor we should be kind to.

The passage isn’t directly about travel. But for us, it couldn’t align more with what travel can teach: humility, wonder, and a deeper sense of connection to the people we share this planet with.

That’s how Blue Dot Tours got its name.

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