Announcing Blue Fern Travel

When we opened over five years ago, we were committed to being more than just a tour company. We saw an opportunity to increase the impact of each tourist dollar that passed through our business by directing it to locally owned businesses, and giving back to the community that made Carpe DC possible.

Carpe DC Food Tours was born from many personal travel experiences we were privileged to have. Throughout all those journeys, a few lessons and highlights kept appearing. The most memorable and powerful experiences came from connecting with locals. And the best ways to do that were over food, drinks, and stories.

These memories and experiences are what drive us. They are what we strive to provide every day. But, we also noticed that the people who we remember most did not really benefit from the number of tourists driving down their roads and walking through their towns. We knew that we wanted to guarantee that travelers who spent time with us were directly supporting the communities they were learning about.

Whenever we make a decision we always ask ourselves, “How will this impact the community?” some of the ways that we have worked to make a positive difference is through working with local restaurants where we pay full price for food and support their teams with generous tips. We also instituted a one-for-one model, that has provided funding for over 25,000 meals through our partnership with Bread for the City which supports people across the District.

Today, we see the need for a more just and equitable approach to tourism in our country and around the world, and we feel we have a responsibility to lead by example.

So we are expanding our tours outside of D.C. This began with Alexandria, VA in 2019 and Baltimore, MD this year. We are also expanding beyond food tourism, with our DC Delivered Market Collections and Black Box DC. And, as soon as tours are allowed to resume, you will be able to join us on our first drinks inspired experience with the Ivy City Distillery Tour.

With these changes we have realized that it is also time for a new name. We wanted to go back to our roots while we expand to new areas and develop new experiences.

We are now Blue Fern Travel. 

Our name references our first travel experience together. We visited Tazmania, Australia where we found ferns as large as trees on an unforgettable experience that inspired a lifetime of travel. Ferns also symbolize depth, and harmony, two things that we bring to travelers and locals alike. Depth can be found in the layered stories of the people and businesses whose stories we share. Harmony can be found in the connections we make and the relationships we nurture between visitors to the city and the locals on the street.

Our delicious five star food tours are now called Fork Tours

And were rolling out our new drink focused tours, with all the bubbles, called Fizz Tours, starting with Ivy City Distillery Tours.

We see tourism as an opportunity to connect and contribute to local communities and we can’t wait for you to take the journey with us!