Artie's journey: travel to daughter's same-sex marriage helps father find his understanding.

As part of its “Find Yours” campaign, Expedia.com® today introduced a video, titled “Find Your Understanding,” that follows a father’s journey, both literal and figurative, as he deals with conflicting emotions relative to his lesbian daughter’s same-sex marriage. The short video is composed of real footage taken of the father and daughter.

“Find Your Understanding” can be found at expedia.com/findyours. It is one video in a series of stories by Expedia to demonstrate that every trip is unique; that travel is very personal.

In this case, the journey was undertaken by Artie Goldstein, a retired business owner and father to Jill Sloane Goldstein. Nikki Weiss, Jill’s girlfriend, “startled” Nikki’s father one afternoon when she asked for permission to marry his daughter. Artie had a dream for his daughter that included a traditional marriage and grandkids.

The central premise of his story is the realization that he had to choose whether or not he would maintain a relationship with his daughter.

The video incorporates real footage as Artie ponders that question and travels to Jill and Nikki’s wedding in Malibu.

Quick facts:

• Expedia’s “Find Yours” campaign is about putting personal relevance and emotion back into the travel space. In line with the rest of the campaign, the footage in Artie’s personal story is real footage of a real traveler finding a unique, personal experience through his trip. The entire campaign, including the television commercial, was designed with ad agency 180LA, and features traveler-generated content.
• Nikki is an agent and producer in the feature film and advertising commercial industry. Jill is a seasoned advertising executive turned writer/producer. She also pens a fitness column in Curve Magazine. Together, they have written and co-produced two television pilots and a documentary feature. Artie lives with his wife Judy, his high school sweetheart, in Georgia, where he is a retired business owner.
• Nikki and Jill had first met as young girls at overnight camp. Twenty-five years later, the two reunited on the camp’s website, and rekindled the connection they knew as childhood friends. That friendship blossomed into attraction and became the foundation of a loving adult partnership. 
• Expedia has been a long-standing supporter of gay travel and features an LGBT travel store offering 1,400 IGLTA certified hotels.
• Expedia recently made a statement in support of the marriage equality legislation on this year’s ballot in Washington State, where the company is headquartered.