At Polarsteps, we know great ideas often strike in unexpected moments. A random thought during your morning coffee, a spark of inspiration in the shower, or that lightbulb idea during a team meeting. But when you're juggling feature releases and ambitious deadlines, these creative sparks can easily get lost in the shuffle.

That's exactly why we created Lab Days — our twice-yearly creative free-for-alls that bring to life ideas for improving our app and workplace, proving innovation happens when you give curious minds the freedom to explore, experiment, and have fun doing it. 

The Lab Days formula

Lab Days aren't your typical corporate hackathon. For two full days, our entire team steps away from the roadmap and dives headfirst into the wonderful world of "what if?”.

We've deliberately designed Lab Days to be as much about enjoyment as creation. Each event has its own theme, and different team members take turns organizing and hosting to bring fresh energy. We budget for the fun stuff — because when people genuinely enjoy themselves, the best ideas emerge. 

The beauty is that everyone's invited, and you don't need to know your backend from your frontend to participate. Teams form organically around shared interests and genuine excitement. Designers collaborate with developers, marketers brainstorm with data analysts, engineers work alongside editors, and everyone discovers new possibilities and gains appreciation for different challenges. 

Each initiative starts with a spark of curiosity, but teams quickly dive deep into research, prototyping, and problem-solving. Whether it's user-testing a feature concept, filming mock ads for a podcast, or figuring out how to let users submit their coolest trips to our Explore page, every idea gets a chance to grow into something potentially game-changing.

Innovation through play

The creative energy is palpable — coffee flows, ideas bounce, and there’s laughter layered in with intense focus. In a matter of hours, groups transform concepts into working prototypes, comprehensive strategies, or fully fleshed creative campaigns. And it's not just about digital features. Our team has tackled everything from beautifying our office balcony to dreaming up our own signature Polar Beers. No idea is too big, too small, or too unconventional.

The results speak for themselves. Some of your favorite Polarsteps features actually started life as Lab Days experiments. Our AI-powered itinerary planning tool that helps you discover your next adventure? Born during Lab Days. Those custom app icons that let you personalize your Polarsteps experience? More Lab Days brilliance. Even Polarsteps Unpacked — our popular feature that creates beautiful year-end summaries of your travels — began as an ambitious Lab Days idea. 

But focusing only on features that shipped misses the bigger picture. We're comfortable experimenting, learning, and sometimes discovering that a brilliant idea works better in theory than in practice. Those mock podcast ads didn’t become marketing materials, but they showed us how quickly we could turn a wild idea into something surprisingly polished. The Polar Beers will likely never land on the shelves of local retailers, but you better believe we’ll be sipping them at our next employee party. 

Just as valuable is how Lab Days lets people flex completely different muscles. You might find our Head of Growth sanding the balcony table, or a Community & Support Specialist pretending to make Travel Books for a marketing promo. These unexpected collaborations, the cross-pollination of ideas, and the sheer fun of building something just because we can — that's where the magic happens. 

The ripple effect

This culture of curiosity doesn't end when Lab Days wrap up. The permission to experiment, the comfort with uncertainty, and the collaborative spirit carry over into how we work every day. 

This shared experience strengthens our culture and reinforces our values. While most of our everyday work is focused on dedication to craft, Lab Days remind us to enjoy the ride. It says that we appreciate experimentation, that we're willing to invest time in out-there ideas, and that we believe great products come from passionate people who are given space to play. 

For our users, this approach means you're not just getting features built by people who understand travel — you're getting innovations from people who never stop asking "how can we make this even better?" That personal touch you feel in Polarsteps isn't accidental. It comes from a team that's encouraged to think deeply about what travel means to different people and to never settle for "good enough" when "surprisingly delightful" is possible.

In a way, Lab Days reflects what we hope to inspire in our travelers — that perfect balance of planning and spontaneity, of following a path while remaining open to unexpected detours. Innovation works the same way — knowing when to follow the roadmap and when to venture off it.