the journal

Göreme is a tourist town – this is undeniable. Despite my visions of open swathes of desert, boutique accommodation and family-run restaurants, my realisation upon arrival was swift. From signs advertising photoshoots – from hot air balloon backdrops to carefully constructed carpet-strewn ‘shop’ sets and charming vintage cars – to the many ATVs and aforementioned […]

From the sky punctuated with the silhouettes of gulls, roasted chestnut sellers on every corner, to the salt air of the Bosporus, Istanbul is an incredible place. 

If I had to choose my ideal way to spend a Friday night, I can tell you one thing. It wouldn’t be heading to the airport two hours before an international flight, half the plane boarding, boarding being paused for two hours, the boarded passengers disembarking, and then spending an extra two hours to wait […]

How much can you do with a long weekend?

There are decidedly less places in the world these days that allow you to completely unwind – Savista Retreat is the best kind of anomaly.

There are some places that just have a good vibe. Kyoto is one of those.

My first ever trip overseas as an adult was to Japan. If you’ve read any of my other journals and are familiar at all with my haphazard style of ‘planning’ (and I use that term loosely), it will come as a shock to hear that on that trip, I made… an excel spreadsheet. I know. […]

Despite my penchant for a holiday, there’s something I had never done. I don’t know how to put this without shocking anyone with it, so I will just come right out and confess: before this year, I had never experienced a quintessential Euro summer.   Not a Contiki at 18? Not a romantic sojourn through […]

Our tendency as humans to under-appreciate the things right below our noses is one that’s well documented. I recently read Happy Money (and haven’t shut up about it, as it provides some particularly convenient justifications to spending money on travel). There’s something I love about self-improvement books – getting semi-obvious information delivered to you with […]

Cuba, Havana in particular, has been at the top of my bucket list for a long while. I even attempted to book flights to Havana for a few days (as you do) during a particularly waterlogged week on Bocas del Toro, Panama in 2018 before sadly realising that it was Thanksgiving and flying anywhere – […]