Curiosity and expectations
Dear the Place We Haven't Met Yet
- Reading time
- 3 minutes
Dear Place We Haven't Met Yet,
We do not know you yet. We have seen photographs and read a few paragraphs, and we have a picture in our minds that is almost certainly wrong.
That is the strange thing about travel. We arrive with expectations shaped by images, and the real place is always more complicated, more ordinary and more interesting.
What we love
♥Curiosity
Ask questions. Read local writers. Listen to how people describe their own home.
♥Surprise
Let the place surprise you.
What we'd tell a friend
- Research, lightly
- Learn enough to be respectful and safe, but leave room for discovery.
This is general guidance. Prices, timetables, opening hours and entry rules change, so please check the official sources below before you travel.
Handle with care
Arrive without assumptions about people based on what you have seen online.
Dear Place We Haven't Met Yet, we look forward to being wrong about you.
With love,
The WTWL Team
Written September 2026
Spotted something out of date? Send us a correction.
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Our manifesto
Dear World
Why we write letters to places, what travelling with love means to us, and why affection for a destination should begin with respect for the people who call it home.
A first trip
Dear First-Time Traveller
A reassuring, practical letter for anyone about to take their first big trip: preparing, packing, budgeting and coping when things go wrong.
Slow and overland travel
Dear the Journey Between Places
On night trains, ferries and long bus rides, and on the value of the hours between one destination and the next.