Dear World

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Photo: Thomas Kitchin, Public domain

Dear World,

This is the first letter, so it is addressed to all of you at once: to cities and coastlines, mountains and markets, to the bus stops and bakeries and the people who live their ordinary lives in places the rest of us call destinations.

We started writing to you because travel writing so often speaks about places as if nobody lived there. Top ten lists, must-sees, hidden gems. We wanted a different tone. A letter is personal. It is addressed to someone. It assumes the other side has feelings, history and opinions of its own.

So that is what this website is: a collection of letters to places we care about, and to the travellers who visit them.

What we love

♥Love is attention
Loving a place does not mean pretending it is perfect. It means noticing: the smell of bread in the morning, the hour when the square empties, the way an old man feeds pigeons on the same bench. Attention is a form of respect.
♥Love is honesty
We will tell you when streets are steep, when queues are long, when prices are high and when a place is under strain. Honesty helps you plan, and it treats places as real.
♥Love is restraint
Sometimes the most loving thing is to visit at a quieter time, to stay longer and see less, or to choose somewhere else entirely.
♥Love is reciprocity
Places give us a great deal. We try to give something back: by spending money locally, by learning a few words of the language, by following local customs, and by leaving things as we found them.

What we'd tell a friend

How we write: Our letters combine practical information with editorial observation. Where we have not personally visited, we say so implicitly by writing from research rather than inventing experiences. We do not make up quotes, interviews or local friends.
How we check: Each letter shows the month it was written. Details like prices, timetables and opening hours change, so we link to official sources and encourage you to check them before travelling.
What we are not: We are not a travel agency or tour operator. We do not sell trips. We write letters.

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

Tourism brings income, connection and understanding. It can also bring overcrowding, rising rents, environmental damage and cultural disrespect. Travelling with love means holding both truths, and choosing, as often as we can, the way that does less harm.