Travel Q&A

My answers to your burning questions

I’ve been meaning to do this for a while, so thought I’d bite the bullet and open up my DMs on both here and Instagram for travel-related questions.

Half of my answers are above the paywall for everyone to read, and anything more personal or asking for specific recommendations is for my paid subs only. I use a paywall on here for several reasons:

1. I spend so much time writing these newsletters that I need to compensate for this by charging a small fee. The more money I make from Substack, the more I can afford to spend my time writing here.

2. Sometimes I want to share more personal thoughts or experiences that I might not feel comfortable sharing with anyone who stumbles upon my newsletter. I’m planning to write more work diaries and more about money, for example.

3. I’m conscious of overtourism, and don’t want to recommend quiet, off-the-beaten track places to thousands of people.

I notice every single person who subscribes to Postcards. An email in my inbox to notify me of a new free subscriber always puts a smile on my face, and I can’t quite believe there are over a thousand of you here reading this newsletter. I cherish all my paid subs — you’re the reason I’m able to devote time each week to writing Postcards. Just a note that if you are a paid subscriber, you can drop into my DMs at any time to ask questions or for personal travel recommendations.

Where do you find inspiration for your travel planning?

Most of my inspiration for booking and planning trips comes from online. I do occasionally treat myself to a beautiful coffee table book or flick through a magazine, but I spend most of my researching time scrolling through Instagram, Substack and online articles.

On Substack, my favourite newsletters for travel inspiration are written by:

Eleanor Cording-Booth

,

Atelier Le Monde

,

Marissa Klurstein

,

Bella Darden

and

Denna

. I shared a list of my favourite travel photographers here, but the people whose Instagrams I always head to for travel inspiration include Lucy Laucht, Mark Anthony Fox, Hannah Dace, Lavinia Cernau, Lais Tomaselli and Wam Ornelas, Chloe Frost-Smith and Robyn North.

I regularly read articles on the following websites: Yolo Journal, Mr & Mrs Smith, Swoon by SLH, Roadbook, Gloobles and L’Escale Voyage.

Do you have travel recommendations for destinations not in Europe?

Most of my personal travels have been in Europe, so this is the area of the world that I tend to write about. I’d love to explore places further afield, so hopefully I will travel to farther flung destinations in the near future that I will subsequently write about. The only times I have ever left Europe were to spend a couple of months in Australia and New Zealand after university (2006/7), a California road trip just before the pandemic hit (2020) and a few days in Marrakech in 2017. All of these trips feel too far in the past to write about or share photographs from now.

I’m hoping to escape Europe a couple of times this year. I’m travelling to Marrakech next month and will write a detailed guide upon my return. I’d also love to visit Mexico in the autumn and am very keen to be somewhere far away for Christmas next year, budget dependent.

What are your favourite destinations you’ve ever visited?

Two of the places mentioned in the previous question are definitely two of my favourites — Morocco and California. Funnily enough, they’re also destinations I’m itching to explore more of, so I’ll write more about that in the next question below.

I always love visiting southern Europe — the south-east corner of Mallorca, Puglia in Italy, Syros in Greece and my favourite secret spot on the coast of the Croatian mainland are among my favourites. I also have a huge soft spot for the Nordic countries, and particularly loved my roadtrip through Västra Götaland in Sweden a couple of years ago. I’m always happy to hop over to Copenhagen (my favourite location for a city break) for a long weekend. And everytime I’m in Cornwall I wish I could stay forever.

Where would you like to return to?

I’ve wanted to return to Marrakech since I last visited in 2017 — and I’ll finally be back there in just three weeks time. I would love to see more of Morocco on a future trip, though. I’d love to visit Chefchaouen, Essaouira, Taghazout, the Atlas mountains, the Sahara desert and the north coast (Cara Blanca and the surrounding area).

I really want to explore more of the USA, but I think that’s going to be on hold now until they no longer have a facist president. But more of California (plus a return to Big Sur), NYC and Upstate NY, New Orleans, New Mexico and Wyoming are all on my future hit list — plus I’d love to stay in all the ASH hotels.

I’m planning on returning to Sweden this summer to explore a new-to-me area. I’d love to return to all the Nordic countries, actually, particularly to visit the north of Norway and Finland’s lakes.

For specific locations and hotels/hideaways that I’m hoping to return to someday soon, I’m hoping I can spend a couple of nights at Naturbyn in Sweden this summer (one of my favourite places I have ever slept) and my favourite ever coastal location in Croatian is forever tempting me to return.