Field notes for the curious traveler.

Some of the most interesting trips start with a place you were not originally looking for. Travelers are increasingly interested in smaller cities, rural areas and destinations that have not already been copied into a thousand…

A practical approach to planning with enough structure to feel confident and enough space to stay open to the unexpected.

When I was younger, ambition was pretty easy to define. Get the next opportunity. Make more money. Earn the title. Build the résumé. Prove that I could do the job, then prove that I could…

A few thoughtful ways to move beyond the checklist and notice the people, places and flavors that give a trip its sense of place.

What will people remember about your organization twenty years after you're gone? It probably will not be your quarterly revenue, strategic plan, or the awards hanging in your lobby. They…

Behind-the-scenes notes on the experiences, small details and shared rituals shaping our upcoming themed journeys.

Somewhere along the way, traveling alone stopped meaning you had no one to travel with. It started meaning you were choosing yourself. For generations, we have treated travel as something…

Why incentive travel, leadership retreats and shared experiences create better conditions for recognition, reflection and momentum.

I can develop a business concept in an afternoon, connect industries that appear unrelated, design the customer experience, and map out years of potential growth. Then I can spend twenty…

A neighbor took this photo last year, after Hurricane Helene, when Western North Carolina was still trying to understand what had happened to us. Roads were gone, homes and businesses had…

Bespoke travel is travel designed around the individual traveler instead of asking the traveler to fit into a prebuilt itinerary. It can be luxurious, but it absolutely does not have to be. We know. “Bespoke” sounds like someone is…

I’ve always thought executive retreats are a lot like architecture. People always admire the finished building. Precious few ever think about the blueprint. The same is true of leadership…

There was a time when the internet felt like a neighborhood instead of a marketplace. People gathered in forums because they genuinely wanted to help one another. Blogs reflected the…

IntheaftermathofHurricaneHelene,Iwatchedpeopleleadwithouttitles,solve problemswithoutpermission,andcareforoneanotherwithoutbeingasked. Neighbors cleared roads. Restaurants fed families.…

There is a very specific point in December when the holidays can start feeling less like a celebration and more like a logistics exercise. Shop. Wrap. Cook. Clean. Drive. Host. Clean again.

Anyone can book a flight. Sure, technology has made travel more accessible to more people than ever. However, has it truly made it easy or simple? My very professional opinion? Naw. Over…

People often ask whether AI will replace travel advisors. My rather professional answer usually surprises them: Eh, naw. While some see AI as an inevitable replacement for human expertise…

Not every vacation needs to be a once-in-a-lifetime trip. Sometimes you need two nights away, a decent hotel and somebody else to make breakfast. But there are trips where spending more can buy something meaningful: time, access…

There is no single universal price for using a travel advisor. Some advisors charge planning or service fees, some are compensated through travel suppliers, and some use a combination depending on the trip and the work involved. Which…

Mention traveling around Thanksgiving and most people immediately picture the same thing: packed airports, expensive flights, traffic, delays and at least one person having a very public disagreement with an airline. Fair.

Yes, AI can be genuinely useful for travel planning. It can help brainstorm destinations, compare ideas, organize research and build a rough itinerary in seconds. We use AI too. We are not going to clutch our pearls and pretend the…

Let’s start with the obvious: you can book a hotel yourself. You can book the flight, find the resort, make the dinner reservation and spend a perfectly respectable Saturday night with 37 browser tabs open trying to figure out whether…