A Letter from the Editor
Welcome to Far-Flung Corners! With this deeply personal project and labor of love, I'll be sharing the places that have inspired me, in the hope that they inspire you too.
Travel is one of the greatest joys and privileges of modern life, but its magic is in danger of becoming lost. Many of the world’s most beautiful places are completely overrun by tourists following the same influencer recommendations, who are overcrowding sites without any real idea why they’re there, other than to take a photo for their own social media. Access to the far-flung corners of this planet is something that many of us now take for granted, and I believe it’s worth considering that if you’re lucky enough to reach them, it shouldn’t be to simply snap the same picture as everyone else, visit the TikTok hotspots, or queue for hours just to say you’ve been to a site or monument.
If you have bucket-list items, by all means, tick them off. Travel is about personal exploration, and enjoying what matters to you. But in my experience, this joy really comes from going off the beaten path, getting lost through back streets or in nature, dining in restaurants you’ve never heard of, eating foods off the menu you can’t pronounce, fumbling over the two or three sentences of a foreign language you can speak to order, and making connections with the people you meet along the way. The best memories and stories are usually those that involve chance encounters or serendipity.
As a design and lifestyle writer, editor, and creative consultant, and someone for whom travel has been an obsession for as long as they can remember, I hope I can play a small part in reigniting this magic. Growing up in the heart of rural England, I fondly recall watching airplanes take off and land with my Nan as a toddler, and scouring brochures to choose family holidays as a child. I mounted expeditions to East Africa as a teen, and moved across the world to China then New York City as an adult—always aiming to satisfy my curiosity and wanderlust.
My work has also taken me to some of the most incredible places and afforded unforgettable experiences, for which I am beyond grateful. Shipwreck diving in the Philippines. Wine tasting in South Africa. Beach parties in Brazil. All while staying in beautiful properties, getting to know their founders and designers, and writing about these passion projects for multiple publications (see a full list on my website). This is something I will continue to do, and gladly accept commissions from other editors.
But for many years, I’ve wanted to create a place or platform to share all of these formative, challenging, and wonderful experiences I’ve been privileged to encounter during my travels, as well as the knowledge, opinions and recommendations I’ve gained along the way—in my own tone of voice and from my own point of view. Not necessarily as a “guide” that is solely intended to tell you where to go or what to do, but rather in a way that encourages and inspires you to find new corners yourself.
It’s therefore my great pleasure to welcome you to Far-Flung Corners! Each issue of this newsletter will profile a destination and a hotel or property within it in-depth, providing a personal account of my time there. What to expect? A lot of pop-culture references, cat content, and hot takes. Details about those little moments I found surprising or facts I thought were fascinating. A blend of romanticism and reality, through which I aim to paint an honest picture of every place—the great, and perhaps the not so good.
I chose the name to underpin my desire to visit and spotlight destinations on every continent, in the most remote and inaccessible spots, to which I hope that this project eventually leads me somehow. It’s also a nod to the adventure, mystery, and exploration of the days of early travel, when the map didn’t have edges, distances were deemed so much greater, and reaching foreign lands required a lot more thought and intention than it does today.
I’m acutely aware that there are countless travel guides available to you, but I hope this one offers uniquely personal insights into each destination through the combination of words and photos. I’ll be using all of my own photography because this will allow me to showcase places and spaces literally through my lens. I’ll be posting many more pics to the Far-Flung Corners Instagram page, so I hope you’ll follow along there too.
Ultimately, with this deeply personal project and labor of love, my goal is to share with you the places that have inspired me, in the hope that they inspire you too. Some you may already be familiar with, others I hope you will be introduced to for the first time. The plan is to include locations and the best spots to stay within them that are unexpected, up and coming, or offer a fresh take and show a different side to a well-trodden place. Maybe a FFC issue will prompt a return visit to experience a locale in a totally different light. Or simply remind you that adventure is out there (yes, that’s an UP reference) if you take even a few steps away from the tourist traps.
I hope you will follow along with my journeys to these far-flung corners. We’re going to have fun along the way, I can already tell. Importantly, I also want to hear about your own experiences in these places, your requests for locations to cover, and your feedback on anything and everything across these pages. You can reach me here.
Thank you, and I wish you safe and happy travels, always.
D x
Welcome to Substack, Dan! I look forward to reading along.