Hi Reader,

We’re back together in England and have officially made it to Dorset, where we’re spending some much awaited quality time together and enjoying staying in a cute coastal town for nearly a week.

Which brings us to something we’ve been thinking (and writing) about a lot lately: settling down 🤭😮🤯.

OBVIOUSLY it's not like we’re never going to travel again. We’re literally on a trip right now.

But we do want things like a nice espresso machine, and a good vacuum, and cool rugs. Things we haven’t invested in because we didn’t have permanent visas and knew we’d have to move countries.

Cue the “does wishing for a good vacuum make us adults” commentary…yes it does. Welcome to your 30s.

This is the first time in our relationship we know we’ll have a long term homebase and we are genuinely excited for it. This also means navigating holiday time with jobs, etc. which is not as exciting.

We have a very long wish list of places to visit that we need to fit into time off and decide which to prioritize.

Top of the list right now is Georgia, China (soooo much to see), Madeira, an Athens city break, and Prizren, Kosovo for Dokufest (an AMAZING documentary film festival).

We will admit, places like Georgia have been on our list for years but its growing popularity makes a trip feel more urgent.

We are firmly of the belief that anything that exists in a place is “authentic” by virtue of being there!

But at the same time, we want to experience the Georgia that pushed to the top of our must visit list so many years ago. Before it becomes “too touristy.”

We are also trying to be conscious of falling into the “last chance” tourism trap. We don’t want to rush to a new-to-us destination because it might be changing too quickly.

This sentiment is often applied to places like Antarctica, where tourists are flocking to see the ice before we can’t anymore, which ironically pushes the ecosystem more to the brink through increased fossil fuels from flights and environmental damage.

But the same idea is true in cities like Venice, or even lesser known places like Hiriketiya Beach in Sri Lanka. We all want to see Venice before it sinks, and experience Hiriketiya as the tranquil beach town it started as before new development takes over.

And that’s where we’re a little conflicted.

We want to travel while we can, and there are so many places we’ve wanted to see for years. But we also don’t want to treat destinations like they’re disappearing attractions that we need to rush to before they change.

Maybe the answer is just accepting that places change, and that’s part of traveling. We can still seek out the places and experiences that made us want to visit in the first place, while being conscious of how we travel and what our presence contributes to.

We’re curious what you think. Have you ever rushed to visit somewhere because you were worried it was changing? Or do you think the whole “last chance” travel thing creates more problems than it solves?

Let us know!

Jess & Julia