Weeks of evenings across subreddits, blogs and AI chats. AI can list places — it can't tell you which ones are worth the trip, which bus stopped running last season, or which “traditional village” is a stage set for tour groups. I planned my own trips this way for years. It works; it just eats your evenings.
Five founding clients at 25% off, in exchange for honest feedback after the trip.
Use code FIRST5 at checkout.
Planning it yourself takes weeks. A tour operator packs you onto a bus.
Fieldnote Society is the third option: a day-by-day itinerary for a trip you run entirely on your own terms — researched first-hand, not assembled from listings. You do the booking, and you always know exactly what to book and why.
About 2 hours of your time — instead of weeks perfecting the trip yourself, even with AI.
My own footage
The gap we fill
Between planning it yourself and a tour bus
On any of my pre-tested routes, you get a day-by-day itinerary built from my own on-the-ground notes. Want something built entirely from scratch instead? That's on the table too. The trip still stays independent: no coach, no group, no fixed schedule, and none of the guesswork — just yours.
A fixed itinerary, a bus, and forty other people on the same schedule as you — moving through the version of the place that's built for groups.
What's on offer
Two ways to work together
Not sure where to start? Same research, same honesty either way — the difference is whether you travel a route I have already done, or hand me a blank page. Either way, it starts with an online consultation, pace, must-haves and open questions worked through before a word of the draft is written.
Either option takes roughly 2 hrs of your own time (forms + calls) — instead of up to 40 hours of research on your own. You'll do the booking — flights, stays, activities — but always know exactly what to book and why.
Waymarked
from €200A route I've already done myself, with the pace and the highlights already worked out. It's not a fixed PDF — your online consultation adapts it to your dates, travel style and preferences before anything is drafted
Thru-Trails (multi-day hikes and treks, for when nature is the whole point)from €200
Horizons (multi-week trips blending culture, food, and downtime across a region)from €300
Covers up to 4 travelers, no surcharge. First draft in 2–5 business days, then one round of revisions before it's final.
Uncharted
From €180Nothing pre-set. You tell me the shape of the trip and I build the whole thing from your brief — a long weekend, or a month.
Basecamp (5 days or less)€180
Traverse (up to 9 days)€300
Summit (up to 21 days)€700
Expedition (22 days and up)Custom quote
First draft in 3–10 business days, then one round of revisions before it's final.
Routes I have done myself
See the full catalog →Waymarked trips
You are talking to someone who has already done the trip. I know which days are worth it and which are filler, where the crowds go, and the spots you only find out about once you are there. Pick a route from the list and it still gets shaped around you — your dates, your pace, your questions — worked through with someone who has actually been there
Horizons — multi-week country routes
And for something wilderThru-Trails — multi-day hikes, carried or hut to hut
No catalog — built around your brief
Uncharted trips
Most Uncharted trips are a considered blend of culture, activity, food and downtime — a region explored properly, at a pace that suits you, and a natural fit for honeymoons or couples trips wanting something more thoughtful than a packaged itinerary. If your brief calls for something more specific, that is on the table too: hiking, diving and liveaboards, surfing, snorkeling, campervanning, skiing and ski touring, horseback riding
Not sure yet? Start with a free consultation insteadEvery Uncharted trip is named for how long it runs, not how hard it is. You'll do the booking — flights, stays, activities — but always know exactly what to book and why. Your first call is where we both find out if it's a fit — full refund if either of us says no, before any planning starts.
Basecamp
5 days or lessA quick trip, no shortcuts.
Best for a long weekend abroad, or a short add-on to a bigger trip.
Traverse
Up to 9 daysA full week, planned start to finish.
Enough time for a real regional trip without burning your whole holiday allowance.
Summit
Up to 21 daysYour big trip. Built from scratch.
Multi-region trips, slower travel, or genuinely remote destinations that need more runway.
How it works
Full process & turnaround →Four steps, no surprises
I plan it, you book it. Every flight, stay, permit and transfer is booked by you, in your name — I never take payments or hold reservations on your behalf.
Pick your trip
Waymarked: Pick a pre-tested route and pay — that's it, no call before you commit.
Uncharted: Buy a tier directly, or start with a free consultation first if you're not sure yet.
Pay & talk it through
Payment starts the planning. Next is an intake call to go over your brief in detail — up to an hour for Waymarked, 30–45 minutes for Uncharted. It's also where we both find out if it's a fit: if either of us decides it isn't, you get a full refund before any work starts.
Get your itinerary
A day-by-day plan as a PDF: how to get between every stop, where to stay, a packing list and entry notes. If anything's off, one round of changes is included before it's final.
Go live it
You make the bookings, in your name, at your own pace. Everything you need to do that is in the plan.
What's in the plan
The parts most travel planners leave out
What any good planner gives you
You get all of this from me too, done properly. It's just not the reason to hire me.
- A planning call before anything is written
- A day-by-day route shaped on that call
- Where to stay, stop by stop
- A printable packing list
And then the part that's mine
Most plans stop at the list on the left. Mine keeps going — this is where a trip actually holds together.
How to get between every stop — which bus, ferry, train or transfer, how often it runs, and what to do when it doesn't.
Flight routing — which airports to use, and the multi-city combinations that save you a day of backtracking.
Entry requirements, checked at the source — visa rules, permits and border notes, plus the official application site, so you don't pay a lookalike site three times the fee.
On Waymarked routes: two or three side-quests, and my own notes — alternatives you can swap in, plus what I'd skip and what I'd do differently next time.
Good to know
I don't book, so nobody pays to be in your plan.
No commissions, no sponsored stays, no “partner” hotels. Every recommendation is there because it's right for your trip, not because it pays me. You make the bookings yourself, in your own name — and the plan tells you exactly what to book, in what order, and how far ahead.
Maximum four travelers per booking
Hand-drawn from the recorded tracks — sequence true, scale illustrative.
Free route plan
Everyone hikes the standard route through Svaneti, a mountain region in Georgia. Here's the quieter variant I found instead.
The commonly walked line, side by side with the variant I take instead — one extra ridge, half the traffic, better light at both ends of the day. Sent as a plain route plan you can use as-is.
Free plans cover Waymarked routes only — Uncharted itineraries are built per client and aren't available as samples.
Who plans your trip
Six countries lived in — DR Congo, South Africa, Canada, UK, France, Austria. No staged tourist setups.
Every route I recommend, I can tell you exactly how I know it. Waymarked trips are ones I have walked myself, end to end. Uncharted trips go somewhere new — same research, and the same honesty about what I have seen first-hand and what I haven't.
6 countries lived inEvery Waymarked route walked personallyNo staged setups, no sponsored stays
Read the full story →Tell me where you want to go
I only plan around 5 trips a month. It's a side project I do properly, not a volume business.
No pitch, no obligation. Tell me roughly what you have in mind and I'll tell you honestly whether it's worth doing.
Get in touch