Hope you’ve found your rhythm this week and that 2026 is slowly easing into place 😌

Our little win this week is the joy of low-season travel in January, when crossing continents can mean surprisingly reasonable airfares, quieter airports and if you’re lucky, an entire row to yourself on an 8 hour plane ride!

And a little heads up, our mini guide drops are back next week 👀
Here’s a hint: it’s somewhere in Africa! Any guesses?

xoxo,
Gabby & The TRAppe. Team

The Dish Podcast uncovers the stories behind the world’s most famous and best loved dishes. Find your destination’s episode to learn what to eat, where flavours come from, and how to experience a country through taste, turning food into one of the most meaningful ways to understand a place.

🎧 Share your go-to travel playlist or podcast with us. Whether it's road trip anthems or deep-dive travel stories, we want to hear and feature what fuels your adventures.

In the coming weeks, we’ll be launching a fully curated directory of sustainable stays, restaurants, tours and experiences from around the world on TRAppe.

Listings on the platform are part of our paid partner programme, designed to support small, local travel businesses and give them the visibility they deserve, starting from just $5 per month.

If you know of a locally owned accommodation, restaurant, tour or experience that feels like a good fit for TRAppe, we’d love your recommendation. You can share it with us here, or invite them to reach out directly at [email protected] to get listed.

Help us build a travel directory that is kind to the planet and good to its people ✌🏻

🥬 Sea to table: In Sweden, chef Karolina Martinson shows how seaweed could be part of the future of food, turning algae into a hands-on cooking experience.

👯 For the people: Barcelona’s Superblocks show what happens when streets are designed for humans, not cars, creating greener neighbourhoods that travellers can experience on foot. (Psst… Check out our Barcelona mini guide, 100% curated by a local)

🤌🏻 Italian treasures: Unlock the doors of historic castles and churches across Italy with this app, guiding travellers to corners of history that once felt out of reach.

💼 For job seekers: WiFi Tribe is looking for a 100% remote Marketing Legend + Community Builder to turn community strategies into impactful messages.

📍Cotswolds, United Kingdom
Website | Instagram | Google Maps

Set on 70 acres of woodland in the picturesque Cotswolds, Heath Farm Cottages is a family owned and operated retreat, shaped over 50 years and now run by the second generation, offering the best of the English countryside.

The cottages were lovingly converted from old stone farm buildings, furniture and fittings are made by local makers using English hardwoods, much of it sourced directly from the farm itself.

The owners actively manage their woodlands to encourage biodiversity, planting shrubs and low growing trees to create wildlife habitats and maintain healthy ecosystems.

Guests are encouraged to sort their own waste, with compost bins built into the kitchen and food scraps returned to the land. The farm also works closely with local businesses, welcoming guests with complimentary cake and granola from nearby producers.

The farm grounds host a small community of local businesses, from a bakery to a woodworking workshop, adding to the sense that you are stepping into a living community rather than just a place to stay.

Days at Heath Farm are about walking meadow paths, spending time in the woodlands, swimming in the spring water lake and breathing in the quiet.

Heath Farm is a reminder that conscious hospitality does not need to be overly complicated. Sometimes it looks like good craftsmanship, local supply chains, love for the community and giving nature the space to do its thing.

In this week’s What’s Hot & What’s Not, meet Kim, a lawyer working in renewable energy.

Currently working on renewable energy projects across Asia and originally from Singapore, Kim is one of those travellers who truly believes in returning to the same place again and again. She has been travelling to Japan annually with her family for the past 20+ years, proof that deep understanding often comes from repetition, not novelty.

🔥 What’s Hot

Going back to the same destination again and again because depth beats novelty. Farm stays. Doing solo activities outside my comfort zone. Truly local experiences — like being invited to stay with a friend’s friend in the French countryside, cooking meals together, going on walks in nature and living a version of France you’ll never find on itineraries. Going to Paris the week after and feeling it fall flat in comparison was the first time I truly understood what people mean by real local experiences.

❄️ What’s Not

Tourist traps that sell themselves as “authentic” but are clearly staged for visitors and charge insane prices for the experience. Bad weather that derails travel plans, lost check-in baggage, and long, draining travel days that leave you exhausted before you’ve even arrived. Last-minute work emergencies while travelling.

Want to get featured too? Drop your details here.

Hook your friends up with Help! I’m TRAppe-d and score a free copy of our Bali e-guide! Just refer 10 people, and the guide is yours ✌🏻

Psst… want to see what all the hype’s about? Flip through the Bali e-guide preview, to get a little taste of what’s inside: 100+ curated stays, eats, and experiences that are kind to the planet and good to its people ✌🏻

Or refer just 1 buddy and gain access to our weekly updated TRAppe Travel Cheat Sheet.