Hey, I'm Steph.

Indonesia for the pace and the beauty -- I keep going back and finding new reasons to stay longer. Peru for the food, the altitude, and the fact that nothing prepares you for Cusco. Colombia for the energy, the colour, and the coffee. I could talk about all three indefinitely.

By bike, always. I love a city bike, and if I can get one or rent one temporarily, like I did in Osaka, I will cycle. It feels like one of the coolest ways to see a city in all its expanse. I do love to get completely lost, find a cafe or a park, sit down, and people-watch too, but cycling is what I come back to every time.

Golden by Jill Scott. Without fail. It sets the tone for every arrival.

Never an actual book -- I pack my Kindle. What I do always pack is a fan and a blanket, which people find funny given the contradiction. But I run too hot or too cold and never anything in between, so both come with me every time.

Lounge access. The holiday starts the moment you hit the airport, and I am always fascinated by how few people actually use their lounge access -- they would rather be in the hustle and bustle of gen pop. Not me. I am in there, settled, before the trip has even begun.

This one's real. I've done it myself, and it works comfortably in two weeks. WE'RE GOING TO PERU, BABY! Start with three days in Lima, because you don't rush the food capital of the world. A food walking tour, fresh fruit from the markets, chocolate cake at Vekia, still the best chocolate cake I've ever had, and I had one again last week just to check. It holds up. Ceviche or causa for lunch, dinner at Panchita, or Central if you fancy telling everyone you ate at a former World's Best. Morning at Museo Larco for the art, afternoon at the Choco Museo for the chocolate, priorities. Peru has picked up World's Leading Culinary Destination at the World Travel Awards every year since 2012, and Maido, right here in Lima, was named the World's Best Restaurant in 2025. You're not just eating well here, you're eating at one of the best tables on earth.

Fly to Cusco and give yourself two days to acclimatise, because altitude does not care how excited you are. This isn't a hiking trip: take the train, PeruRail or the Belmond Hiram Bingham if you're doing it properly, through Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes, then the bus up to Machu Picchu. On the way back, stop in Ollantaytambo and spend a night at a hotel looking straight out at the glaciers, the kind of view you'll be sending to the group chat. The next day is the Sacred Valley: salt flats, horse riding or quad biking, a long lunch, and more llama photos than anyone strictly needs but will absolutely take anyway.

Fly back to Lima, then it's a three-and-a-half-hour drive down the coast to Huacachina and Paracas. Close the trip properly: a picnic in a private desert oasis, sandboarding down the dunes if you're brave, sunset drinks if you're not, before flying home from Lima already planning the next one.

Fourteen days, done properly, no rushing.

Want the Amazon in there too? Add two days. Fly to Iquitos after your first three days in Lima instead of straight to Cusco, spend three days in the rainforest (the monkey jungle, the animal sanctuary's rescued and endangered wildlife, and time with the communities who really live there), then connect back through Lima on to Cusco. Sixteen days total, and worth every one of them.

If this is the trip you've been not-so-quietly manifesting, tell me. Get in touch and let's make it real.