In Hand: A Way of Traveling
Slowly and with purpose; fully aware of our senses; and always searching for beauty in the smallest of details
We have big plans for the year ahead and can't wait to share it all with you: new highly distilled city guides, full of ways to connect with local culture and find beauty amid the bustle; more stories about working craft and design into your travel itineraries, connecting with the material culture of each place; more off-the-radar places to stay that reflect our travel ethos—independently owned, thoughtfully designed, and soulfully attended to. We'll also be announcing our first In Hand trip and a few other exciting developments to be on the lookout for in 2024.
In the meantime, we are taking the next couple weeks off to enjoy the holidays and spend time with our family and friends. Our next post will be the first week of the New Year, and for the remainder of 2023, we’re offering a steeply discounted price on our gift subscriptions, in case you’d like to give In Hand as a gift. Thank you so much for being subscribers—we appreciate you! Your contributions to our growing publication allows us to continue our reportage of the far-flung, under-appreciated and often overlooked places you won't read about in glossy travel magazines. To wit: back-alley olarias, hidden studios, handmade objects, historic hotels and hard-to-find, family-owned inns, architectural marvels, ruins, frescoes, antique markets, eccentric house museums, and old-timey oddities.
In that spirit, here are some favorite magic-making, soul-enriching peak travel moments of the past year. We'd love to hear yours, too — please share in the comments! We want to know where you’ve been and where you’re going, and those incredible why-we-travel moments that change the way you see the world.
Climbing the stone steps with the world asleep below to see the first red shafts of light hit the ancient faces at Mount Nemrut in the Taurus Mountains.
Reading by taper candlelight at this old convent in the countryside of the Alentejo, where time stands still and frankincense lamps are lit by hand at dusk everyday
After countless trips to NYC, finally taking the time to wander every square inch of the Cloisters with a careful eye, soaking up details like colorful marble columns sourced from different quarries and unusual plant species in the medieval gardens.
Swiss mountain joy, thanks in no small part to the softest of post-hike landings at a this legendary grand dame of a hotel that sparkles with an ineffable grace and soulful magic rarely found in today’s hotel landscape. Perched on its own rocky ledge with fantastically beautiful views on all four sides of the Engadine Valley and the soaring Alps beyond.
The expansive pottery tradition of Cerâmica Vieira—a 5th-generation studio (that doubles as an accidental living craft museum) where the quiet beauty of creative chaos isn’t hidden behind closed doors: a woven hand towel slung over a sink next to messy glaze buckets; a crowded stack of unglazed seconds on a paint-splattered window ledge; a lump of half-dried clay doubling as a holder for tools; and longtime throwers and painters heads-down in the vernacular tradition,
The endless small, soulful details at Dali's house and studio at Cap Creus, like dried everlasting flowers Gala gathered from the surrounding hills and placed above the drapes or the cricket house house they affixed to the wall, because they liked listening to the sound of chirping at night.
—Meghan and Lisa
The Convento de Sao Paulo was amazingly beautiful. The sound of the sheep down the hill, the hiking trails, the cork oaks, and the olarias in Redondo will stay with us. Thank you, thank you for guiding us to experience Portugal in this way. Our favorite travel resource.
Will you be doing a piece on Los Angeles? (before my trip there in early February)? If not...any links or pointers would be greatly appreciated. I've liked your writing for a long time!