Marshall's Journal

Notes from the road, dispatches from fine places

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Zihuatanejo Before the Developers Arrive — I have been to enough Mexican beach towns to know which ones have quietly sold their soul and which ones have managed, against considerable odds, to hold onto something real. Zihuatanejo is the latter… Why Holbox Still Works — Holbox is the answer when someone asks where to go in Mexico without subjecting themselves to the influencer carnival that Tulum has become. Getting there requires a small amount of effort, which I su… Ticino, Where Switzerland Finally Exhales — I have been to corners of Switzerland that felt engineered for admiration, all precision and performance, and then there is Ticino, which feels like the country finally exhaled. This is the Italian-sp… The Case for Milos — I have been to Santorini twice, and both times I left feeling like I had paid a premium to stand in a queue. The caldera is genuinely beautiful, the sunsets are real, none of that is a lie, but the ex… St. Lucia Beyond the Honeymoon File — I keep returning to that image: standing on the ridge at Ladera, the valley dropping away below me in long green folds, and the two Pitons rising from the earth like something a painter would have bee… Sedona and Its Impossible Light — Few places I have been to carry the kind of reputation Sedona does without eventually disappointing you, and I say this as someone who has watched enough overhyped destinations reveal their mediocrity… Sabi Sands, No Compromises — Sabi Sands is where you go when you have finally run out of patience for the controlled chaos of public game reserves and want wildlife encounters that actually live up to what drew you to southern Af… Sa Pa by Sleeper Train Only — If you want to see a side of Vietnam that few travelers ever actually find, you have to be willing to take the overnight sleeper train from Hanoi and commit to the ritual of it. Book a soft-sleeper be… 📍Queen’s Bath, Kauai — Queen's Bath earns every word of its reputation, and it will also kill you if you treat it casually. This lava rock tidepool on Kauai's North Shore fills with clear Pacific seawater and, on calm summe… Porto, Learned the Second Time — Porto is a city that punishes impatience, and I mean that as someone who earned the lesson the hard way. My first visit, I moved through it with a printed itinerary and left with almost nothing worth… Plitvice Lakes, Worth the Fuss — I have been to enough places that coast entirely on reputation to know when somewhere actually delivers, and Plitvice Lakes is one of those rare exceptions that earns every word written about it. The… Mallorca's Northwest, Finally Done Right — Mallorca has a reputation problem, and most people who visit are the ones who created it. They follow the same exhausted script, end up at some overpriced beach club in the south staring at a watered-… Lake Bled, Earned and Undeniable — I arrived at Lake Bled a skeptic. I had seen the photographs too many times, heard the superlatives too often, and had trained myself to expect disappointment from places loved quite so publicly. I wa… Iceland in Winter, No Argument — I have been to Iceland twice now, and I will say it plainly: winter is the only version worth having. The summer crowds are real, the midnight sun is disorienting in ways that stop feeling romantic af… Horseshoe Bend, On Your Own Terms — I have stood at the rim of Horseshoe Bend four times now, and I will tell you plainly: the photographs do not lie, but they omit the crowd, the heat, and the very real possibility of watching a strang… Girona, Quieter and Better for It — I keep returning to Girona in memory the way you return to a meal that was better than you expected — with quiet gratitude and the nagging sense that you didn't quite appreciate it enough in the momen… Dubrovnik Off-Season — I have been to enough places that hype usually costs me something real, but Dubrovnik mostly delivers, provided you approach it with discipline. The single non-negotiable is this: walk the city walls… 📍Downtown Reykjavik — Downtown Reykjavik is small enough to walk end to end in twenty minutes, which is either a limitation or a gift depending on how you use it. I treat it as the latter, and I start every visit the same… Cuixmala and the Price of Getting It Right — I have been staring out the window at a gray sky all morning thinking about the light at Cuixmala, that particular Pacific gold that hits the water around seven in the morning when the jungle is still… Cerro Negro, Worth the Descent — Cerro Negro is the reason you fly into León, full stop. The volcano sits about forty-five minutes outside the city, and if you are making the trip, you are going to board down it — not hike it, not ph… Cappadocia, Done Right — I have been to places that promise magic and deliver postcard mediocrity, and after enough of those disappointments I learned to approach so-called bucket list experiences with genuine skepticism. Cap… Budapest Deserves More Than Two Days — Budapest earns every superlative thrown at it, and I say that as someone who has grown genuinely skeptical of European city rankings. I spent four days there last spring and came away convinced it bel… Budapest Before the Tour Groups — I lost, if you were wondering. The man across the thermal pool from me had clearly been playing chess in 38-degree water his entire life, and I had not. That is Budapest in a single moment: it will hu… &Beyond Tengile, Worth Every Rand — I have spent enough nights on this continent to know the difference between a safari lodge that photographs well and one that actually earns the silence you feel when you wake up inside it, and &Beyon… Bajos del Toro, Quietly Earned — Bajos del Toro is the Costa Rica that most travelers blow straight past on their way to Manuel Antonio or La Fortuna, and that collective oversight is precisely what makes it worth your time. The vill… Athens Beyond the Acropolis, Finally — Athens dismantles your itinerary before you've even unpacked, and I mean that as the highest possible compliment. I arrived expecting the Acropolis to be the whole story, and while it anchors everythi… Ascona Resets What Switzerland Means — I thought I had Switzerland figured out. Two winters working out of Zürich, a serious stretch through the Bernese Oberland, the expected fondue and cable cars and alpine smugness that comes from belie… Arnarstapi Beyond the Standard Iceland Run — I've been to Iceland enough times now to know exactly when a place has outgrown the standard itinerary, and the moment that realization crystallized for me was standing on the basalt cliffs outside Ar… Amsterdam's Java-eiland, Worth the Detour — I had no idea an International Footbridge Award existed until I stood in front of the reason it does. The Python Bridge on Amsterdam's Java-eiland won it in 2002, and once you walk the full coiled loo… Amsterdam in the Rain, Properly Done — Amsterdam in the rain is not a problem to be solved. It is, honestly, the correct version of the city. I spent four days there recently and the grey skies did nothing but push me toward everything I s…