Slow trips, good places to stay — and a preference for depth over distance.
Red Hat Barn Travels started as a set of notes I kept for friends. Every time someone was heading to Bali, or wrangling a big group trip, or trying to plan a first visit to Southeast Asia, the same questions came round again, and the same hard-won answers went back out. Eventually it made more sense to write them down properly, and this journal is the result.
I'm Marnie Ellison, and I've spent a good chunk of the last decade travelling this part of the world slowly and, increasingly, in company. Much of what we cover here comes from real trips: multi-city routes that worked, group villas that saved a birthday, neighbourhoods we'd go back to and a few we wouldn't. The aim is always the same — honest, useful writing from someone who's actually been.
We believe the best travel happens when you slow down. Fewer stops, longer stays, more time to let a place become familiar. We care about where you sleep, because it shapes everything else, and we care about travelling well with other people, which is harder and more rewarding than travelling alone. You won't find breathless top-ten lists here, just the kind of grounded advice we'd give a friend.
If you've got a question, a correction, or a place you think we should know about, we'd genuinely love to hear it. Drop us a line any time at [email protected] and we'll always try to reply.
