Slow travel stories and hidden gems with the Hidden Gemologists
Looking for destination inspiration, trusted resources, insightful tips, and firsthand perspective from real-life travel experts with real-world experience? Dreaming of travel on or off the beaten path? Welcome, friend, you've found Spotlight Sojourns.
100% original travel guides and original photography exploring the culture, history, and backroads of Greece, Europe, and North America.
Our mission is to inspire and connect you with wonderful places, delightful hotels, cultural experiences, and local communities.
Our purpose is to inspire and motivate you to tell your own stories, in travel and in life.
And our promise to you, most importantly, is this:
Everything you see and read from Spotlight Sojourns is, and always will be, 100% original, created with attentive care and artisanal craft by yours truly, Marilee and Paul, from our lived experience and firsthand perspective.
Everything is always authentic, never automated, on Spotlight Sojourns' blog, YouTube, and social, as well as our newsletter and other publications.
In other words, it's all 100% wholeheartedly human at Spotlight Sojourns. All by a wholeheartedly human couple, Marilee and Paul, award-winning travel experts and slow travel storytellers.
Hi, we're Marilee and Paul
Marilee is the voice and writer behind Spotlight Sojourns. In short, our chief storyteller.
Paul is the photographer and FAA-credentialed drone pilot. Additionally, he's our custom mapmaker.
We’re a married couple with a lifelong passion for good coffee and global travel. Oh yes, and also Ancient Greek and Roman History.
During our university era, we met abroad as solo travelers on an archaeological dig.
Since then, we've traveled around the world several times and have visited five continents so far.
However, we both worked in the corporate world. But something quite extraordinary happened.
A promise long ago in Greece, and a transformational travel moment several years ago in Portugal, led us to this full-time travel life together.
Why originality matters
The WHY underscores everything, as we’ve said for years. For this reason, we think about and talk about the WHY a lot.
So, here’s WHY our commitment to originality, as well as creativity and craftsmanship, matter to us and to you:
Because originality can only come from real-world travels and real-life stories.
Real-world travels, genuine emotions, and authentic experiences connect us to each other through real-life stories.
Place to place, culture to culture, and most importantly, person to person.
In other words, original writing and photography connect us to real human moments.
We know it’s real human moments that truly touch our hearts and stir our souls.
Real human moments help us understand places or cultures different from our own.
Above all, real human moments connect us to one another.
We believe that real-life human moments matter now, more than ever before this automated age.
That’s WHY we promise everything you read and see from Spotlight Sojourns is, and always will be, original writing and original photography. All from us wholehearted humans, Marilee and Paul.
Why slow travel matters
Slow travel involves more than the QUANTITY of trips, countries, or days on the road.
Instead, slow travel is chiefly about the QUALITY of your experiences, memories, and stories.
Above all, here's why we believe slow travel matters:
Because slow travel is meaningful travel.
Meaningful travel is part of a meaningful life.
And stories enrich the meaning.
Speaking of stories, we’ve created an exclusive free resource for you. Our step-by-step guide helps you tell your travel story easily.
Click the button below to get your exclusive free storytelling guide.
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Although we've been told, "Don't call it a newsletter! It's not a newsletter." Because it's "the only email l really read and enjoy."
Our not-a-newsletter is a quick 1-2 minute read every Tuesday including, for example:
- Slow travel stories and hidden gems
- Behind the scenes insights and travel tips
- Candid reviews and recommendations
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See you soon in the Spotlight community!
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“Don't call it a newsletter! It's not a newsletter ... the only email I really read and enjoy."