I'm Renée: a writer from Columbus, Ohio, a devoted slow traveler, and the only person behind every word on this site. Here's the longer story.
I've kept the stub of every journey I've ever taken — ticket stubs, boarding passes, scribbled-on napkins — in a battered shoebox that long ago stopped closing. For years that box was the only record of my travels, and one rainy Columbus afternoon in 2020, tipping it out across the floor, I realised I'd forgotten half the stories behind them. That was the day I started writing things down properly, and not long after, Renée's Travel Site was born.
I'm not a jet-setting influencer or a brand ambassador. I'm a person with a full-time love of the world and a notebook habit. I travel mostly solo, mostly slowly, and I write the entries I wish I'd been able to read before I went — honest, specific, and free of the polished unreality that fills so much of the travel internet.
I think you have a right to know who pays for what you read. The answer here is simple: you do, in spirit. Renée's Travel Site runs on my free Sunday newsletter, the occasional bit of clearly-labelled display advertising, and the goodwill of readers who pass entries along to a friend.
There are no affiliate links anywhere on this site. I don't earn a commission when you book a flight or a hotel, because I never want the temptation to recommend the thing that pays me over the thing that's right for you. I don't take money to feature a destination, and I don't run sponsored posts dressed up as diary entries. You can read the full breakdown in my editorial policy.
