A few years ago I was living on a street in Valencia called Calle de Felix Pizcueta. Number 6, if you want to be specific about it. I had a local bar around the corner, a market I went to on weekday mornings, and a winery about 25 minutes west of the city where I'd been so many times I occasionally gave the tour myself in English while the tour guide gave it in Spanish.

At the time I was also traveling constantly for work, moving through countries most people never visit, eating in places that don't have websites, and sending increasingly long emails to friends who were planning trips to cities I'd actually lived in or passed through.

The emails kept getting longer. The friends kept coming back saying the same thing: so many great recommendations for amazing experiences.

Over the years a pattern developed. Someone would mention they were going to Rome, to Bordeaux, to Bangkok, to Hoi An. And I'd send them a list. Not a curated selection of Michelin recommendations or a repackaged TripAdvisor ranking. An actual list. The place where the mother cooks and the son works the front of house and you should ask to see the wine cellar. The bar around the corner from the tapas place that makes the best Agua de Valencia you'll have in your life. The paella rule that Valencians take seriously and tourists consistently get wrong. The night market stall in Southeast Asia that has no name but a line of locals that tells you everything you need to know.

I've been writing versions of that list for a long time. This newsletter is me finally deciding to write it for more than one person at a time.

Here's what Thirsty Compass is:

Every two weeks, something worth knowing. A place I've eaten that I'm still thinking about. A bottle worth seeking out. A find (a market, a shop, a detour, a dish) that most guides miss entirely. And an honest take: something overhyped, something underrated, or the thing I wish someone had told me before I got there.

Food, wine, travel. Not for experts. Not for people with corporate expense accounts or luxury hotel budgets. For people who plan a trip around where they're going to eat, who ask locals where they actually go, and who believe that finding the right bowl of noodles or the right glass of wine in the right place is one of the better things life has to offer.

I've traveled to 70+ countries, lived in Valencia and Rome, worked across countless countries with the UN, eaten my way through Southeast Asia, and built a wine cellar of around 500 bottles that I actually open. I'm not a sommelier, a trained chef, or a professional critic.

What I am is someone who pays attention, has opinions, and has been places. Which turns out to be enough.

Welcome. I'm glad you found this.

P.S. Hit reply and tell me: where are you headed next, or where do you wish you were going? I read every reply.