Independence & Ethics
This guide is only worth something if it is independent. Without independence, recommendations become advertisements, and trust is gone. I have set up this project so that compromise is not possible.
Editorial independence
Every decision about what to include, what to write, and what to remove is made by me alone, as the person who researches and writes this guide. No outside party (patron, partner, or establishment) has any influence over what I publish.
I do not sell inclusion or let public-relations requests decide coverage. A firsthand recommendation requires a documented visit; public places and practical subjects may be covered through independent research, using official and primary sources you can trace.
Separation of patronage and content
This guide may earn money from reader access, clearly disclosed referral links, or affiliate links where they are useful to the traveler. There are no paid inclusions, no sponsored reviews, and no placements sold to establishments.
Commercial links do not create recommendations. I judge a place, route, hotel, service, or product on its merits first. If a useful booking or referral link exists after that, I may add it, with disclosure. If none exists, the recommendation can still appear.
Refusal of commercial pressure
I do not accept free meals, complimentary stays, or gifts of any kind. I visit anonymously where possible, and always at my own expense. This is not virtue; it is method.
I do not accept paid placement or promotional consideration in exchange for coverage. Where a booking has a disclosed referral or affiliate link, that link follows my judgment rather than creating it: inclusion, ranking, and description are never for sale.
Conflicts of interest
If I have a personal relationship with anyone connected to an establishment I am considering, that establishment stays out of the guide. There are no workarounds, no disclosures that make inclusion acceptable, and no special handling.
If a place is missing from this guide, there may be many reasons. A conflict of interest is one of them.
About the images
Photographs of real places are credited where they appear. Most come from Wikimedia Commons, under the license named in each credit.
Some images on this site are AI-generated: the mood images on general pages such as this one, About, Contact, and the Manifesto; the illustrations on some planning pages about seasons, routes, and where to stay; and the four herb illustrations. They set a mood or illustrate an idea. They are not photographs of the specific places, plants, dishes, or people named on a page, and I don't use them as evidence of anything.
I keep these standards because the alternative, a guide shaped by commerce rather than judgment, would not be worth making. I would rather publish nothing than publish something compromised.
Editorial note
These rules govern editorial independence. For the principles behind my approach, see the Editorial Manifesto.
Written by Leo Novak.