A week before we got on that narrowboat, I already knew we were going to love it. Some trips you can just feel coming.
So before we'd even stepped on board, I asked Black Prince something. What if we gave a trip like this away? Hand it to someone who watches our stuff and would never think to book it for themselves.
You saw what happened next, because you saw it before anyone else did. More than 100 of you signed up on the first day.
We never really told you why, though.
We spend our days pointing a camera at places and handing them to people through a screen. We love that. It's the job. But a screen is a screen, and somewhere along the way we started wanting more of you to actually go and experience these things for yourselves.
Usually the only thing in the way is money. And that turns out to be a pretty fixable problem, especially when the company on the other end gets something out of it too. We can't pay for these trips but we can use our platform to help offset the cost. We trade what we have, a camera and an audience, for an experience we can put in someone's hands.
We want to do this a lot more. Different companies, different countries, different kinds of trips.
So if you've got something worth giving away, or you know a company that does, we'd love to hear about it. Big ideas welcome. Hit reply and tell us what you're thinking, and we'll see if we can make it the next one.
P.S. If you haven't entered the giveaway do so now.
π₯ This Week's Video
 βπ₯ Americans Try Narrowboating the UK for the First Time
This is the trip behind the giveaway, and the full film is finally up. Four days steering a narrowboat from Bradford-on-Avon to Bath at about four miles an hour, learning to work two-hundred-year-old locks by hand with Sara's parents along for the ride.
π Watch it hereβ
|
π Pro Tip
Flights have been getting canceled all over the place this week, so here's a right a lot of people still don't use. If your flight is canceled, or delayed 3+ hours domestic (6 international), and you decide not to fly, the airline owes you a cash refund to your original card, not a voucher. You just have to turn down their rebooking offer. Don't let them talk you into credit you'll never spend.
|
π What Caught Our Eye
Before you hit a trail this summer make sure to download AllTrails
We use it to find the quieter routes near the popular ones, check trail conditions from people who actually walked it that week, and download maps for when there's no signal, which on a good hike there usually isn't.
The feature that earns its keep for us is the dog-friendly filter. Traveling with Kramer means a lot of the trails we'd want are off-limits, and filtering for the ones that welcome him saves us from driving to a trailhead just to find a no-dogs sign.
If you've got hiking on the calendar this summer, set it up before you go, not in the parking lot with one bar of service.
βTry AllTrailsβ
|
| If we could give away any trip, what would you actually want to win? |
|
|
|
|
|
βοΈ Flights We'd Text to Friends
βBoston β Bridgetown, Barbados for $398 β 38% off (normally $650+). Home of rum, Rihanna, and the flying fish sandwich. We'll let that resume do the talking. Jul-Oct 2026.
βCincinnati β Montego Bay, Jamaica for $352 β 49% off (normally $700+). Jamaica grows Blue Mountain coffee, some of the priciest beans on the planet, and ships most of it straight to Japan. Nov 2026.
βSeattle β Paris for $570 β 43% off (normally $1015+). Under $600 to Paris in October, when the crowds thin out and the light gets good. Trade the Pacific Northwest drizzle for croissants. Oct 2026.
βNashville β New York City for $147 β 51% off (normally $300+). Skip the Times Square crush and go for the lights and the bagels. Dec 2026.
βChattanooga β Hiroshima, Japan for $2078 β 36% off (normally $3250+). Premium economy the whole way, the wider seat earning its keep on a 14-hour Pacific crossing. Peace Memorial Park, Miyajima's floating torii gate, and okonomiyaki done the Hiroshima way. Jan-Feb 2027.
One more thing before you go. Going handed us three codes to give away. Each one gets a new member a free month of Premium or Elite, the tiers where the really good deals show up. We've got three. That's the whole supply. First come, first served.
EK030J1526β
βEM030J1526β
βEN030J1526
We find all of these through Going. It's worth setting up alerts for your home airport. Most of these deals won't last long, so if one catches your eye, don't sit on it.
Is there a city you wish we would feature for flights? Email us back and we'll put it in the next email.
|
π Worth Sharing
A few things we bookmarked this week:
- βWhy your summer flights keep getting delayed β It's not just bad luck. The FAA spent a decade hiring two-thirds of the controllers it actually needed, and now the system is running on fumes during the busiest travel summer in years. Padding your connections this year is just smart.
- βItaly is having a summer of strikes β Airport and rail walkouts are scattered across June and July. If you're headed there, check the dates before you book a tight train-to-flight connection. Lovely country, complicated logistics.
- βA New Zealand fern garden had to close because people kept pooping in it β The Masterton fernery shut for a deep clean after "several incidents." The detail that got us: there are public toilets two minutes away.
- βNew routes worth knowing about β A batch of new summer flights just launched, including Montreal to Reykjavik and Toronto to the Azores. File under "places we now have an excuse to go."
|
Thanks for reading Field Notes. We're trying to make this a space worth saving, full of things we'd actually send to a friend.
If you ever want to pass it along, here's the link to subscribe: Subscribe hereβ
And if something in here made you laugh, think, or book a free narrowboat trip... we'd love to hear about it. Just hit reply or tag us @chrisandsara_ on Instagram.
More soon,
Chris & Sara