Admit it, it’s what you wish you could be doing. Traveling, eating, writing. Travelling, eating, posting pictures. Seeing the sights and tasting the tastes, from one side of the globe to the next.

Alas, if you’re anything like us, you’re a regular. So you hope to travel one day – and you might even do it – but until then, you live vicariously through the lives of others. Sure, sometimes it’s Instagrammers posting pictures of themselves at national parks and beachside bungalows, but heck, those influencers need to worry about staying fit for their beach pics. Between you, me, and the napkin caddy, the food is where it’s at. And I guess the nature, the architecture, the culture.

So who the heck do we turn to? Travel writers, dear friend.

We buy our Rick Steves and our Fodor’s and we pore over the pages.

Just like any other review we read, we seek to learn from those who have been there before, those who have already spent the time, the money, the patience, and better than any old Amazon review, these things are ORGANIZED.

I mean, they’re books, after all. You can’t just CTRL+F to find what you want, so they are broken up into sections, for hotels and other accommodations, restaurants, arts and entertainment, and other activities and excursions, not to mention region by region if locales differ in what they provide.

And since they’re books, they’re edited, they’re clear and concise, and oftentimes they are updated year after year, for popular destinations, anyway.

You read, you get the quick take on a historic site or fancy a restaurant, and then you do a bit of research on your own before possibly, hopefully, finally going to these places yourself, informed that your dollars are being spent well.

Yes, I hear you, “this stuff is on the internet!” you’re saying. It’s true! There are plenty of blogs and vlogs and websites dedicated to travel writing. And if you’ll permit me to be honest for a moment? This entire blog post has been in the service of referencing a recent entry on The Everywhereist, in which travel writer Geraldine DeRuiter relays the horror story of her visit to “The Worst Michelen Starred Restaurant Ever.”

Her writing is immaculate, and the dinner is a disaster. To make matters worse, the chef owner responded in the most condescending way imaginable. I couldn’t in good faith simply rewrite what’s over there (and on WaPo, Today, Insider, etc.). So go read that, then read about the owner response, you know you wanna. Just look at her husband’s face (#apologiesforstealingpicturesofyourhusbandsface):

Seriously, you want to know the story behind that, that way you can avoid eating there. I mean, the restaurant is named Bros, what more do I need to say?