Most things worth doing require a little b.o. 

AUTHENTIC STORIES, CURATED

GUIDES & BEAUTIFUL PHOTOS

Travel magazines provide personal travel stories; travel guides provide mostly lists of things to do; and travel blogs provide a lot of photo journals.  Beyond Ordinary guides provides all three!

AFFORDABLE & CHARMING

HOTEL FINDS  

Don't you hate it when you see a hotel recommendation in a magazine or online, only to find out that rooms start at $350/night? Us too.  That's why we recommend stays that you can afford, but that don't lack charm.  If it doesn't knock our socks off, we won't recommend it to you.

LOCATION INSPIRED

BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS

We love reading while on vacation and reading a novel set in the location we're visiting sweetens the deal.  No need to scroll through goodreads, amazon or NPR book concierge, we've got you covered (and only recommend books we've read and loved!).

A Faux Pas in France

The Blanket Factory | A Family Run Business in Todos Santos, Mexico

Girls Getaway at a Couples Resort | Calistoga

KRISTIN O'Connell, Founder

Kristin O'Connell is a travel writer and photographer based in San Francisco with her husband, Kelly.  She is the creator and editor of Beyond Ordinary Guides and proud owner of two rex rabbits, Cedric and Cleo.

When Kristin was in elementary school, she remembers taking a photograph during a vacation in British Columbia from inside a ferry, the round cornered rectangle of the window a frame within the frame of the photograph.  Everyone else went out to the deck to capture the view, but she wanted to capture what it was actually like to be there.  This desire still runs true in her veins today and is why she founded Beyond Ordinary Guides.  

Beyond Ordinary Guides started after five years of traveling, collecting and brainstorming with a desire to provide a more comprehensive representation of a place.  We asked ourselves, "How can you know where you want to go if you can't get a feel for the people and experiences there?"