About Us

Jetset Jotter started the way most useful things do: as a mess of handwritten notes nobody else was ever supposed to read. Ticket stubs, hostel names scribbled on napkins, currency conversions done badly in the margins of a boarding pass. Somewhere along the way, that pile of notebooks turned into a website, and that website turned into a promise — every article here comes from a trip that actually happened, told by someone who was actually there.

That someone is me, Lena Marchetti. I'm a former flight attendant, a solo traveler who has now crossed 61 countries, and a lifelong compulsive note-taker. If you've landed on this page, you're probably wondering who's behind the itineraries, the packing lists, and the slightly obsessive cost breakdowns — so let me tell you properly.

Where This Whole Thing Began

I grew up in Providence, Rhode Island, in a big Italian-American family whose idea of travel was, for years, exactly one destination: my nonna's village in Abruzzo, every third summer. Those trips were my entire map of the world for a long time, and they taught me the two things I still believe more than anything else — travel is about people far more than it's about sights, and you should always, always sit near the kitchen.

The notebooks themselves started at 19, during my first solo trip: a genuinely disastrous week in Montreal that involved a missed bus, one very kind stranger, and a hostel fire alarm going off at 3 a.m. I wrote it all down because I didn't want to forget how it felt to be scared and fine at the same time. I've been writing it down ever since — through years working as flight crew, through 61 countries of solo travel, through good decisions and some spectacularly bad ones.

What Jetset Jotter Actually Is

This isn't a site built around trend pieces or destinations I've never set foot in. Every itinerary published here is pulled directly from a real trip and a real notebook, and every single one ends with something I call The Damage — my full, honest cost breakdown, built from actual receipts, not estimates. If a trip cost more than I expected, you'll see that. If a hostel was a mistake, you'll hear about it.

Beyond the itineraries, you'll find:

• Destination guides written from firsthand experience, not secondhand research
• Travel tips and hacks tested through actual use, including the packing science I picked up as flight crew
• Honest travel essentials advice — what's worth buying and what isn't
• Road trip notes and practical solo-travel guidance, told straight, without the sugarcoating

The Editorial Approach

My goal with every piece is to be inspiring without being unrealistic, and practical without being boring. I want you to close a tab feeling like you could actually book the trip tomorrow, budget included, rather than left with a vague sense of wanderlust and nothing useful to act on. That means real numbers, real timing, real warnings about the parts nobody photographs.

To keep that standard consistent, everything published here follows the same internal process, laid out in full on our Editorial Policy page. It covers how trips get researched, fact-checked, and updated over time, because a guide from three years ago isn't automatically still true today.

How the Site Supports Itself

Jetset Jotter is a small, independent operation, and like most travel sites, it occasionally earns a small commission through partner links — always disclosed clearly in the relevant Disclosure page, so you always know when that's happening. Your privacy matters just as much: how data is handled on this site is explained plainly in our Privacy Policy, with no fine-print surprises.

Who This Site Is For

If you're the kind of traveler who wants an itinerary with the guesswork already removed — the flights that actually connect, the neighborhood that's actually worth the extra cost, the packing list built by someone who's checked a thousand bags — you're in the right place. This site is for solo travelers especially, but the packing science, the budgeting honesty, and the practical tips apply whether you're traveling alone, as a couple, or dragging a reluctant sibling through Rome in August.

Let's Stay in Touch

I read everything that comes in. If you've got a question about a specific itinerary, a correction, a story of your own, or just want to say a destination guide saved your trip, reach out through the Contact page or email me directly at [email protected]. You can also find more visual trip planning and packing inspiration over on Pinterest, where I pin the boards I actually use myself.

Thanks for reading this far — it means you're the kind of traveler who checks the fine print before boarding, which, honestly, is exactly my kind of person. See you in the notebooks.

— Lena