First World Problems: We Miss Meeting Our Spotters!

The last big Spotters meeting: London February 2020

From the launch of Spotted by Locals 2008 to 2019, we have been away from home between 4 and 6 months a year. Sometimes to work from a cheaper place for a while, but mostly to meet our Spotters and get a feel for the local vibe of the city by checking out the awesome spots our locals write about.

In 2019 we were lucky to travel to and meet Spotters in 17 cities in Europe and the Middle East. In March, April and May we had booked flights to New York, Minsk, Tampere and Tashkent. We all know why they were all canceled…

Many people around us say they’re happy to stay home a bit more and have no trouble not traveling for a while. We guess our travel addiction is quite a bit more serious than average.

We do really miss the excitement of exploring and getting lost in a city we don’t know, the thrill of trying a dish we’ve never heard of and asking locals 1000s of questions and trying to understand their life. But most of all we miss meeting the people who make Spotted by Locals happen – our Spotters.

There are definitely more pressing issues in the world than two travel addicts not being able to travel for a while. Our country is not involved in a war, like some of our Spotters’ countries are. We don’t have to risk our lives by protesting against living in a dictatorship in the middle of a pandemic as some of our Spotters do. It’s sheer luck that we have been born healthy and in one of the most affluent countries in the world, where we can feel safe.

We hope to be able to travel again, to offer moral support to Spotters around the world and help them open their countries that deserve so much more attention. And for other selfish reasons: to feel part of this planet by exploring all its wonders and be able to meet (preferably hug when we can again) the Spotters that we miss so…

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