Compass Draft is a travel writing site built around a simple habit: taking notes while actually moving. The drafts start in transit — on a night train, in a queue outside a museum, over a bad coffee near a bus station — and get cleaned up later into guides you can use. That is where the name comes from. Nothing here is written from a press trip brochure.
What We Do
Our aim is to publish travel guides that survive contact with a real itinerary. Most of what we run falls into two shapes: first-timer city guides like Kyoto for First-Time Visitors, Budapest for First-Time Visitors, or Munich for First-Time Visitors, and practical field guides on the things that actually trip people up — how to travel with kids without the usual clichés, or how coffee ordering works differently from one country to the next. We currently have 85 published articles and add to them as trips happen.
What We Cover
- Destinations — city and region guides, mostly written for a first visit rather than a tenth.
- Travel Tips — the small operational stuff: transit passes, queues, tipping, timing.
- Europe — from Budapest's two banks to Bavaria, with an eye on rail and walkable centres.
- Asia — Japan and beyond, including etiquette and reservation systems that catch visitors out.
- Itinerary Planning — how many days a place really needs, and what to cut.
- Packing & Gear — what earns its weight over a long trip, and what doesn't.
- Food & Culture — eating well without a reservation, and reading local customs.
- Working & Slow Travel — staying somewhere long enough to get boring, and working while you do.
How We Work
Guides are based on first-hand visits and notes taken on the ground. Details that change — opening hours, ticket rules, transit fares, visa requirements — are checked against official sources such as museum, railway, and government tourism sites before publishing, and rechecked when we revisit a piece. We say plainly when we have not been somewhere recently. For anything requiring genuine expertise — visas and immigration status, vaccinations and travel health, insurance, or tax questions around long stays — we point you to a qualified professional or the relevant official authority rather than guessing.
How This Site Is Supported
Compass Draft is funded by display advertising, including Google AdSense. Some articles may also contain affiliate links, where we earn a small commission if you book or buy through them. Either way there is no cost to you, and no advertiser or affiliate partner decides what we recommend or where we go.
Contact
Corrections, questions, or a detail that has changed since we wrote it — we want to hear about it. Use the contact page or email info@compassdraft.com.