01 Tell us where.
The place, the month, who is travelling, and how far you want to walk in a day. If you are still deciding between two countries, say both.
The Travel Desk
When you would rather someone else got it right.
For men travelling alone, for two men travelling together, and for small groups of friends. The research the guides are built on, pointed at one week, for one party.
A guide tells you what is true about a place. A planned week tells you what to do about it: where you will sleep well, which day to spend where, which table is worth holding, and what to arrange before you land rather than from a hotel lobby with a phone you cannot hear on.
How it works
Three steps, and the first one is a conversation.
02 We build the week.
Day by day. Welcome checked against the authority that decides it and dated. Rooms shortlisted with the reason for each one. Tables held at the right hour. The pharmacy and the nearest clinic that will see a visitor, named before you need either.
03 You go, and someone answers.
Everything is booked in your own name. Rooms the Desk can book for you through Fora Travel, or you can book them yourself. While you are away one person already knows your plan and can be reached if it changes.
Before you decide anything
Ask one question about one place. There is no charge for that.
Whether two men can book one bed without a conversation at the desk. What your prescription is called there and whether it crosses the border. Whether your marriage is recognised if one of you ends up in a hospital. Ask it, and you will get a straight answer with the date it was checked and the authority it came from, whether or not you ever plan anything with us.
What it costs, and who pays whom
Planned journeys from$450
- A week in one placefrom $450
- Several places, one journeyfrom $1,200
- Scouting somewhere to livefrom $1,200
The fee is for the planning, not the trip.
You book your own flights. Rooms you can book yourself, or have the Desk book for you through Fora Travel, below. Either way they are in your own name, and you are never locked into a supplier because it suits us.
A longer or more complicated journey costs more than a week in one city, so every journey is quoted before any work starts, and the quote does not move once you have it. Write below and you will get the figure for your week with the plan of what it covers, before you commit to anything.
When the Desk books a room for you through Fora, the hotel pays a commission and part of it comes to Compasserie. That is said here, before you book, and again when the room is offered. Where a recommendation earns us nothing, that is stated too.
Booking the rooms
Rooms booked through Fora Travel.
Anthony Rivers, who answers the Desk, has been an advisor with Fora Travel since October 2026. Fora is an accredited travel agency (IATA and CLIA number 33520476), so the rooms we recommend, we can also book for you, in your name.
To book a room through Fora, write to anthony.rivers@fora.travel.
Begin the conversation
Tell us where you are going.
No obligation, and no automated reply. One person reads this and one person answers it.
Who answers
One person: Anthony Rivers.
Anthony Rivers plans every journey and answers every note himself. He is an advisor with Fora Travel, which is how the Desk can book the rooms it recommends.
The same goes for what clients say. There is no testimonial on this page because there is no real one yet, and an invented one would make every dated field on this site worth nothing.