The MashTravel Manifesto

Mash and his wife love to travel together. That's really it. That's the origin story.

Everything else — the group trips, the shared ideas, the ability to judge each other's suggestions — that came later. But at the centre of it is a simple thing: travel is better when it's shared with people whose company you actually enjoy.

Planning those trips, though? It's often scattered across WhatsApp and Signal threads that are tough to find (and you have to remember which one everyone is in, and not the secret one that leaves Goody out), Google Docs nobody updated, and one person quietly carrying the stress for everyone else.

MashTravel exists because that felt like a solvable problem.

MashTravel is a private travel planning tool built for a close circle of friends and family. That's you lot.

It's a place where we can think out loud about where we want to go and what we want to do when we get there. We can all tell Richard his idea is dumb, loudly, in front of everyone.

The planning should feel like part of the trip. Not the excruciating admin before it.

It's not TripAdvisor. It's not a booking engine. It won't try to upsell you on travel insurance or send you notifications about flash deals on hotels you'd never stay in.

It doesn't have an algorithm. It isn't trying to grow. It has no interest in your data beyond helping you plan a good trip with people you like.

It's also not for everyone. If you travel for the Gram or to be seen, you'll probably find it a bit underwhelming. That's fine. This wasn't built for you.

Every trip has an Owner — the person who started it. They keep the lights on.

Everyone else is a Collaborator. Not a user. A collaborator — because that's what you are. You're here to contribute, not just to be added to a list.

People who get added to a trip but haven't signed up yet are called Travelers. Which feels right. You don't need an account to be going somewhere.

The site will nudge you to archive a trip once it's over. Do it. It's a small acknowledgement that the trip happened — and once Mash gets off his ass and finishes the feature, you'll be able to save your favourites as Gems, which will be a nice way to remember your favourite cafe in Paris a year later.

Speaking of features that aren't quite finished yet… A week before you travel, you'll get an email from letsgo@mashtravel.com. It's a friendly nudge, not a system alert. If you want to generate a packing checklist tailored to your trip, there's a button for that. If you don't, ignore it. Nobody is keeping score.

If you're the kind of person who wants that checklist a month in advance — you know who you are <cough Marci>— it'll be on the trip page whenever you're ready.