Note from the Editor:
A bit of news for been, you can now follow us on LinkedIn! Catch the latest updates, get connected with the people behind the interviews and more. LinkedIn is not a fun place on the internet but following been may help your feed feel less depressingly hopeless (shoutout to all the fine folks navigating the worst job market in human history). Give it a follow, or tag us in a post. We are here to enable an escape mindset rooted in reality.
On to Jackson Hole! This week The New York Times published an informative piece on Jackson Hole being a boom town for billionaires as Wyoming positions itself as a haven for greedy folks gaining a system built to bolster them. My interview with Kelly happened before this and it’s a core value of been’s to know travel is for everyone. With the right timing and planning, booking a trip here doesn’t have to break the bank. The access to two tremendous national parks is doable on a budget! Kelly discusses her trip costs below and offers insight on how to save even more.
Kelly is a treasured delight of a person and a super talented photo director. Her work with Instyle magazine is iconic. You can see her work and her travels on her Instagram.
Enjoy the read!
-mariah
CHECK-IN
👋 Kelly Chiello
🎂 33
💼 Photo Director
♍️ Virgo
Hey there!
You’re reading been — a people-centered, culturally focused newsletter about the places we've been. Every issue brings interviews with interesting people and their takes on a destination they know well. Let’s go.
THE INTERVIEW
Favorite Travel-related Experience:
Taking a train around the entirety of Switzerland and stopping in most of their major cities along the way. Some of the standouts include sliding down an alpine slide, swimming in Lake Geneva, watching the World Cup projected onto a stone wall in a town square in Lugano and going to the top of Little Matterhorn. I shoot 35 mm film with my mom’s camera from the 80s (Canon AE-1) on vacation and I love when I can bring that camera back to places she brought it to over 30 years ago. Switzerland was one of those places.
Swimming in Lake Geneva on a trip through Switzerland.
Where are you a local?
Brooklyn, NY.
How do you approach travel planning?
I fly a lot for work and my preferred airline is Delta. My Dad also worked for Northwest Airlines, which then turned into Delta until he retired so I am super dedicated to the cause. I’ve flown a lot of standby in my lifetime… I’ll usually try and prioritize booking flights through there to nurture my miles and status. Once you get reeled into the game, it’s hard to get out! Plus, there really is no rush greater than a free upgrade or traveling with someone and allowing your status to upgrade them too.
My boyfriend (Mike) and I normally take two larger trips a year. We alternate between who chooses the destination. Once we select a place, we’ll usually make at least two big stops per trip. It’s hard for us to stay in one place, unless we’re only going away for a long weekend. Our strategy is, if we’re flying all the way to one part of the world, we might as well try and see all that we can see. I am the logistics pre-planner and Mike will put together the most beautiful detailed itinerary you’ve ever seen with a breakdown of options to do each day. Unless something needs to be booked in advance, we travel in a very relaxed and loose way. We decide to do things that feel easy to fold into our day, without overloading our trip to the point of exhaustion.
“…there really is no rush greater than a free upgrade or traveling with someone and allowing your status to upgrade them too.”
What do you prioritize?
If I am going on vacation I want to feel fully enveloped in the place. I prefer cities to resort vacations. I could walk for hours around a new place to get a feel for the streets, restaurants and stores. I like to see what makes the culture of each place. I went on my first multi-day tour in the Scottish Highlands last year and it felt so nice to relinquish control and be brought around to see places of Scotland that only the locals would know. We built the 3 day tour into our 10 day trip, so it wasn’t the whole trip and we could still pick and choose how we wanted to spend most of our vacation. Shout out to Timberbush Tours. I would recommend their Isle of Skye tour to anyone.