Last week Endless Mile released its latest guide… breaking away from Buenos Aires & now covering Lisbon! Discover 75 of the city’s best azulejos (tile panels) with this new, map-based PDF. Although tilework is such a striking feature of Lisbon, no one had developed a guide like this before. It wasn’t easy… publishing this release was a wild ride.
Before heading to Europe for three months of research, I posted about upcoming plans for this year. Sure, I was optimistic… enthusiasm is a good thing, right?? Arriving in Lisbon at the beginning of March, I began to scour the city to see if older tile panels were still in good condition as well as check out new leads. So many tiles to recommend! A couple weeks later, I had trips planned to Glasgow, Bucharest & Ruse. Suddenly it was April. Then there were short visits to Coimbra & Milan. With time passing quickly, I had to revise the master plan… Sevilla & Porto suddenly didn’t fit in.
While on the road & thinking about potential content for the future, I realized that EM needed a bit of fine-tuning. Launched almost a year ago, the original idea behind Endless Mile was to incorporate new technology into travel… primarily a tech approach to tourism. But it soon became apparent that technology changes much more rapidly than destinations do! With a current staff of one, something had to give.
So while we are still committed to delivering guides in a variety of formats—in fact, Kindle versions will be available in August—outstanding content is what makes Endless Mile unique. By focusing primarily on content instead of format, everything fell into place. The final outcome? Website redesign & five categories for each destination:
Main attraction · One must-see sight that already receives much attention but presented with more detail than usual.
City center · Often where the city was founded, a place identified as the core or essence the city. Often the site of grand buildings & important symbolism.
Architecture · One of Endless Mile’s specialties. Either a guided walk focusing on one particular style or a general list of the city’s finest structures.
Spotlight · A unique feature of the city… something which makes it stand out from other destinations. Ideal for a scavenger hunt & a fun way to explore.
Offbeat · Stray from the beaten track to discover an area with few tourists, lots of locals & quite a few surprises.
EM will also offer guides of smaller cities—for example, Évora later this year—which will cover all the categories above in a single walk. But this method of organization encourages people to explore the world with us… knowing that each destination will have a similar focus. In other words, if you enjoy the Recoleta Cemetery material then chances are you will also like the upcoming Mosteiro dos Jerónimos guide. Same category, same style & focus.
As always, thanks to everyone for your support! Positive feedback & increasing sales mean we’re on the right track. If I’ve learned anything over the past six months, it’s that developing a new business is definitely a learning process. Stay in touch & follow EM as we grow on Facebook & Twitter!
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