Letter From The Editor đ
2025: A Year Indeed.
Hey yâall â Itâs your guy Jelani here, letâs recap â
For some time now, the phrase âPay Me in Plane Ticketsâ has functioned as a sort of shorthand for a specific brand of youthful restlessnessâa digital-age manifesto for those who viewed a cubicle not as a destination, but as a temporary refueling station between a humid night in Bangkok and a fog-drenched morning in Hofsos. When Pay Me in Plane Tickets first hummed to life thirty - six months ago in the backrooms of the podcasting world, it was a chronicle of the indefinite: a series of dispatches from the front lines of the âgap yearâ that never quite ended. It was, in its infancy, a celebration of the vagabondâs whim.
But a funny thing happens when you spend enough time in transit. The scenery begins to resolve into patterns. The whim matures into a perspective.
We are pleased to observe that the project has undergone a significant metamorphosis. What began as a purely auditory exploration of the nomadâs life has expanded into a full editorial houseâa space where the romance of the departure gate is tempered by the rigor of the analystâs desk. We have moved from the âhowâ of the journey to the âwhyâ of the industry. The conversation has shifted from the mere aesthetics of the travel influencerâa career path once viewed with the same skepticism as alchemy, yet now a foundational pillar of the modern economyâto the deep-tissue mechanics of the hospitality space.
In our new editorial capacity, we find ourselves looking closer at the architecture of the experience. We are diving into deep travel analytics, parsing the data of how we move across a warming globe, and offering thought leadership on the ethics of the âhiddenâ hospitality sector. It is no longer enough to simply arrive; one must understand the supply chains, the cultural imprints, and the shifting tides of an industry that accounts for one in ten jobs on the planet.
The restless youth has grown up, it seems, and found that the most interesting part of the flight isnât the destination, but the complex, beautiful, and often precarious systems that keep the plane in the air.
I am proud of our first foray into the editorial space plus how we are handling with diligent effort and kind care. A few articles that stood out to me this year: Starting with an opening to the harsh reality of the Trump administrationâs second run and itâs effects on the travel ecosystem, Vanishing Welcome Mat. We didnât silo ourselves to deep thought alone and still remained close to the influencing audience that made us who we are with coverage of an unique individual, Abdul Wanders. I canât forget the Sonder / Marriott mishap that rocked my news feed from beyond the normal channels of influence, Remember, Remember the 9th of November. Concluding the yearâs drafts with a soft spot I have for understanding the deep history in hospitality Calvin Stovallâs Hidden Hospitality, uncovering black hoteliers in history left unturned until now.
Visually, we also revamped our stamp by displaying a new icon, Milley (pronounced mile-y). Why? Because she makes a statement. She is a pilot who is seeing the world for all its beauty, its misfortunes, and the dynamic global environment that is at play. Never staying in the sky too long to forget how the ground feels, all the while being paid for her work. Milley was an easy choice. Proud of her, she has a substantial amount of gas stored in the tank.
We invite you to stay for the layover as we rest up for the new year, 2026. A season four to behold.
The coffee is better, plane tickets are plenty appreciated, and the view is much clearer.
Happy Holidays from myself and the team. See you all then! đ