William O'Connor

The inaugural issue of Getting Around, my weekly travel letter, is out! Here's a bit about what I'm trying to do each week to help readers actually enjoy their travels Subscribe: tinyurl.com/mr2r6878

One of the “trimates” along w/ Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey, Biruté Galdikas was a pioneering researcher who changed what we know about orangutans. In honor of her passing yesterday, we’ve put her original and iconic cover story online: nationalgeographic.com/animals/articl…

Hiding in a bathroom at a cocktail party

For this week’s column I wrote about returning to Lisbon nearly 20 years after my first visit…what has changed, and what has surprisingly stayed the same gettingaround.substack.com/p/what-happene…

Love this month’s cover @NatGeo !

Scenes from ⛵️

@PalettaAnthony I ended up writing about it 😬😬😬😬 gettingaround.substack.com/p/obamas-presi…

@williamoconnor5 Hah I mean the main Gesture they were after seems decidedly odd I agree given its function (maybe overcorrection from the rest) but my gut instinct is askew from the general loathing… a question of interior to decide I guess!

I have been radicalized into relative sympathy for the Obama library.. it feels as if most haven’t actually looked at any presidential libraries?

Sure, there have been political cheapshots, but the Obama Presidential Center is getting roasted online for the simple reason that it’s offensive to the eye (and has a laughably big screw-up) gettingaround.substack.com/p/obamas-presi…

A recently discovered foot sketch by Michelangelo just sold for $23 million, which is a whopping 10x what was predicted. You just know the person who bought it has a …

Frontier’s CEO two years ago: cbsnews.com/amp/news/front…

So much of travel is an expectations game—so I get nervous when friends hype a place up. Luckily, this country lived up to all the hype gettingaround.substack.com/p/the-one-plac…

@BRIXKY_ Sorry!! (I don’t work there any more 😬)

@williamoconnor5 William it says i have to pay

His team went nuts at me over a story I wrote about it

@BRIXKY_ thedailybeast.com/santiago-calat…

@williamoconnor5 What did you write

W/ the news about the collapse of Saudi’s NEOM dreams and online outrage (finally) about yet another cold and dreary box for a major museum by David Chipperfield (for Nobel Center) I had to ask—am I actually a contrarian or just right? ;) gettingaround.substack.com/p/am-i-too-con…

Lots to unpack in news that Ian Schrager (Studio 54/Edition Hotels) wants to rapidly expand Public Hotel. First—does anybody even think about Public anymore? Second—he’s throwing out conventional wisdom that you need a good restaurant in a great hotel wsj.com/business/hospi…

I think we should bring back prohibitions on photography in museums/sights/etc … it’s so freeing! gettingaround.substack.com/p/no-photos-pl…

My favorite coffee table book of 2025 was The London Club, which takes you inside the most beautiful and unique of London’s private member clubs. For @NatGeo I talked to its author and photographer! nationalgeographic.com/photography/ar…

There's a great piece tinyurl.com/ruu82n8b by @williamoconnor5 in @NatGeo about Andrew Jones' brilliant book opening the doors into London's most exclusive private members clubs - 'The London Club' tinyurl.com/3sjb6cpr #books #London

Even got an Amtrak bathroom in there