Postcards from the Road: A Conversation with Yolo Journal’s Yolanda Edwards

On slow travel, summer rituals, and the colors that carry us through

For Yolanda Edwards—founder of Yolo Journal and longtime creative in the travel world—exploring the world is more than booking a flight and making an itinerary. It’s a practice in presence. A ritual. A recalibration. And in many ways, it’s a lot like the inspiration behind our latest drop: Conch & Seafoam. Two hues drawn from the raw beauty of earth and sea—soft, grounding, and all about slowing down.

We caught up with Yolanda to talk about the destinations she keeps coming back to, her favorite packing essentials, and the trip that changed everything.

On places that slow you down

I love Upstate New York, particularly Sullivan County (towns like Callicoon, Narrowsburg, Livingston Manor–we’ve been coming here for over 20 years. Everything is slower here–there aren’t the distractions of city life–just hiking, going to the farmer’s market, thinking about what to cook for the next meal, reading, and lots of doing nothing.

On staying grounded while always on the go

I try to keep some of the same routines no matter where I am. Whenever I land in a new place, I take a walk as soon as I can. Besides it being important to get moving after a lot of stationary time while traveling, it helps me understand where I am. If i check into a hotel room that has a lot of collateral/promotional stuff on a desk, or just too many things that are distractions around, I put them away inside a desk. I don’t go so far as to go get fresh flowers or bring my own candle, but I do want to make it feel somewhat my own.

On conscious travel (and leaving expectations behind)

We all travel so differently. I’ve always been very curious, and not shy when it comes to asking strangers questions, so I often end up connecting with locals on a different level than someone who is staying in a resort and not leaving it. (No judgement–we all need a down time trip that requires little to no thinking at some point!) I do think that if we can all begin our trips with a mindset of acceptance and openness–from the minute you leave your home until you return–it will completely transform the way the trip unfolds. It takes what could potentially be a negative, and turns it into a part of the trip.

"Letting go of what you have envisioned the journey to be, and letting it just be, is a big lesson for all of us."

On what’s always in your carry-on

I always have two journals–one for my calendar, and one for my ideas. Colored pens make it easy for me to code the calendar, and get more creative. Chargers and my laptop are necessary–I wish I could be someone who watches movies on the plane, but it’s where I get some of my best work done.

On mother-daughter moments that matter

Clara and I love a mother daughter trip! Last year we went to Marrakech for four days and it was so lovely. Any trip that has a craft/cooking element to it–we will do without my husband Matt. We love to bring along a polaroid camera so we have a physical photo memory, since I haven’t been printing from my digital images in forever. 

On building Yolo Journal

I’ve always worked in the magazine world. Before I started Yolo Journal in 2019, I’d worked at Conde Nast Traveler for five years as the creative director. When I lost my job there due to budget cuts, I thought I’d try to make the magazine I felt that I and other people were looking for. I always felt that there was a need for travel content that was written by real travelers, not just writers on assignment. I started with the magazine, and two years later launched the weekly newsletter on Substack. Now we have a website as well as the Substack and our magazine, which comes out three times a year. I love that we get to find interesting people and hear from them about the places they love and know deeply.

On the trip that changed everything

When I was 18 I had signed up to go on a school program on a tiny island I’d never heard of called Kalymnos. I hadn’t really applied myself scholastically in high school–I was more concerned about putting together a cool outfit from a trip to Salvation Army that weekend. When everyone was talking about where they were going to go to college, I didn’t have a plan, so I signed up for this cultural study program that a family friend had given me a brochure for. I imagined I’d be tanning and clubbing for four months. As soon as I arrived on this island in the middle of the Dodecanese, I realized this was not Mykonos–there was nothing going on there other than very provincial villagers going about their everyday life. 

The professor running the program renamed all of the students (there were 12 of us) because he wanted us to leave our past behind. My name was Artemis. It was an intense program–I worked in a bakery every morning with villagers who spoke no English–so I had to learn Greek quickly. We had classes in the afternoons, and we had to study when we weren’t working or in class, so there was no time for anything–not that the island had any sort of a “scene”. I went from being a party girl to being a serious student, and I left the island with confidence and a completely new direction. I ended up continuing my Modern Greek studies in university and Greece is still a very big part of my life–I feel like I was given a second chance there.

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Shop the Conch & Seafoam Collection.

You can follow Yolanda Edwards at @yolandaedwards on IG, and discover more about her travel musings at @yolojournal on IG and at www.yolojournal.com.