Last week Endless Mile released its latest guide… breaking away from Buenos Aires & now covering Lisbon! Discover 84 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. Now I know why… publishing this release was anything but easy.
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 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 the business 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 · A single, must-see sight that already receives much attention but presented in much more detail.
City center · Often where the city was founded, a place identified as the core… filled with grand buildings & important symbols.
Architecture · One of our 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 different from other destinations. Ideal for a scavenger hunt & a fun way to explore.
Offbeat · Stray from the beaten track to discover an area with less tourists, lots of locals & quite a few surprises.
Endless Mile will eventually offer guides of smaller cities —for example one of our personal favorites, Évora— 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 for Buenos Aires then chances are you will also like the Mosteiro dos Jerónimos guide for Lisbon. Same category, same style, same 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.
Update (Aug 2013): The tile guide to Lisbon has been updated in a big way. The number of recommended tiles now totals 96 & additional pages have been added with photos of all listed panels. You’ll find the guide more useful than ever!
