About Be Our Gaston + TheTripThread

Built for Travelers Who Feel More Than They Follow.

What Are Be Our Gaston and TheTripThread?

I’m Kelly McAtee, the founder of Be Our Gaston (BOG) and TheTripThread (TTT) — two projects built to bring soul, clarity, and human intelligence back to travel.

Be Our Gaston is the Savannah-based editorial arm — a smart, soulful city guide rooted in emotional fit, aesthetic feel, and true local nuance. It’s not a tourism board. It’s not a listicle farm. Visiting BOG is getting travel advice from a trusted friend who actually lives here — someone who tells you where to stay (and why), what to skip, and how to experience Savannah in a way that feels right.

TheTripThread (TTT) is the larger system we’re building to expand this approach beyond Savannah. Think of it as the place where you’ll get real local insight — with the depth of TripAdvisor, but without the noise of fake reviews, paid placements, or listicles written by people who’ve never actually lived there. Early feedback from Be Our Gaston has been clear: travelers say it’s so much easier to figure out where to stay, what to eat, and how to spend their time here compared to hours of sifting through scattered forums or social media hype. TTT will build on that clarity at a global scale, helping you decide not just what to do once you arrive, but where to go in the first place — based on your emotional fit, your interests, and what will actually resonate with you. Our quizzes (coming soon) will be one way we help travelers match to destinations in a more meaningful way.

✍️ Who am I?

Before launching Be Our Gaston and TheTripThread, I spent nearly a year traveling the U.S. with my husband, our two youngest kids, and two dogs — living out of Airbnbs, working remotely, and learning exactly what most travel tools get wrong.

That road trip turned into a realization:

✨ Most short-term rentals lack soul.
✨ Most travel content lacks authentic local voice.
✨ And most travel decisions ignore how people actually feel.

I created Be Our Gaston to solve those problems in one city.
Now, I’m building TheTripThread to scale that solution across the world.

I’m a psychologist, content strategist, and editor by trade — but at heart, I’m someone who wants your trip to feel like it fits.

💡 Our Philosophy

I didn’t create Be Our Gaston or TheTripThread to chase clicks or churn out lists I saw elsewhere online. I built them because travelers deserve better — real advice, rooted in place, without the noise of fake reviews, influencer hype, or cookie-cutter “top 10s”.

Core beliefs:

Local-first → The best trips come from the soul of a place, not its popularity. Be Our Gaston is proof of that — travelers consistently tell us it’s easier to plan a trip to Savannah here than after hours on TripAdvisor or TikTok.

Emotionally intelligent → Travel is personal. What feels perfect for one person may be exhausting for another. That’s why TheTripThread is building quizzes and vibe-matching tools to help you find the destination that fits you.

Editorial over algorithm → Every word you read on Be Our Gaston comes from lived experience and a human voice. No random influencer who flew in for a day to make a video post— just honest guidance, editorially polished with AI support.

Smart systems, not noise → TheTripThread (in the works) will scale this approach with themes and vibe tags — creating clarity in a space that’s usually overwhelming. It’s travel planning reimagined: structured, soulful, and built for humans, not clicks.

📅 The Story So Far

  • 2021–2024 → Be Our Gaston started as a small rental listing site for our two Savannah properties — and, almost accidentally, grew into a full editorial guide for the city.

  • Early 2025 → BOG officially became a content platform, with TheTripThread starting to take shape behind the scenes through tags, themes, spreadsheets, and early systems.

  • Late 2025 (Now) → Instead of rushing out a quiz, I’m using this time to refine the BOG site, gather feedback, and see what travelers actually find most helpful. The response has been strong: people say planning Savannah here is easier than sifting through hours of TripAdvisor reviews or influencer posts. That feedback is helping shape what TheTripThread will become. And, by the way, we are still the same ol’ Be Our Gaston — we rent our properties as we always have!

  • 2026 and beyond → TTT will begin rolling out vibe-based quizzes and regional destination threads — starting with the Caribbean and then the Southeast U.S. — expanding the clarity and local-first feel of Be Our Gaston to a global scale.

📸 A Quick Glimpse

Travel shouldn’t feel like déjà vu.
When every destination’s overrun and every list sounds the same, what people crave isn’t more content — it’s real connection. TheTripThread is here to cut through the copy-paste travel noise and deliver something better: curated, emotionally-smart guidance that actually gets you — and gets you somewhere that fits.
— Kelly

FAQs

  • We started as a local rental business with two apartments in Savannah — and we still operate those. But today, Be Our Gaston is primarily a curated trip planning guide for travelers visiting Savannah. We help you figure out where to stay, eat, and explore — with an editorial approach that prioritizes emotional intelligence, local nuance, and honesty.

  • First and foremost, we ONLY recommend businesses we 100% stand behind, which is why you won’t see every restaurant, every rental, every tour operator, etc listed. So, for the ones we do recommend, sometimes, yes, we will make a small amount via an affiliation. We use affiliate links to connect readers with trusted booking platforms like Booking.com, VRBO, Viator, and others. If you book something through one of our links, we may earn a small commission — at no extra cost to you. But we only recommend places and experiences we genuinely believe in.

  • Not usually. Most of the listings we recommend are independent properties or hotels we link to through affiliate platforms. The exception is our two original rentals in Savannah, which we do own and operate — and are clearly marked as such on the site.

  • Yes. Our two apartments in Savannah are fully licensed by the city and state to operate as short-term vacation rentals.

  • All hotel, rental, ticket, and tour bookings are fulfilled directly by the platform you book through (like Booking.com or Viator). Be Our Gaston does not collect your payment or manage your reservation unless you are booking one of our own two properties.