Hi,
After sending my first letter, I asked a simple question:
What's one place you've visited that you'll never forget?
One reply stood out.
A reader named Sue told me about an Airbnb host in Rome who carried her luggage up three flights of stairs and left fresh flowers waiting on the table.
More than a decade later, that's what she remembers.
Not the building.
Not the room.
How someone made her feel.
It reminded me why I'm building ALARKA in the first place.
Because the places we remember most usually aren't the most expensive.
They aren't the biggest.
And they aren't always the most luxurious.
They're the places that made us feel something.
What's funny is that ALARKA almost never happened.
The idea has been sitting in the back of my mind for nearly 25 years.
Long before I knew anything about hospitality, development, construction, or financing, I was fascinated by the idea of creating places that felt different from everyday life.
At one point, I imagined building small themed neighborhoods. One area might feel like a European village. Another like a collection of cabins hidden in the woods. The details changed over the years, but the underlying idea stayed the same.
Create places people remember.
Then life happened.
Career.
Family.
Responsibilities.
The dream kept getting pushed further down the list.
Not because I stopped believing in it.
Because there was always something more practical to do.
Maybe you've experienced that yourself.
There's a quote I think about often:
"The biggest risk is not taking one."
Most people hear that and think about business.
I think about regret.
I started realizing that if I didn't at least try, I would spend the rest of my life wondering what might have happened.
That realization eventually led me to a small piece of mountain land in North Carolina.
It led me to Alarka Creek.
And eventually, it led me to ALARKA.
Today there are still no villas.
No guests.
No opening day.
But there is progress.
The plans are finished.
The financing is being assembled.
The vision is becoming more real every week.
For the first time, the dream is no longer sitting on a shelf.
It's moving.
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For those who want to be part of the journey
I've opened a limited number of Founder Stay packages for those who want to help bring ALARKA to life while securing one of the first stays when we open.
Explore Founder Stays:
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One question before you go:
Have you ever had a dream or idea that stayed with you for years before you finally acted on it?
Hit reply and tell me about it.
I read every reply.
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Thanks for being here.
Trevor
Founder, ALARKA
p.s. if you know someone who would enjoy following the journey, feel free to forward this email to them.