EXPERTS IN THE FIELD

A team of travelers and adventurers.

IMAGE COURTESY OF SINGITA

We have slept in the beds, gone from the Michelin-star restaurants to the market stalls, and know the hotel owners and managers by name.

Founded in 2012, our Soho office in the heart of New York City houses a dedicated team of experts, travelers, and adventurers. But our office walls have no bounds, with team members located across the United States and Europe. Someone from our team is always on the road, scouting hotels, testing guides, and cultivating relationships with suppliers around the world — all so we can curate trips precisely to your taste and personality.

Our Mission, Vision and Values +

Meet Our Partners

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ALEXANDRA HANOVER

A dual French and American citizen born and raised in Manhattan, Alexandra has relished every opportunity to engage with worlds different from her own. A nomadic soul and multi-linguist, she has spent much of her life wandering, living, and studying around the world. Upon receiving a Masters in Economics from the Paris Institute of Political Studies and the London School of Economics, she returned to New York and devoted four years to a career in Investment Banking and Real Estate. Recognizing the need for a higher degree of personalization and a more empathetic approach to trip curation, Alexandra founded The Local Foreigner in 2012 as a one-stop shop for inspiration, insider insight, and comprehensive travel planning.

Top Destinations Paris, Mexico City, Saint Barth’s, South of France

Favorite Hotels The Greenwich Hotel, Las Ventanas al Paraiso, Four Seasons Hualalai

Bucket List Antarctica, Norway, Maldives, Namibia

ALEX ERDMAN ELY

Alex was raised in Greenwich, Connecticut and grew up spending holidays on the slopes out west and summers in Europe. After graduating from the University of Virginia, her appetite for adventure evolved into a travel obsession. A city girl and an outdoorswoman, she has taught English in the slums of Mumbai, excavated fossils in Mongolia, and trekked with gorillas in Rwanda. After stints abroad in Zermatt and Florence, Alex settled in Manhattan. Her early career was spent at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Turner Broadcasting. She spent four years at a high-end membership-based travel company in New York before becoming a partner at the Local Foreigner in 2015.

Top Destinations Botswana, Tanzania, New Zealand, Chile, Egypt, India

Favorite Hotels Aman Tokyo, Minaret Station, Duba Plains Camp, Le Bristol Paris, Le Sirenuse, Hotel Monte Rosa Zermatt, Fife Arms

Bucket List Ethiopia, the Stans, Alaska, Antarctica, Brazil

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BARKLEY HICKOX

A Yale graduate and Manhattan native, Barkley spent the majority of her young life traveling before turning her passion into a career. With parents in the luxury hotel business, she spent much of her youth in the Caribbean amidst the chaos of a developing hotel, procuring an acute attention to aesthetics, customer service, and hotel management. After living in Paris on two separate occasions, Barkley spent several years in investment banking before marrying her business skills and love of travel. Prior to becoming a partner at the Local Foreigner, she was the Managing Director of a high-end membership-based travel company in New York. Over the last 18 years, Barkley has circumnavigated the globe — from traversing the dunes of the Lençóis Maranhenses in Brazil to private island hopping in the Seychelles to visiting censored monasteries in Tibet. Barkley currently serves on the advisory boards of Aman Resorts and Travel + Leisure and has been on the Travel + Leisure A-List since 2014.

Top Destinations France, Japan, South Africa, South America

Favorite Hotels Villa Feltrinelli, North Island, Cap Juluca, Uxua

Bucket List Israel & Jordan, Raja Ampat

BROOKE LAVERY

Brooke grew up in Michigan, where bucolic family vacations at the lake gave way to a teenage sojourn to Spain, and she was never quite the same. She graduated from Michigan State University and began a career for a Fortune 500 company in Chicago. Successful but not content she bought a round-the-world ticket, and spent a year seeking her next path on a slow journey from Europe to India and Nepal, Southeast Asia to Japan, and Australia to New Zealand. Manhattan was the end of the road, and her dual loves for travel and business culminated in a new career. Brooke spent five years at a high-end membership-based travel company based in New York prior to becoming a partner at the Local Foreigner in 2015. She now lives in Darien with her husband and three young boys.

Top Destinations Southeast Asia, Italy, East Africa, South Africa, Anguilla

Favorite Hotels Borgo Santo Pietro, Singita Sasakwa, Amankora Punakha, Deplar Farm

Bucket List Chartering a Turkish Gulet, Egypt, Ol Jogi

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Meet Our Operations Team

A proud Ohio native, Libby has a deep love for her home state. Her first memorable travel experience was a trip to New York with her mom and aunt for her seventh birthday. Fast forward a few years, and Libby is living in Manhattan and soaking up insider travel knowledge from her colleagues, as the Local Foreigner’s Director of Operations. Libby has an undergraduate degree from Indiana University and a JD/MBA from the University of Toledo. She serves on the Board of Directors for EAGLE Certification Group.
Favorite Hotels
InterContinental Paris Le Grand
Bucket List
South Africa, starting with Cape Town and a stay at The Silo, ending with safari and some time in the winelands

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Jordy grew up in the idyllic surf capital of Encinitas, California surrounded by art and theater, but she always felt the pull of New York City and moved east at 18. She has a BA in Art History and English Literature from Columbia University, and an MFA in Acting from The American Repertory Theater Institute at Harvard. Working as an actor brought her to stages across the globe, and sparked an obsession for discovering unique art, theater, and vegetarian food the world over (she also maintains a Google Map of the most charming pubs in the British Isles and Ireland.) She has lived in Paris, Berlin, Moscow, Alaska, and Cambridge and visited five continents, but loves to bring her dogeared passport home to her brownstone apartment on the Upper West Side, where she lives with her husband and young son.

Top Destinations
The British Isles + Ireland, Sub Saharan Africa, France, South Korea, Easter Island, India

Favorite Hotels
Singita Pamushana, The Ritz Paris, Inn of the Five Graces, La Residence, Forestis

Bucket List
Hong Kong, Taiwan, Newfoundland, Australia, Scandinavia

Abbie grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio where a love of languages and learning took her to Chengdu, China on her first solo trip abroad. Despite smarting taste buds from spicy Sichuanese food, the trip began her deep-seated love of exploring. She graduated from Middlebury College with a degree in linguistics and gender studies before fleeing the snow back to her hometown. Abbie spent time copy editing and supporting medical interpreters before joining the Local Foreigner. She currently lives in Brooklyn.
Top Destinations
China, Ireland, Costa Rica, Andros Island
Favorite Hotels
Vocabolo Moscatelli, Rosewood, Little Dix Bay, Domaine de Murtoli
Bucket List
Morocco, Denmark, Taiwan, Alaska, New Zealand

Born and raised outside of Washington D.C., Caroline grew up with a love for history, city life, and cobblestoned streets. Spending summers by the lake in Upstate NY, she developed a passion for hiking, sailing, and all things adventure! Her love for the outdoors, paired with a need for hustle and bustle, led her to college in Charlottesville at the University of Virginia, where she studied Media Studies & Global Sustainability. Though her desire to study abroad was nixed due to COVID, she made up for it by spending her remote year traveling up and down the East Coast of the U.S. before settling in Nantucket to work for the summer. After graduation, she spent two months venturing through Europe, where she developed a true passion for the art of travel, before landing at the Local Foreigner!
Top Destinations Norway, Taormina, Mexico City
Favorite Hotels Le Sirenuse, Le Bristol, Ashford Castle
Bucket List East African Safari, Patagonia, Trancoso, Antarctica