I'm Kelly. I live downtown, and I know this city.
Not "I visited Savannah and loved it." Not "I've been coming here for years." I mean I live in the heart of the historic district — right in the middle of everything — and I've spent five years learning this city the way you can only learn a place when it's actually home.
Be Our Gaston exists because of two primary reasons:
1. I’m SO tired of fake reviews, websites flashing with thousands of advertisements, and the general noise of a travel industry obsessed with profit. Come on. Enough already.
And 2. People kept asking me where to eat, where to stay, what to skip, and how to spend their time here — and I kept giving them the same answer I'd give a close friend: honest, specific, and shaped by real experience. At some point it made sense to write it all down.
Everything I've built — Be Our Gaston and TheTripThread — comes from the same belief: that the best travel advice comes from people who have nothing to gain from your decision. No ads. No affiliate links. No paid placements. No sponsored posts. No tourism board money. Just someone who has been somewhere, knows it well, and tells you the truth. That's rarer than it should be. It's what both of these projects are trying to fix.
How we ended up here
My family — my husband, our two youngest kids, and two dogs — sold our home in Virginia during Covid and spent nine months touring the country, living out of Airbnbs and short-term rentals. We worked remotely, we moved constantly, and we learned more about what makes a place feel like home (and what makes a rental feel hollow) than any travel article ever taught us.
When it was time to put down roots, Savannah kept coming back as the answer. I'm originally from New Orleans — my family has been there since the 1700s — and Savannah has that same quality: history you can feel, a pace that doesn't apologize for itself, beauty that isn't trying to impress you. It just is.
We also had a son who graduated from SCAD, Savannah's renowned art school — and now another one there. So the city had already become part of our story before we made it official.
That's me on the left, photobombing my own family. Savannah rooftop, golden hour. This city doesn't quit.
What Be Our Gaston actually is
BOG started as a listing site for our two Savannah rentals. It grew into something else: a guide people actually use to plan their trips. Travelers told us it was easier to figure out where to stay, what to eat, and how to spend their time here than after hours on TripAdvisor — and that feedback shaped what the site became.
This isn't a tourism board. Every recommendation on this site comes from someone who eats at these restaurants on a Tuesday, walks these neighborhoods with her kids, and gets invited to soft openings and events because people in this city know she'll give them a fair read.
I have two master's degrees — one in Media Psychology, one in Liberal Studies — and I've spent five years studying Savannah from the inside, which means I think a lot about how people make decisions — and I've tried to build a site that helps you make better ones, faster, with less commotion.
The rentals
Yes, we still have our two Savannah properties — and yes, they're the kind of places we'd want to stay in ourselves, because that was always the standard. If you're interested, you can find them under BOG Rentals in the nav (or The Garden of Good and A Walk in the Park). But even if you never book with us, I hope this site makes your Savannah trip better.
Be Our Gaston is where this all started — but it's not where it ends. I'm also the founder of TheTripThread, a project I've been building toward for longer than I realized. TTT is designed to answer the question every major travel platform skips: not where to book, but where to go. No other site — not TripAdvisor, not Expedia, not Airbnb — helps a traveler decide which destination actually fits them. TTT is being built to do exactly that, starting with the Greater Caribbean. If that resonates, it's worth a look.
A few things people ask me
Do you get paid for your recommendations?
No. I absolutely do not.
How do I reach you?
Email is best: BeOurGaston@gmail.com. I read everything and try to respond to everyone.
How often is the site updated?
Constantly. Savannah's restaurant scene moves fast. I live here — I notice when things change, and I update accordingly.
Is Be Our Gaston connected to TheTripThread?
I also founded TheTripThread — a curated destination reference for the Greater Caribbean, for when you're planning your next trip beyond Savannah. Same editorial philosophy, different geography.