Social + Cultural Psychologist
The places we go change how we think, how we feel, and who we become.
I'm Katie Blake, a psychologist who studies what travel does to us: to our thoughts, our habits, our emotions, and the story we tell about who we are.
The philosophy
"The places we go don't stay behind. They become part of us."
Our psychology comes down to how we think, what we feel, and how we behave. Travel can touch all three at once. A new city unsettles your routines, an unfamiliar language sharpens what you notice, and a landscape can shift your mood before you've had time to name why. My work sits there, in how the places we move through shape our minds and, over time, our sense of self.
Travel Psychology
The places we go shape who we become.
Away from the familiar, we notice things about ourselves that home never asks of us: how we react, what we reach for, who we are when no one knows us. I help travelers plan trips that make room for that, and I help brands tell stories grounded in what travel actually does to people.
Explore travel →The Postcard Société
The people we love are worth the effort.
A curated correspondence box built around one simple habit: writing one postcard a week to someone you love. Our relationships shape who we are as much as our places do, and the postcard has always been where the two meet.
Reserve your place →Psychologie
The examined life is worth living.
Essays and field notes on how place affects mood, memory, behavior, and identity, and why we so often come home a little different than we left. Published in The Journal of Travel Psychology and Field Notes, and on Substack for the community there.
Read the Journal →The Podcast
You are where you've been.
The Places We Become is a Travel Psychologie™ podcast exploring how place, culture, and the way we move through the world transform us — one episode at a time.
Listen now →Why this matters
We are shaped by where we've been. Most of us have never stopped to ask how.
Travel is usually talked about as an escape, a reward, or a break from real life. The research tells a different story. Time in unfamiliar places can loosen old habits, stretch how we handle uncertainty, widen our empathy, and change the way we describe ourselves. That isn't a side effect of travel. It's the heart of it.
You might be planning a trip, starting a correspondence practice, or wondering why a place stayed with you long after you left. Either way, my work is here to help you understand that change and carry it home with you.
The Postcard Société
A ritual for the art of correspondence.
Thirteen postcards curated from independent artists. A cloth-bound address book. A beautiful pen. Twelve stamps, ready to go. A linen keepsake box. And a Correspondence Guide written by a psychologist on building an analogue practice that actually lasts.
New postcard sets arrive with every equinox and solstice — four times a year, each one its own suite, a new invitation to begin again.
"The difference between a passing intention and a lasting habit is rarely how much you care. It's whether the habit has somewhere to live."From The Postcard Société Correspondence Guide
Where to begin
Three places to start.
Travel, connection, and l'art de vivre — three expressions of the same philosophy. Choose where you'd like to start.
Travel Consulting
Bespoke travel planning and brand collaborations grounded in psychology and a deep love of place — for individuals, couples, and brands who believe where you go shapes who you become.
Explore → 02The Postcard Société
A curated correspondence box designed to help you build one simple, meaningful habit — writing one postcard a week to someone you love.
Shop → 03Psychologie
Essays on how travel changes the way we think, feel, and see ourselves, published on Substack and in The Journal of Travel Psychology. Plus Field Notes, on analogue life and the art of correspondence.
Read →