Pauline Egge: Meet the blogger behind Petite Passport

If I were a blogging professor, Petite Passport would get an A.
For me it’s one of the best blogs out there. Visually, her photos make me cry.
Pauline has an eye for the coolest places and would rather choose a restaurant for its interiors before the food.

“I just love, love, love hotspots,” Pauline writes. “Not the ones you will find in every guidebook, but the more special ones. Shame on me, but I don’t go to a restaurant because the food is superb (well that’s a nice extra) but because of the interior. I like to sit on a Jake chair by Koskela or eat under a Tom Dixon lightbulb.”

Meet Pauline Egge, 32, author of petitepassport.com.

While studying Journalism, Pauline dreamed of becoming Editor-in-Chief of ELLE magazine.
“When I interned there I found out I liked writing about restaurants, shops and hotels more than fashion,” she said. “After that I wrote for several Dutch magazines—and still do—about this subject. The more people I can make happy with my (recommendations), the better!”

“Looking back at my youth, I was into traveling and searching for cool addresses for a long time. When I was 11, my father and I went to London to visit interesting places I had found in the magazines back in the day. When I was 20, I went to Australia, New-Zealand, and Indonesia for six months, which was a trip of a lifetime and planted an irresistible lust for travelling and discovering beautiful places in me.”

“I started my blog because people knew I was the one with the great new addresses and I always had to write long e-mails with all the recommendations on Paris, London, New York etc. So I thought: let’s build a free WordPress site and put all my recommendations on it. So, if people search for Paris, then all the recommendations are there. I thought I would run out of addresses in six months, but here we are, more than four years ahead, and I’m still not running out of cool places to go.”

Pauline Egge’s Top 5 hotspots right now:

1. Merci, Paris
I was one of three people who were able to sleep one night in this beautiful concept store in Paris. It was a collaboration with Dutch design brand Droog Design.

2. Hotel ICON, Hong Kong
One of my favorite hotels around the world. I stayed in the Vivienne Tam suite, which has an incredible view over the city.

3. The Jane, Antwerp
The new restaurant of Dutch chef Sergio Herman in a stunning environment: an old chapel. Definitely worth visiting —but make sure to make a reservation.

4. Gallito, Barcelona
I always go to Gallito when I’m in Barcelona. It’s the perfect beach club.

5. Stout & Co in Amsterdam
Sleeping in your own apartment in an old brewery—beautiful design, even better atmosphere.

—With Gian Cruz
Photos courtesy of Pauline Egge