Who Is Kay Walten?
I left Baltimore in 1992 with a boyfriend, two pickup trucks, a pile of dive gear, and $7,000.
I was headed to Mexico for six months.
I stayed for 27 years.
In that time I built one of the first online vacation rental companies, explored miles of underwater caves, recovered bodies from those caves (only 2), was an IMAX stunt double, and watched a stretch of jungle and beach turn into what the world now calls the Riviera Maya. I helped put small towns on the map that nobody had heard of. I hosted thousands of guests. I survived hurricanes, a pandemic, a divorce, and the arrival of Airbnb.
Then I sold the company, blew up my life, and bought a travel trailer.
I went back to school so I wouldn’t have gin for breakfast. Built an AI app nobody was ready for. Tried consulting. Wrote frameworks on Substack under a brand called Smart Pineapple. It was fine. It was also vanilla.
I’m done with vanilla.
This Substack is where I write now. Under my own name. About destinations, hospitality, tourism, and the parts of this industry nobody talks about. And about the stories from a life that sometimes defies explanation. Caves, dirt roads, border crossings, blind horses, army ants, and the occasional dead body.
I write for people who give a shit. Travelers, small hoteliers, rental owners, destination teams, and anyone who’s ever held something together with duct tape and called it done.
If you want polished frameworks and TikTok strategies, I am not your person. If you want someone who’s been in the building when things go sideways and will tell you what it actually looked like, pull up a chair.
