○ The blog
Travel blogs and honest guides from the road
Where to stay, what to do, the hidden gems worth a detour and whether each place lives up to the hype. Real trips from 18 months of full-time travel. 51 countries and counting.
Where to stay, what to do, the hidden gems worth a detour and whether each place lives up to the hype. Real trips from 18 months of full-time travel. 51 countries and counting.
The practical guide we wanted before our first trip, including our 8-day route, ferries, cars, stays and real costs.
What made it a 10 out of 10, what we did not love and who I think should actually book the trip.
The exact tour we booked from Praslin, what it cost and what the tortoise, island walk, barbecue and snorkelling day was really like.
Every dollar from our trip across three islands, including stays, ferries, cars, food, activities and international flights.
Our honest picks for swimming, scenery and access across Mahe, Praslin and La Digue, including the beaches too rough for us in August.
Four places we actually stayed, what each cost and the one island base we would change next time.
What we actually did across Mahe, Praslin and La Digue, from giant tortoises and hidden beaches to a free outdoor gym.
We went in the windiest month of the year and swam nearly every day. The one rule for picking a beach in the trade wind season, and when we would go instead.
Every article on this hedges. Here is exactly what we saw and when. Four came fast, and the leopard took until day six and lasted about eleven seconds.
Nights below 3C, a fireplace as the only heating and a hot water bottle every morning. Why the cold is not the price of a July safari but the reason it works.
The one to read first. When to go, how long you need, where to stay, what a month cost us, and the four things worth booking before you fly.
We ran out of tourist things to do in a week and stayed another three. The 14 worth your time, from a free sunrise to a 100 out of 10 cinnamon roll.
Anywhere is charming for three days. We stayed 33 nights, so here is what it is like on day nineteen, plus five honest reasons it might not suit you.
We picked mid August to mid September and got it right. What that window is really like, what we found researching the rest, and the closure that changes it.
Thirty three nights in one apartment taught us the area matters less than the type of place. The three districts, what we paid, and when a kitchen pays.
Overpriced and still worth doing once. Why the 7am opening changes everything, what to order, and the alternative nobody mentions.
Booked at ten the night before, gone by half seven, and the best day of our month. The timings, the ticket mistake, and what to eat.
Most guides work up from a short trip. We lived there a month, so here is what we would keep with four nights and what we would cut first.
After 11 months of travel, the best food city I have been to. Everywhere we actually ate in a month, including the best cinnamon roll anywhere.
A$114 per person per day across 33 nights, and the surprise nobody warns you about: we spent more on groceries than in restaurants.
The one to read first. We did 18 nights across seven bases and got the nights wrong in four of them. When to go, what it cost, what to book.
Antalya, a gulet cruise, Bodrum, Alaçatı, Ephesus, Cappadocia and Istanbul, with the nights we would move if we did it again.
No scams, no bad altercations, and some of the friendliest people we met anywhere in Europe. Plus what we honestly cannot tell you.
The surprise of the trip. Cobbled streets, the best beach we found in Türkiye, and Ephesus on the drive in.
We never went up. The cave hotel rooftop gave us the same sunrise for nothing, and it was the best morning of the trip.
Two nights gives you one sunrise, and the balloons get cancelled. Three is the number, and this is why.
The cheapest base of our Türkiye trip and nearly the best. Free cove beaches, A$88 a night, and why two nights was a mistake.
A full day of tests at a private hospital, results the same afternoon, and the US$1,200 Dan paid. Ellen's was a collaboration.
The best vintage shopping I have seen anywhere, and it is all on Serdar-ı Ekrem Caddesi in Galata. Walk all the way down.
From an A$88 apartment in Istanbul to a A$170 cave hotel in Cappadocia, and the one base we would change.
The heat, the crowds and the four things worth knowing, from the exact fortnight everyone tells you to avoid.
Four nights was one too many. What three should look like, and when a fourth genuinely earns its place.
Same trip, same two people, same card. Antalya 9.5/10 at A$90 a day, Bodrum 8.5/10 at A$172. Which to pick.
Bodrum cost nearly twice as much per day as Antalya. The beach club prices, and the dinner that took half the budget.
Eighty transactions across seven bases. A$164.55 per person per day, and one dinner that took twelve per cent of it.
One small horseshoe bay with the best surf, the best food and the best night out on the whole south coast. I rated it 10000 out of 10.
28 nights, five towns, a moped and a lot of cash. No incidents and no scams, and one thing that genuinely worried me.
Six beaches between Hikkaduwa and Tangalle, every one of them somewhere we swam, with the honest verdict on each.
Our food bill came to more than our accommodation. Sixteen places we genuinely sat down at, from cash-only curry to the best gelato I have had.
The best sunsets in the country, baby turtles on the sand, and the day trip that turned out to be the best of our whole trip. Three nights is enough.
Not my favourite town and still the one I would book. Best surf for learning, best food on the coast, and Mirissa ten minutes away.
One of my three favourite countries, and I am still going to tell you about the driving, the ATMs and the beach I did not rate.
Six bases in 28 nights, ranked by how much I want to go back rather than how long we stayed. We gave the best one two nights.
Only the things we genuinely did, which means no Ella and no hill country. Wild turtles, a sloth bear, and a moped at six dollars a day.
We had 28 nights and still split them wrong. Fourteen in the first town and two in my favourite, so here is the version I would give you.
We went at the tail end of the dry season and got thunderstorms. What that actually meant day to day, and which coast to pick for your month.
Seventy four tracked transactions. We spent nearly three times what the guides say, and our food cost more than our beds.
Not the 35 things you could do. The 13 we did across 24 days, ranked, with the real price beside each one, and the ones we skipped.
Sixteen nights of eating on Morocco's surf coast. The 8 places we went back to, what each cost, and the one we visited three days running.
Morocco is three climates at once. Beach weather on the coast, 2 degrees in the Sahara, and low season prices everywhere.
We booked four nights on the surf coast and stayed sixteen. Which town to pick, where to stay in each, and what a day here actually costs.
Two people tried to pull us into a shop in an entire day. Why the souks are far gentler than their reputation, and what I did and did not love.
Three nights, and here is exactly how to spend each one. Plus why splitting your Marrakech stay in two beats doing it in one block.
A$63.95 a day per person, measured twice by two people and A$2.65 apart. Real prices for food, coffee, riads, trains and the Sahara.
A$184 a night versus A$91, and what you actually get for the difference. Both rated, both linked, and the one I would book again.
The Atlas pass, the film set village, the carpet weaving and the dunes. Every stop, the full cost breakdown and how to choose the right tour.
The camel ride in, the camp, the drumming and the 2 degree sunrise. What we paid, what nobody warned us about and whether it is worth it.
Thirteen real prices in lek from two weeks of tracked spending, how much cash you need and where euros actually work.
The best water we saw in Albania and the most expensive place we slept. What the beaches are actually like and how to do it in a day.
Six real stays in fourteen nights, what each cost per night, the three towns worth basing in and the two we would skip.
Shala River, the Valbonë homestay, the pass to Theth and the Blue Eye. What we booked, what it cost and the three things we would change.
The boat trip worth getting up early for, the two restaurants we still talk about and the only coastal town we wanted more of.
Ten to fourteen days, and here is the split we would book instead of the one we did. Four of our 14 nights were in the wrong place.
Every lek we spent in July, why our median day was A$84.70 and how three afternoons took more than half the budget.
How hard it actually is, how long it takes, what our Albanian Alps package cost and what we would do differently.
We stayed in both on the Albanian Riviera. Which to base yourself in, and the beach that beat them both.
Our first-hand route from the pyramids and Siwa Oasis to Luxor and the Red Sea.
The pyramids, Sphinx, Grand Egyptian Museum, markets and the planning choices that made our first visit better.
Lighthouse, Mashraba, Assalah and the waterfront apartment I would book if we went back.
The outfits and layers that worked across Cairo, Siwa, Luxor and the Red Sea during our 15-day trip.
Tickets, the three tombs we chose, how long you need, when to go and the mistakes we would avoid.
How many days you need, the Blue Hole, where to stay, our favourite food and who will genuinely love Dahab.
The cash, clothing, guides, transport and planning lessons we learned across our 15-day route.
Our honest comparison after staying beside the pyramids and returning to Cairo, plus the split we would book.
Our honest comparison of the atmosphere, snorkelling, food, hotels, travel time and which place we would choose.
Our tested two-night route, honest three-night recommendation, salt lakes, hotel and Cairo transport.
Our first-hand guide to the essential sites, one-day route, Nile crossings and quieter West Bank stays.
What fits into one, two, three or four days, based on our four-night stay beside the Nile.
Our exact per-person costs for accommodation, food, transport, activities, cash and flights.
What you can realistically see in two, three, five or seven days, based on our 19-day stay.
Our honest first-time guide after living in both Palermo Soho and Palermo Hollywood across 18 nights.
Every dollar from 19 days, including our apartments, food, activities, shopping and recorded flight costs.
What we genuinely loved after nearly three weeks, including La Boca, San Telmo, tango, Palermo cafés and where to stay.
Our honest take after nearly three weeks: where to stay in Palermo, the best steak, the cafés and the vintage shopping.
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