About

Hi! I’m Charlie. *waves* I live and work in London, I’m in my mid 30s and I’ve been travelling solo for over 15 years. I’ve done everything from city breaks to long haul road trips, as well as two long term backpacking jaunts in my twenties, before the time of Instagram and when you had to go to an actual internet café in order to connect with the world back home (yes, really. I did say I was in my mid 30s).

WAIT, SERIOUSLY? NO WIFI? TELL ME MORE ABOUT THESE BACKPACKING TRIPS

Seriously, there was rarely wifi in the hostels back then! A hard concept to grasp now, I know. I was 22 when I left for my first Round The World trip with my cousin, overlanding together around Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam for the first 3 months before continuing solo for the next 7 months around Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and wrapping up in New York. I arrived back in London with the intention of going back to New Zealand as soon as I could to work out there on a working holiday visa, but life happened and it took a few years for me to buy another one way ticket.

At 26 I went back to South East Asia, taking in the new destinations of Hong Kong and the Philippines alongside my favourites Indonesia and Thailand, as well as the culture shock of hostels widely having wifi! I used my working holiday visa in Australia for about 3.5 months so I could stay away longer and earn money to do more diving in Asia before getting home after 8 months for the best destination of them all: Glasto!

I expected the travel bug to wane after two big backpacking trips but if anything it gets stronger every year, and nowadays I’m an expert at maxing out my holiday days to get away as much as possible, blogging and creating travel content around my day job. I’m always planning the next (five) trip(s) – it’s part of the fun!

OKAY FINE, ANOTHER TRAVEL BLOG. WHAT WILL I FIND HERE?

When it comes to food, I favour street food and local restaurants. If you’re looking for fine dining and tasting menus, you won’t find it here – it’s just not my thing. I’m a sucker for a view, so I like to seek out rooftop bars, but I also like keeping things really basic, like getting a beer from the local shop (foreign supermarkets FTW, right?) and sitting by the river to watch the sun go down.

I am obsessed with collecting Avios points in order to fly as cheaply as possible, including getting seriously savvy with them in order to fly business class long haul (The Dream). I promise to teach you everything I know! I also love train travel and particularly sleeper trains – I have a long list of journeys I’m keen to do! Leaving one country at night and waking up in another one feels like the height of adventure to me, so I hope to put out more content around sleeper trains in the future.

My favourite country is Italy and I aim to go every year, though I have a very real love for the Caribbean and South East Asia. I’m happiest on the beach, under the sea and chasing a sunset. I’m a keen travel photographer, so you’ll see some photo blogs alongside the more informative stuff.

Hopefully I’ll inspire you to discover solo travel, try somewhere new and help guide you to my favourite places to eat and drink in far off places, along with some practical tips that will help take the stress out of planning.  

It makes my day when someone enjoys somewhere I’ve recommended, so please do share it and tag me on Insta if you do!