I have visited 35 countries across 6 continents and my trips have ranged from short European city breaks to working holiday gap years. My main travel companion is my husband Jon and we are all about the budget travel (with the occasional all-inclusive thrown in). We love to explore each destination we visit, immerse ourselves in the culture and try new things. 

When I planned my first big trip in 2008 (before the era of smartphones and Instagram), I was so nervous and unsure what I was doing. I had only been on a plane once before and had never travelled abroad without my parents. I wanted to make sure everything went smoothly but I found it difficult to get practical advice about all the little things such as what life would be like on the road, how much should I pack, will I make friends easily and what is the best method for paying for things. 

Most of my friends and family had just been abroad on all-inclusive holidays, but even the few that had been travelling, when I asked if they could offer me advice just said general things like ‘it was fun’ or ‘go to the Sydney Opera house’. But as a hyper-organised and stressy person I wanted more specific and tangible information about what things I needed to organise before I left, and what to expect when I was actually travelling. 

This bring me back to the reason I started this blog. I thought that if I wanted answers to all these travel questions, then maybe there were lots of other first time travellers who also had the same worries, concerns and questions I did, and so The Practical Passport was born.