11 Travel Blogs Daily on My Radar You Shouldn’t Miss

Ever since the early days of blogging, I have always loved to blog-walk from a regular, daily blog to a digital travel journal. As my own blog has transformed into a documentation of my adventures, my appetite for discovering the tales of fellow travellers grew. This led me to regularly browse various travel blogs and websites.

I’m particularly drawn to blogs with clean and visually appealing designs (yes, I admit I often judge a blog by its cover, haha), well-captured photography, narrative-style writing, elegant font choices (preferably with spacing under 1.5), and authentic storytelling. I hope this compilation serves as a wellspring of inspiration for you, offering a glimpse into the diverse narratives that our world has to offer. Below, you’ll find a curated selection of some of my favourites.

Lost with Purpose is a blog owned by an American-born woman, Alex Reynolds. Embarking on her global backpacking journey since 2016 with Tbilisi marking her inaugural stop, Alex has become my personal favourite. She traverses the globe predominantly by land—prioritizing sustainability, ventures into off-the-beaten-path destinations, and shares candid, authentic experiences, all while infusing her narratives with sharp wit and humour.

India, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, and Russia are among the destinations she has explored, and I’m eager to read about her experiences there. Her unique style of travel has resulted in some captivating articles, such as stories of gaining trust from the locals, her deep affection for Tajikistan, the unexpected adventure of boarding the Trans-Siberian Railway, her adventures in Himachal Pradesh, and the insights she gained after four years of continuous travel. She is currently organizing tours for women’s travel in Pakistan, either travelling together or by motorcycle. I just can’t find anything uncool about her.

Meet Pete Rojwongsuriya, a travel blogger from Thailand who has honed his blog over the years, striking a balance between travel guides, captivating photographs, and occasional narratives. Pete’s blog Bucketlistly has been a huge inspiration for me in terms of effective and eye-catching design—although I admit, mine doesn’t quite match up to his web design skills, and also photography.

Pete’s photography tips have been incredibly helpful to me, especially since we use the same gear. His stunning captures are a testament to his skill and you can learn a lot just by observing how he composes his shots.

Over the past 11 years, Pete has ventured to over 90 countries mostly traveling solo. I’ve found his ‘inspiration’ section in the header to be a quick route to all his journal entries. His writings about having his bag stolen in Germany, being robbed in Kenya, and exploring backpacker culture from a local perspective are invaluable resources. Furthermore, his comprehensive travel guides cover destinations across Asia, Europe, Africa, Australia, and the Americas, so you’ll never be short of ideas for the places you want to visit.

What’s remarkable is that Pete funds all his travels himself, ensuring the authenticity of his content—I’ve been a silent reader of his blog for years and can vouch for its genuineness.

Trisha Velarmino, a digital nomad who embarked on her travels in her twenties, has been journeying non-stop for approximately 14 years now. She’s my secret crush and big sis in the travel blogging realm, and her blog P.S. I’m On My Way is an incredible repository of stories about solo-travelling women, digital nomads, and the intricacies of life in new locales. I admire her immensely! I’ve been an avid reader of her blog for, I don’t know, 6 years?

One particular day, she poured her heart out in raw writings about life in Tel Aviv, Israel—called Tel Aviv Yourself. I’ve revisited those pieces countless times and even saved some in my Pocket app. Additionally, her travel guides offer a refreshing perspective that diverges from the usual click-bait titles. You can see some of my favourite guides like this one in Tel Aviv, the food guide in Jerusalem, female tourist in Morocco, and solo-female travel and dating apps. The story of her life in Sayulita, Mexico, is also my all-time favourite narrative. Trisha infuses her writing with kindness, curiosity, authenticity, and bravery, making her blog a truly inspiring read. Another plus point: she’s still active in blogging and updating her posts (if needed).

Hannah & Nick, a duo creative from The Netherlands behind the vibrant blog, Salt in Our Hair. To be honest, I’m not a regular reader as their articles mostly take the form of travel guides like 16 Things To Do in Tbilisi or Samarkand, Uzbekistan: Best Things To Do & See or Sri Lanka Travel Guide: a 3-week travel itinerary. However, I do visit occasionally because their travels cover so many interesting countries, sometimes venturing into non-mainstream destinations. This blog is great if you’re looking for complete travel guides, itineraries, and stunning, VERY stunning photos.

Perhaps it sounds unusual, but this blog (and the other blogs I’ve reviewed here) exudes a delightful positive aura—I mean, they seem like friendly people, with good intentions, sharing sincerely, and perhaps, just perhaps, if we were to meet, we’d easily share some laughs. So even though this blog falls into the cliché category with travel guides to beautiful destinations that can enhance our travel photos, I still like it. From this blog, I’ve also learned a lot about taking photos from various perspectives.

Like how I quoted Mark’s work influencing me to buy a Panasonic Lumix camera, Mark’s stories on Migrationology have inspired me to appreciate and enjoy local cuisine even more. Mark Wiens is an American-born who now lives and has a family in Bangkok. His culinary portfolio is remarkable; he’s eaten Padang food in Indonesia, eaten like a local in Laos, eaten snails in Saigon, indulged in smoked duck feasts in Malaysia, and even tried guinea pig in Peru—not exactly dietary guides I can follow but they do broaden my horizons.

I’ve been reading Migrationology for years and I know he never stops improving the quality of his work, from the quality of the photos and storytelling to the quality of Mark’s YouTube videos. I always appreciate Mark’s beautiful, natural photos, taken well and not overly edited. The colours remain simple and clear, allowing us to experience all those dishes just as they are. One thing I’m curious about is whether Mark’s cholesterol and uric acid levels are okay 😌

Currently, Mark doesn’t write much on his blog, he’s more active on Instagram, YouTube, and maybe even TikTok. I don’t follow his accounts but Pak Oyong and I have watched his reviews on YouTube a few times. Nevertheless, I still regularly read Mark’s writings, not just about food but also some travel stories like this one from The Hunza Valley Pakistan and Beitou Hot Springs in Taiwan.

IMHO, Yuki Anggia stands out as one of Indonesia’s top travel writers. Her blog, O Helter Skelter—likely inspired by The Beatles song—offers readers beautifully crafted travel narratives that are well-structured and infused with journalistic flair. She mostly writes in Indonesia and I’m glad her punctuation was great with abundant vocabulary. Unfortunately (at least for me it’s a bit unfortunate hehe), Yuki has scaled back a little bit on content creation for her blog, shifting her focus more towards storytelling on Instagram.

However, some of Yuki’s writings are still worth reading because they are really good. My favourites are her story about sipping coffee in Reykjavik, watching penguins in Hokkaido, seeing bald eagles on Kotok Island, the rent-car drama in Los Angeles, and exploring the Faroe Islands. I find her writing more appealing than her Insta stories or captions. There’s a sense of sharp-minded wordsmith in her blog that I enjoy. I hope someday she’ll make a comeback to O Helter Skelter. A real comeback—as I’ve noticed that the latest articles on her blog are her journal from a long loooong ago.

Mas Bama’s blog, What an Amazing World, is the only one I diligently read that reviews ancient histories from various places—although, to be honest, it takes me several visits to finish one post HAHA. While we might come across many stories about temples and buildings, there are also travel tales that are *not so ancient* that I enjoy, like hiking to Mount Papandayan, exploring Jordanian cuisine, seeing snow piles at Al Arz (The Cedars) in Lebanon, visiting Bhutan (with stops at historical sites), and stories about Petra. I wonder how many cups of coffee it takes for him to write one piece.

In every travel journal written, Mas Bama typically adds information about its history and detailed information about a place, all neatly written in English with emotional stability in writing. The photos on his blog are also beautiful, taken well, and undergo no editing process. The photos genuinely support adding information, rather than being packaged to look beautiful. Reading Mas Bama’s blog is like reading a travel book that will be heavily annotated, given its wealth of information.

Okay, D’Cat Queen blog is an exception to all the requirements for the blogs I read every day. I need to be honest, this blog isn’t well-designed, the photos aren’t aesthetic or appealing, and the font isn’t my favourite— I mean, Times New Roman!? But Mba Fanny tells everything about her journey as it is and raw, which somehow makes it enjoyable to read. However, every read requires patience because Mba Fanny writes as if she’s just jotting down thoughts while telling a long story, without bothering to review punctuation or adhere to proper EYD 😌

The reason I enjoy reading Mba Fanny’s blog is the destinations and activities she engages in, whether travelling with her husband, family, or friends. They’re often funny and unconventional. For example, she eats at waterfalls in San Pablo, dines at the secret café SUBO.JKT, goes bungee jumping in Macau, also goes reverse bungy in Bali, picnics in North Korea, explores Azerbaijan, and even rides a gondola at Timang Beach in Yogyakarta. Truly exciting stuff. And I must mention her vibrant, wonderful personality towards fellow bloggers which is truly impressive. She’s been kind-hearted visiting many blogs, reading, and leaving comments, showing her generosity and friendly manners. I can’t wait to meet her someday, somewhere.

Years ago, Mira and I first exchanged greetings in the comment section of a blog run by our mutual friend. We then began following each other’s blogs, and eventually, we had the chance to meet in person when Pak Oyong and I travelled to the UK back in 2017. Since then, we’ve met occasionally and have become good friends.

Mira’s self-titled blog became one of my daily reads—even though her latest post was a year ago 😌 Her narrative style is truly enjoyable, akin to having a long conversation with her over a vegan meal or sourdough. Her photography is, for lack of a better word, effortlessly stunning. She seems to capture beautiful moments with ease, including those with cats. Yes, we both are lifelong cat lovers.

One of my all-time favourite posts was her adventure to Snowdon with Junda, her exploration of Taipei, her visit to the orangutans in Bukit Lawang (I couldn’t stop laughing over this post!), her sunset experience in Florence (which inspired me to do the same but in different season), her informative post about Borough Market that served as a guide for my exploration, her impulsive trip to Cochem, and various other posts that I find myself revisiting in my leisure time.

Among all the foreign blogs I’ve reviewed here, Hand Luggage Only is the one that has been with me for the longest time—I believe since the early years of my travel writing journey. Yaya and Lloyd, two best friends who graduated from Cambridge in the UK, have travelled the world together and shared their adventures on the blog with lively narratives and stunning photographs. If you’ve noticed how vibrant and sharp my photos were on my first trip back in 2016, that was inspired by them—though I later changed my editing style. From this blog, I’ve learned so much about travel writing and photography. I also distinctly remember recommending this blog to fellow travellers searching for daily inspiration about the world.

Yaya and Lloyd have crafted numerous articles, and residing in the UK allows them to share insights on various destinations across the UK and Europe—an enviable position indeed! Whether it’s their journey along The North Coast Scottish Road, their exploration of Iceland’s lava fields, serene yoga retreats in Ibiza, or heartwarming encounters with puffin friends in Newfoundland, their posts offer a wealth of experiences you don’t want to miss.

Despite the infrequent updates (the last post was in 2023, and only one at that), I always enjoy delving into the narratives shared by Maesy and Teddy—or Gypsytoes and Twosocks, as they’re known in The Dusty Sneakers. Since decades ago, both have shared their distinct writing styles, each leaving an impression on readers.

Teddy’s (who writes in Bahasa) storytelling is enchanting, effortlessly beautiful, rich in detail, and evokes a fairytale-like atmosphere. Reading his work feels like immersing oneself in a warmly translated novel, with every word striking a chord in the heart. Meanwhile, Maesy’s English narratives are beautifully straightforward. Her writing is bold and resembles more of a travel essay, a style that nowadays seems rarely found in bookstores. If there were a book compiling the best travel writing from Indonesia’s travel writers, I’m sure Maesy’s work would be included.

From Teddy, I adore his tales of their shenanigans at Tamley Farm, their quest for penguins in Hobart, and his amusing account of Infinity Books—an indie bookstore in Tokyo. As for Maesy, her adventures soaking in an onsen in Japan, sipping tea in Bangalore, and tracing the footsteps of Yodakin never fail to warm my heart. Honestly, I could spend a whole morning sipping tea and diving into their old posts, continuously surprised by just how incredibly good they are.

Other than blogs, I also dive myself into some digital platform consist of travel narratives, travel insight, articles, tips and guides, which usually written from a small team or contributors. Herewith some of my favorites:

That wraps up the travel blogs and digital platforms that are always on my daily radar, and I can’t recommend them enough for you to check out. Did I miss anything? Are there other insightful platforms I should know about? Feel free to share them in the comments below.