Travel started before I knew it was going to become a way of life. Growing up in Australia, the idea that you could just go somewhere completely unfamiliar and figure it out felt more achievable the first time I actually did it. That first trip confirmed something I already suspected: the world is far more interesting, more accessible, and more worth seeing than most people who have not yet left realise.
What keeps me going is not counting countries. It is a specific kind of disorientation that only happens when you are somewhere genuinely new. Standing on the Ala-Kol pass at 3,900m after four days on horseback. Looking out over Huacachina oasis from the top of a sand dune at sunset. Watching Shanghai's neon skyline from the Bund at 10pm. The moments where you are nowhere near comfortable and it is completely worth it.
Madlertravel came from giving friends the same travel advice over and over. Most of it was not written down anywhere in a useful form. The guides that existed were too vague, too outdated, or clearly written by someone who had not been there recently. So I started writing up the routes I had done, the way I wished they had been written when I was planning them.
No padding, no obvious advice recycled from everywhere else. Just the routes, the logistics, the real costs, and the things that actually matter when you are on the ground. The kind of guide I wanted when I was planning these trips myself.
We are at 37 countries across 4 continents now. Guides for China and Kyrgyzstan are live, Uzbekistan is in progress, and the bucket list keeps growing. The goal is not a number. It is to keep going to the right places, in the right way, and document them properly so the next person does not have to start from scratch.
