No-nonsense travel guides
Indie Traveller is dedicated to DIY travel—adventure-seeking and following your own path. Our mission is to share with you unfiltered, tell-it-like-it-is travel guides that will help you travel more adventurously.
Travel isn’t just about relaxing or being on vacation; it’s also a chance to venture into the unknown, to get out of your comfort zone, and to truly experience this crazy place we call Earth. From one traveller to another, we hope to inspire you to explore!
We know that researching your travel plans can be a frustrating experience at times, especially when online sources make it more difficult than it should be. That’s why we’re dedicated to making this site as user-friendly as possible.
At Indie Traveller we…
- Write from our own perspective about places we’ve been
- Don’t use AI to create content
- Don’t use search keyword tricks to ‘feed the algorithm’
- Are transparent about how we generate revenue
In a nutshell, we’re sticking to the basics and just write the kind of travel guides we’d want to read ourselves. (Sounds good? Subscribe to our newsletter to stay in the loop!)
If you’re curious about our approach to content creation, you can read about our editorial and commercial policies.
Our Editorial processFounder story: about Marek
I launched Indie Traveller in 2012 when I first headed off on my long-term travels. Frustrated by setbacks in my previous career as a video game designer, I was desperate to see the world — and for a bit of a life reset. It was soon obvious that travel would be my new passion in life. I’ve been a travel addict (and a full-time travel blogger) ever since!
I love travelling as a backpacker for the sense of adventure and cultural immersion. My travel style is less about sipping cocktails by the pool (though that can be fun too) and more about zipping around cities in tuk-tuks or hiking epic mountain trails. I’ve become especially passionate about sustainable nature tourism and off-the-beaten-path destinations, two things I aim to highlight on this blog as well as over on my YouTube channel.
To keep Indie Traveller up-to-date, I’ve built up a small team to help create and update our travel guides. I now get to wear two hats: that of travel writer as well as editor of Indie Traveller, working with local experts and fellow globetrotters to bring you the best tips and guides.
For my complete background story, check out the intro video to my YouTube channel in which I share how my initial 2-month trip spontaneously turned into a 2 year journey…
Happy travels,
— Marek Bron
Contributors
Meet our globe-trotting content team
Marek Bron
Founder
Living a life of travel since 2012, Marek’s goal is to highlight off the beaten path destinations.
view posts
Oumi Haded
Editor
Based in Tunisia, Oumi is our resident editing wizard who helps ensure our articles are properly edited and laid out.
Dustin Kemp
Writer
Living in Vietnam for over a decade, Dustin shares his deep travel knowledge throughout his many Southeast Asia travel guides.
view posts
Simon Zhelyazkov
Writer
A Bulgarian backpacker frequently on the Asia trail, Simon shares all of his best travel advice here and on his own blog, Backpack Moments.
view posts
George Alvarez
Writer
Based in Lima and an expert on travelling in Latin America, George gives you the inside scoop on countries like Peru, Colombia, and Mexico.
view posts
Cat Roberts
Writer
Having left her 6-figure NYC job to go backpacking around the world, Cat is a long-term digital nomad writing all about her travels.
view postsWrite for us!
We’re always looking for experienced writers to contribute to Indie Traveller! Succesful collaborations can result in ongoing freelance work. Rather than typical SEO-style content, we’re looking to publish authoritative posts from a personal perspective that go beyond the obvious information already out there. Sounds interesting? You’ll find more information here.
👉 We’re currently looking for a Latin America travel expert! (E.g. Mexico, Costa Rica, Colombia or Peru)
👉 For Indie’s sister site we’re looking for a writer with deep knowledge of Portugal
Common questions
These are some of the most common questions Marek receives:
It was 65 countries last time I checked. I recommend not being too much of a country counter though as it’s a somewhat meaningless. I like to visit new (to me) countries every year but also love discovering new regions within some of my favorite countries.
I’m Dutch and I’ve lived in Haarlem, Amsterdam, Brighton, London, for a short while in Seville, and since 2016 I’ve been based in beautiful Lisbon. (I have another blog just about Portugal.) My mum is Polish so that’s where the name Marek comes from. Unfortunately, I don’t speak Polish!
I started Indie Traveller when I took a career break to travel around the world. At the time I already knew how to build websites (in my college years, I managed several video game-related sites). I set up a basic travel blog in part just to chronicle my journey. One of my posts soon went viral on Reddit, and things snowballed from there…
Photos and videos are currently shot mostly on my Panasonic G9 II, with a bit of GoPro 10 and DJI Mini Pro 4 thrown in. I also use stock photography at Indie Traveller as the right photo is not always available, in which case I have no idea what it’s shot with. We always aim to select photos that are most representative of the destination, avoiding overly edited or filtered photography.
My maps seem to be popular because I get this question a lot. I make them in Figma (a vector image editing program) using my own designs. I don’t know of an app that lets you easily make maps like mine. Someone should make one!
This is easily the number one question I get anytime I meet other travellers. Yes, nowadays I’m making a decent living doing this — and I even get to work with a wonderful team! — and I’m super proud of what I’ve achieved. However, things were ridiculously tough for at least the first 2 or 3 years. It’s 100% my dream job but I try not to hype it up as it’s rare for people to do this full-time. The algorithms are always changing… it’s not for the faint of heart. But if you’re interested in blogging, I have some tips here.
Just creating content is already a full-time job in itself, so I usually can’t offer detailed personalized advice. I pour all my energy into the guides here at Indie Traveller, and for more general travel advice I highly (highly highly!) recommend reading my book, Travel the World Without Worries. It’s like having a mind-melt with me and absorbing all of my travel knowledge in one go — all for the low price of one (1) book. However, if you still have a specific question, feel free to hit me up in a DM or email. 🙂
Follow Marek on YouTube
On this blog you’ll find most of our “how to” content. For a more visual and inspirational angle, don’t miss the Indie Traveller YouTube channel!
Wondering where to start? How about this remote corner of Colombia, reachable only by propellor plane and bursting with unbelievable wildlife. Or this wonderfully authentic tropical island in Indonesia that is very much the ‘anti-Bali’. Or check out this epic train journey through Bulgaria in an often overlooked corner of Europe.
Hit subscribe so you don’t miss the next adventures!
SubscribeContact
Commercial inquiry? Then check our Work With Us page!
