Here is a little page with some questions you might have. If you have a question that isn’t answered here, then please contact me or leave a comment down below!
It’s hard to pick just one, but if I had to, I’d say Antarctica. The place is so incredibly pristine and beautiful. Plus, the wildlife is incredible, and in general, I love colder climates!
Some other dreamy highlights have included:
Definitely! I think solo travel comes with two kinds of anxiety: general and safety.
For general anxiety, things like going to restaurants alone or attending events can make me uncomfortable. I also worry about things like missing flights, getting stuck at immigration, or being stranded. To manage this, I plan heavily, always have safety nets in place, and remind myself that I’m in a foreign country where I’ll probably never see these people again, so there’s no reason to stress over what they think.
When it comes to safety anxiety, it really depends on the region. In Asia and Oceania, I’ve never felt unsafe. Europe and North America are mostly about keeping an eye out for pickpockets or avoiding rowdy teenagers. In Africa and South America, I do take more precautions, like avoiding risky areas not going out after dark.
That said, I’m aware of my privilege as a relatively large white man, so I don’t worry about things like racism or sexual harassment, which many other travellers have to consider.
Longer trips require a lot of planning, but for shorter trips, I usually start by looking for a good flight deal, either through an airline sale or by checking Google Flights for cheap routes around the time I want to travel. Once I find some options, I’ll see if I can tick something off my bucket list!
After deciding where and when to go, I research online and organise everything in a spreadsheet. It covers flights, accommodation, activities, and all the prep work, like visas or vaccinations. I even have a packing list in there!
With everything laid out, I get a clear idea of what needs to be done and how I want to spend my time when I arrive.
A week or two before I leave, I create a little language ‘cheat sheet’ with common words and phrases. It includes translations and pronunciations for things like hello, goodbye, please, thank you, sorry, bathroom, do you speak English?, I don’t speak [local language]. I try to learn these, but I also bring a printed version with me for quick reference.
Google Translate is also a lifesaver! It does instant text and audio translations, and it even has a camera mode that lets you point at foreign text and see the translation in real time. It works offline, too.
That said, if you speak English, you’ll be fine in most places. English is the universal language. In places like Barcelona or Malaga, everything was in English. China was a bit trickier, but even there, most signs were in English, and many people spoke basic English in the cities.
And when all else fails, smiling and pointing can get you a long way!
In one word, it’s prioritisation.
I’ve chosen to prioritise travel over expenses like buying a house, learning to drive, and spending on non-essentials. Living frugally means sacrificing comforts for more travel.
For instance, in the five years leading up to my big 2023 trip, I lived with my Stepdad. Moving out would have cost me an extra £500 a month. I relied on walking and public transport instead of owning a car, saving about £300 a month. I also rarely dined out or indulged in fun activities at home, saving another £200 a month.
I realise not everyone can save exactly the way I did. I was fortunate to be in a situation where I could live with family at a lower rent cost, and get by without a car. But I do believe that, to some extent, anyone can cut back or adjust their priorities if travel is something they truly want. Maybe that’s choosing to live in a cheaper area, ditching the car, going out less, or cutting back on non-essentials. Small changes add up over time.
For me, prioritising travel means making sacrifices that others might not want to make. Most people, especially at my age, would prefer to have their own place, and a car, and enjoy life more at home. I totally understand that. It isn’t that I don’t want those things, of course I do. But without a large income, I can’t have both, and so by making those sacrifices, I was able to save the majority of my income, which worked out to £40,000.
While the average person might use a spare £40,000 for a house, a car, or long-term investments, I spent it on travel. So yes, it’s all about prioritisation. Travel over housing, travel over driving, travel over consumerism, and travel over long-term investments. Is that the best choice? Probably not. But that’s how I afford my adventures.
I’ve never had a lot of money, and just to clarify, I’ve always funded my travels myself.
There is a lot that goes into travelling on a budget (maybe I’ll write a full blog post on it someday), but in short: a lot of shopping around!
For flights, being flexible is key. I usually play around with dates and airports to find the absolute cheapest options. Sometimes that means travelling to a third airport myself (like London or Dublin) and flying out from there.
When it comes to accommodation, I typically opt for the cheapest options—budget hotels if not hostels. Again, it is all about shopping around.
For food, I usually just have breakfast and then a combined lunch/dinner. I rarely eat at restaurants, and prefer street food or fast food.
There are tons of little tips and tricks, but the general idea is to be flexible, plan ahead, and look for deals everywhere! Also, try to get cashback whenever you can, and make sure you’re not paying extra for currency conversion.
I do, but there is too much to cover in a small answer like this. I’ll write a full post about all my favourite gear one day. Until then, feel free to contact me or leave a comment asking for advice on something specific!
My gear has changed over time, so the photos and videos you see on this website may not all have been captured with the devices listed below. But currently, I’m using:
Camera: Sony RX100 VII
GoPro: Hero 11 Black
Smartphone: iPhone 16 Pro Max
Honestly, I’m not a photographer! I wish I were, but about 90% of the time, I shoot on auto. Sometimes I get lucky and manage to capture a nice photo, but I mean in some of the places I’ve been, it is hard to take a bad photo.
My main advice? Take as many photos as you can! You can always delete the bad ones, but once you leave, you can’t take any more. Don’t forget to get some selfies too! I’m terrible for that, often visiting amazing places without getting any pictures of myself there. Trust me, those shots will mean much more to you than the generic landscape ones.
That said, remember that the picture should focus on the location, not just on you. It should be a picture of the location with you in it, not a picture of you with the location in the background. Does that make sense?
Also, selfies with your arm outstretched normally aren’t great, unless you’re using a selfie stick. Instead, set your camera on a timer or ask someone to take a picture for you
I design then in Adobe InDesign, and then get them printed through Blurb.com. The first one was a pain, but now it is basically just editing a template. Blurb has a plug-in to use with InDesign so the whole process is really easy. Printing them is expensive though!
I get the images of the maps through a site called MapBox. I basically just scroll to the image I want, then take a screenshot. You can check out my style of map here.
If you want to know about specific fonts or anything then just send me a message!
I edit the videos entirely in Adobe Premiere Pro. It takes quite a while, but here is a quick overview of the process. First, I sift through all my clips, selecting the best ones to create a cohesive story. It’s all about finding the right order and flow.
Next, I choose music that I love and that fits the vibe of the video. Once I have my clips and soundtrack sorted, I sync them up, ensuring the visuals align with the beats and transitions in the music. It is simple but so important.
Although I keep things fairly basic, I do add some colour correction to enhance the look. I might also add annotations or graphics to highlight certain moments or provide context.
If you have any specific questions, feel free to reach out! 🙂
Here’s a little step by step process of how I made this blog. I could make a more detailed post about it, and one day I might, but there are already a million guides on how to do it. Although if you want to know something specific, feel free to get in touch!
Step 1: Choosing a name. It took a lot of brainstorming, but eventually, I came up with Travelling Tabby. I used this website to ensure it was free on all social media platforms.
Step 2: Getting the domain name and hosting. The domain name is basically the web address (www.travellingtabby.com), and hosting is paying for the website to be online. I got both from NameCheap on a 1 year subscription!
Step 3: Designing my logo. This was the hardest part in all honesty. Thankfully I had just completed a 1 year course on this, so I had an idea of what I was doing! I made mine in Adobe Illustrator, after doing some sketches on paper. It took a few attempts.
Step 4: Deciding the structure of my blog. I made a list of everything I wanted on the blog. What pages to include, how the navigation bar would look, what content I’d have, and what design styles to use.
Step 5: Designing my blog. I made designs for all my pages in Abobe InDesign. They were quite rough, but gave me a good starting point. I chose the colours, fonts, images, etc. A draft of something to create.
Step 6: Setting up WordPress. This was a little confusing and I watched a lot of video guides! Eventually I got it connected to my domain name/hosting, and I was ready to go.
Step 7: Deciding on a theme. There are so many themes to go for! In the end, I choose… none. I went down another route and decided to use Elementor, which is sort of like a ‘build it yourself’ theme. It’s super customisable, which is perfect for me.
Step 8: Making my header and footer. This was tricky, especially making it mobile responsive, but I got there! You make these once, then they are on every page.
Step 9: Making my homepage. This was the trickiest page to make, as it had to look nice and have unique elements. You want to make people think ‘cool!’, and encourage them to explore more of the site.
Step 10: Making all the other pages. I then basically just made the about me, FAQ, bucket list, destinations, and everything else on the website! This took forever, and ever. And ever. Like, over a year, on and off.
Step 11: Done! After this, it was just content creation. The site was up and running, and I just had to start making posts! I also had to start sharing my blog to try and attract some readers, then begin studying the analytics to see how things were going. 🙂
I designed and made it all myself. I’m no professional, but I think it looks mighty fine and divine! If I’ve used someone else’s photo somewhere, I’ll have chosen one via Creative Commons, and given appropriate credit.
The initial set-up costs are listed below. These were the prices in 2019.
Domain Name: £7 per year
Hosting: £25 per year (also includes SSL security and UK server hosting)
Elementor Pro: £40
Interactive Maps Widget: £20
Total: £92, then a future running cost of £32 ish a year
In 2020, as a result of my ‘Scotland Coronavirus Tracker’ page, the website started to receive a substantial increase in visitors, and in turn, I had to upgrade my hosting to a substantially more expensive package.
As of 2024, I’m spending about £300 a year to keep the website running.
Not really, but that is okay!
I didn’t start this blog to make money, it’s more of a hobby. That said, if I could eventually earn enough to cover the running costs (around £300 a year), that would be fab!
Back when I was running the Scotland Coronavirus Tracker, the website did generate a decent amount, mostly through donations. But I consider that a separate project from the travel side of Travelling Tabby. And that has all stopped now, anyways.
Thank you so much for the thought! Even just a simple message means a lot to me. 🙂
Sharing the blog is another great way to help, and if you’d like to contribute directly, you can always buy me a coffee! All donations go towards keeping the blog running, staying ad-free, and helping me create more content.
Uh oh, please let me know what it is! I have a horrible habit of looking over typos, and if the error is a piece of wrong information, then I do apologize.
A lot of the information I provide here, particularly on the country guides, comes from my own research rather than my own experiences. Sometimes I get it wrong! I would appreciate you letting me know, so that I can update it for other visitors.
In early 2020, I was just getting ready to launch Travelling Tabby as a travel blog. I was excited to start creating content, and posting on a regular basis. But then, of course, the Covid-19 pandemic hit, and everyone got a bit distracted by that.
With travel plans shelved, I found myself fascinated by the unfolding situation in Scotland. Out of curiosity, I began tracking the Covid-19 data in a spreadsheet. I’d input the data, analyse trends, and create visuals for my own understanding.
I would share these visualisations online in the form of screenshots, and got the suggestion to host them online somewhere, so people could visit it every day and see the updated figures. I figured instead of that, why not add a simple page to my website?
I started with a few interactive charts, gave the page a clean, simple layout, and shared it publicly. Then things got a bit wild. Since the official sources were still hard to navigate, my little page quickly became a hit. Views skyrocketed, and before I knew it, I felt like I, for some reason, was responsible for keeping the country updated.
It was both exciting and overwhelming. I kept expanding the tracker, constantly improving it with new features and insights to make it even more accessible and useful for everyone.
Before I knew it, the Scotland Coronavirus Tracker (and later, the UK version) completely took over Travelling Tabby, and my life. Over three years, I updated the trackers 800 times, spending over 3,000 hours on it. The page received more than 30 million views, garnering attention from the media, politicians, and even celebrities. It earned me several accolades, including an MBE from the late Queen in her final birthday honours.
In May 2023, I updated the page for the last time, marking the end of the most absurd, unexpected side quest of my life. You can still visit the Scotland Coronavirus Tracker, or just read more about its final update here.
Although the coronavirus tracker brought Travelling Tabby into the spotlight, that chapter is now behind me. Moving forward, I’m focusing on what I originally set out to do with this website, which is to document my travels, and hopefully help others with theirs!
Both the Coronavirus Tracker pages are still live, you can visit them here:
They were last updated on the 18th of May, 2023.
If you have a question, I recommend visiting the page and scrolling down to the FAQ and Additional Information sections. You might find what you’re looking for there.
After May 2023, and up to October 2024, I was mostly outside of Scotland, travelling around the world. During that time, I didn’t keep up with the Covid-19 situation in Scotland, and especially not with the statistics being released.
If you have any questions, I’ll do my best to help, but please keep in mind that I may not have much information to offer!
Also, I have no plans to resume the Coronavirus Tracker updates.
Well, if you insist!
She was called Star, and she was the best. She was part of my life for most of my upbringing. Sadly, she passed away in 2018 from old age, at about 20 years old.
She was fierce! When she was smaller, she would hang outside with us as we played football or kirby. When dogs walked past, she’d charge them. We’d have to warn people, who were walking their big German Shepards or Rotwillers, to look out for this crazy cat!
She hated all other animals, no exceptions. But humans? Oh she loved them, too much for her own good. She was the friendliest, sweetest cat you’ve ever seen. Even to strangers.
She was even a bit of a traveller herself. One time she left home for about 6 weeks! We were worried sick and kept looking, but couldn’t find her anywhere. Eventually, someone found her and we got her back. She came home, had a snack, and then immediately wanted back out. Sounds a bit like me when I get home from a trip!
While I’d love another cat, my life just isn’t stable enough for one right now. I’m away from home too frequently, and couldn’t even guess where I’ll be living in five years time. Although once things have settled down, I’m totally becoming a crazy cat person.
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6 responses
I’m preparing for a journey through the Canadian Maritimes, Greenland, and Iceland and have been trying to figure out how to chronicle and plan for the trip – Your site has been very helpful. I commend you for your venturous spirit and having the courage to explore on your own. I get it (maybe not the cat).
Thank you! And that sounds like a fantastic trip, definitely something you want to document and remember! I hope you have a great time on it.
I have travelled a lot to visit my son who works abroad a lot. South America is interesting but you need to have a knowledge of Spanish (or Portuguese if you’re going to Brazil). Of all the places I’ve been New Zealand is my favourite. The scenery is beautiful, they drive on the left and they speak English. The people are friendly and polite and if you go in our winter it’s their summer.
24 hours on a plane and jet lag is worth it .
Thank you for the suggestions! 🙂
I’ve actually been wanting to try and learn Spanish. Not only would it be great for Spain, but it can open up so many more opportunities across South America! New Zealand looks so beautiful too, although those 24 hour flights would kill me haha. I’d rather have a few layovers along the way!
Skara Brae is actually in Orkney, not Shetland.
Whoops, must have got the two confused! Thanks for letting me know 🙂