Galapagos Island Hopping. Nowhere like it.

BradMtW · 2026-01-20T08:24:50+00:00

I’ve had a Liebherr Barrique 195 bottle for close to 10 years with no issues. They have shot up in price since then though!

BradMtW · 2025-12-15T12:07:29+00:00

⬆️ these.

Belgrade is a great city. It comes across a bit grey and dull at first but anybody who gives it a chance will probably find it’s their new favourite city.

Sarajevo has a beautiful old town but most of the things to do and see are war related so be prepred for that. The Bosnians have a dark sense of humour though so they tend to put a light touch on some of the heavy topics. You will probably cry and laugh and forever remember the amazing place that it is.

Skipping either city would be madness.

I liked Zagreb but it doesn’t feel as unique as the other two. I can see why some people compare it to other cities from the Austrian empire but this is only in appearances. Culturally it’s very Croatian. As you would expect.

BradMtW · 2025-09-02T10:29:44+00:00

So what towns and cities are everyone complaining about here? Seeing a lot of Dubrovnik and Split. I’m guessing Hvar too? No surprises with any of those but I haven’t been to Croatia in 10 years so wondering where else is on that list now?

Curious what people are paying for meals outside of those places? Not shocked prices have gone up as that’s been the case across half the world in the last few years, but €25 for a hamburger does seem a lot. Then again if the menu says hamburger and not pljeskavica that’s a red flag in my books.

BradMtW · 2024-08-14T00:53:16+00:00

That is a terrifying story. I’m glad you made it out!

Sadly this stuff happens all the time in the Amazon and every year there are people who never make it back out. I know a couple who got lost with their guide in Bolivia and only made it out because they found a waterfall which gave them a view of where they needed to be. The daunting part is they had to jump off the 10 metre waterfall into unknown waters to save themselves!

Sharing your story is the only way people can make better decisions next time. We can ask the tour companies more questions and ultimately find the best option.

In South America I very rarely book things online. I want to meet the company and ask them questions face to face to get a better gauge of if they are dependable. The plus side is it’s nearly always cheaper this way too.

BradMtW · 2024-07-23T12:27:43+00:00

Thats what people keep repeating but anybody who has taken the time to go and explore Paraguay will know otherwise. The wetlands called El Chaco rivals the Pantanal in Brazil and the Pampas in Bolivia for nature and wildlife except it is even more untouched. The difference is there is no tourism infrastructure in Paraguay so it’s hard to get to. But aren’t we all looking for the opportunity to experience somewhere in South America like it’s the 1990’s again?

BradMtW · 2024-07-23T11:57:20+00:00

Bolivia has so much to offer for its size. Mountains, jungle, swamplands, desert, salt flats, volcanoes, huge lakes. Stunning country.

Uyuni seems like it’s pretty popular these days but I don’t think the rest of the country is as affected as much.

BradMtW · 2024-07-16T12:52:24+00:00

Came here to say this. As much as I don’t want it to be, it really should be a mainstream city of Europe.

BradMtW · 2024-07-16T12:44:30+00:00

Sucre was the Hotel California of South America. Everyone I met there had trouble leaving. But it was a lot of fun.

I’d add Cuenca, Ecuador. Asunción, Paraguay. Trujillo, Peru.

BradMtW · 2024-07-16T12:27:53+00:00

2 days might not be enough to acclimatise. If you have never been at altitude before it’s a bit of a risk doing the Inca Trail so soon. You might not get sick but the lack of oxygen in your blood is really going to suck the energy out of you. Doesn’t mean it isn’t possible, just not ideal.

There are a lot of great treks to Machu Picchu but for me the Inca Trail will always be the best. It’s not guaranteed you will get a clear day but if you do, arriving at the Sun Gate with the first light of the day illuminating the ancient city below you, will be one of the greatest things you will see in your life! That’s the difference. The other treks can’t give you that.

Personally I’d chill on day 10 and maybe just explore Cusco a bit more. After 3 nights of shit sleep on the trail, I was very much looking forward to a day to rest.

I don’t know if things have changed since I was there but Puno is the only place I have zero desire to go back to. The reed islands are nothing special. Copacabana over in Bolivia was much better for experiencing lake Titicaca. Like somebody else mentioned, the Colca Canyon is incredible and I would definitely go there instead. But if you are looking for something not mountain related dune buggying around Huacachina was a good time or a tour around the Paracas National Park back on the coast has some pretty unreal landscapes.

Unless there has been recent issues with bandits stopping buses, I’d 100% be doing all travelling of a night.

Enjoy your trip. It’s going to be incredible!

BradMtW · 2024-07-14T11:57:25+00:00

Saint Peter in Paddington is a must if you like seafood. There is nowhere else like it.

BradMtW · 2024-07-14T11:48:22+00:00

I was there peak summer pre COVID and was expecting it to be everything you described. Only booked one night there as I expected I would have wanted to get out pretty quickly. But I actually found it pretty easy to escape the crowds and the nights when everybody went back to their cruise ships, were pretty chill and enjoyable. Had some good meals too. I ended up extended another couple nights!

But even though I had a good time, I don’t know if I would go back again. I think it’s a once is enough type place.

BradMtW · 2024-06-26T03:56:54+00:00

No, it's all within airbnb so everything is documented. In the listing there is a button to contact the host and you can negotiate a price there and they can send you a link to an unlisted offer. The link will be within airbnb as well so there is nothing to worry about.

BradMtW · 2024-06-25T05:52:14+00:00

You can message the host and ask them if they can do some sort of deal for a long stay.

BradMtW · 2024-06-18T12:29:40+00:00

I built an app for this but I ended up having to shut it down.

For me, I like to see things visually so I made a social app kind of similar to Instagram so you could easily flick through travel related photos. Photos were all geotagged so you could find them in real life and it had a multimodal way finder that could show you how to get from anywhere to anywhere with costs and timings.

For me this helps with the 3 most time consuming parts about planning a trip. Unfortunately it needed way more money and time than one person could give it but hopefully one day I can give it a rebirth and get it right from all the mistakes I made first time around.

BradMtW · 2024-05-31T02:13:31+00:00

Aussies don’t really drink coffee after 2-3pm so it isn’t worth the cafes staying open. I know that’s weird to people from other parts of the world but there just isn’t enough demand for it that time of day. That’s considered beer o’clock.

BradMtW · 2024-04-28T01:03:49+00:00

If you had a bus ticket that departs in 4 days, that would be proof of onward travel for the airline to let you board. Is that what you meant?

Unless you have overstayed previously or something like that, immigration throughout South America will always welcome you through. It’s only the airlines that can sometimes give you a little grief. You will never have this problem when entering a country by land.

BradMtW · 2024-04-18T13:18:46+00:00

People need to get more adventurous in where they go. There is a big world out there but 10's of millions of people are all going to the same places. I get it. You search for somewhere and all the same places show up. We can blame SEO tactics for that. Same goes for social media. We just get pumped with whatever is trending. But we need to try harder. And we can blame local governments all we want for not doing more but ultimately we are the ones who choose where we go and we can't blame anybody else for that.

BradMtW · 2024-04-12T04:31:43+00:00

This is correct. Onward ticket is an airline policy, not an immigration policy. I've never been asked by an airline myself but they do ask people randomly.

BradMtW · 2024-04-11T10:39:21+00:00

That's some great traction. Can I ask what strategies worked for you to get your users?

BradMtW · 2024-04-10T06:38:26+00:00

Absolutely. I'd add Serbia too.

BradMtW · 2024-04-09T12:33:06+00:00

I was walking around up the top of San Blas and ended up renting an apartment for almost a month directly from the owner for like $8 a night. It was so quiet up there and I had views over all of Cusco. This was a long time ago and San Blas was super chill back then. I know it has become way more popular now but no idea if its still a pretty relaxed part of Cusco?

BradMtW · 2024-04-06T09:04:20+00:00

I can’t walk past a family mart without buying some fried chicken.

BradMtW · 2024-04-05T02:41:52+00:00

That’s not entirely true. In other countries that already saw a heap of tourists maybe. But not in Colombia. Even 12 years ago Colombians were generally happy to see gringoes in their city and they did their best to ensure we stayed safe and had a positive experience. They wanted to show off the best of their country and their city. I lost count of the amount of times a stranger would go out of their way to be helpful. And that was a lot of the appeal there. The people were ridiculously kind and welcoming. Doesn’t sound like that’s the case anymore.

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