A different kind of travel blog: solo, car-free, working from anywhere
By Anca·July 2025·8 min read
I travel solo, backpack on my shoulders, no car, no travel agencies, working remotely from any corner of the world and writing about all of it here, on a solo travel blog inspired by the stories of Scheherazade.
There are plenty of travel blogs out there, but a few things set mine apart:
solo travel, regardless of destination (I've traveled alone on every continent except Antarctica, which I haven't gotten to yet)
I'm a digital nomad with a full-time job (not a freelancer) and I've been working remotely from any country since August 2020 (yes, I started during the pandemic)
I travel by public transport only (I don't drive, no driver's license)
I travel independently, without a travel agency, in the backpacker way; the only times I've used an agency were for places you simply can't visit on your own, like Tibet.
Being able to work remotely from any country means I can stay places far longer than a typical vacation allows, so I'm not writing from the perspective of a quick getaway but of a stay that's a complete experience. I live in Airbnbs, I live alongside locals, I move at a slower pace.
I write about the logistics of travel and my real experiences, not dressed up for clicks. No vlogs, no hollow influencer content.
"Office" in Ometepe, Nicaragua.
How to find a destination on a travel blog (guides, budgets, transport)
I've got over 1,100 articles and have visited 115 countries, so there's plenty to dig into. Where to start:
the navigation menu at the very top is organized by continent and country, for easier browsing
articles are also grouped by interest: UNESCO, mountains, beaches, castles, travel budgets, remote work, books, traveling solo, interviews, accidents
I have nearly 40 articles on travel budgets alone, covering what it actually cost me to spend a month in Costa Rica, Colombia, and other countries. If independent travel without an agency is your thing, that's where to look.
Accommodation in Sigiriya, Sri Lanka, in a garden full of peacocks.
Some standout articles
My specialty, in a way, is Latin America, where I've done two long trips: in 2021 (a full year) and 2023 (five months). I've visited every country there except Venezuela, Suriname, and Guyana (which I'm planning to check off in 2026).
South America
Central America
Caribbean
I have an article on the most beautiful tropical islands in the world, which I update regularly. And if mountains are your thing, I've done Pamir Highway in 2024, Salkantay Trek and Torres del Paine in 2021.
Saona Island, Dominican Republic, the year everyone else stayed home because of the pandemic.
What sets me apart (solo travel, 115 countries, unusual routes)
I travel solo, mostly because it gives me freedom of movement and I can adapt fast when plans change. In Romania, not many people can take off for months at a time; it's a small but growing community, since remote work isn't all that common or even desired by everyone.
Beyond that, I have a personal preference for long or unusual routes: a trip through Russia and the Baltic States, a circuit through the Balkans, a journey through Turkey and the Caucasus.
Probably my most well-known trip is the year I spent in Latin America, right in the middle of the pandemic, which I also wrote a book about.
Myths
"You need to travel with someone"
No, you don't need someone to travel with or depend on others to make it happen. If you want to travel, you don't have to keep conditioning yourself on other people's vacation plans or their last-minute cancellations. Unless that's genuinely what you want.
If you made travel plans with a friend and she backs out at the last second and you cry about your ruined summer... that's the situation you built for yourself.
That's actually how I started traveling solo: I got tired of other people's promises and stopped waiting. Traveling isn't hard. The hard part is working up the courage.
Barichara, Colombia, the country of sicarios and good coffee.
"Women can't travel everywhere"
As a woman, you can travel anywhere you want. Safety precautions are necessary in every country, whether you're a man or a woman, but there are no destinations off-limits to women. Nobody's stopping you at the border, and criminals aren't lurking around every corner.
To repeat: travel requires attention, but also a level of confidence in yourself that not everyone has. It's normal to be scared, but that fear is a personal feeling that isn't correlated with any concrete reality in a country you've never been to. You're afraid of what you're imagining, because it's "far away," and you're not afraid back home because it's familiar.
For those who want to travel alone, I'd recommend starting with more familiar places (Europe) and working your way gradually toward places considered "dangerous" or very different. If you don't feel comfortable going somewhere, don't go.
In Khiva, Uzbekistan, two or three days before a serious car accident.
"You need a lot of money to travel"
With independent travel you can adjust your budget to fit your wallet and the cost of living in each country. Yes, you need money to travel, but how much depends entirely on you. In some countries I rent a small apartment just for me; in others I stay in a hostel. That's life on the road.
The cheapest hotel in San Marcos la Laguna, Atitlán, Guatemala, had this view.
"In country X you can't travel without a rental car"
There's no such thing as "in country X you can't travel without a rental car." Transport options can always be combined. I've gotten around using public transit plus taxis plus walking, and in very rare cases I've booked a day trip or a three-day tour (like in Namibia).
You just need to put a little thought into what combinations work on the ground, and there are plenty of platforms to help: from Rome2Rio to ChatGPT.
Bus + hiking + walking to see Sete Cidades in the Azores, on my birthday.
"Risky lucky traveller"
I sometimes call myself, half-jokingly, a "risky lucky traveller," and this is, among other things, an adventure travel blog — though the adventures here are documented, not curated. For the past five years, that's been my life.
I have a very high tolerance for risk, which means I'm comfortable in new situations, new places, with new people, in difficult conditions. With the travel experience I've accumulated, I've become highly adaptable and can adjust quickly to whatever new situation I'm thrown into.
Like in 2024, when I was denied boarding to India while at the end of my Sri Lanka visa, and had to put together a completely different travel plan in a matter of hours, at night, at the airport in Colombo. Or when, boarding a train out of Tajikistan, I found out they wouldn't let me leave the country — I had one hour, until the train left, to sort it out with border guards who spoke Russian while I spoke English.
Instead of the planned Kerala, India, I ended up in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Accidents happen
Because I'm a risky traveller, I've already been in a few accidents far from home:
in 2022 I was in a serious car accident in Tashkent, one I barely survived, and spent 25 days in hospitals there
in 2024 I was in another car accident in Kyrgyzstan, involving a minibus and two semi-trucks (cinematic scene, but nobody was hurt)
in 2025 I broke my leg in Hawaii, in the water, on a quiet beach (I had to fly back to Romania for surgery and an implant)
Trips can end like this too. Hawaii, accident with a wave.
So you might be wondering: why keep doing all of this? Because it's a fantastic way to live. You get a life that feels like an adventure out of a Jules Verne novel, except it's all real, and the experiences you have, the places you see, the people you meet are worth every risk.
Travel is a life experience. Take from it what you need, learn from my experience if you can, and live without fear. The world is very big or very small, depending on how you look at it.
