About
Mt Aoraki, New Zealand © Travel Unpacked
Written by Christopher Jubb, Founder of Travel Unpacked
Welcome to Travel Unpacked.
The Story Of Travel Unpacked
One of my favourite parts of travelling is actually the part when you get home and get excited about deciding where to go next. Planning a new trip can be just as fun as going on it, imagining and day dreaming about an incredible journey you hope to take. I always find it tiring though, searching a dozen websites to get hold of all the information I want on a destination. It’s free, but it takes so long and you’re still not sure you’ve got a full picture of the place.
I still do it though, because I absolutely love travelling. Over the years I have racked up a healthy list of countries and journeys - from trekking in Nepal, to a safari in Kenya, backpacking through Asia, and driving Route 66 - and I always research it in detail to make sure I don’t miss out. I have never found an online resource that I can rely on to give me everything I need though.
This is why I created Travel Unpacked. It’s a place to put all the knowledge I have, backed up with plenty of research, and put it down in a way that is easy to understand but also comprehensive. It’s basically exactly what myself, a seasoned traveller, would want to find if I were randomly Googling for information, and for it to be a better option than what currently exists.
Why the name, 'Travel Unpacked'?
It is for two reasons. The first is that it signifies the way in which all the information you need about travel is "unpacked" for you, just like a well laid out collection of all your travel gear you put together before you neatly pack it into a suitcase or a backpack.
The second is because of that time, when you get home and unpack from a fantastic trip and start thinking about the next one, ready to plan another incredible journey.
About Me
I'm a traveller, just like you. I am from England originally, but I have since left, drawn by the desire for adventure. After many years of taking trips once or twice per year, at 28, I quit my job, sold everything, and left for good. I travelled for two full years, across Asia and around Australia, before finally settling in Melbourne. I'm now an Australian citizen and it’s from here that I write these guides to help others on their journeys.
My travelling days are not behind me though. I have plans to go again, once the world opens up, with ambitions to do another grand adventure, this time aiming to travel overland from Melbourne to the UK without flying at all. If time and money permit, I may go even further and travel “across the world”, all the way down to the southern tip of South America.
Am I a travel expert? It’s hard to say as I’m not sure anyone really knows what that is. A Google search certainly couldn’t give me a definitive answer. But I have of course travelled an awful lot and have been to every destination included in this website at least once, but often several times. Conversely, I am just a person on the internet who knows how to set up a website, so you can be forgiven for being sceptical. I can say however that I provide this information with sincerity and a deep desire to ensure it is accurate.
I always get asked by my friends and family about destinations when they want to go travelling and I always collect information wherever I go. So that’s what I present here - this is everything I would tell my friends and my family if they were to ask me about a destination, attempting to put answers to any questions they could have, all down within the guide, readily accessible and easy to understand.
I hope you find it helpful too.
Chris in professional mode
Chris in adventure mode, trekking the Annapurna circuit in Nepal
The Travel Unpacked Mission
Our mission is to create a comprehensive, independent, free, and easy to use travel guide to everywhere in the world.
We want a travel guide that any traveling newbie can drop into and easily use to efficiently find all the details they could need to decide where to go and what to do on their adventures around the world.
If it's just taking a quick glance at what a place has to offer, or making a detailed personal itinerary, we want to be the only website needed, delivering the online travel guide that is the "go to" site whenever someone is exploring which destination to visit next.
We love encouraging everyone to travel, no matter who they are and what they like to do, so we aim our guides at the average tourist, where going to a theme park is just as likely as going to an art gallery, so that everyone is free to use it to make their own plans, for their own journey.
Sustainability is something we aim to include whenever we can, so as to encourage all to consider their environmental footprint wherever their travels may take them. See our 'How to travel sustainably' guide to get learning.
About Our Guides
The ‘things to do’ list within our guides are ordered generally based on popularity, with the the most common things to do at the top and the most obscure or infrequently visited at the bottom. The order is our opinion only and based on extensive knowledge and research on the particular location.
This is only intended to be a rough order though, since everyone is different, hence why they are not numbered. This way, you can judge for yourself what is important for you to experience and what is not, and gives you the freedom to personalise your trip however you see fit.
The guides themselves have all been created independently. We do not accept any form of "support" to boost the rank of any 'thing to do'.
Affiliate Links
This site is supported financially by affiliate links. This means that, should you click on a link to a hotel or airlines website, for example, and make a booking, we receive a small commission. The price that you pay is not affected by this commission, which comes from the business itself.
"The affiliate links I have chosen to display on this website are not based on what is most financially beneficial. The choice is seen as a recommendation. I display these sites because I have used them myself over many years and I have found them to be reliable, easy to use, and cost effective, when compared to other sites. You are of course free to use these links or not. If you do use them, I appreciate your support of Travel Unpacked."
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Acknowledgement of Country
Travel Unpacked acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land where this guide was created, the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation and pay our respects to Elders past and present.
We also acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land across Australia, especially those areas that our travel guides cover.
We celebrate the stories, culture and traditions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders of all communities who also work and live on this land.
Destination guides
