We love the challenge of a really off-beat, unusual destination. One where there are no crowds, no queues, no Insta-ready sites – and often not a lot in the way of resources for intrepid independent travelers. 

Obvious exceptions like Turkmenistan or Bhutan aside, we travel on our own, sorting out the details as we go. Which works most of the time. Story, guide, or trip-report-hybrid, I write about what really happens to us as a direct result of this kind of independent travel. What we do, the people we meet, and everything else that rolls up together to make a great trip (…or not. But mostly great).

Since we travel by road (or rail, or sea) most of the time, there’s a lot of exactly that here – getting around on local transport in one form or another. And for some of our best self-driving adventures, I’ve laid out our itineraries and how to plan a similar road trip for yourself.

And, this type of travel inevitably involves more than a few border-crossings. So you’ll find plenty of posts explaining the ins-and-outs of some of the more complicated borders we’ve come across.

So here we are, sharing our experiences and things we’ve learned along the way, hoping it will help out other curious travelers. The countries I’ve written about are grouped by region below.