Duncan pulling a face and making a rock-on sign above a sea of clouds at sunrise

I know what it’s like to want more from travel

23 countries travelled · 19 new countries in the last 18 months · 3 adventures hosted · 2 years travelling full time

A group posing in a shop doorway at night, a boy on one man’s shoulders

Travellers celebrating with drinks around a table at night

A group of travellers posing at sunrise with mountains behind

Backstory

There was a point where I wasn’t in a good place. I spent most of my time smoking weed and playing video games, and I was living out of my car.

Then I booked a 12-day trip through the Australian outback with people I’d never met. That trip shifted my perspective, and I found a love for life again.

I went on to study outdoor education, camping during the week and working weekends. Near the end of the course, I fell off a cliff. After that setback I worked two jobs—sometimes around 70 hours a week—and eventually booked a one-way flight.

The silhouette of a man against an orange sunset

Travel

I started with eight weeks of backpacking, partying and exploring places I could hardly believe existed. I nearly got attacked by a giant lizard and celebrated Thai New Year—but pretty soon I felt there had to be more to travel than that.

So I went looking for it. I spent six weeks in floating stilt villages, went to local weddings, trained with monks and showered with water pumped from a well. A video I made exposing sex tourism reached more than 12 million views.

Next came three weeks in Japan and seven weeks riding motorbikes around Vietnam. When flooding made Vietnam hard to travel, I went to China, spent three weeks exploring and had my first travel romance.

Back in Indonesia, I went to a boat festival where I was the only foreigner. People treated me like a celebrity, and I got to paramotor over the festival.

I went home to Australia for a moment, wrapped myself up as a present and surprised my best friend for his birthday. Ten days later I was gone again.

India took five months. I hitchhiked more than 6,000 kilometres by tractor, truck, car, bike and bus—2,000 of them with no money, and another 800 with an 80-year-old woman. I rode in the Well of Death, celebrated Holi, and had my phone stolen two hours before leaving.

I made it to the Philippines without a phone and went out to sea to spend five days with Sea Nomads—fishing, swimming and learning about life on the ocean. By then, what I was looking for in travel had changed: the people, the culture, the nature and the adventure in between.

Duncan smiling with a group of children outside a green wooden home.

A selfie with a group of people at night

Two guests holding hands with a third across a rice field, a smoking volcano behind

What travel means to me

For me, travel comes down to four things, and they’re all connected. People help you understand a culture. Culture changes how you see a place. Nature gives you perspective. And adventure puts you in situations that teach you about yourself.

People
The best parts of my travels were the people who welcomed me into their lives—like the 80-year-old woman I travelled 800 kilometres with, and the Sea Nomads who let me share their days at sea.
Culture
Local weddings, training with monks, Holi in India and a boat festival in Indonesia. Being part of those moments changed how I see the places I visit.
Nature
India’s mountains, days out on the ocean, Indonesia’s waterfalls and volcanoes. Nature gives me perspective.
Adventure
Plans fell apart, I travelled with little or no money and I lost my phone—and I kept finding a way forward. Those situations taught me about myself.

A smiling child on Duncan’s shoulders beside wooden village homes.

Three men sitting at a table with food and drinks

A large group of locals and travellers posing together at night

Why I bring people together

After two years travelling full time, I came home with less money than I started with, and I felt lost. I’d spent my first brand deal trying to make content work, lost three thousand US dollars on a project that failed, and my best friend’s mum passed away the day after one of my hosted adventures.

Even then, I’d seen more people smile, been welcomed into so many different lives and come home with stories I wanted to share. I hitchhiked to the centre of Australia and brought 12 strangers together for a 10-day adventure in Indonesia to explore waterfalls and volcanoes. I hired my friend to help run it.

That trip helped me see why I want to host group trips—to bring people together to experience the world, meet each other and make their own stories. I’m still figuring plenty out along the way.