Hi there! I’m Vanessa, the creator, and photographer behind Wanders Miles. Currently living in the UK, and always looking for my next adventure.
I took my first backpacking trip around Turkey in my uni days whilst studying for a textile design degree at Glasgow School of Art. The excitement of discovering the unknown such as Cappadocia (before the hot air balloons and fancy hotels were a thing) and Olympus was immense. I was now the proud owner of a travel bug, one I haven’t been able to shake off since!
I moved to London where I studied for a Digital Marketing Masters whilst working in the city and heading off on adventures backpacking in Brazil, Argentina, Southern India, the Philippines, and Guatemala.
It was time to escape the ‘Big Smoke’ in 2015 and headed for Dubai in search of a new life and, of course, the everlasting sunshine. The beauty of the UAE is I was so much closer to many more exciting destinations to feed my yearning to travel.
I lived in Dubai for 5 and a half years and travelled to additional 27 countries across Africa, Central Asia, East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. Not only that, I finally lived out my dream of making it to the 7th continent of Antarctica.
Amidst the pandemic, I returned to the UK and looked forward to exploring the rolling hills and extreme weather of my home country from the wilds of the Lake District to the Jurassic Coast in the south.
My 2022 started in Mexico and I travelled through Central America to Colombia for 5 months exploring diverse landscapes from the hostile desert of La Guajira to the lush jungles in Nicaragua and the Amazon. I fell in love with the wild animals in the national parks of Costa Rica and immersed myself in indigenous cultures with a homestay in Panama’s Darién Province. Another trip of a lifetime!
My ultimate heaven is finding destinations off the beaten track whether it’s up a mountain or immersing myself responsibly in the local culture. My goal is to provide responsible travel solutions to sustainably-minded globe-trotters interested in nature and wildlife. I hope to share my experiences along the way to inspire people to discover what our beautiful world has to offer.