INTO THE WILD UNKNOWN
Solo adventure traveller, photographer & writer
I’m Rita, a Portuguese solo traveller and landscape photographer. I write practical, experience-based guides for independent travel in Pakistan, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and beyond – places most travel blogs don’t cover.
5+
months in Pakistan
50+
countries
€30
daily budget
100%
independent travel
My story
I didn’t set out to become a long-term traveller. I quit my master’s degree, volunteered at a hostel in Prague, drifted to London, and ended up in Switzerland during the pandemic, where I discovered wild camping and multi-day hikes in the Alps. That lit a spark.
In 2022, I started what was supposed to be a short trip through Turkey, Georgia, and Central Asia. But the road pulled me in.
Since then, I’ve been slowly exploring the misunderstood corners of the world: hitchhiking through the Omani desert, camping in Kyrgyz valleys, sharing stories in remote villages in Pakistan. I travel solo, on a tight budget, using public transport, staying in local homestays, and doing temp jobs when I run out of money.
I’d been drawn to remote, raw landscapes long before I thought about writing any of this down. What I didn’t expect was how hard those places are to plan for. Practical information barely exists, and what little there is tends to be written by men, by couples, or for much bigger budgets. So I started writing it myself, the version I wish I’d had before I went.
What Destinations I Cover in Into the Wild Unknown
Into the Wild Unknown is practical, experience-based guides for places most travel content skips and other corners that don’t make it onto “hidden gem” lists. Everything here comes from places I’ve actually been: how to get there, what it costs, what to truly expect, and other bits nobody else mentions.
South Asia
Pakistan: Hunza, KKH, Gilgit Baltistan
Central Asia
Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan
Southeast Asia
Indonesia: Sulawesi island
Middle East
Turkey, Oman
Caucasus
Georgia, Armenia
Africa
Egypt
Planning a trip to Pakistan or Central Asia?
I offer Pakistan trip planning, solo travel consultations, photo licensing, and brand collaborations.
On Travelling Solo as a Woman
The question I get asked most is what it’s really like to travel alone as a woman in places people assume are remote, conservative, or risky. The honest answer: it’s rarely the danger people imagine.
Being a woman comes with extra friction everywhere, that’s true at home too. But in Central Asia, the Middle East, and the Caucasus, I’ve more often been met with extra care than extra risk: rides offered, the best seat on the bus insisted on, people walking me to where I need to go.
There’s also a side of these places most male travellers never see. I get invited into kitchens, sit with grandmothers, and end up chatting with local women while cooking dinner.
If I’m honest, the moments I’ve actually felt unsafe have mostly been in European cities, not in Bishkek, Tbilisi, or Hunza Valley, where I’ve spent months without a second thought.
If you’re a woman who wants to travel this way but feels nervous about it: start somewhere that stretches you without overwhelming you. Georgia, Armenia, Turkey, and Oman are all good first steps. Confidence comes from doing it, not from waiting until you feel ready.
CAPTURING THE REMOTE
A visual journey through the world’s most isolated and beautiful corners.
A Note to You, the Reader
If you’ve made it this far, thank you – truly. This blog is a piece of my heart. I created Into the Wild Unknown to share the kind of travel stories and guides I desperately searched for when I first set out: honest, detailed, and from the perspective of a solo female traveller who doesn’t take the easy road.
I know how intimidating it can feel to venture into the unknown, especially when you’re doing it alone. But I also know how deeply rewarding it is to travel this way. To make genuine connections, to challenge yourself, and to see places that most people will never even think to look for on a map.
I hope what you find here gives you the confidence to step a little further off the beaten track, to question what you’ve been told about certain places, and to discover the beauty that lies in the unfamiliar. Trust me, the world is far kinder than they make it out to be.
See you somewhere wild.
– Rita