In 2012 we decided to make a huge life change and left London on a one-way ticket...

We're Cat Smith and Joe Bird, originally from the UK but currently living in Australia.

We both caught the travel bug on solo trips in 2003 and have been hopelessly addicted ever since. We used to talk about travelling the world together, and in 2012 we finally made that happen.

After buying a one way ticket to Istanbul we spent a year making our way through Asia before arriving in Australia, where we lived for five years saving up for our next adventure. We spent 2018 and 2019 hiking our way through the US, Canada, New Zealand, Taiwan and the Middle East, before arriving back in Sydney to get our Aussie citizenship. We're now fully fledged citizens and exploring lots more of this beautiful country, particularly in the Sydney area, where we're now living.

You'll most likely find us out on the hiking tracks or planning our next adventure over a large flat white. When the borders re-open we'll be ready for it!

Hi! I’m Cat.

Travel fanatic since 2004 and the one who is always planning the next trip.

I became hooked on travel during my gap year in New Zealand many years ago, and I've never 'grown out of it' as many people kept telling me I would. 

I'm happiest in the outdoors which has led me to spend a lot of time in the US, Canada, and New Zealand lately, but my first love was travelling a little off the beaten track. I might have been the only one who walked into the office and announced I'd booked my next holidays to Bangladesh and Venezuela! 

I’m the planner of the two of us and have been known to go as far as translating articles from Hebrew to English in order to find some hidden gems for our Israel guides. 

I wanted to create a website for people like me – those who love independent travel and want to see the main sites but also find the local secrets. We launched Walk My World to share all our tips based on first hand knowledge to make it easier for you to plan that a trip of a lifetime.

I love nothing more than talking about all things travel so feel free to drop me an e-mail anytime!

Hi I’m Joe!

Like Cat I’ve been a travel fanatic since 2004 when I went on a solo-trip to Australia, New Zealand and New York. This changed my life and had me hooked on seeing the world from the age of 19.

I’m the guy who doesn’t like to be in the photos and is much more comfortable behind the camera. My love of photography started on a trip to Borneo when I found myself with a terrible digital camera, surrounded by people with professional gear at Sepilok – an orangutan sanctuary. From then I vowed to never let that happen again and have worked on improving my photos ever since.

I love nothing more than culture shock, and it’s the reason why countries like India and Nepal are my favourites in the world – it also helps that they make the best food as well. I love seeing iconic wildlife and achieving steep hikes to iconic mountain tops.

I wanted to create Walk My World with Cat to help people like me achieve the kinds of experiences you thought were only reserved for Bear Grylls. I have always been a conservative person when it comes to believing that you can emigrate across the world, live a unique lifestyle and get off the beaten track to have once-in-a-lifetime moments. In the last few years, I’ve realised that this is something most people can do with planning and a little work.

I wanted Walk My World to show you that you don’t have to be a wild adventurer to have experiences that will change your life.

Travel stories