A Founder’s Little Black Book Of Travel
A great early travel memory was going to Egypt at the age of eight. I was in the depths of this ancient Egypt phase and I felt transported to a completely different world. It felt so vast and full of mystery. Experiencing that at a young age made me think, what else is out there?
I’ve been back as an adult and Egypt’s history is just astounding. In Giza, definitely visit the Grand Egyptian Museum that opened last November – it’s where King Tut's gold mask is on display. When picking a hotel, optimise for the best view of the pyramids. The Marriott Mena House in Giza ticks that box, and has old-world charm to it as well.
Leaving from Cairo are the most amazing cruises up and down the Nile. You’re surrounded by palm trees, crocodiles and sandbanks. I’m getting goosebumps just thinking about it. And then you have all the luxuries: sunbeds on the top, very generous bars, belly dancing at night, and other fun stuff.
Outside of Cairo, visit Karnak Temple in Luxor. The Great Hypostyle Hall has 134 columns, the tallest over 20 metres high. It’s a city in terms of size and you can’t even put your arms around them, they’re as thick as Californian redwoods, but with hieroglyphics on them.
I always put AirTags in my hold luggage. I had a horror story in 2022. I'm a type 1 diabetic, but I'd never really lost a bag, so I just packed all my medication stuff in my hold bag. When I arrived in Athens, my luggage didn’t. I only had two days’ worth of supplies in my hand luggage. It was a very stressful couple of days. At least with AirTags you can see where your luggage is, show the relevant people and track it down more easily.
Always pack earplugs and a nice eye mask. This is a function of spending a healthy amount of time in hostels and camping at music festivals. When travelling, especially in Airbnbs, you’re rolling the dice. Some of the blinds may as well not be there, or sometimes you’re sleeping right next to a tree with a very loud bird family. Being sleep deprived is common on holiday, but you don't want to be sleep deprived for an avoidable reason.
Coachella feels like you're at the bleeding edge of the attention economy. It’s like going to a pop culture expo. Some people would have a bit of an allergic reaction to that, but the performances are unreal. The stage design and the effort that's put into that is really cool.
Strawberry Fields in Australia is my favourite festival in the world. I actually hope it doesn't get too much bigger. It's out in the middle of the bush on the biggest river in Australia, the Murray, and you're under all of these eucalyptus trees. People bathe in the river and it's the perfect size – only around 15,000 people go. Everyone is so friendly because it's hours outside the cities, so it's an effort to get there, and that gives it a good vibe.
Ho Chi Minh City is the food capital of the world for me. All of the food stalls and little restaurants are insane. We went to a Michelin-starred place, but you can get as tasty food at the street stalls for a hundredth of the price. It's really a place you can go anywhere, just point at anything, and it'll be so good. Everyone queues for the crab at Thúy 94 Cũ on Đinh Tiên Hoàng, Phở Hòa Pasteur for pho, and Bánh Xèo 46A for crispy Vietnamese pancakes. I also had maybe the best pizza of my life at Pizza Belga.
One luxury I appreciate now is a nice hotel. It's taken me a while to realise that. It enhances everything because it means you're well rested, and can just come back at the end of a day and properly recharge. You don't burn out as quickly on a trip if you know you have an oasis to come back to.
One of the most memorable hotels I’ve been to is Mandarin Oriental Old Cataract, Aswan. Agatha Christie apparently stayed there when she wrote Death on the Nile. It's the physical manifestation of old-world charm. Shinta Mani Wild in Cambodia is like if Indiana Jones designed an ultra-luxury hotel. You even arrive by zip line. Villa Palladio in Jaipur is the most visually striking hotel on earth, and I don't think there's anything comparable. It's only nine rooms and almost everything is red, apparently inspired by the robes of cardinals in Rome.
The idea behind Mio comes from social media being an excellent inspirer and terrible organiser. My co-founder Kevin and I realised that about a year ago. We were both working corporate jobs that were paying the bills, but not much more than that. Some of the most meaningful things we've both had in our lives came from travel. We were looking at social media and realised there's no link between how people are discovering where to go and real world action. Mio is very simple. You see something cool on your feed, you send it to the app. It will put it on a map for you, which you can take out whenever you want to see all your saved videos from Instagram, TikTok, Google Maps, wherever, all in the one spot. We've now got over 10 million places saved in the app from tens of thousands of travellers, mostly in their 20s.
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