HindlesWorld

Travel | Explore | Adventure

HindlesWorld - Blogging Luxury DIY Tailor-Made Adventures

I’m Blogging about Luxury DIY Tailor-Made Adventures for unforgettable trips. Here is THE place for Tailor-Made Adventures, DIY Luxury Travel, and Destination Travel Planning. In short, it’s your go-to destination for Travel, Exploration, and Adventure!

What do we mean by Tailor-Made?

For me, it’s about creating your own journeys of discovery, to places you may not even have heard of. Then, it’s about being bold enough to book everything yourself.

This is the ultimate Do-It-Yourself Travel opportunity. All the tools you need to create your own tailor-made adventure are out there to help you. However, you might need some guidance as to how to pull off the next big bespoke holiday.

One thing is for sure: you certainly don’t need an expensive intermediary to help you book it.

I was shocked just the other evening, having dinner with a group of well-travelled friends, who are planning a safari adventure themselves, but are only considering the travel options using one of the big agencies. They could go for a longer holiday, or just spend less money, by devoting a little more resource into the possibilities of DIY travel.

I know you could get the same (or better) experience (still using local guides at the game parks), but working out the logistics yourself. And that could make the whole adventure even more thrilling.

In these pages, I will guide you through the process to explore new destinations and create the adventures you’ve only seen others do. We’ve toured Southeast Asia extensively, including The Philippines, and Costa Rica in Central America, so have the experience and knowledge to help you.

About HindlesWorld

Hi, I’m Jez, the creative force behind HindlesWorld. I’m here to inspire you to Travel | Explore | Adventure! My passion lies in crafting Tailor-Made Adventures that transform ordinary holidays into extraordinary journeys. With a love for DIY travel planning, photography, and gadgets like drones and action cameras, I’ve spent the last decade exploring Central America and Southeast Asia, helping fellow travellers create unforgettable memories without breaking the bank.

I spent much of my working life visiting countries from Belize to Australia and back. I was fortunate enough to meet some wonderful people along the way. I’ve stayed in some of the best hotels in the world. And that creates a desire to revisit those places now I’m no longer working. But it’s hard NOT to want to stay in 5* luxury, once you’ve spent your life experiencing the quality these places offer.

The challenge though is now it’s MY budget, not someone else’s. But there are ways you can still do it.

Why HindlesWorld?

At HindlesWorld, you’ll discover:

DIY Travel Itineraries: Step-by-step guides for affordable, luxury-like, tailor-made adventures in destinations like Bali, Costa Rica, the Philippines and Thailand.
Transformative Travel: Stories and visuals that inspire emotional growth through travel.
Holiday Cost of Enjoyment Index: A unique scoring system that evaluates trips for value, enjoyment, and experiences.

Test my free tool on your last hotel you stayed in! Did it really meet or exceed your expectations?

Identifying which hotel or boarding option aligns best with your budget before you travel could save you money and improve the chances of coming home more relaxed and satisfied.

What can you expect?

Free Travel Guides!

What else can you find?

On these pages, you’ll find:

Reviews of destinations and accommodation
Practical guides for DIY luxury travel adventures
Tailor-Made itineraries for hidden gems in Southeast Asia, Europe and beyond

Whether you’re planning a short break in Europe or an extended trip to Southeast Asia, HindlesWorld can equip you with the tools and inspiration to Travel | Explore | Adventure!

Blogs on Do-It-Yourself Travel

The Ultimate Boat Trip Expedition in the Philippines

28 March 2025

Traveling in the Philippines, you quickly realize boats are essential for exploring its 7,650 islands. When deciding how to get from Coron to El Nido, we opted for a four-day slow boat expedition with Big Dream Boatman. This unforgettable adventure included snorkeling in marine parks, sleeping on deserted islands, and bonding with fellow travelers. The crew’s care, the stunning scenery, and the thrill of island-hopping made it the highlight of our trip. Though not a luxury experience, it was an incredible way to see remote parts of Palawan while embracing nature and adventure. Would you take the slow boat route?

Rice terraces while hiking in Sapa Vietnam

Hiking in Vietnam – the Good, the Harsh…and the Frightening!

24 March 2025

Planning our trip to Asia was an incredible adventure, mostly self-guided, but for northern Vietnam, we found a package that included Halong Bay & Sapa. From a night train from Hanoi to expertly guided hikes, we had a seamless experience. Having a guide enriched our journey providing deep knowledge of the region. The CHAPA Express train to Lào Cai offered a surprisingly comfortable ride, setting the stage for our Sapa adventure. With its mix of mountain charm and vibrant markets, Sapa felt like a blend of Kathmandu and an alpine village—an unforgettable highlight of our Vietnamese travels.

The Best Self-Drive Tour of Costa Rica

1 March 2025

Costa Rica’s rainforests, volcanoes, and pristine beaches make it an adventurer’s paradise. As one of the world’s most biodiverse countries, it’s perfect for a self-drive tour. I crafted a 2-week road trip to avoid crowds, maximize unique experiences, and see sloths, toucans, and all four monkey species—plus explore cloud forests, hanging bridges, and stunning beaches.

Coron to El Nido Expedition Travel in Philippines

14-Day Philippines Travel Itinerary

16 January 2025

Discover HindlesWorld for inspiring travel adventures! Get your FREE 14-Day Philippines Itinerary Travel Guide and explore the Central Philippines beyond the big cities.

✔️ Wander through Bohol & Panglao
✔️ Experience the magic of Siquijor
✔️ Explore Coron & Busuanga before an epic 4D3N island-hopping tour with Big Dream Boatman to El Nido
✔️ Relax on Darocoton Island at Dryft Camp

Plan your dream escape—download your free guide now!

Luxury Halong Bay Cruise

7 January 2025

Hạ Long Bay had always been a dream destination for us, but we feared overcrowding and pollution. To ensure a serene experience, we chose a luxury cruise through Bai Tu Long Bay, spending two nights immersed in its beauty. From kayaking past towering limestone formations to dining in a candlelit cave, every moment felt surreal. Our journey began with a seamless transfer from Hanoi, leading to a tranquil voyage with stunning landscapes, delicious cuisine, and unforgettable adventures on the emerald waters.

Holiday Cost of Enjoyment Index

20 December 2024

Are you torn between an All Inclusive Resort and a Half-Board option? Wondering how to rank your past holidays to find the best value for your next getaway? Introducing HindlesWorld\’s Holiday “Cost of Enjoyment” Index! This innovative tool allows you to compare accommodations, activities, and costs, helping you discover the perfect balance between what you want and what you get. With categories like Accommodation, Activities, and Food & Beverages, you can easily score and rank your options. Dive into our comprehensive guide and unlock the secrets to maximizing your holiday enjoyment!

Why I Write a Travel Blog?

I’ve always been passionate about adventure. Having retired from full-time work, I now combine my love for gadgets, travel, and photography to blog about DIY Luxury Travel. With 10+ years of experience crafting bespoke itineraries, following 30 years of business travel, I aim to make your travel planning easier and more affordable.

From frosty mornings in Europe to tropical escapes in Costa Rica, my adventures have taught me that travel is transformative—it inspires, connects, and creates lasting memories. My goal is to share these experiences with you, offering practical advice, inspiring stories, and insider tips.

Explore DIY Travel Adventures

Despite not knowing my SEOs from my CEOs, I have rebuilt my old website and am spending constructive time learning and understanding more about keyphrases, slugs, meta descriptions and the like. There’s a huge amount to learn, but with incredible [and free] content to be found online, be it YouTube or other bloggers websites, it’s been a fun learning curve. I love writing, and often I find I communicate far better on paper than with voice.

The good news is that I have LOADS of content that I’ve captured from my recent and past travels.

Consequently, I plan on publishing a series on Tailor-Made DIY Luxury Travel Adventures covering:

Costa Rica Road Trip: A self-drive guide through lush rainforests and pristine beaches. NEW THREE PART SERIES ON YouTube!
Philippines Exploration: Tips for discovering hidden islands while avoiding major tourist traps.
Thailand’s Hidden Corners: From Koh Mak to Chiang Rai, explore the unbeaten paths.
Vietnam North to South: A journey through diverse landscapes and vibrant cultures.

Why DIY Travel?

DIY Luxury Travel is about more than just booking a trip—it’s about creating unique, personalised experiences.

We tried using some of the specialist travel planners (for example, Abercrombie & Kent, Audley Travel, Trailfinders and even KimKim) for tailor-made adventures in Sri Lanka, South East Asia and Costa Rica.

I think the services they all provide are incredible with some brilliant self-drive or accompanied offerings and wonderful tour options. But – and it’s a big but – they are eye-wateringly expensive!

With tools like Skyscanner, Viator, and Rome2Rio, you can:

Design itineraries tailored to your preferences.
Save money by booking accommodations and tours directly.
Enjoy the flexibility to explore at your own pace.

Consequently, we decided to explore new destinations ourselves and booked everything, including transfers and outings online. It’s amazing how apps like Viator and GetYourGuide make it easy to discover destinations, compare itineraries, see the top attractions and book tours.

If the idea of planning seems daunting, don’t worry. I’ll guide you through the process step by step, so you can travel confidently and affordably.

Why I travel?

I get bored and itchy feet pretty quickly. My wife says I work on 20-minute cycles. It’s true and I probably have a form of undiagnosed ADHD. Difficulty focusing. Disorganisation. Impulsivity. Restlessness. Forgetfulness. Crickey, I’ve just Googled it and that’s very much how I’ve become.

But my urge to travel is more deep-seated than that. After Uni, I quickly got sucked into the working world. Before long, with a young child, I was offered a job overseas. Our adventure began and we lived the transient life of renters for the next 15-or-so years.

As part of my job, I visited clients literally across six continents. I was lucky enough to stay in fine hotels and meet some amazing people. But business travel in the 90’s and 00’s wasn’t quite what it is today. When you spent more on hotel telephone costs than the room rate! Or spent hours trying to get a 14.4 kilobits per second (kbps) dial-up modem to connect (having discovered email).

What is DIY Luxury Travel?

Scared of booking without a travel agent or tour operator? I used to be too.

Perhaps you are more familiar with “tailor-made travel” or bespoke travel itineraries than Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Luxury Travel Adventures. For most people this involves working with the type of agent mentioned above. There are a huge number of reasons why this makes sense. Logistics is the big one. Not speaking the language is another. However, with the abundance of tools available online, it is much easier than you think to book hotels yourself and make all the arrangements, including tours, yourself.

DIY Travel is more than just booking a hotel

OK, so you’re familiar with booking a night or weekend away and use an app or book directly with a hotel. There are now SO MANY apps and numerous travel booking websites: Agoda, Booking.com, Expedia, Hotels.com and that’s before even looking at Airbnb and airline or hotel specific websites.

Self-Guided or DIY Travel takes this a step further as you start to build a complete travel itinerary. When you start adventuring further afield or to places you’ve not been before, it starts to get a little bit intimidating. Sure, book a hotel – but how do you get there from the airport? What about a self-guided trip? Do you really need to rely on the tour operator to book the transportation or figure out the best things to do?

Self-Guided / Tailor-Made Travel

We have now completed some amazing adventures in Europe, Asia and now Costa Rica, and getting to grips with how to do it requires some additional tools.

Have you tried Kayak, Skyscanner, CozyCozy, 12Go.com or Rome2Rio? Now we’re starting to get into HOW you build a complete tailor-made travel adventure. Having now created multiple self-planned travel adventures, I feel confident to travel to any destination in the world. And wild as it sounds, some of the best tips and destinations we’ve discovered by searching on TikTok!

Self-Travel or DIY Travel takes this a step further as you start to build a complete travel itinerary. When you start adventuring further afield or to places you’ve not been before, it starts to get a little bit intimidating. Sure, book a hotel – but how do you get there from the airport?

What can you learn?

Explore HindlesWorld for inspiring DIY travel adventures, where you will learn how to build transformative journeys yourself. Discover tips, stories, and ideas to enhance your journeys and creative pursuits.

Hopefully, you’ll enjoy me blogging about Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Luxury Travel & Exploration Adventures and will subscribe to get notifications when there’s new stuff to read!

The Impact of Travel

At HindlesWorld, we’re mindful of the impact of tourism on local communities and ecosystems. Over-tourism has taken a toll on iconic destinations like Santorini and Barcelona. My blog emphasizes sustainable travel practices, encouraging readers to:

Support local businesses.
Respect cultural and environmental norms.
Explore lesser-known destinations to reduce overcrowding.

Together, we can make travel a force for good.

It really shakes me that so many [especially younger] people either follow or want to be an “influencer”, while taking the same clichéd snap from different angles. It’s not that I hate the posing, (well I do, but that’s another blog!). It’s just that the mindless lemming-like thoughtlessness that mass tourism brings, is ruining the beauty of things that we treasure so much.

Indeed, how many times have iconic places become ruined due to the obsession with trying to capture a potentially viral photo to post on Instagram? Undeniably, places like Santorini have a chronic “over-tourism” problem. Over 3 million visited an island of 15,000 inhabitants in 2023. We have all seen protests in Spain, including the Canary Islands, from locals who understandably are irate that their home has been spoilt.

Did Smartphones ruin it?

As the world gets more connected (through ease of access and through digital sharing), why shouldn’t everyone desire to experience the places they have been consuming on their smartphones? I agree. But, equally we should try and adopt some community rules and think about not just the impact we are having on people but what this means for the environment and eco-systems too.

So, I will blog about that too.

Below you can see my Instagram feed, where I show reels on Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Luxury Travel & Exploration Adventures

Learn More About HindlesWorld

Come fly with us?

So where next for HindlesWorld?

Upcoming Tours & Destinations

I’m very excited that in the next 6 months we will be making our first trip to the Philippines, for a three week tour around Bohol, Coron and El Nido.

After that, it’s back to Thailand to discover some new islands (including Koh Mak and Koh Kood), before venturing back to Chiang Mai to spend time in the jungle at an elephant eco-sanctuary.