About Tracy and Doug Collins

When I was 7 my Grandmother bought me a pack of 52 cards each with a photograph of a beautiful place around the world on it. My favourites were Table Mountain in Cape Town and the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, USA. Oh, how I wanted to see them for real!

I was lucky enough to stand at the top of Table Mountain 9 years later at the age of 16….it took me another 32 years to stand on the Golden Gate Bridge which I finally did in 2015. That was a pretty good feeling!

I was born in the UK and lived in Newcastle until the age of 13 when we (me, my brother, my Mum and my step-dad) moved to South Africa.

During school holidays I sometimes travelled back to the UK on my own to visit family – I think I was 16 the first time I flew home alone and I really think this made me fearless when it came to the idea of solo travel! (Though not of flying, unfortunately)

Aged 21 after finishing a Bachelor of Arts degree (majoring in both History and Psychology) at a University in South Africa I decided I wanted to see more of the world before thinking about a career and settling down in one place. 

I had planned to travel for a year or so (that was the plan) but it ended up being 7 pretty amazing years.

The difference between Toronto and Gaborone cannot be underestimated and I soon learnt to adapt rather quickly to different environments.

I worked as an au pair, nanny, English teacher and assistant manager of a nursery school and met and worked with some fantastic people I am still in contact with over 30 years later.

I learnt to speak French and to appreciate food (the French really do have the edge on this) and that skiing is a lot harder than it looks. I learnt to fit into different families and cultures and I also learnt that despite 2 winters in the French Alps I had not really felt the cold until I had experienced a Canadian winter!

During work interludes, I also travelled as much as possible visiting countries including Italy, Holland, Hong Kong, Zimbabwe, and Denmark.

In my late 20’s I moved back to the UK where my daughter was born. I qualified as a secondary school teacher and sort of settled down but travel was a major part of our life and every opportunity we travelled.

We explored France, Malta, the UK, South Africa and Botswana together. And we had fun! Those years were different – as a solo parent your priorities change and travel had to fit around school holidays for us both!

And then there was 3! After marrying in my late 30’s the travel continued except now it was me, my daughter and my husband.

We spent summers travelling all over Europe by train – we visited Hungary, Austria, Italy, Czech Republic, France, Switzerland. We visited Majorca, Greece and beautiful Malta …. and fell in love with it.

In my  40’s I continued to travel either solo (London to Zurich by train in a day) with my daughter (her 18th birthday present a trip to NYC) or my husband (a 40th birthday visit to Amsterdam) or on some occasions as a family (Canada/USA/Singapore/Australia).

Train travel continued to feature with longer trips through Italy, Croatia, Switzerland, Germany and the Czech Republic and shorter (though extensive exploration) of the British Isles by rail on a monthly basis.

My daughter is now an adult studying medicine at university, but I achieved my aim of showing her the world. By her 19th birthday, she had been to Europe, Africa, Asia, North America and Australia.

With a new phase of life as “empty nesters” upon us we decided to relocate to Australia.

A fairly huge decision at any stage of life but with 6 countries behind me (and fully prepared for the ups and downs of expat life) we felt the opportunity to live and work in Australia was one we could not miss.

So at the age of 50+ we find ourselves living and working in Queensland!

Over the past eight years, we’ve been fortunate to explore much of the world, including our new home, Australia. We’ve travelled across Queensland, Tasmania, Victoria, New South Wales, Western Australia, South Australia, and the Northern Territory (the ACT is still on our list!). We have also visited our close neighbour, New Zealand (and quite frankly, fell in love!)

Our adventures have taken us throughout Southeast Asia, including Malaysia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, and South Korea and Japan.

We’ve also made several trips to Europe, where we’ve explored the UK extensively and visited countries such as France, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Poland, Hungary, Italy, Germany, and Finland.

In 2024, Tracy spent six weeks travelling through India, and more recently, we both enjoyed discovering the vibrant culture and landscapes of Morocco.

You will find extensive resources for these destinations on this website, our podcast and our YouTube channel.