Travel Tramp
Award-Winning Travel Writing.
Welcome to Travel Tramp
Hello there, I’m Richard, the Travel Tramp. Award-winning blogger and professional travel journalist.
I’m on a quest to explore the world through its borders and boundaries.
Borders have shaped the world around us. Migration is the defining topic of the 21st century, and I’m here to answer the deeper questions about politics, history and identity we’re confronted with when we travel. Why is Cyprus divided? Why are there so many breakaway territories in the Caucasus? And why is Muslim-Chinese food so popular in Kyrgyzstan?
You’ll find stories of guerrilla fighters, micronations and refugees, as I build a database of cartographic curiosities and geopolitical oddities. All the things that make travel so fascinating.
Richard Collett, January 2025.
richard@travel-tramp.com
Richard is an award-winning travel journalist. Richard’s travel stories, guides and photography have been published by BBC Travel, Atlas Obscura, Lonely Planet, Culture Trip, The Independent, and many more publications. Richard is always open to new commissions. Please email, to find out more about working together.
Latest Features
The Gruesome Story of Sigiriya, Sri Lanka’s #1 Tourist Attraction
Discover the brutal and bloody story of Sigiriya, Sri Lanka's iconic and top-rated tourist attraction. High above the forests of central Sri Lanka, a great block of volcanic stone rises from the plains, its summit scarred with the remains of ancient walls, gardens,...
Why Pheasant Island Changes Nationalities Every Six Months
Discover the curious story of Pheasant Island, a 200-metre-long island in the middle of the Bidasoa River between France and Spain, which changes nationalities every six months. On a quiet stretch of the Bidasoa River between the Basque towns of Irun and Hendaye lies...
Tskaltubo: The Refugees Living In Georgia’s ‘Abandoned’ Soviet Sanatoriums
I travelled to Tskaltubo, a former Soviet spa town, to hear the stories of Georgia's Abkhazian refugees, who still reside inside 'abandoned' sanatoriums intended as temporary homes. “Hope is the last thing to die,” Lasha told me, standing in the ruins of an abandoned...
Award Winning Travel Writing
The Best of Travel Tramp
Travel Stories
Long form narratives, character driven stories, photographic journeys and deep dives into the world’s curious destinations.
Travel Stories
Long form narratives, character driven stories, photographic journeys and deep dives into the world’s curious destinations.
Unusual Destinations
Breakaway territories, micronations, remote islands, abandoned places, dark tourism, emerging destinations and second cities. Learn how to travel off the beaten track with Travel Tramp.
Borderlines
Geography, politics and history shape the borders around us. Why do borders exist where they do? What makes a country a country? How many nations are in the UK? Learn how geopolitics and history define how and where we can travel.
Borders
Geography, politics and history shape the borders around us. Why do borders exist where they do? What makes a country a country? How many nations are in the UK? Learn how geopolitics and history define how and where we can travel.
richard@travel-tramp.com