About — Mog and Dog Travels

Hello! Welcome to Mog and Dog Travels and thank you for dropping by our tiny corner of the internet.

We are Sasha and Vincent, a couple who left the UK in 2010 to work in Zambia. We moved continents to take up new jobs in Malaysia in 2013 and then in 2017, having talked about it over and over for many years, we decided to give up our jobs and with our savings, travel indefinitely whilst attempting to somehow make money on the road. We also decided to get married in the summer of 2017 (hey, why not quit your job and then spend money on a wedding? Seems logical!) It was a fab party and although our bank balances are all the more poorer for it, was totally worth it. Not totally sure our parents’ approve though…

It all may work or it may not, but we are willing to give it a go. After all, if it doesn't work out we think (well, hope) that we are still employable...

Our Travel Style

We each travel with carry-on luggage only, so everything we own fits into two small backpacks. This makes life easy in some respects (like not having to wait for checked luggage when we land) and harder in others (trying to style-out how heavy your bag is in front of check-in staff by wearing it nonchalantly on one shoulder, while internally grimacing at the ever increasing pain).

We’ve mostly travelled around Africa, South East Asia and some parts of the Middle East, which has required us to take budget airlines (hence our own enforced luggage restriction). Next we’d like to travel through central Asia and overland and by sea if possible because we love boats (okay, maybe only Sasha does), and trains and are willing to undertake some epic and bumpy bus journeys. Here’s to leg cramps and numb arses! Whoop!

We do travel on a budget (cos we ain’t got proper jobs, innit) and so describe ourselves as budget to mid-range travellers who have the occasional splurge (you’ll see what we mean if you read our guide to the Victoria Falls in Zambia) when we think that it’s really worth it.

What You'll Find on Our Site

You'll find travel tips and in-depth guides on our blog, photo essays, amusing stories, recommendations on places to stay, eat and visit. Some of the trips we did while we were still working and earning money (yay!) and others we did more recently (poor but still, yay!). But never fear, we make sure that the information we give you is as up-to-date as possible. (And if it isn’t, just drop us a line in the comments!)

We are slow travellers, so we spend several weeks to months in most places (although we've done a number of short trips too, while we were working in both Zambia and Malaysia).

Check, check, check it ooooout!

Enough about us - feel free to start having a look around, beginning with some of our favourite blog posts.

Our Favourite Posts

Turkey: In Praise of Kahvalti: The Ultimate Guide to Turkish Breakfast
Sri Lanka: Safari in Sri Lanka: Is Yala National Park For You?
Zambia: The Ultimate Guide to the Victoria Falls and Livingstone, Zambia
Bostwana: The Ultimate Guide to Chobe National Park
Vietnam: Getting Stuffed: Adventures in Taxidermy at the Hanoi Zoological Museum
Malaysia: What Lies Beneath: a Guide to Visiting Gunung Mulu National Park
Laos: Strange Massages and Embarrassing Accidents: trekking in Luang Namtha

Hungry? So are we! Check out our food posts!

Some Epic Photo Essays

The real side of travel - basically when sh*t goes wrong

The Perils of Travelling While Brown (all the perils, pitfalls and passport-related pickles that having a bit more melanin can get you into)
That Time I Spoiled All Our Holiday Photos With a Haircut
The Run Down: How to Deal With Food Poisoning When You Are Travelling
Why We Didn’t Like Travelling in Muang Ngoi, Laos
Curfews, carbs and corona - life in Turkey when nomadic is a no-no

Practical travel tips

In case you haven’t guessed already, you'll find a good dose of honesty here - we'll tell you the good and the bad about the places we've been, warts and all. All of this will be accompanied by pretty photos of the places we visit as Sasha practices her photography skills. There might even be some random musings and drawings too...we haven't quite decided yet!

Oh and there will be plenty of amusing photos of us, the world’s shortest people, travelling about. More about photos below.

What You Won't Find

Any perfect pictures of us. We just aren't that photogenic and while we will be in some of the photos from our travels, we can't make any promises that we will look nice in them, stylish, or perfectly Instagrammable. Sorry. We can promise ridiculous expressions, some bad clothing choices, messy hair, gurning out of pure boredom on long journeys and some 'I am/we are so excited about this' faces though. (We did however, look good on our wedding day, so hi-five to our amazing photographers Pixies in the Cellar for that!)

**Looking slick on our wedding day! (Photo by Pixies in the Cellar)**

**This is what you can expect to find. Some of you may want to leave now.**

Why 'Mog and Dog'?

We decided to make our website name out of our nicknames for each other. "Gross! Eurgh!" we hear you cry. Well, it is what it is.

Sasha has long suspected that she's really a human version of a cat or a 'mog'. That is, she likes to sleep, be pampered, be warm, well-fed, throws tantrums in the rain and requires attention on her own terms. (She's also an outdoorsy, adventure-loving person, which involves a whole lot of rain, so go figure...).

Vincent is chilled out, likes to have fun, hates being too warm (we've actually decided that -8 is his optimum temperature), is not bothered by rain/drizzle or any other depressing weather conditions and sometimes has insomnia. We know, that doesn't describe anything remotely like a dog. But, 'Dog' became his nickname anyway. And between us, it stuck.

Follow us on our journey and feel free to leave any comments on what you read. And if there's anywhere you think we should be going or anything you think we should be doing - let us know!