About Us

Hello fellow travellers, and welcome to The Crowded Planet.

The life and travels of Margherita & Nick

We are Margherita and Nick, a writer and photographer from Italy and Australia, long-term travellers and lovers of nature, wildlife and the outdoors.

We met in the dusty corners of a London food market, one November day in 2004. Nick was in the UK on a working holiday visa, and I (Margherita) was fulfilling my dream of living in London, the city I fell in love with as a child.

We were both crazy about travel. Nick had moved to Europe from Australia to see the world, and I was still coming to grips with my own bad case of wanderlust, which hit me at the age of 5 when I was given a flag book as a birthday present.

Our first trip together was to Cuba in 2005. Our camera broke on the second day of the trip and we barely have a picture of that amazing adventure – but we realised that travel was going to be a big part of our lives.

We spent most of our twenties backpacking – first on a round the world trip in 2009 and 2010, then travelling for at least 3-4 months each year after we moved to Milan, my hometown.

Several friends we met on the road went through a similar stage; spent months or years backpacking, but then slowly returned to their jobs and their lives, bought a house, started a family and put their dusty backpacks in the wardrobe.

And us? Well, we can’t quite stop travelling. We may choose doubles over dorms, and enjoy the convenience of having an ensuite bathroom (not too often, though!) But besides that, our travelling style is the same as it was 15 years ago. We aren’t very good at planning, but we’re always up for an adventure or two – like that time when we were stuck in the Caucasus and got a lift by Georgian police (the story was runner-up to the 2012 Guardian Travel Writer of The Year Comp!)

The Crowded Planet arrives!

One gloomy morning in February 2014, while we were walking to our favourite café for breakfast, we decided – completely out of the blue – to start The Crowded Planet. At first, it was a way to share our best travel tips and stories with friends – every summer we were getting emails asking for the perfect India itinerary or the best tips for a China first timer.

The Crowded Planet focuses on what we love most; nature and adventure travel, with an eye on sustainability. In our opinion, nature and adventure can be found anywhere – on the ski slopes, on a mountain wall or on a hiking path, but also in cities. We write about ‘traditional’ nature and adventure travel, but also about alternative cities, urban nature and local festivals. There are no limits to what adventure can be, as long as you have an adventurous mind!

Photography is a very important part of our blog. We try to publish only professional photos, taken by Nick or other photographers or photojournalists. Nick specialises in wildlife and landscape photography – have a look at his Flickr photostream or our Photo Stories section to get an idea of what we do, or just have a look around the blog. All pictures are ours unless otherwise stated.