Skip to Content

About

Ella Mckendrick Baros Maldives

Hi, I’m Ella!

I’m a British entrepreneur and travel-addict. After selling my e-commerce business in 2022, I decided to follow my dream to travel the world and share my experiences.

My goal is to visit every safari destination in the world by 2030.

I set-up this blog in order to have a platform to tell my ridiculous travel tales, not shying away from the awkward, scary and downright ludicrous details of travel that are so often missed. I pride myself in telling the full story, not just giving you a glorified highlight-reel.

Ella McKendrick in Namibia Desert with Drone

Travelling the World One Mis-Adventure At A Time

My travels have always had one dominating feature. They are never without their drama.

This trademark was always present, even when I was a quiet toddler taking unaccompanied steps in a shallow pool in Hong Kong. A smile beamed across my porcelain skin and my pastel pink floppy hat sat atop my shining scalp void of hair (yes, I was a bald baby). My parents cooed with excitement, fixing me with their video camera. Look at that! They thought proudly. Ella is walking in the pool!

I took another step forward, only for there to suddenly be no ground beneath my feet. In a flash, I disappeared beneath the water and only a pastel pink hat was left floating on the surface.

And that, my friends, has set the tone for pretty much every adventure I have been on since.

Ella McKendrick riding on a 4x4 truck in the rainforest in Dominica

I have been chased by hippos on-foot in the Zambia, attacked by a machete-wielding gang whilst self-driving in The Gambia, got a drug syringe wedged in my foot in Mallorca, accidently set a gas canister alight in Namibia, missed flights, bagged myself speeding tickets, got food poisoning more times than I care to admit amongst so much more.

For the longest time I put my mis-adventures down to a lack of experience, certain that every mishap was a lesson to learn and implement. Sometimes I wondered why I seemed destined to learn everything the hard way whilst everyone else seemed to travel to the most far-flung places on hectic schedules with ease.

Other travellers were breezing through their adventures, hopping on every excursion they could fit into their jam-packed schedules. Meanwhile I was mis-timing every aspect of my trips, burning out or missing activities due to my disorganisation and unrealistic view on timings.

I began to feel frustrated that I wasn’t getting the hang of travelling, no matter how much effort I put into getting it right. Why did I waste entire days trying to find a working cash machine because I had forgotten to withdraw any money before my trip? Why didn’t I already know that the car rental company only took cash so couldn’t pay for our car? Why didn’t I know our villa was only accessible via zipwire and lengthy trek through the jungle?

Ella McKendrick in Maldives

Travel and Coming to Terms with My Mental Health

It wasn’t until I was 25 and had numerous mis-adventures under my belt that I made a break-through discovery. Through the world of social media and fellow travel bloggers, I found a community of people who had the exact same struggles as me. For I haven’t mentioned it here but my struggles reach far beyond my travels.

I’ve battled with my mental health for as long as I can remember, being treated for both depression and anxiety in the past but saw no improvements. I always felt like my problems went deeper than that, though doctors were reluctant to look into it, trying to quiet me antidepressants and leave me to go out the door.

But now, I felt like a lightbulb had turned on in my head. I had found something which I matched perfectly. And that was ADHD.

Ella Mckendrick Kefalonia

A few months later I received a formal diagnosis. I thought I would feel ecstatic at the diagnosis, relieved that after so many years I was finally beginning to understand my brain and could therefore start my journey to bettering my life. But instead I felt shocked. The realisation that what I had been diagnosed with wasn’t something I could fix but was something I had always lived with and would have to live with forever.

Did this mean I would never be able to travel easily like other travellers? Probably.

People with ADHD struggle with inattention and impulsivity. It’s a misunderstood condition associated with badly behaved children and underachievers, and as a result can remain undiagnosed in those who don’t show symptoms in-line with the outdated stereotype. I, of course, did not fit the typical stereotype and so had endured 25 long years of feeling misunderstood and wondering why I didn’t fit in, finding basic things challenging.

Ella Mckendrick in The Gambia

What To Expect on This Blog

I created this blog with the intention of sharing my travel stories. I absolutely love writing stories, allowing scenes within my head to come to life in words. I enjoy writing and hope that my writings will provide joy for others.

Whilst I never intended to write about my mental health when I set up this blog, I am going to try to push myself to be more open about it. The world needs to talk more about mental health. If my mental health story helps just one person, then it was worthwhile sharing.

Although I have written the odd factual piece on what to do in country x and so on, these articles are such a chore for me to write so I highly doubt they will be the building blocks of this blog. If I’m not motivated to do something, doing it is practically impossible (thanks ADHD). But, maybe this is a good thing; the internet is absolutely flooded with guide articles as it is.

I’m still trying to carve out a space for myself in the travel blogging space and settle on a niche. I’ve never been good at sticking to one thing – doing a bit of this and a bit of that is much more my style. But my sporadic way of doing things isn’t quite in-line with building up a dedicated readership who know exactly what to expect.

Ella and Toyota Hilux self-drive through the Namib Desert, Namibia, Africa

Other Platforms

As well as this blog, I have a couple of other platforms which I upload content to.

YouTube: I vlog my journeys around the world.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Lez Gray

Tuesday 22nd of January 2019

Hi - Ella, love the blog and really useful thx. We're going Sri Lanka Feb and March. Can I ask where you stayed Ella and Uda Walawe?

many thx Lez

D Ceesay

Sunday 21st of April 2019

Hi Ella Am a Gambia resident in Europe and was so happy and proud that you visited my country the smiling coast of The Gambia I was excited all what you have been doing keep it up never give up the good Will.Pls kindly get back sooner thanks

Edwin

Monday 30th of April 2018

Good afternoon: It’s amazing you travel around the world when you’re 20 years old. I hope you visit Latin America too (specially ????????). Greetings

Kandali Uushona

Sunday 27th of May 2018

Interesting story ????I loved it❤

Bill

Monday 19th of March 2018

intresting story indeed i love it

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.