About Us - Sally Sees

WELCOME TO SALLY SEES

If you’re planning a trip to Mexico or Central America and looking for authentic, helpful and detailed information, you’re in the right place.

Whether you’re strapping on your backpack for a long-term trip through Latin America, or jetting off on a 2-week vacation to one country, I want to inspire and equip you with all the information you need to plan your own epic adventure.

On Sally Sees, I write detailed destination guides based on my firsthand travel experiences in Latin America.

I want to make your travels better, easier and cheaper by sharing advice, opinions and experiences from someone who has been there, and done that.

Sally sitting on a yellow concrete staircase leading up behind her with a white and yellow church out of focus in the background. She is wearing a beanie, jeans and jacket in cool weather.

Why Sally Sees?

HOW I HELP YOU

I’ve spent 6 months travelling through Mexico and 6 months exploring every country in Central America.

My personal mission is to walk away from every destination I’ve visited feeling like I’ve done it justice. Like I’ve experienced the real heart and soul of a place, not just its touristy façade.

Whether that be a tropical island in the Caribbean, a dusty surf town on the Pacific Coast, or a charming colonial city, I give every place the chance to wonder and amaze me.

Through meticulous research and planning (I mean FBI-level research!), I go the extra mile to uncover all sides of a destination.

Of course, I see the top attractions and experiences everyone is talking about. But I also uncover the local spots, get off the beaten path and find a new way of experiencing popular places.

I share all of this with you.

My goal is for you to click away from my articles feeling like you’ve wrapped your head around a place.

And when you eventually touch down in Latin America, armed with my suggestions, to feel like you too have experienced the essence of that destination. The good and the bad, the popular and the off-the-beaten-track.

A squiggly line graphic, partly translucent in a dark pink colour for decorative purposes

What you can expect on Sally Sees

Human-only writing – all the words written on this site are written by me entirely. I don’t use AI.
Long, detailed articles – I have a penchant for words, and my posts are usually very lengthy. If you like reading and insane levels of detail, you’re in the right place.
Many articles about each country – if you get stuck down a rabbit hole of my posts, clicking from one to the other planning your entire trip from my site, I’ll be happy.
Personal experience – I only ever write about destinations that I’ve personally visited. If I haven’t been there, I won’t write about it.
Honesty – if something sucked, was overpriced, or far too complicated to make it worthwhile, you can trust I’ll let you know.
Original images – I like to think I’m a pretty handy photographer, and 99% of all the images you see on this site are taken by me.

THE OTHER HALF

Meet Brayden

It would be remiss of me not to briefly mention Brayden, my life and travel partner. We have been together since high school and have spent many years exploring the world together.

You’ll see him mentioned often, and all of my adventures in Latin America are with Brayden by my side.

He doesn’t write for Sally Sees (he’s actually an accountant with his own remote business). But he is always around behind the scenes, taking photos, planning our travels or hunting for coconuts.

Brayden walking towards the camera holding up a bunch of fresh coconuts in one hand and a long poking stick in the other. He is wearing a hat, sunglasses and no shirt, with palm trees behind him.

Sustainable Travel

Sustainable travel is important to us, and we try our best to have a positive impact everywhere we go.

I hold a bachelor’s degree and a post-graduate diploma in sustainable tourism. So I guess I’ve learnt a thing or two about the impact tourism can have – positive and negative.

Travel can be a force for good in our world if we all do our part. We can leave destinations a little better than we found them.

In my destination guides, I try to share everything through a sustainable lens.

You’ll find tips and tricks on how you can travel better. As well as alerts about unsustainable practices around Latin America and how to avoid being part of the problem.

Where to next?

If you’re interested, you can keep reading about my Latin American travel experiences below.

If you’re eager to get stuck into the trip planning, use the ‘destinations‘ tab in the menu to navigate to your desired country.

Heading to Mexico? Check out my Mexico articles. I would also encourage you to take a look at my Mexico Travel Guide ebook, which has absolutely everything I know about Mexico in one beautiful guide.

A graphic advertising the Sally Sees Mexico Travel Guide ebook with screenshots from the book displayed on a phone, tablet and laptop graphic

If you’re looking for tips on sustainable travel, subscribe below to get my ’20 Ways to be a More Sustainable Traveller’ PDF guide.

@sallysees

My Latin America travel experience

The Mexico chapter

Our trip to Mexico started off without a plan, but a rough idea to spend a few months exploring the country before continuing south to Central America.

Well, that didn’t happen.

We fell head-over-heels in love with Mexico and spent 6 months travelling coast-to-coast. From Baja California on the west coast to Quintana Roo on the east, and everything in between.

To this date, I have never been somewhere as diverse, captivating and alive as Mexico.

It’s a country of many countries, with each of its 32 states showcasing a completely different culture, landscape and cuisine.

Throughout our 6 months, we visited 10 states:

I still have A LOT more to write about Mexico. My current posts have only scratched the surface of the places we visited, and for that, I apologise.

My feet got itchy before I finished, and we took off on another very long plane ride to Central America and got swept up in a new adventure.

The Central America chapter

After a whirlwind few months back in Australia between trips, we boarded another very long, very expensive flight back to the other side of the world.

This time – Central America.

We spent 6 months exploring the 7 countries that make up Central America.

Everyone we spoke to at home assumed without question we were in South America, mishearing or simply ignoring our explanations. It made me realise how forgotten and unknown this ‘region in the middle’ is.

The natural land bridge between the North and South American continents, Central America is an intense, complex and mystifying region.

Similar to Mexico, the diversity was astounding.

Active volcanoes spewing lava above Spanish colonial cities. Idyllic islands dotted with palm trees in the Caribbean. Thundering waterfalls hidden in dense cloud forest.

It is truly a spectacular place.

Each country we visited revealed its own identity, stemming from troubling pasts with varying stories of political turmoil, violence and complicated Indigenous relations.

For the record, the 7 countries of Central America (and the order we visited them) are:

I am slowly chipping away at writing about each country in turn.

Depending on when you read this page, I probably still haven’t finished.

But stick with me, I have thousands of photos, pages of notes, and ideas swirling around in my head to share each of these countries with you. I just haven’t done it yet!

Sally and Brayden out of focus in the foreground, walking away from the camera with a two rocky volcanoes in the background with steam coming from the right crater

The South America chapter

This is a chapter that hasn’t been written yet.

My sights are firmly set on South America, and you can bet we are not finished with Latin America.