Let’s Meet

You found us!  We are veryitchyfeet.com, an Australian/ Ecuadorian couple who have, between us, been to some 95 countries and speak three languages, English, Italian and Spanish. Lovers of life, people and culture we are usually not always in the same place for a long time. We are intrepid travellers at heart.

We often get asked what our favourite countries are. We like really off-the-beaten-track and the less visited places; Slovenia, Georgia, Nagorno-Karabakh, Colombia. There are just way too many to list.

Life is too short not to travel!

The Dream Team

Ombretta ‘ The Story Teller’

Let me introduce myself. I am Ombi, the Aussie (Australian) half of the duo and the writing half as well. I am eternally young at heart. I started backpacking way back in the late 80s when it really wasn’t common to not be in the same job for 10 years or more! It didn’t feel right for me then and it doesn’t feel right for me now. I was definitely born in the wrong decade. I pushed on, however, and as always, did things my way! I have travelled every year since my first trip, sometimes for two weeks, sometimes for two and a half years. I am a go-with-the-flow kinda gal. I now have a multitude of countries under my belt from Nagorno-Karabakh to Antarctica to Paraguay. I am a self-confessed Peter Pan who never grew up, and don’t plan on doing so anytime soon! I want to keep exploring the world because … life is for living! Oh, and although I have had some great jobs in my life, working a lot in community development, I didn’t ditch my corporate job to travel … I never had one. For me, travel always came first.

I am passionate about life, helping people, doing good, being happy, making people laugh, being kind and coffee, oh very good coffee (I am allowed to be; I am of Italian extraction, raised in Melbourne). I am going to warn you right now though, people who are rude and know-it-alls will never make my top 10.

Alex ‘ The shutterbug’

Hi! how are you amigos!

Yes, the photo, video and IT Guy! A tranquil and passionate human being. A traveller who respects people’s thinking, culture and their environment. Photography is my medium to showcase the amazing and diverse world that we live in.  I love to getting out of my comfort zone as often as possible as this gives me a sense of achievement, thus not fearing the unknown and embrace the detours. Travelling with my awesome partner has been the highlight of my life and travel adventures. I can honestlybsay that I’m so blessed to have a wonderful ‘zingara’ (gypsy) girl in my life!

I love cycling, hiking, travelling, entrepreneurship, technology consulting, startups and capturing images/videos around the globe.

Travel Images on: Instagram, Flickr, 500px and Pinterest

My story  … our story…

Here enters Alex, the Ecuadorian and photography half of veryitchyfeet. 

In 1998, after a year of teaching English in Japan for a year, I decided to fulfill a lifelong dream and backpack solo around South America. It was wild and free, a bit like me, and after some eight months of travelling, I met Alex in his native Quito, Ecuador’s capital. You know, we met, fell in love and the rest, as they say, is history. I lived in Quito for a year but could not find a decent souvenir; I thus figured a decent partner was well worth the catch. We moved to Australia in the early noughties. Apparently, Alex thought I made a great visa too!

Alex is easy-going, tech-savvy (IT consultant; score for Team Veryitchyfeet), a great photographer (no I am not biased), lots of fun to be around, and shares my passion for travel. Score! I couldn’t ask for much more than that. He is passionate about equality, respect, food (he gets seriously narky when the food’s crap, whilst realising that this is still a first world problem!), treating people with compassion and dignity and actually photographing people with compassion and respect. Amongst his pet peeves are rude and arrogant people and tourists who shove their cameras into the faces of the people they are photographing.

The journey so far!

Together we have been travelling the world since our meeting in 1999 and blogging about our experiences since 2007. We started with blogger and at first, it was for the sole purpose of letting our friends and family know what we were up to. What makes us different? The really unusual places we have visited on our travels as well the amount of time we have spent travelling. How many travel bloggers can say they’ve been doing this for over 30 years? Well, at least I have … come on Alex you’re almost there!

On our most recent ‘trip’ we spent nine months in Ecuador and the Galapagos and then another six weeks in Baja California, Mexico, returning back to Melbourne in early 2020.  In 2018 we started a new company in Quito and can proudly say that we co-founded Quito Bike Tours and Travel Experiences. It was pretty cool to start up the first urban cycling tour company in the country’s capital. We have since sold it, but it’s still going strong. 

Being back in Melbourne just in time for Covid 19 has been, well, interesting to say the very least. This has been a challenging year for many a travel lover and that most certainly includes us.

We want to share with you travel tales and anecdotes, amazing pictures, raw and real videos and tips and advice on what you can do and how you can do it. Follow us as we take you on a range of detours that will make your travel experience that bit more special and unique. Connect with the locals and learn about their culture along the way. The people and their customs really are the heartbeat of a nation. Sometimes we will also show you the bad and the sad side of travel and the negative social impact this has on its people. We promise to be open, honest, transparent and true. In all that we show you, however, we will always remind you that those who wander are never lost!

Why very itchy feet?

Simple. We love travelling and we are usually always on the move. When we were picking a name, back in 2007, itchy feet immediately sprang to mind, but it was already taken. I immediately spoke out loud, “why not very itchy feet?” And so the name was born.

Why travel detours?

Whilst vertitchyfeet describes us wanting to always be on the move, it doesn’t really explain how we do it. We have both always loved unusual and different places; destinations frequented by fewer people and so we thought that ‘detours’ aptly described this. We wanted to share the experience of not necessarily knowing exactly where you are going or how you are going to do it, and then being thrilled when you get there. We have always travelled this way. The uncertainty and unexpected twists often take us to places we never imagined amongst people we never thought we’d meet often surpassing our wildest expectations. The journey continues and we want to share these insights with you.

What’s our travel style?

We are backpackers at heart, always have been and I suppose always will be! We carry our packs on our backs as that’s what gives us the most mobility and freedom, both physically as well as mentally. We do budget but not bedbugs! There’s this misnomer that all backpackers rough it hardcore, sometimes don’t wash and stay in the cheapest place ever to save a dollar. Not us! We do basic but clean accommodation (preferring to save in other ways) and yes we do use soap! Nobody wants to smell us, or anyone else for that matter.

We don’t do a day here and a day there, as ‘ticking places off’ is not the reason we travel. Adversely, we travel to meet people and immerse ourselves in different cultures. Local experiences are paramount. Sometimes we see the major sights, and sometimes we don’t. We tend to mix it up. I can say, however, that each and every country you visit has so much more going for it than simply the sights it is famous for. There is, for example, much more to India than simply the Taj Mahal. Go on, take a detour, and surprise yourself!

Where do we sleep? A bit of this and a bit of that really. We aren’t your velcro-couple and we both love meeting new people. We stay in hostels, most certainly, but tend to get a private room. We also do inexpensive hotels and apartments as well as Air BnB. After a clean room and bed, a kitchen is the thing we most prize as we cook a lot. Check out our travel resources page for tips and tools of the trade that will help you to save some money and experience the world!

We’re not really drinkers (just not our thing) but love great food. Whilst we go out to eat occasionally we are always scouring the local markets, as not only are they the heartbeat of a nation, but you can also get some amazingly cheap and fresh produce. It’s always great to try and cook with the local fare, spices and herbs too. I have been known on more than one occasion to cook up a storm and share it around with the people I am staying with, locals and foreigners alike.

We are hikers and explorers, we are city-slickers, we like to roam off the familiar track, hang out with locals, chill on a beach, and jump in the back of a truck to get a ride to a place that has no transport. We … just … love … exploring this amazing planet we live on!

There’s only one life! We’re living it!

FAQs

Q: What’s your most brag-worthy adventure?

Q: How can you travel so often and for so long?

Q: How did you meet?

Q: Do you ever get homesick?

Q: Do you ever get bored of travelling?

Q: What’s your main form of transportation?

Q: What’s your favourite country?

Q: Do you worry about your safety?

Q: Has anything ever happened to you or have you been robbed?

Q: What’s your most valued travel possession?

Q: Will you ever stop travelling?

Q: Are you going to have kids?

Q: Describe yourself in three words.

Q: Ethical travel. What is it and why do you do it?

Follow our Adventures and Detours

We passionately share 30 years of travel know-how, exploration and detours with you. We want to motivate you to experience this amazingly diverse world we live in and show you how to do it! You can subscribe to our blog as well as follow us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram.

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