Who are we?
We are Tiare and Oriana, twin sisters, Swiss-Polynesian and lovers of all things travel. We were born in Switzerland and raised in Australia.
We only write about Switzerland and French Polynesia, the countries we actually live in. From our experience travelling, we know the best travel tips are always from the locals.
We caught the travel bug young, as 2 year olds on a long-haul flight from Zurich to Brisbane (our poor mum!).
Ever since then we’ve always dreamt of travelling the world and escaping as it were from our home in South-East Queensland, Australia.
Jobs, internships, studying at university- they’ve all just been a means to an end…The end being experiencing life in a foreign country, even if only for a moment.
Between us we’ve been everywhere from the beautiful islands of Samoa and the bustling streets of Kyoto, to the wild expanses of South Africa and the romantic canals of Venice. To mention a few.
Life took a few twists and turns and now Oriana lives in Switzerland (4+ years) and Tiare lives in French Polynesia (6+ years).
Tiare has been working as a successful freelance writer. Her articles focusing on French Polynesia have been featured in places like National Geographic, where she wrote about the endangered Rimatara lorikeets, Rest of world, Atlas Obscura and The Guardian, where she has written about everything from the spread of Tahitian dance around the world to the controversial decision to build a new Olympic tower for the surfing event in the Paris 2024 Olympics.
In between teaching English, Oriana has also freelanced for Atlas Obscura, writing about The Return of Swiss Cheese Baths and The Chimney Sweep Mafia in Switzerland, as well as 5 Things Foreigners need to know before getting married in Switzerland for The Local Switzerland.
Why blog?
With over 20 years of combined experience travelling and living in foreign countries, we’ve found travel blogs have always been the most useful, up-to-date sources of information for travellers. We want to help wanderers just like us navigate Switzerland and French Polynesia with confidence.
The dream is also to one day be location independent and make a living off of our blog…we feel so inspired by other people who have done it! We won’t cut corners to do it though- we write everything on the blog ourselves, with no AI-generated content.
We also want to recognise how privileged we are to have passports which allow us to travel freely. It’s a luxury to have dreams which are within our reach.
That’s why we believe that regardless of budget, it’s also important to give back. Tourism can give so much to national economies, but it can also take opportunities from local communities. That’s why each blog post will also include suggestions for supporting locals, FROM locals- we both live in the places we write about.
Where have we been?
French Polynesia
Society Islands
📍Tahiti– Papaeete, Faaā, Paea, Puna’auia, Paparā, Teahupo’o, Presqu’îsle (Tahiti iti), Papeari, Pirae, Māhina, Papeno’o, Hitia’a
📍Mo’orea
📍Taha’a
📍Ra’iatea
📍Bora Bora
Tuamotu Archipelago
📍Makemo
📍Manihi
📍Mataiva
📍Teti’aroa
Austral Islands
📍Rimatara
Wish List
➡️ Raivavae
➡️Fakarava
➡️Maupiti
➡️Magareva
➡️ Nuku Hiva
Switzerland
Cities
📍Zürich
📍Bern
📍Luzern
📍Basel
📍Geneva
📍Lugano/Locarno
📍Montreaux
📍Lausanne
📍Fribourg
Mountains
📍Matterhorn
📍Jungfrau
📍Rigi
📍Titlis
📍Säntis
📍Monte Bré
📍Grindelwald First
📍Fronalpstock
📍Monte San Salvatore
Wish List
➡️Foroglio
➡️Saas Fe
➡️Gruyeres
➡️Pilatus
➡️Schaffhausen
➡️Grimentz