About Me - Global Pawprints

Hi there! My name is Caitlin and I’m a twenty-something year-old Australian girl who loves travel and animals. Welcome to my travel blog, Global Pawprints!

I started this travel blog in February 2020 because I love travel and sharing my experiences with others. On this site, you will find guides to various travel destinations from the Tasmanian wilderness to the huge cities of Shanghai and Beijing in China. Because I’m kind of obsessed with wildlife, a lot of my posts will have an animal focus. Not to worry, though; there’s plenty of animal-free content!

One of my favourite wildlife encounters of all time was walking with wild rhinos in Zimbabwe.

Below, I’ve written a little bit about myself so you can get to know me better! I’d love to get to know you guys as well so please feel free to leave a comment below or get in touch on social media (all linked at the bottom of this post or in my menu).

There must be some kind of travel bug gene

Travel has always been a big part of my life. My first overseas trip was to the UK when I was about 18 months old. Obviously I remember none of it, but I’ve heard my parents took me on an excellent tour of all the duck ponds in England. Clearly both my animal and travel obsessions started early. Every year growing up my family and I went somewhere together. We still do, actually. Most years as kids we just went to the beach but sometimes we went overseas or elsewhere in Australia. It’s not just my immediate family that’s obsessed with travel: a lot of my aunts and uncles and cousins travel a lot as well! Clearly there’s a gene that dictates whether you’re into travel or not and we all have it.

I don’t have any pictures from that first UK trip… But here are some cute ducklings I saw one day while volunteering!

My first solo trip

A big turning point for me was in university; I decided I wanted to go on a six-month exchange. My Mum wasn’t super keen on the idea because I would be alone on the other side of the world for SIX WHOLE MONTHS! So to test me, we booked a three day trip to Sydney where I stayed in a hostel and had to go around and play tourist on my own. I hated the idea and was absolutely terrified. (Why I thought I’d be able to survive six months alone was beyond me…) I think Mum was hoping I’d hate it and give up on the whole exchange thing but much to our surprise, I absolutely loved it! I had the freedom to do whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted without having to worry about whether anyone else would want to go to the zoo or have sushi for dinner. It was fantastic.

Travelling to Canada on exchange was a seriously amazing experience! You can find all my Canada & exchange tips by clicking here.

Since then, I’ve enjoyed travelling solo not only on my exchange, but to other places like Africa and around Australia! I still travel a lot with my family or with friends, so you’ll get a bit of a mix of content on here. I’ve travelled to 18 countries (plus New Caledonia and Hong Kong) in 5 continents so far and there’s so much more I still want to see!

So… what’s next?

As I’m sitting here writing this, I am supposed to be booking accommodation for an upcoming trip to Europe! For the first time in a long time, I will be heading off on an exciting solo adventure for an entire month. I doubt I am alone in having dreamt about a big Europe trip for many years. I distinctly remember reading a novel about two girls travelling together on the trains during university and being inspired! To be totally honest, I have re-read that book recently as I have begun my own planning. This will also be my first solo overseas trip since after the covid lockdowns of 2020 and 2021.

Life outside of travel

When I started this blog, I said I never saw myself as one of those people who would quit their job and travel full time. This remains true, but for different reasons. Up until now, I have been very focused on my career working with animals. But having worked full-time for four years, I am more than ready for a break! Hence the Europe trip. I still could never travel full-time because moving away from home for work made me realise how important being close to family is to me. I am quite happy now living near the beach and only an hour’s drive from my parents. A great improvement over an hour flight!

Despite shifting my focus away from my career, I still have a great love for animals and wildlife. My current favourite hobbies are ballet classes, reading, and going for walks spotting the local wildlife. The logo for Global Pawprints is a pair of wombat footprints, which I chose because wombats were one of my favourite animals. Of course, times change and I have different favourite animals now. Part of the reason for which is a rather prominent scar on my leg from a wombat’s teeth… So that one came back to bite me! I still love them, but from a safe distance.

This is the last time I saw a wild wombat! Back in 2017 (yikes) at Cradle Mountain, Tasmania.

My blogging journey so far

I created Global Pawprints at the beginning of 2020 for something to do while I was looking for a job. And as you all know, not too long after we were plunged into lockdown and literally every other aspect of my life was put on hold for a solid two months! All of my volunteer shifts were cancelled, the school I worked at was closed, and I had nothing else to do but write about my past adventures. Having this blog really kept me sane during that time.

However, as mentioned above, whilst working full time I have become very slack at keeping up with this blog. I have struggled to find the motivation to come on here and write. This doesn’t mean I haven’t been on heaps of exciting adventures! In 2023, I visited Sri Lanka with my family, and it’s now one of my favourite countries! I also recently went to see the quokkas on Rottnest Island. This was definitely a dream trip for me!

Meeting the quokkas at Rottnest Island was a dream come true! *Disclaimer – she chose to come to me, please never feed wildlife.

My goals for 2025 and beyond

So that brings us to 2025. My goal for this year is to put out some helpful guides for planning a trip to Europe! I have come across plenty of little tips in my planning so far that I would love to share with you all.

I had a bunch of goals for 2023 which I never got around to, but I have decided I’ll keep this blog up indefinitely. Despite my inconsistent posting, some of my blog posts are really getting some good traffic! Take my Kruger National Park guide as an example! For a more local example, check out my Reefworld guide. I also recently got a comment on my Victoria Falls post, and it’s lovely to know my content is still helping people!

I think I’ll ditch the old guides to blogging seeing as I am so inconsistent with that. I’ll keep them up for anyone who wants to read, but won’t write any more.

Thanks for checking out my blog!

I’d just like to take this opportunity to say a huge THANK YOU for checking out my blog! I really appreciate it, especially if you have read this far. If you’d like to follow my adventures, I’ll link my social media below. I don’t currently have an Instagram associated with this blog, as it brought me too much stress (you can read about that here), but I might make a new one for my Europe trip. For now, I have linked my wildlife photography account below if that’s something you’re interested in!

I have given up on the whole newsletter thing for now, again, because I have been too slack! But if you would like to keep up with my posts when they come out, chuck your email in the box below and they’ll appear in your inbox.