After years of sharing her worldly experiences with millions of readers online, Brooke Saward is back home.
Saward, 24, is embarking on a sweet new adventure, and looking forward to spending less time living out of a suitcase.
The initial copies of her first published book, World of Wanderlust: How to Live an Adventurous Life, arrived at her home last week.
She said the work was "an inspirational travel book with lots of pictures".
Her blog World of Wanderlust’s wild popularity has allowed Saward, who grew up in Launceston, to travel the globe in style for a living.
After her first trip abroad to Hong Kong at age 13, she quickly developed a fixation with exploring the world.
“I'd never [even] been to Queensland before, my parents had never travelled overseas, it just wasn't a thing back then either,” Saward said.
"Going over there and coming from Launceston, where the tallest building is Myer, to skyscrapers and different languages, smells, everything was different.
“I think 13 is a very impressionable age to go overseas and live beyond what you know, so since then I fell in love with the idea of going overseas.”
As soon as she reached the legal working age of 14 and 9 months, Saward got a job at McDonald’s to start saving for her adventures.
Her next two overseas trips were to Hong Kong, and she was as frugal as possible so she could save for further travel.
“I think there's a stereotype that travel is expensive, but if you're going to Asian countries or you’re going when the dollar is strong it's not that expensive,” Saward said.
She earned herself a reputation as a travel connoisseur, and eventually grew tired of gathering travel tips for family and friends.
World of Wanderlust was born about three and half years ago.
“It was all timing … everyone was asking me for tips because hardly anyone they knew had gone overseas in Tasmania, it just wasn't a thing," Saward said.
"I was sick of pumping out emails ... because everyone wanted to ask me for tips, so I just wrote a blog which had my top five cafes in Paris or whatever else."
Saward said she felt lucky she began blogging early enough to carve a niche in the ‘blogosphere’.
"When I started blogging, fashion bloggers were huge, but no one was really doing that same sort of inspirational photography for travel, and having a story to follow like 'young girl goes out sees the world',” Saward said.
“That really worked in my favour - whereas they were telling people to buy things, I was telling people to buy experiences.”
“No one was really doing that on social media at the time so it was really good timing."
Solo travel forms both a significant part of both Saward’s online and real life personas.
"I think before I went overseas by myself, the first time I was 20 years old, I was a lot more reserved, I was a lot more shy, I was a lot more insecure," Saward said.
“At that age, you're still figuring out who you are, who you want to be.
“You're kind of stepping out from your family and looking at creating your own life, and from going overseas, I think that really just helped me come out of my shell.”
She predominantly travels by herself.
Saward said many misconceptions shrouded females travelling solo.
"I think the biggest misconception is that it's unsafe or that you'll have a really horrible time,” Saward said.
“For the first couple of weeks it will be an adjustment, but anything is."
Despite being inundated with offers to travel to amazing destinations and stay in great accommodation free-of-charge, Saward and her partner both agreed they’d like her to spend more time in Tasmania.
The couple met at Saward’s sister’s wedding during the bridal waltz.
For about a year and a half, Saward has been home about 20 per cent of the time, sometimes returning for just one night to see her partner.
"The story is that I go out and have this crazy, amazing lifestyle and I'm giving it up to come home,” Saward said.
The story is that I go out and have this crazy, amazing lifestyle and I'm giving it up to come home.
- World of Wanderlust create Brooke Saward
“It's now got to the point where we both would like it if I was home more often.”
Saward, who lives at Carrick, is about to embark on a new adventure, with her late-night eatery Charlie’s Dessert House opening in late September on Charles Street.
"Probably the biggest thing I love, second to travel, is sweets,” Saward said.
"I decided I was going to open a late night dessert house because this is something I've seen in other parts of the world."
Recipes collected on her travels fill the menu of the dessert house.
She said once her business is up and running, she’ll split her time between travelling and being at home equally.
"It is going to sound like a cliche, but you do learn to appreciate Tassie once you've been away from it for an extended period of time,” Saward said.
The traveller said she was glad to immerse herself in the laidback atmosphere.
"I lived in Berlin for two months and I just couldn't cope … one, it's a language barrier, but also just people aren't as warm and friendly," Saward said.
“I'm just as excited about Tassie as I am about anywhere.
"My idea is to come back and contribute to tourism here, that has always been my goal.”
