About OunTravela
The forgotten path philosophy
We are Olivia & Victor.
Explorers, authors, photographers, publishers and adventurers at heart.
Over the years, our passion for adventure has led us to create original travel guides sold in over 70 countries worldwide. Our mission is to spread a travel philosophy based on adventure, freedom, improvisation and exploration. Our guides inspire travelers to explore the world’s forgotten paths, encountering wilderness and civilizations. Discover our Explore Ladakh, Explore Kyrgyzstan and Explore Georgia guides.
But it wasn’t always like that…
A few years ago, we were living a sedentary, settled life with our professional careers all mapped out. Victor as an engineer and Olivia as a vet, secure jobs and the promise of “social success”.
But already, our aspirations were no longer in line with our daily lives, and each of us, without knowing the other, was setting off on adventures in search of a new meaning to our lives.
In 2017, after spending a year sharing a house in the south of France, we fell head over heels in love. Our two passions for travel became one. Barely a month after making our relationship official, we embarked on the trip that will change our lives. We set off for Kyrgyzstan, with only one goal in mind: to change our lives, discover the unknown and pass on our passion to other travelers. This was the beginning of the Ountravela story.
Creating OunTravela Publishing
In 2019, we decided to set up our own publishing house, OunTravela, to bring together adventure-seeking travelers around a guidebook that’s both fun and informative.
Of all the guides that existed at the time, we couldn’t find one that met our needs. Where are the maps? the field data? the beautiful photographs? What’s behind those mountains, valleys and little-known regions? How can we enable travelers to set off on adventures off the beaten track, with a knowledge of the terrain, landscapes and culture, without sending them a list of hotels, restaurants and tourist sites?
The idea quickly germinated in our minds, and we embarked on this crazy project as self-taught and self-published authors.
Why self-publishing?
We are at once the explorers, photographers, cartographers, authors and publishers of our guidebooks… all tasks that require a huge amount of work, but which offer us great freedom: the freedom to choose our destinations, the format of our books and their content. Self-publishing also gives us the independence we were looking for as entrepreneurs. It allows us to create a direct link with our readers, without intermediaries, and so to adapt quickly to their needs and to the reality on the ground.
To create a travel guide from A to Z, it takes about a year of work, from exploration to publication.
By the way, what does OunTravela mean?
You know the movie Avatar (the big blue creatures that live in harmony with nature and that humans want to destroy…)? When he was younger, Victor was a big fan of the movie, and you can be sure he spoke their language, Navi’. OunTravela is a word from this dialect, meaning “to go in the opposite direction to the one intended”. I’m told to go there? Well, I’m going the opposite way.