Travelfish

McDonald first travelled to Thailand in 1993, and repeatedly visited the region in the following years, during which he worked in Australia and self-published guidebooks to Vietnam and Thailand. He met Brown in 1997, and after travelling around Southeast Asia, the couple decided to settle in Thailand in 1998 (they have since also lived in Phnom Penh and Jakarta, before settling in Bali).^[1][2] McDonald taught himself web development while working in Bangkok, and, as Brown had experience as a writer and editor, they came up with the idea of an online travel guide.^[3] In 2003, McDonald borrowed AU$5,000 from his parents to fund the project, and they launched the website in 2004.^[2][4]

The website originally featured a few locations in Thailand, but gradually expanded to cover Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Singapore by 2008,^[5] and later Indonesia, Malaysia and Myanmar (though it suspended its Myanmar coverage in 2018, in response to the Rohingya crisis and the sentencing of Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo^[6]). Initially catering to backpackers, its coverage later expanded to include a wide range of independent travel styles, and now includes over 8,000 reviews of accommodation options.^[7][8][9]

Travelfish has seen recommendations from writers for The Telegraph,^[10] The Sunday Times,^[11] The Guardian,^[12] Business Insider,^[13] and News.com.au.^[14] The New York Times travel writer Freda Moon has called it "the indispensable Southeast Asia travel guide".^[15]