Hi, I’m Hira. A Pakistani traveller with a stubborn passport, a soft spot for mountains, and a deep love for the quiet, in-between moments of being on the road. I’m also a chronic protein-counter, an introvert who somehow runs a public blog, and a two-time-a-week yoga teacher with a very loud productivity-bro living in her head who insists rest has to be earned. Those two are constantly at war.

When I’m not refereeing that fight, I’m reading fiction – lately, an embarrassing amount of gay hockey romance with way too much rivalry in it. ADHD and anxiety are words that have come up often enough, in enough therapist’s offices, that I’ve stopped pretending they don’t apply, official diagnosis or not.

I started Musafir in Transit to share the kind of travel stories and planning help I could never find, especially for places that get misrepresented, misunderstood, or skipped over entirely. Every trip on this blog is one I planned, paid for, and pulled off myself, sometimes smoothly, more often chaotically. It’s shaped by visa logistics, border crossings, long-term travel experiments, and a stubborn curiosity for places that don’t make anyone’s bucket list.

Why I Started This Blog

Okay, so, the actual origin story. It started with a motorcycle trip through northern Pakistan that I very much did not tell my parents about, because if I had, the answer would’ve been an immediate and permanent no. At the time it didn’t feel like some big rebellious act. It just felt like a trip. It was only afterwards, watching people’s faces when I told them what I’d done, that I realised how far off this kind of thing feels for most people, especially for girls back home who’d never even consider it an option.

That reaction is honestly what got me writing in the first place. Not some grand mission statement. Just a stubborn need to say “actually, this is possible” to anyone who needed to hear it.

Then I left Pakistan and ran into a completely different problem. Visa applications that took weeks for entries that were instant for almost everyone else. Random extra screening at borders with no explanation given. The specific, quiet exhaustion of paperwork for something that’s a total non-event for people holding almost any other passport. That’s when passport privilege stopped being an abstract concept to me and became something I felt in my body, every single time I crossed a border.

This blog grew from those two things: a need for better, clearer info about travel in Pakistan, and a broader conversation about how people like me move through the world. It’s for anyone drawn to misunderstood places, curious about culture, and tired of fluffy content that skips the hard parts.

The Journey (so far)

My love for travel started in the mountains of northern Pakistan. In college, I joined an adventure society and started taking trips up north, hiking, road tripping, figuring out how to do it all with limited gear and zero experience.

After undergrad, I knew I wanted more than just a few vacation days a year, so I moved to Hungary for my postgrad. Partly for the education, mostly for the Schengen visa, if I’m honest.

Budapest was my first stop, and my first real home abroad. I worked in banking there for a few years, got comfortable, and then restless. I tried switching it up with a new job in Berlin, thinking maybe a different city would fix the burnout. It didn’t. The idea of sitting behind a desk for the rest of my life just never sat right, no matter which city the desk was in.

So I saved up, quit, and started slow travelling. The next couple of years were spent weeks or months at a time in Georgia, Spain, Bosnia, Argentina, and Nicaragua, moving at my own pace, making it up as I went. I wrapped that chapter up with a long stretch through Vietnam and Cambodia.

Now I’m based in Canada, slowing down again, trading border runs for long walks and a mountain of paperwork. I’m still writing and still planning, but I also desperately need this to work. I gave up a steady paycheque for this, and there’s a stubborn part of me that won’t feel like that was the right call until this actually pays my rent, not just my curiosity.

How can I help you?

On this blog, I have a collection of travel stories, guides, and reflections shaped by time on the road – long stretches in unfamiliar places, logistical puzzles, good food, hard moments, and small wins.

I plan every trip myself – from visa applications and border crossings to budgets, routes, and timing. That means you’ll see the unglamorous parts of travel: figuring out visas, budgeting in unstable currencies, finding decent Wi-Fi, and pushing through the occasional identity crisis a border guard’s extra questioning can trigger.

There’s a strong focus on independent travel in Pakistan – a country still navigating how to welcome tourism and often overlooked or misunderstood. I try to fill the gaps with firsthand knowledge, practical advice, and honest stories from the road.

And because I got tired of doing the maths myself every time I planned a trip, I built a Passport Dashboard: a tool for Pakistani travellers that tells you exactly what’s accessible to you based on your residency, and any visas you already hold.

Slightly Useless Facts if you’re still interested

Where to follow along?

Social media makes it a little easier for small, independent blogs like this one to survive the algorithm void – so if you’ve enjoyed what you’ve read, give @musafirintransit a follow on Instagram. That’s where I share travel photos, tips, and behind-the-scenes glimpses of this slightly chaotic nomadic life

Got a question or want to say hey?

You can always reach me at hello@musafirintransit.com. Whether it’s a travel query, a kind note, or a pitch for collaboration – I read every message, even if I’m somewhere with spotty Wi-Fi and no sense of time.