NomadMania is the most inclusive travel club out there. We do our best to lift up people from the developing countries and encourage them to travel the world despite the obvious difficulties in regard to their passport power and the background. Therefore, we also developed a Low Passport Index Ranking were we celebrate there travellers and their achievements.
Considering our next big event, The NomadMania Conference #5, is happening in Fergana Valley, Uzbekistan in late May 2025, we decided to reach out the the biggest Uzbek traveller that we know of and learn more about him and his travels.
North Pole
Meet Alexander Trach, an Uzbek traveller who visited every continent on Earth, over 50 UN countries and over 200 NomadMania regions.
Aleksander’s NomadMania profile
Tell us a little about your background. Where are you from? How did you get into travel?
I was born in Fergana, Uzbekistan. As a child, I traveled with my mother to Estonia, where my grandmother lived. As an adult, I traveled outside of Uzbekistan on my own for the first time to Germany in 2009. Since 2010, I have been traveling to other countries.
Where do you live now and how does this impact your travels? How do you manage to combine travel with work?
I currently live in Barcelona, Spain. It is convenient to travel from Spain, both around Europe and around the world, because Spain is a hub for air travel. I have a company in the UAE, and I work remotely. Therefore, I can travel to any country, but I always have to be in touch.
How did your heritage influence your travels? Does it make it easier in some ways and more difficult in others?
Unfortunately, the Uzbekistan passport index is not the strongest. But Uzbekistan is constantly developing and is striving to increase the number of countries for visa-free entry.
What are your biggest travel interests? What do you like to explore the most?
I love animals very much, so I like to visit places where you can observe animals in their natural habitat. Unfortunately, human pollution of the environment and the deliberate extermination of animals leads to their catastrophic reduction. Therefore, there are fewer and fewer such places.
I also believe that we are not the first civilization or race of creatures living on Earth, so when I travel, I want to find answers to some questions. Sometimes I see evidence for my guesses, but unfortunately, I can’t find answers yet )
Tell us a travel story. What is one of the most surprising moments you remember from your travels?
The most interesting story so far happened during my safari in Kenya. We arrived at a tent lodge with a guide, I was checked into a room. I don’t remember the hotel name, but I remember that Barack Obama and his family planted a tree garden there when he was not yet the president of the United States and this garden is called the Obama Garden. One of the hotel employees checked me into my tent room. In the morning, I closed the door with a zip and a lock with a key. I left the room key at the reception.
We went on safari, when we returned, I went to the reception and wanted to take my room key. I remember that the room was 5. When I went to the reception, I saw that all the hotel employees were looking at me. I felt like James Bond, who was exposed. I said I needed a key to room number … and one of the workers himself added “number 5”. And it was not the same worker who escorted me to the room yesterday. At that moment I knew for sure that the secret agent was exposed, an FBI helicopter flew out for me. We went to the room.
It turns out that while I was gone, one of the baboons that lived next to the lodge attacked my room. He knocked over the chairs on the terrace in front of the entrance, scattered the pillows. Then he broke the lock that was locked with a key, opened the zip, climbed inside the room, scattered my things on the table, then danced on the bed, the sheets and blankets were crumpled, there were baboon paw prints on the white bed. But the most harmful thing the baboon did was break the cold water supply. The water did not work anywhere, in the toilet, not in the bathroom.
The worker said that all the places in this hotel are occupied, so the chief allowed you to stay in the chief’s guest house. I wanted to joke and asked if I would have a room even cooler than Barack Obama’s? ) To which the employee seriously replied “Yes, of course. Barack Obama booked a business room, and you have the chief’s guest house, it’s much cooler.” They gave me a room with its own garden, a chaise lounge, a large area and carpets on the floor ) But the house was on the edge of a cliff, where I saw a family of baboons and all night I thought, will someone come to visit me again )
How did your general view of the world change with travelling?
The more I travel, the more I realize how little I know ) I want to visit more places to expand my knowledge of the world.
What do you recommend to new travellers who might be in your same position when you started?
I would like to say that if you want to travel, you have to act. Some trips are expensive, but you can go on some without a big budget. I was at a meeting of NomadMania travelers in Barcelona and remember the words of invited speaker Carlos Useros Moyano (second place at NomadMania in Spain ranking), who has visited all the countries of the world.
He was asked how he distributes finances for travel, how expensive it is. He said that when traveling, hotels can be expensive, if there are few of them, then you will have to put up with the price of the hotel. But for food, he said that if he had problems with finances, he went to any store, took a sandwich, Snickers chocolate and water and in all countries of the world the price for this is about the same. The price is not high and you will be full.
Of course, if the main goal is comfort, then this is one question. But if the main goal is adventure, learning something new, then you can find compromises. It is much easier to travel now than, for example, 20 years ago. Many people do not travel even if there is an opportunity, they look for company, think that they will go in a month, a year, find other reasons, and life passes.
What can travel teach the world? Do you think our world would be a different place if people saw more of it?
Travel, like any phenomenon in this world, has two sides of the coin. On the one hand, people from more conservative countries can see the wasteful and hedonistic lifestyle of Western countries. On the other hand, you can, on the contrary, begin to appreciate those things that many people consider ordinary by default.
For example, I did not understand when children in hotels in Turkey, where everything is included, took drinking water in bottles from the refrigerators and poured it on themselves when they got out of the pool, although there was a shower nearby, while in Africa children were happy with a bottle of water, as a gift. In any case, traveling broadens a person’s horizons and gives more knowledge. A wise and reasonable person will be able to glean more useful than harmful from traveling. So yes, our world would be different if people saw it more.
You’re from Fergana Valley, which is where the NomadMania Conference #5 will take place. Does this have any significance to you? Are you excited to share your home with the world?
Yes, it is very important for me. You know, when I traveled, when I told people that I was born in Fergana, Uzbekistan, many people not only did not know the city of Fergana, some did not even know the country of Uzbekistan.
I was surprised when at the meeting of NomadMania travelers in Barcelona, after I said that I was born in Fergana, Uzbekistan, all the people knew not only about Uzbekistan, but also about Fergana, and many had already been to the Fergana Valley. Some of the travelers have visited even more places in Uzbekistan than me 🙈 And one of the participants Alberto Campa (number 6 in NomadMania Spain ranking) even had a T-shirt “Plov is all you need” (plov is a national Uzbek dish).
We got to talk with the NomadMania team representative Orest Zub there also. I said that I was born in Fergana, Uzbekistan and then it clicked in a way, so the guys brought the idea to host a Conference in Fergana. Therefore, I am very grateful that NomadMania decided to make its tour to the region where I was born. It is an honor for me to represent my city, my country for great travelers. I hope that this will help develop tourism in the region. And travelers will enjoy the local flavor.
Somewhere in Central Asia
Will you be at the NomadMania Conference #5 in 2025? What are you looking forward to the most?
Of course, I plan to be at this conference. As I have already said, it is an honor for me to represent my city and my country. But it is also a great responsibility. Given the specifics of the region, not everything is so easy, there are certain difficulties, so most of all I expect the entire conference to go without major mistakes, and travelers who decided to attend this conference were happy with the program, viewing the places and regions that interest them and satisfied with the organization of the conference.Â
Full details of the NomadMania Conference #5
We have a signature question that we ask all our guests: If you could invite four people from any era to dinner, who would your guests be and why?
A difficult question ) I suppose I would invite Albert Einstein, Wernher von Braun, Helena Blavatsky and Nikola Tesla. Why would I invite them? It seems to me that each of them would lift the veil of one of the secrets that are interesting to me )
See more of Alexander’s travels on his NomadMania profile and welcome to follow his adventures on instagram. Welcome to join our NomadMania Conference #5 in Fergana in late May 2025 where you will meet around 100 travellers from all over the world in addition to an amazing program in a truly unique destination.
