Kuwaiti Explorer Fatima AlMattar Grew a Blog Into a Global Travel Hub

On a remote island off the coast of Tanzania, Fatima AlMattar slept beneath the sea. The glass walls of her room framed the slow ballet of passing fish, their silhouettes lit by flickers of bioluminescence. Beyond the shimmer, a living darkness pressed in—deep, endless, alive.

“I remember thinking: I’m not just visiting nature,” she says. “I’m living in it right now.”

A Kuwaiti traveller, storyteller, and founder of the global travel platform Hello965, AlMattar has built a career out of moments like this: immersive encounters that blur the line between observer and participant. Named Travel Influencer of the Year 2022 by Wanderlust, she is among the most recognisable voices in travel from the Gulf, known for her thoughtful storytelling and human-centred approach to exploration.

Yet the first thing one notices about Fatima AlMattar is not her acclaim, but her calm. The kind found in people who’ve learned to befriend solitude. It’s a stillness that seems almost at odds with the vibrant, sun-drenched feed of Hello965, where over three hundred thousand followers await her next dispatch.

Her first taste of independence came in her early twenties, when she boarded a flight alone to visit a friend studying in the United States. It was meant to be a simple reunion, but the trip proved formative. “I suddenly found myself navigating a new culture, unlearning judgments I didn’t even know I held, about people, places, even myself,” she recalls. “It taught me that my way isn’t the only way."

That journey planted the seed for everything that followed: the craving to see new places, and expand her sense of self through them. Yet, in March 2020, her will was put to the test.

Off the coast of Antarctica, she drifted for seven days without a signal, surrounded by a silence so absolute it felt like the only reality. When the ship finally reconnected, the world had changed: a pandemic, closed borders, chaos.

“You plan, you dream, you book the tickets. But the world reminds you that it has its own rhythm.”

The world, it seems, also had plans for her. As she started ticking off countries on her list—eventually visiting over 117—she began a personal blog, a digital scrapbook for a self-professed “forgetful person.” Much to her surprise, it resonated with women across the Gulf. Soon, it grew into Hello965.

"Growing up, we didn’t see people like us in travel media," she says. "I wanted to create a space where our stories mattered.”

The moment she realised Hello965 had transcended hobby status came not from a brand deal but from a message: “People started planning their honeymoons, sabbaticals, and family trips based solely on my advice. That trust meant everything—and it also brought a huge sense of responsibility.”

As a Kuwaiti woman in a global industry still largely narrated through a Western lens, she understands the quiet power of representation. “I want young Arab women to know they belong in every corner of the world. Not just as tourists, but as storytellers. Or even just to go and find who they really are.”

Beyond guiding others around the world, AlMattar also uses her platform to champion more conscious forms of exploration—from choosing locally-owned accommodations to encouraging off-season travel and supporting small businesses.

But, despite the reach, the recognition, and the rare beauty of her path, she doesn’t see the glitz. "I’m just a life-loving Kuwaiti woman who’s curious about the world."

Perhaps that’s what travel has taught her most—that meaning isn’t found in motion, but in the moments that move you. “I’m someone who faces her fears head-on. Whether that’s swimming with sharks or standing up for what I believe in.”

And therein, it seems, lies the secret—to travel, and to life.