Hey! 🙂

If you’re reading this, then it’s probably your first time visiting Travestyle. Well, guess what? If you’re a travel junkie, it won’t be your last.

Who we are?

We’re Matin and Parsa. A young Iranian couple who met through mutual friends at uni and got married a little less than a year ago. You can read all about our wedding story here.

Matin was born in Iran but ended up being raised in 3 continents and 5 countries and finally settled in Iran after finishing her studies in Graphic design in Lisbon. She’s the one who started this blog a few years ago until Parsa came around and became her all-time favourite travel partner. 🙂

Parsa was born Iran and raised in various cities as his family kept moving around the country. He finally settled in Tehran after getting accepted to study chemical engineering at Tehran University. He now has an office job related to his field of study and collaborates with Matin on Travestyle. 

About Travestyle

What are we doing here? 

Holding an Iranian passport can only mean a few things to the world:

  1. Travelling the world can be a pain in the ass. Why? Because you need a visa for almost everywhere and everyone makes sure you go through hell for it.
  2. You’re the one that takes up extra time in passport control because everything has to be double checked. You could easily be a threat to national security!
  3. As an Iranian woman, the world just feels sorry for you. You’re an oppressed individual under male surveillance and very little of what you do has been a personal decision.

We’re here to oppose all that.

Yes! We hold a shitty passport and sometimes get humiliated in passport control or in the visa process, but that doesn’t mean we’ll sit back home to avoid it. We’re here to prove everyone wrong (sort of!)  and to provide insightful travel information of places our weak Iranian Rials could afford. To tell the world how much they’ve been underestimating Iranian women and to show that Matin as an Iranian hijabi girl can be just as ordinary, just as assertive and just as crazy as many other women in the world.

But above all that, we’re here to promote our home country for all the amazing things it has to offer and heal a small part of the damage that’s been done to its reputation thanks to Western media.

About Travestyle

How and where do we travel?

We haven’t left our jobs to travel or anything. Coming from a rather problematic developing country doesn’t give us the freedom to just wander off that easily. As for now, Parsa has kept his office job and Matin runs a food tour company in Iran and we try to squeeze in as much as travel as our time and budget allow.

We don’t have a specific taste in travel. We like a little bit of everything. From top touristy capitals to off-beat villages and quirky backstreet cafes. But most of our travels take us through Iran, discovering its secrets and unprecedented beauty.

We travel on a budget, have a soft spot for road trips and love mingling with locals and take an immense delight in trying new food. Matin’s background in design and Parsa’s love for cinema and music gives us a great appreciation for arts, cultures and photography.

We normally end up in homestays, local homes or hostels. We don’t mind splurging on a decent hotel room every now and then and we’re cool to make my own meal when possible.

How do we afford to travel?

We work! No one is paying us to travel. We’re just not there yet and we might never be considering the circumstances.

Matin is the co-founder of Persian Food Tours and the company is currently expanding to other cities hoping for a bigger promotion of Iranian gastronomy, food culture and most likely making some more money. That could only mean more travel!

Parsa has his office job and tries to save up whatever he can from not only his salary but his days off.

Like many travel bloggers, our ultimate dream is to become location independent and “get paid to travel” but that’s not so easy when you don’t own a credit card and your bank account doesn’t allow any international transactions due to cruel sanctions. Another of our privileges. I know!

We collaborate with a few companies that see beyond borders and actually believe in the real spirit of travel. We find ways to get around the limitations, but apart from that, our travel funds come from working our ass off.

Let’s get on the road!

Enough rambling now. After all, you’re here for our travels.

Here are a few of our most useful articles for Iran:

Work with us!

So you know who we are and want to work with us eh?

Well, you’re in the right place. I guess by now you’ve realised the unconditional effort we put into this blog which has quickly turned it to the best Iran travel blog you’ll find on the internet. Feel free to send us an enquiry about working/collaborating with us or sponsorship. You can reach us at enquiries(@)travestyle.com

Stalk us!

If you’ve made it to here, then I’ve probably got more to offer that will come to your interest. At this point, we’re ok with you stalking us around (I guess!). Come find us here:

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Our interviews:
A travelista from Iran – Reizen op sneakers.

Matin Lashkari, Portrait on an inspiring blogger – Social media studies (German & English)

Dies ist eine Zeit der Chancen – General Anzeiger (German)

Meet the women cooking up a fight against Iranian patriarchy – Girlsareawesome.com

5 minutes with Matin Lashkari – Travel Weekly UK

Bossy travellers: An interview with Matin from Iran – Lost with purpose

Features and Guest posts:

National Geography Traveler – Poland 

How to convince the world it’s OK to travel to Iran? – Marocmama

O que fazer em Teerão, as dicas da Matin Lashkari – Alma de Viajante (Portuguese)