Angela Carson

27/10/2025

Congrats to my dear friend Bilawal Khan Solangi on this well-deserved honour. I first met Bilawal in 2020 when he was the MOST AMAZING guide at Kot Diji, see us here in the vlog from that day https://youtu.be/1WL-U66Engg. Over the years we've stayed in touch and Bilawal is the only guide we use on tours at Kot Diji ❤️

Bilawal Khan Solangi :
V logger / Tour Guide

During the Sindh Literature Festival, the “Safeer-e-Sindh Award” is presented to individuals who have rendered outstanding services in various fields.
This year, the 8th Sindh Literature Festival will be held on November 15 and 16 at Beach Luxury Hotel, Karachi.
During the festival, Bilawal Khan Solangi, a young tour guide and vlogger from Khairpur district, will also be honored with the award.
Bilawal Solangi has been working for several years to promote Sindh’s historical sites and tourism. Every year, foreign tourists from different parts of the world visit Sindh through his guidance. He shows them the historical places of Sindh and also creates vlogs about these sites.

27/10/2025

UK COMPANY SCAMS PAKISTAN TRAVEL BRAND OUT OF £5,000 😡 [please share] Every day there seems to be more risk of being cheated when working cross-border, with outsourcing companies too often at the root of that bad behaviour. Today it’s Hindukush Holidays https://www.instagram.com/hindukushholidays, a luxury travel company in Pakistan, that’s been scammed out of a £5,000 deposit by 7tnine Developments https://www.7tnine.co.uk, a UK company founded by Woking Council Councillor Anila Javaid https://woking.moderngov.co.uk/mgUserInfo.aspx?UID=2915 and her husband Noman Azim https://www.linkedin.com/in/noman-azim-9b7609b.

The owner of the travel company, Zainab Alam, is a friend who has no real recourse to recover her money after having a UK lawyer file a legal notice that 7tnine ignored. Zainab’s lawyer also dropped the bad news that the cost to pursue a refund through the courts will be more than the £5,000 deposit they’ve kept.

So I’ve offered to write her story because Zainab wants to warn future victims against hiring them.

HOW IT STARTED
A mutual friend introduced Zainab to Anila Javaid and Noman Azim, who represented themselves as domain experts in luxury travel branding and revenue generation. They offered a song-and-dance that convinced Zainab to trust them — especially after the mutual friend personally vouched for them — and so she sent the deposit before sharing 7tnine website references to friends like me who work in branding and build websites.

The issues started immediately, and that’s where I came in. 7tnine sent two mockups to Zainab and asked her to quickly approve one. She asked for my advice and I was floored. They weren’t designing a luxury website based off of a content plan or sitemap … they sent Zainab two pre-made themes and planned to write content around the generic templates.

Zainab had paid UK rates for what she expected would be a stunning custom build but what she was receiving was the equivalent to the cheapest option on Fiverr. Ater a long chat where I voiced my concerns, including the fact that 7tnine doesn’t mention “luxury branding” or “website expertise” once on their own website, we decided I would act as the project’s brand manager.

I won’t go into that nightmare except to say that neither Woking Borough Council Councillor Anila Javaid nor her husband Noman Azim had any idea how to run a luxury project of that nature. They had outsourced the design & development to two men in Karachi, Pakistan with full-time jobs who were doing this project during the night in their free time as a side gig, and who also had never built a luxury website or had luxury branding experience.

Over the course of a month, I did the best I could managing the project:
* Creating design briefs & writing each page’s content
* Managing the brand image (layout, fonts, colours, vectors, pics & videos)
* Documenting the endless list of “fixes” from their mistakes and lack of luxury branding knowledge (new page designs always looked like a budget travel company with multiple colours in use, whimsical fonts and awful mismatched vectors, etc)

(see image) 7tnine wasn’t even CLOSE to having completed the TOURS page template, arguably the most important page for a luxury travel company (more than the homepage!). Yet they refused to keep working on it to perfect it. They were trying to force Zainab to approve the site because they wanted to be done in order to invoice the final £3,000 payment.

When I put my foot down and said we must refuse to approve it, they said they’d no longer work with me because I’m difficult and they blocked me. Then they simply stopped working!

Doing some digging online, we learned things that would have helped Zainab see sooner that they were shady & untrustworthy and NOT domain experts in luxury travel brands nor website design and development:

1. (see image) 7tnine Developments is not licensed to operate as a software or services company given that the company ( #12164708) in the UK under SIC 46190 is registered as “Agents involved in the sale of a variety of goods (Merchant Wholesalers, Nondurable Goods, Wholesale Trade)”. They’ve had plenty of time to send a revised Confirmation Statement to the government if their primary business changed (most recent is 4 Sept 25 “no updates” — see below) but they are still listed today as wholesalers. Given that Anila is a government official with Woking Borough Council, she would know the law.

2. (see image) They used stolen Google images & wrote fake TESTIMONIALS for their own website. When I mentioned this to Anila, she had her team instantly remove that section of their website!

3. (see image) The team in Karachi used Abercrombe Kent stolen source code that would have left Zainab open to future lawsuits. You can see the page on Abercrombie & Kent’s website here: https://www.abercrombiekent.com/journeys/small-group-journeys/kenya-tanzania-a-great-migration-safari-adventure

HOW IT ENDED
When they were trying to force Zainab to approve that TOUR page, she realised that she had been scammed — paying UK rates and in return receiving a website she would never be able to launch because it had a design that — aside from the HOMEPAGE — made Hindukush Holidays look outdated and like a budget brand.

Anila and Noman grossly misled Zainab with lies to coerce her into signing with 7tnine Developments. They charged her UK rates with a promise of excellence but delivered simple templates, sub-par design, zero expertise, and stolen source code.

Woking Borough Council Councillor Anila Javaid and co-founder Noman Azim have blocked Zainab and refused to refund Hindukush Holidays the £5,000 deposit. Sharing this story and the information we discovered is the best we can do now to bring awareness of their unethical business practices in hopes of preventing future victims from being scammed by 7tnine Developments.

26/10/2025

My TOP 5 Beaches in Pakistan are all in Balochistan 🏝️
1. Koh-e-Mehdi, Gwadar
2. Golden Mile, Hingol National Park
3. Ganz, Jiwani
4. Astola Island, Gwadar
5. Damb dunes between a bay and the open Arabian Sea, Lasbela

If I had to pick ... Astola Island and Koh e Mehdi are tied for 1st as my favourite ❤️ Astola is wonderful for swimming and diving, whilst Koh e Mehdi is an otherworldly, breathtaking landscape that’s perfect for reconnecting to nature, having a picnic, and flying the drone 🧺

Together with Adventure Planners Pakistan .planners, we offer tours that include these beautiful beaches🩱

📸 Originally posted in 2021 when I spent 50 days travelling all around 10 districts in Balochistan

25/10/2025

I just realised that NONE of my clients have been foreigners in 2025. I started offering bespoke luxury travel planning services for Pakistan in 2024 and so far all but one of my clients are Pakistanis living abroad looking to explore Pakistan for the 1st time ✈️

When it comes to luxury travel, most Pakistanis wanting a holiday will opt to do that abroad, with UAE, Turkey & the UK being top favourites. That means there hasn’t been a real need for domestic luxury travel companies & tour operators.

There are exceptions, of course, mostly in niche categories of travel. For example, the upper class gents who head out on epic rides across Pakistan atop a Harley Davidson.

Or like in the case of affluent Pakistanis who ride horses and embark on luxury pony treks … like Hindukush Holidays offers deep into the Hindukush Mountains. The owners, Zainab Alam – a princess of Chitral – and Qubilai Alam – a polo legend – have created once-in-a-lifetime tours that are RUSTIC LUXURY at its finest. Expeditions and glamping but with a massage therapist and bartender along on tours!

In 2023 I partnered with Adventure Planners Pakistan to create luxury tours to the more unexplored areas of Pakistan like in Balochistan and routes in the Punjab & Sindh provinces to visit UNESCO Sites. Our tours feature expert guides + extras like nightly cocktail hour, a drone pilot to capture guest experiences, and special moments like a sunset camel ride & lantern-lit desert BBQ on the dunes while lounging on rugs, with a whole lamb, and gazing at the stars.

The fact is, until the demand for luxury travel expands and there are more local experts in Pakistan, there is a need for bespoke luxury planners to curate perfect itineraries for travel companies to execute. This requires someone niched in Pakistan travel + luxury experiences and who has a DEEP UNDERSTANDING of the behaviour & habits of the target client and the attention-to-detail they expect from a luxury holiday.

ABOUT ME 🐪
Over the years, I've had such fun reviewing every 5-star hotel in Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi and sharing almost 100 Pakistan hotel review & travel guide videos on YouTube. Pakistan has twice been my home ❤️

24/10/2025

New $520 Apartment Tour on YouTube https://youtu.be/Be7l7lXvj7c ❤️

Especially if you're a digital nomad OR if you golf, Reotel .id at The Nove serviced apartments are the best, sat on Palm Springs Golf Course , right on the beach. Reotel offers its guests free buggy service to 2 restaurants and to my favourite ... Tiger Beach Club https://www.instagram.com/tigerbeachclubbatam/ (don’t miss their fish & chips!). Reotel also offers their own in-room local food delivery, prepared by their team.

WHY INDONESIA'S BATAM ISLAND 🏝️
1. I love living close to SINGAPORE because it's where my best friend lives (and being able to visit her and the family is a gift)
2. Being close to CHANGI AIRPORT is amazing (25min ferry + 10min taxi)
3. It's a hub for ferries and I've wanted to TRAVEL to lesser-known islands in Southeast Asia for years ... making this a perfect jumping off point (I'm only 2 minutes away from the ferry terminal!)
4. Reotel has free buggy service down to Tiger Beach Bar to sit and work 👩🏼‍💻

WANT TO STAY HERE?
If you do, please reach out and I will give you Reotel's direct contact. This video is not sponsored but if I make the introduction, they'll give me a small discount off next months' rent ... and give you something special.

XOXO ~ Angela

15/10/2025

Should Thailand be your 1st SOLO TRAVEL adventure?

Hells yeah!

Over the past 10 years, I’ve returned to 2 islands and 3 mainland destinations over 7 trips as a solo traveller: Phuket & Koh Samui (the islands) and Bangkok, Chiang Mai & Hat Yai on the mainland.

If you’re someone who sees solo travel as something for YOUR BUCKET LIST but you also view it as a BIT OF A RISK (or something your family wouldn’t approve of), Thailand is a fabulous choice. It’s safe and has a wonderfully diverse array of choices for any holiday.

As a solo traveller, I’ve never felt alone in Thailand. Over the years, I had the great joy to meet amazingly friendly co-travellers while I:
• Was at a café, restaurant or bar
• Sat at an open-air movie night on the beach
• Watched a cabaret show
• Smoked up in a w**d café
• Soaked up the sun at the beach or a hotel pool
• Was in queue at the airport to board a flight

FINAL THOUGHTS
The government of Thailand cares about tourism. It has done a lot to make it easy for digital nomads to spend time there, with relatively low visa fees.

Best of all … as a woman, I’ve never felt unsafe in Thailand (I mean, that can happen anywhere, I am just sayin’...). I am grateful to have always had an amazing time. And I genuinely can’t wait to go back again. Thai curries and Thai salads are the best! 

…and Thai cuisine is my favourite in all of Asia (sorry other countries!!).

09/10/2025

This makes me laugh >> Fawad (the man who tried to ra*pe me and reported me for cybercrimes because of the article I wrote naming him, which you can read here on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/14JdpfuV26Y) has been reporting my old Twitter posts again. This is the 2nd notice in just a few days I've received. You can see it here (scroll down for LOTS OF POSTS ABOUT FAWAD 😉): https://x.com/angelacarson/status/1951202945069978103

He's not very intelligent. I stopped posting about him and being found guilty for cybercrimes ages ago. If he just stopped these antics this story would die but he doesn't ... so I post about it...

07/10/2025

📢 NEW 15-DAY TOUR 🐪 If you geek out on history, heritage & UNESCO Sites, are curious about local cuisine, and enjoy learning history from passionate locals ... we hope you’ll join us 17-31 January 2026!

There is so much more to Pakistan than just the mountains and lakes. The Punjab and Sindh provinces are teeming with ancient history, with six UNESCO Sites and 14 on the tentative list. And we’ll be visiting 11 of them … along with an amazing array of beautiful places of wonder.

If you subscribe to the COLLECT MOMENTS, NOT THINGS philosophy, this is your tour.

LUXURY TOUR “EXTRAS”
• Nightly cocktail hour
• Drone pilot to shoot special moments for you
• VIP access to heritage sites normally off-limits to tourists
• Special amenities awaiting you at the rural budget hotels (when we are hours away from luxury hotels)
• Post-tour highlights video & photos

SUPPORT LOCAL COMMUNITIES
• Local guides have been booked at each stop on your journey
• Every day of the tour, we “buy local”
• Punjab-based travel company

WHAT’S INCLUDED
• Accommodations
• Daily cocktail hour
• All meals except lunch on day 7 and dinners on day 3, 6, 8, 9, 13
• English-speaking local guides
• Airport transfers & all transportation
• Entrance fees, taxes & gratuities

PRICE 🌴
• US$3,920 per person (double occupancy)

We’d love for you to join us. Please DM if you’re interested.

06/10/2025

[SWIPE] If you’re in Islamabad Friday, Saturday or Sunday ... I hope you’ll stop in & SUPPORT Balochistan. This is a 3-day event has something for everyone: from curious travellers, foodies, theatre fans & anyone looking to invest or understand the potential opportunities in Balochistan.

WHERE
Lok Virsa Heritage Museum in Islamabad

WHEN
10-12 October

**NOT SPONSORED, I just love Balochistan and hope more people start to visit because it’s WONDERFUL 🌴 🐪  🐬

03/10/2025

Project for USA Client Launched 🎉 This project is for an entrepreneur on a budget working in a very competitive space. I hope you’ll check it out, very proud of the final result — and I couldn’t have done it without my team in Pakistan!

If we can be of any support to your growth strategy, I’d love to work with you. Outsourcing to me means you have the benefit of my 29 years of experience as project leader + the savings of working with talent in Pakistan.

ABOUT ANGELA
For 29 years, I’ve specialised in branding and marketing communications — first in California startups (worked on my first website & email marketing campaign in 1996). Later for startups in Europe for 12 years and then Asia. In 2016, I left 9-to-5 life and started working for myself when I launched That Wow.