Alex in Wanderland
Alexandra Baackes writes Alex in Wanderland, creates dive and yoga trips through Wander Women Retreats, and shares a life shaped by the ocean, New York, and Bali.
At 100 nudges, fangea sends Alex’s team an official invite.
🔒 Star boosts open once Alex claims this page.
Latest
Alex’s happenings, collected from public sources, plus her backstory and Starbook, where fans write.
Known for
Ebook
Wander Women Retreats
Wander Women RetreatsOverview
- Name
- Alexandra Baackes
- Hometown
- Albany, New York
- Started blogging
- 2009, during a two-month Southeast Asia trip
- Travel career
- Left New York to travel full time in 2011
- Founded
- Wander Women Retreats, 2018
- Diving
- PADI Divemaster and AmbassaDiver
Mini bio
How it started.
Alex grew up in Albany and studied and worked in Brooklyn. She started blogging during a two-month Southeast Asia trip in 2009, then finished her fine arts degree before leaving New York to travel full time in 2011. Early jobs included bartending and babysitting to keep the travels going.
Finding her subject.
Diving became both a job and a way to tell stories. Alex filmed tourists underwater in Grand Cayman and later worked as an underwater videographer in Thailand. As the blog found readers, she turned it into a full-time business. PADI introduced her as an AmbassaDiver in 2016.
From stories to shared trips.
In 2018, she founded Wander Women Retreats and published the first Wanderland Guide to Koh Tao. The trips bring together diving, yoga, photography, and sustainability. The guide returned in an updated 2025 edition, drawing on local friends and her own time leading retreats.
Creditschronological, newest first
Writing
- 2025The Wanderland Guide to Koh Tao, updated editionAuthor
- 2019What It’s Like To Stay at the Jules’ Undersea LodgeWriter, Scuba Diving
Retreats
- 2025High Flying EgyptCo-host
- 2025Wander Women KomodoHost and yoga teacher
Awards
Quotes
I’ll always see myself first and foremost as a student.Alexandra Baackes, PADI
Her 2016 AmbassaDiver introduction, on continuing to learn about diving. https://blog.padi.com/meet-padis-latest-ambassadiver-alexandra-baackes/
Trivia
- The Wanderland name nods to her love of Alice in Wonderland.
- She first tried diving at 19 while traveling in Southeast Asia.
- Her Koh Tao guide includes custom hand-illustrated maps.
Find Alex
Follow Alex’s travels and find the next Wander Women trip.
Are you Alex in Wanderland?
Fans built this page. Claim it to connect with them and unlock Star boosts, or request a takedown if you’d rather it not exist.