What Inspired Us to Start Traveling Together
We met while living overseas, so travel was already a part of us even before we got together. For us, our big passions were all about seeing new places and having new experiences, so it just came naturally for us to continue this lifestyle.
My First Big International Trip Was on a Working Holiday Visa in Canada
My first big international trip was on a working holiday visa in Canada, and that was Alesha’s second adventure after working at a summer camp in the US. It was living in Canada that really made us fall in love with travel, and after a year there, we bought our first campervan and drove 40,000km across the country. Living the van life was completely new to us, and really cemented our love of slow, overland travel.
We’re Experts at Just Landing in a New Country Without a Plan and Winging It From There
In recent years, where we travel to is all about where work is taking us, as the majority of our international trips are under contract with a client. But we always try to add on extra time if we can allow it, to travel around nearby places.
If it’s not a work trip, we try to choose places to travel that are known for either adventure, landscapes, culture, or wildlife. How we prepare for each location doesn’t really change for us.
We’re experts at just landing in a new country without a plan and winging it from there. So, other than adequate clothing and camera gear, we always just do basic research before we arrive.
Must-Haves We Carry With Us
We wrote a whole blog post dedicated to our favorite campervan essentials, but as the absolute must-haves, it’s always good coffee (and an Aeropress), our cameras, and hiking gear.
Our Favorite Memory of Meeting New People and Exploring With Locals on Our Trips
Far too many to list! But one special memory is meeting a lovely couple in Iran who then invited us to a secret ‘Garden Party,’ which is a social gathering in a private, secluded house where locals essentially throw a huge party like you would find back in Australia - dancing, alcohol, music and all the things that are illegal in Iran.
It was an amazing night and offered a unique insight into Iranian culture that tourists don’t really get to see.
To Us, It’s More About Experiencing a Destination Than Ticking It Off
We’ve never counted the number of countries we’ve been to, so not exactly sure. We tend to spend a lot of time in one place, and go back to countries we love over and over again, so to us it’s more about experiencing a destination than ticking it off.
Our favorite destinations are Kyrgyzstan, Antarctica, Canada, and Chile. There are so many places left on the bucket list, but the places we’re eager to check out next are South Africa, the Arctic, Colombia, Nepal, Pakistan, and Russia.
The Travel Apps & Websites We Use on Our Trips
Our favorite apps for travel are Maps.me, Google Translate, XE Currency Converter, and Uber. For websites, we tend to just look up travel blogs for places we are going.
Our Blog
Our travel blog started as a way for us to document our experiences traveling from Thailand to South Africa without flying.
The goal was to publish travel tips, logistics of border crossings and visas, interviews with locals, and of course share our travel stories and images. Over time though, it’s grown to be much larger than us, and now it is a comprehensive travel resource in over 100 countries.
How We Manage Costs
We sure do! In the early days, our budget was a strict AUD$50 per day for both of us, which would cover accommodation, transport, food, and activities. We kept track of every dollar spent in little notebooks.
These days we’re very fortunate we don’t have to travel on a tight budget thanks to our business, but we still keep track of every dollar (this time using a spreadsheet) and don’t splurge on unnecessary luxuries such as fancy accommodation or expensive food.
What Prevents Us From Traveling More
Excluding a global pandemic, nothing prevents us from traveling. We’ve structured our lives in a way that travel is a priority for us and we can live and work from just about anywhere with an internet connection.
How We Manage Our Work and Travel on the Road
It’s a tough balance, and something we’ve always struggled with. Because we’re always on the move, we end up squeezing in a few hours on the laptops in airports, on public transport, or late at night in hotel rooms. It’s a challenge that we love because our jobs allow us to travel to some of the most incredible places on the planet.
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