How We Met
We met on a boat, we got engaged on a boat, we married on a boat, and every year we celebrate our wedding anniversary on a boat. No doubt that our dream is to live the rest of our lives on a boat… well, hopefully someday soon.
To tell you more about our story, we met in Hong Kong about 10 years ago. Guillaume started a new job there and his friends brought him to try a new sport: wakeboarding.
Surprise, surprise, the boat driver was Hammer. It was love at first sight. Everything happened very quickly after that. We moved in together about 2-3 weeks later.
A few years later we moved to Singapore together where we lived another 3 years as expatriates. We loved it there as we also got married in Singapore on a catamaran with all our friends. It was unreal!
How We Decide Our Next Destination
We are both riders. We love skateboarding, surfing, wakeboarding, wake surfing, snowboarding, etc. and we recently started kitesurfing. To balance everything, we also practice a lot of yoga together. We usually decide on a location where we can practice one of these sports during our trips. This year we mostly focus on surfing. We started traveling through all of the Canary Islands in Spain, nicknamed the Hawaii of Europe because of its strong waves in winter.
After Spain, we flew to Portugal, to a charming town called Ericeira, a true surf paradise in Europe and recognized as a World Surfing Reserve. The only place in Europe with this title!
We then went to Sri Lanka and spent a few weeks in the south near Weligama/Mirissa, one of the best places to surf in the world.
After Sri Lanka, we went on a yoga and surf trip to Bali. We stayed there for 3 months. We love this island! After Bali, we went surfing and kitesurfing in Thailand and then back to Hong Kong for a lot of wake surfing with our friends and family. We are now doing a road trip in Hokkaido, the north of Japan to catch the first snow this winter.
Some Adventures That We've Loved
Every year since we met we go snowboarding in Japan, a place called Niseko. With an average of 15 meters (almost 50 feet) of snow falling annually Niseko is one of the snowiest places in the world. This is insane, isn’t it? This is our happy place.
Another beautiful place, which we would like to call home someday is Bali! This island is just incredible. The culture is so unique, the food is amazing and the whole vibe is just what we like: friendly & chill.
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Countries We Have Visited
We lived long term in 3 different countries together, Hong Kong, Singapore, and South Korea. Since we met almost 10 years ago now, we traveled to each continent together exploring probably over 30 countries or so together.
One of the most pleasant discoveries was actually South Korea. We visited some places which we didn’t know existed, take for instance the incredible Boseong Tea Plantations, the terrace tea plantation is magnificent and won many awards for some of the best teas in the world.
Then you can visit Nahmae in the south, with its amazing rice field terraces at Gacheon Daraengi Village and its incredible coastline. A real gem!
Another incredible place to see in South Korea, is the stunning Seoraksan National Park, a UNESCO site. Between its many peaks, unique rocks, its rivers, and waterfalls, this national park is absolutely breathtaking!
There are many other incredible places that we discovered in Korea, you can read some more on our blog.
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Favorite Memory of Meeting New People & Exploring With Them
When thinking about all our travels, quite often it’s not only about the places or countries we visited but most of the time about the people we met along our journey.
One of our recent memories is about Wayan, our neighbor when we stayed in Bali for 3 months this year. We stayed in a tiny village surrounded by rice fields. Our neighbor, Wayan, and his family took such good care of us.
Every day they would drop some offerings in front of our house (called “canang sari”), to the Gods, as a gesture of gratitude on our behalf. They would also bring us fresh flowers, and fruits and pray at the temple nearby for us. Such kindness is really touching, and something we will never forget.
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Inspiration For Starting Our Blog
At first, we just thought, what a shame that no one knows about these places we discovered in South Korea. So we decided to start a travel blog to share with the world about how beautiful this country is.
Then this year, as we traveled full time, and because our blog reached quite a high number of views per month, we started writing about other countries and other places we would travel to. As we spend a few weeks in each place we visit, we write extensively about it and add as many details as possible to help our readers.
We now have so much fun writing on our blog. It became a real passion. Besides, we do it to share our exciting journey and also to keep a record of all the places we visited.
Read more: Despite Working Full-Time In Silicon Valley This Family Travels To 3 Or 4 Countries Together Every Year
How We Manage Work & Travel
At first, we didn’t know this was an option. Not until we started monetizing our blog. When we went to Bali and met so many digital nomads working on their own gigs.
We remember having a drink in a coffee shop in Canggu, one of the trendiest areas in Bali these days, and we were surrounded by 100 or more people all working on their laptops. We were like, “what the heck are all these people doing?” We would have loved to go and ask one by one “what is it that you actually do? Tell us how we can start working from Bali too!”
But then we met so many incredible people, auto-entrepreneurs, bloggers, developers, freelancers, or simply working remotely since covid started. We then realize that this is a reality. We do not have to get stuck in an office every day. Everyone is free to work from anywhere these days. It has never been that easy, in fact! So that motivated us to spend even more time working on our blog.
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What We Think About GAFFL
This is what traveling is all about. It’s about meeting new people, sharing stories, finding secret spots, and having fun together. GAFFL got that absolutely right with their platform and we are thankful for that!
The app which we used the most during our travels, was perhaps not meant as a travel app at first. But now, most travelers couldn’t live without it. And this Google Translate! It saved our lives so many times. We are currently doing a road trip in Japan, and most of the time we wouldn’t be able to order food without it.
What We've Done To Travel Sustainably
For us right now, when traveling full-time, our biggest challenge is not having a place we can call home. We sold everything last year and left South Korea to travel full-time.
Currently, our entire life can fit in 2 pieces of luggage, 1 backpack, and 1 handbag. It’s of course so much fun to be on the road all the time. But sometimes, we also dream about having a place we can call home and come back to from time to time.
Another challenge and this is a more global one, is about sustainable development or sustainable travel. Flying around the world is not helping preserve our planet. Renting cars and doing road trips is not helping either. So we constantly try to be aware of that and we make choices that would limit our environmental impact.
About 3 years ago we also decided to stop eating meat as a way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change. It was one of the best decisions we made, and we are very proud of it. Besides, it has never been so easy to stop or reduce eating meat. Most restaurants these days have vegan options on their menu. We were quite surprised to see this trend in most countries we visited so far this year.
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Our Tips For People Who Want To Travel Full-Time
Just do it! Don’t listen to others who will tell you the risks of traveling full time, that you put your career at risk, that you won’t be able to earn money etc.
It’s an unforgettable experience! Our main motto and we say it to each other almost every day: “Life is too short, let’s enjoy it”. It’s true after all, we only live once, we should try to do the things we like the most!
If traveling is your thing, then take that leap of faith, and start planning for your world trip! You will never regret that decision.
Read more: This Couple Reflects On Some Of Their Most Memorable Encounters From Over 16 Years On The Road
Things We Wish We Had Known When We First Started Traveling
Don’t plan too much. Go with the flow. If you want to stay longer in one place, stay longer. Don’t rush your trips. Most of the time we only book a one-way trip and we usually book our hotel/Airbnb 1 or 2 days before (we usually find very good last-minute deals).
If we like the country or city we are visiting, then we extend our trip longer, until we feel that it’s time to move on.
Some people try to cover as many places as possible when doing a world trip. For us, it is hard to enjoy, feel the place, and experience its culture if we have to rush it through. Sometimes “Less is More”!
