Tinder Love Story Goes Global

Believe it or not, Dave and I met on Tinder in late 2015. I was already obsessed with all things travel as I had grown up traveling to see family members who are spread out all over the world. When we met, Dave had not traveled much at all and he had no idea what he was getting himself into by meeting me.

I first convinced Dave to come on an overseas trip with me in 2017 (yes it took me 1.5 years to get him used to the idea). It was an insane first trip together. We went to Peru for 2 weeks to do the Inca Trail and visit the Amazon, then to Mexico where we swam with whale sharks, snorkeled on beautiful reefs and went diving in cenotes and then to the USA where we had 2 more weeks to road trip through Utah, Wyoming, and Arizona, finally ending our trip with a day at Disneyland in LA.

Canada

Our Way Of Crafting The Perfect Travel Itinerary

This trip inspired us to purchase our first interchangeable lens camera together (at the time we both had little point and shoot cameras which actually both broke on this trip). 

I (Kerry) do all the planning for future trips and put the itineraries together in an excel spreadsheet. I am usually inspired by places I see on Instagram first and then once I start researching the place, I find blogs with loads more amazing things to see in the area and then I decide to create my own itinerary.

In my own excel itinerary, I have sections for each day, the activities, the amount of driving, where we plan on staying the night and how much everything will cost us.

Utah

Bucket List Adventures: Exploring the Inca Trail, Rockies, and Yellowstone

We haven’t actually traveled to that many countries together yet. Dave has never been to Europe so we definitely want to plan a trip over there soon. Since moving to Canada, we have explored different parts of Canada and the US and done loads of hikes and camping trips.

Some of our top bucket list experiences that we would recommend to others are the Inca Trail in Peru and visiting the Canadian Rockies to see Moraine Lake and Lake Louise. We also really loved our trip to Yellowstone as it was so different from anywhere we had ever seen before!

Two Islands, One Love: Our Hawaiian Adventure and Proposal

Another of our favorite trips together is the one where Dave proposed.

We spent 2 weeks in Hawaii: 1 week on Oahu and 1 week on Kauai. We brought our own snorkeling gear and spent the two weeks traveling around each island in search of the best snorkel spots. It was an amazing trip!

Canada

Eating, Sharing, and Smiles: Making Memories with Crete's Locals

Unfortunately, this trip was pre-Dave, but I visited the island of Crete in Greece with a friend. If you have ever been to Crete, you will know how friendly and lovely the locals are. It was probably one of the friendliest places I have ever visited.

One of the experiences I had with the locals in Crete was on a boat tour to an island. We spent the entire day on the island swimming and eating and then when we arrived back to the mainland, the boat driver invited us to dinner on the boat he lived on with his wife. They couldn’t speak much English but were still so welcoming to us.

There was another time on the same trip when we were eating lunch in a restaurant and there was a huge table of people sitting next to us. They asked us if we wanted to join them as they were there with their entire family celebrating one of the baby's christening and then proceeded to share their food and wine with us. I will never forget the kindness of the Crete locals and hope that I can go back there with Dave one day.

Utah

Backpacking Through Peru, Mexico, and the US

Our first trip together to Peru, Mexico, and the US definitely ignited our love of taking photos together. Since then, we bring our camera on every single trip and barely put it down. This trip was also the first time that we backpacked together. It was a small taste, and we didn’t do it again for a few years, but now that we are living in Canada, we go backpacking almost every single weekend.

There were so many highlights on this trip that it is quite hard to pick some main ones but if I had to choose I would probably say, getting to experience the Amazon Rainforest with Dave and also finishing the Inca trail together. I don’t think either of us has ever been so exhausted but fulfilled.

Utah

Eloping and Relocating: Our Unconventional Path to Vancouver, Canada

We made the decision to move to Canada a few years ago. I’m actually not sure when or how we decided we wanted to move to Canada, but we ended up getting our visas sorted, and we were ready to book our flights for June 2020.

Obviously, that didn’t happen due to what happened in March across the world and after that, we sat tight and tried to wait out the pandemic. We had so many discussions on what to do and whether we should cancel the entire thing and settle in Sydney Australia. Our lives were completely put on hold and we felt like we couldn’t make a proper decision on anything in our lives.

Finally, the vaccine was developed just as our opportunity to activate our visas was about to run out. We made a super quick decision to push our big wedding back another year (which had already been pushed a few times), elope, and move to Vancouver, Canada in November 2021. It was honestly the best decision we ever made together! It is hard to live overseas away from friends you have known your entire life and your family, but we love our lives in Canada and wouldn’t have it any other way. Living overseas is a strange thing.

You no longer have one home but two. For a while, you don’t feel like you belong anywhere because your original home is no longer home to you but you feel like it should be and you still feel like a newcomer for quite some time in the new country you have decided to settle in.

How Our Blog Started

I have always loved writing, and I’ve loved taking photos, but for some reason, I didn’t discover a blog until about a year ago. I don’t think I would have even half as many views if I hadn’t decided to invest in a course. When I first started writing, I knew nothing about SEO or keywords or how to structure a blog post.

Our blog's mission is to inspire people to get outside and explore! We write road trip itineraries, gear guides, and hiking guides. At the moment, we have a lot in Canada and the United States but also plan to expand our blog to other parts of the world in the future.

Travel Apps We Use While Traveling

GAFFL is such an amazing idea for slow travel. Being able to meet up with a local in a town or area that you are unfamiliar with as opposed to going on a tour or trying to navigate by yourself is such a fun idea!

Dave and I actually use Instagram on our travels, as we are always bumping into other travelers who we are connected with there, and then we try to plan a meetup. Other than Instagram, we use blogs to plan itineraries and booking.com and Airbnb to book accommodation. 

Balancing Between Budget And Comfort

When Dave and I travel, we usually try to figure out what is going to be the cheapest option between getting accommodation with a kitchen and cooking every night or camping and going out to eat. We could definitely save even more money by camping and bringing along a cooktop, but we like having a little bit of luxury in our lives.

Wedgemount Lake

Biggest Challenges That We Have Faced

Honestly, the biggest challenge we have with traveling these days is that there is never enough time to see or do it all. We both have 9–5 jobs, so we only get limited holiday time each year. We really have to make sure that we make the most of every single weekend, especially during Summer. 

Scams That We Have Experienced 

I experienced a travel “scam” in Turkey when I was traveling by myself so if you are ever thinking of visiting Turkey, this is something to watch out for! I caught a taxi back from the Hagia Sophia, and when I went to pay (I paid 5 and 50 equally 55 Euro), the taxi driver must have swapped my 50 Euro note out for another 5 Euro note and made out that I had accidentally given him 2 x 5s and I still owed him 45 Euro!

I tried to argue that I had given him 55 Euro already but then he started shouting at me so I just gave him my last 50 and ran for it, soon realizing that he had dropped me not at my hotel entrance but down the road so that I couldn’t get someone to help me in time. 

Washington State

Adventures That We Have Experienced

Skydiving – I went skydiving in Florida when I was working for Disneyworld a few years ago. This was before I met Dave so of course I bought tickets for him on our Utah trip because it was one of the most fun things I have ever done!

Scuba Diving in a Cenote in Mexico – This was a pretty insane experience and one that I still can’t believe I had. Imagine diving through crystal-clear water in an underground cavern, going in and out of complete darkness at times!

Swimming with Whale Sharks in Mexico – In Mexico on the same trip as the Cenote dive, we also swam with Whale Sharks which was completely insane! Not only did we swim beside these huge sharks but at one point, while we were snorkeling, we could start to see some coming up from really deep down in the ocean and it was coming with extreme speed! Both Dave and I thought we were about to die. Eventually, we figured out what was coming! It was a Manta Ray! It came up and jumped out of the water right in front of us and it was the most incredible thing Dave and I have ever seen still to this day!

Horseback riding in Monument Valley - When we were road-tripping through Utah, one of the places we stopped at was Monument Valley. When I found out that you could go riding through the desert, I was over the moon! It was such an amazing experience!

Witnessing sunrise and a rainbow at Moraine Lake in Banff National Park - Last year we went on a road trip to the Canadian Rockies, and one morning we made it our mission to catch the sunrise at Moraine Lake. We woke up at 3 a.m. and drove to the large queue forming at the intersection to turn onto Moraine Lake. We got through at about 4–4:30 a.m., and although it wasn’t the best sunrise ever, a rainbow appeared right above the lake, which looked too perfect to be real!

Turning Long Weekends into Mini Escapes 

If you have a 9-5 job like Dave and I do but you also want to travel as much as possible, I recommend using your vacation time strategically and planning ahead at the beginning of each year.

For example, try planning longer trips around statutory holidays, so that you get extra time away for free! Apart from this, we use every single one of our weekends during Summer to do weekend getaways that aren’t too far away from where we live.

Things We Wish We Would Have Known When We First Started

I wish that I had budgeted more when I first started traveling, and even though I traveled a lot when I was in my 20s, I wish I had traveled more. I feel like travel is the best way to get to know yourself, what you believe in and the kind of people that you like to surround yourself with.