How We Met
We met at a bar in Muncie, Indiana where we both went to college. Jess has always had dreams to travel the world someday, and once they took off on their trip to Southeast Asia, Ron was hooked on travel as well. We now continue to travel because we love the feeling of being out of our comfort zone, learning about different cultures and different people.
How We Decide On Our Next Destination
We choose where we want to travel next based on where we can find cheap plane tickets, what’s on the top of our bucket list, and where we need to go based on content we want to gather for our travel blog. Once we’ve decided on a location, we prepare by either packing up our camper or researching the destination and planning out things we want to do while we’re there.
20 Countries, 21 States, and 25 Parks: Our Travel Milestones
We’re traveled to 20 countries, 21 US States, and 25 US National Parks together. Some of the coolest experiences we have had around the world include zip lining in the jungle in Laos, snorkeling reefs in the USVIs, and hiking in some of the most incredible National Parks in the United States.
From Culture Shock to Wanderlust: How South Korea Transformed Us
Living and teaching in South Korea really changed our outlook on traveling the world and choosing which countries we visit.
Since moving to South Korea was the 1st time Ron had ever left the United States and the 2nd time Jess had ever traveled abroad, it was a huge culture shock and very very different from what we had ever done before. But because we had such a crazy first experience traveling abroad, we now feel 100% comfortable traveling to more far-flung destinations where travel might be a bit more difficult.
The main highlight of living & teaching abroad in South Korea was all of the incredible people we met and the friendships that we still have to this day 8 years later. We love having friends in all corners of the world and hope to continue making lifelong friendships everywhere we travel.
From Gelato Shopping To Life Long Friendship
When we lived in Guanajuato City in Mexico for 2 months, we met the owner of an Italian Gelato shop while we were there getting some gelato. We then proceeded to become friends and hung out the rest of the time we were living in Guanajuato. He and his wife showed us around their city and took us hiking. They taught us things we would’ve never known about Mexico if we didn’t meet. They then came to our wedding in the US a year later!
The Road to Freedom: Building a Remote Job and Traveling the World
The inspiration to start our blog was from other travel bloggers who were making money and funding their world travels from their blog. We knew if they were doing it, so could we. We wanted to have the freedom and flexibility of having a job 100% remote and online.
Our blog has evolved a lot over the years, but our main mission is to help our readers plan a fantastic trip and be confident in their itinerary. We love checking out new places and sharing our experience with our readers so they too can have an awesome experience.
The Rocky Road to Full-Time Travel and Entrepreneurship
Getting our business to a point where it could support us and full-time travel was extremely difficult and took many years. We had about a year of being 100% fully self-employed before the global pandemic hit and made us rethink our digital nomad lifestyle. We then pivoted and renovated a camper to travel around the United States in. In that time we visited 25 National Parks and endless incredible landscapes.
The biggest sacrifice of living an abnormal life with lots of travel and owning your own business is not having the time and being in a place long enough to build connections and friendships. We now own a house in St. Louis, Missouri and spend about ½ the year here so that we can have a life of balance with travel and family and friends.
How We Manage Our Work & Travel
Traveling and working at the same time has never been a strong suit of ours. We like to plan two different kinds of trips; traveling trips or work + traveling trips.
If we are just traveling, our itinerary will be pretty fast and we will move to a new location every 3-4 days.
If we are working while we travel, we like to stay in one place for a week or two at a time so we can work during the day and take off the evenings and weekends to explore and get to know the place.
Mobile Apps We Use While Traveling
GAFFL is a great resource for people looking for all kinds of travel, but if you are doing slow travel, it’s an awesome resource to meet locals and really feel like you are part of the community.
When we are traveling in our camper, we really like to use the Campendium app to find free campsites. We also use Google Maps for everything and we research and then pin on our map the different restaurants and places to go.
Budget-Friendly Bites: Eating Well on the Road Without Breaking the Bank
When we are traveling in our camper we like to shop at local farmers markets for fresh fruits and veggies. This is also a fun way to explore a different town and get to know the locals.
When we are traveling abroad we will always book a place that has a kitchen so we can do 1-2 meals at home and the other meal out so we’re not spending as much money. We aren’t huge foodies, so we always pack an easy lunch on the go and find nice parks or places to eat.
Challenges That We Have Faced
Our biggest challenge to traveling is working while we are traveling, dealing with jetlag, and dealing with stomach upsets due to different foods. Once you get used to all of those things, it’s usually time to go home! That’s one of the reasons why we like to do slow travel, so we can get used to being somewhere new and then really enjoy it once things have calmed down a bit.
There are scams everywhere you travel, and thankfully have never come across a life-threatening scam. We have had phones stolen, been over charged for things and probably got in the wrong taxi a time or two. As long as you know the scams to look out for and are conscious of your things and are aware, you should be fine!
Best Cuisines We've Tried
South Korea has some delicious BBQ and soups, Italy has incredible pasta and seafood, and Spain has mouthwatering tapas and wine and Mexico has delicious street tacos. Everywhere we go the food is different and delicious, we love trying new foods but also can be somewhere cautious due to having pretty weak stomachs unfortunately.
Advice For People Who Wish To Travel Full-Time
This is some advice I really need to take myself- when looking for a place to slow travel to, don’t get caught up in all the amazing destinations around that place that you could also travel to. There are endless amazing places to visit in the world, and if your goal is to slow travel, you’ll never do that because you’ll always be looking at the next amazing place.
Pick one country, and then narrow it down to a couple of weeks (or months) in 1-2 places and go from there.
Things We Wish We Would Have Known When We First Started
I’m happy to have gone into travel not really knowing what to expect, that’s essentially why it was so much fun when I was younger. Discovering new places and new things above myself and strengthening my relationship with my partner through our travels has been the greatest gift in life.
The biggest lesson in traveling is to just go with the flow. Things will go wrong, you will get lost or miss trains or maybe over pay for a taxi. Get mad about it for a little bit and then let it go and enjoy where you’re at, you can’t take back those moments, so don’t waste too much of them being upset.
