As two Gen Y, young adults living in the western world, we were feeling immense pressure from the majority of our peers – and had done our entire lives.
To study; receive a higher education. To climb the corporate ladder. Borrow money from the bank, and buy a house, a car, take out a credit card. Have a family – not to soon, but not too late. To work hard and put extra money into superannuation for retirement.
There was absolutely nothing wrong with any of the above.
However, we knew that if we spent our time, energies and resources seeking out the above – that years and decades of our lives would pass by, and one day we’d look back and say to each other – “We should have done that when we had the chance…”
We wanted to live our life so that in a decade’s time, we weren’t going to regret making the most of our youth and the incredible opportunity that there is in today’s modern age to travel the world.
One of our favourite quotes by American author Mark Twain –
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
That, coupled with our intense desire to see and explore every country on this planet – is why we decided to challenge the norm. To go against the expectations of society around us and to live, what we hoped for – a nomadic existence.
So, we took off. We sold everything we owned, packed a single, carry on backpack each and booked a one way flight out of Australia.
That was in July 2015, and we haven’t looked back since.
Our hope is that as we live our alternate reality – wandering, exploring, living, loving – that we inspire YOU to travel more. Whether it be inspiring you to make travel more of a priority in your life, to travel somewhere off the beaten track, or to have the confidence to travel independently – travel is the one thing you buy that makes you richer.
And we’re here to show you exactly how.
Get to know Amy
In my previous 9 – 5 life, I worked in the events industry, in a job I loved with incredible people! What I learnt there has not gone astray in my new life – namely time management (working on this website), logistics (travel planning) and networking skills!
I love my food. Love love love. Food is a big part of travel for me, I love trying new things – except seafood. Not going to happen. AND I have a irrational fear of tomatoes.
I have an Italian heritage – my mum and her side of the family are from Rome, and I actually have an Italian passport!
Even though laundry was my least favourite chore in my previous life – I would literally let it pile up until I had nothing left to wear or Mike would do it for me – a washing machine is the one thing I miss MOST from my ‘previous life’. I still hate washing, and having to hand wash clothes in my bathroom sink 100% of the time sucks.
I pole-danced as a hobby for three years before travelling, even winning the title of ‘Sensuality Queen’ in an amateur competition in front of 700 people!
I LOVE all things Disney and one of my life goals is to visit all the Disney parks in the world!
I have been obsessed with all things French for as long as I can remember, so to visit Paris for the first time in 2014 was a dream come true. I would love to live there one day.
I have a HUGE fear of the water. I can swim only a little, and will only swim in pools that I can touch the floor – not the open ocean. I hate being on boats and get sea-sick.
My favourite country so far since we took off in 2015 has been India. It was probably the most challenging country, but also so rewarding and I can’t wait to go back again.
One of my ‘dreams’ for the far, far future, would be to restore and renovate a castle in the Italian countryside, and run it as a boutique hotel and offer foodie tours and cooking classes and have land where we grow all our own produce. And have lots of dogs…. one day!
Get to know Mike
The OCD is strong with this one, everything must be in its proper place and organised at all times or chaos ensues. My loved ones and workmates can attest to my somewhat over-the-top levels of organisation!
I am a self-confessed gear head, thoroughly enjoying the process of finding new tech and travel equipment, checking out reviews, getting it at the best possible price, and then trialling it myself. My absolute favourite latest purchase is a set of Bose noise cancelling headphones, best 300 bucks I ever spent!
A little-known fact is that I never went to school in my entire life, I was homeschooled by my incredible parents from kindergarten to high school. Their patience and passion over all those years is the reason I am able to live the dream life I live now!
My number one bucket list country is Iceland, which we will hopefully be getting to late this year, it’s a photographers paradise and I have dreamed about seeing the Northern Lights since I was a wee tacker. Actually since I saw Balto, remember Balto?
I thank volunteering for equipping me with most of the life skills I have today, very lucky to have grown up in the part of the world I did, with so many amazing opportunities to get involved in almost anything. Through the State Emergency Service I was able to learn advanced leadership skills, how to abseil off cliffs to rescue people, how to navigate my way through the bush with nothing but a compass and a map, how to operate a flood boat rescue vessel and even how to search a building after an earthquake.
Through St John of God Ambulance I learnt a ton of critical life saving skills, how to drive an ambulance through traffic with lights and sirens blazing, and got to test myself and my resolve in a number of high pressure situations. Priceless experience and skills all of which I was able to obtain for free, an amazing opportunity that I encourage everyone to explore at some point in their lives.
I have an irrational fear of spiders, particularly daddy long legs, yep, the spider that is totally harmless to humans and can’t even bite us. I did say irrational. Staying in all sorts of dodgy rooms around the world has certainly not helped this phobia, I remember a night in Bhaktapur, Nepal, waking up in the middle of the night to find multiple spiders had appeared in my room out of nowhere. I had to tip my pringles packet out so I could use the lid on one spider and the container on another. After a fitful sleep I woke to find they had both somehow escaped their captivity…
