Intrigued about how travel bloggers can be traveling for years around the world? Dave and Vicky, in their mid-twenties and at the moment embarked on an Asian adventure, tell us a thing or two about blogging on the road.
- Tell us a bit about yourself and how you started to travel. Do you remember your 1st travel experience? Why are you (if that’s so…) passionate about traveling?
Vicky started traveling when she was only 4 years old and moved from Moscow to Sydney. I started my traveling career a bit later, mostly in the form of a family vacation to Disney World.
We love meeting new people and having new experiences and travel provides both of those.
- Now that we know where do you come from… could you tell us where are you heading to? Which are your plans for the future in terms of traveling?
We’re currently traveling around Asia and Europe for two years. Right now we’re in Cambodia but after this, we’re heading to France to spend the summer in Europe.
- What do you think of traveling with a purpose or meaning in mind? What do you look for when traveling long-term?
Traveling with a purpose is great. We have a very general-purpose, to learn as much as we can about the places we go to and about ourselves.
- How do you fund your travels? Have you found a job or income source that allows you to be on the road fulltime? Tell us what you do for a living
We saved up extensively for our trip by working for two years in DC. Right now the blog earns a decent amount of money and has been funding our travels so that we don’t have to dip into our savings. We don’t know how much of a long-term strategy it is though.
- Did your job, studies, volunteering experiences, or other projects help you to travel the world? Where have you been thanks to those? If so, tell us a bit about those experiences.
I’d say our jobs gave us the money to fund our trip, but aside from that, nope! We did some volunteering in DC almost monthly at different kitchens and organizations in the city, and I think that has inspired us to do some volunteering while we travel.
- What would you recommend to someone who wants to follow your steps? Which kind of training or studies is necessary? Would an investment be needed in the first place? Please, give 3 pieces of advice (you wish to have known before starting) of what to do and what to avoid in order to succeed.
If you’re going to blog, try to make money. I know that sounds terrible but if you want to “do it right” then it takes a lot of time and is not something I’d want to do for free. That’s why so many bloggers quit after only a few months.
Read about the history of the places you’re going to go to. Read nonfiction books you can find. You can expect to learn some things while you’re traveling but if you want to really understand history, you have to just sit down and read about it on your own time.
Meet people. Talk to people, locals, travelers. Be friendly and things will happen.
- What does a perfect day in your life look like? Do you follow any particular routine?
We’re all over the place. The best days are sitting on the beach enjoying the weather and some reasonably priced food/drinks as well as having our laptops and fast wi-fi so we can do a bit of work to fund more days like that.
- Where do you come from originally and where you call home now? Can you give us some local tips we cannot find in a guidebook but you highly recommend about your hometown?
Home is still in Massachusetts because that’s where our families are. We don’t own any property anywhere. Our hometown is pretty small, so you won’t find it in any guidebooks. It’s just a small, suburban town – go grab some ice cream and walk around, it’s pleasant.
- Do you read, write, draw, listen to music, sing, watch movies, or do something else while traveling? How do you interact with technology these days and which gadgets you definitely take with you everywhere? What is your favorite book? And the movie?
We both like to read and Vicky is glued to her kindle. Both of us have laptops and we’re glad we brought two, even though one is just a netbook.
The recent favorite book has been The 4-Hour Workweek. The favorite movie has always been Good Will Hunting.
- Do you keep a bucket list? Which are your (craziest) dreams? Where are your favorite destinations on earth?
Sure, we have a bucket list on our about us page. We haven’t done anything extreme on this trip (skydiving, bungee jumping, etc), but I think/hope that it will happen at some point in our travels….
Bio: Dave and Vicky are the authors of Travel and Food blogs A Couple Travelers, Traveling Through Food, and AvocadoPesto. Having spent 2 years in the working world, they exchanged their briefcases for backpacks, dress shoes for sandals and beds for sleeping bags. In September 2012 they embarked on a 2-year journey across Asia and Europe. Follow them on Facebook
Thanks so much for the interview!
Thank you guys!