Hello and welcome to our blog – a place to capture all the travels, memories and moments that we’ll experience over the next year and a bit (or maybe more). The awesome part is, that when thinking about how we would best write about our travels we realised that we each have slightly different points of views when it comes to holidays and adventure. The sunshine and rainbows that Alice experiences on a daily basis is often translated into just good times for Tobi.
So we decided to create a blog where both our stories on travel and adventure could be captured in all their glory. If you decide to follow us over the next year and a half (and why wouldn’t you, it’s like having us over for dinner, wine and a board game which is always guaranteed a good time!) then you will quickly notice that this is a different kind of blog. The kind where we keep you up to date with our travels, destinations and favourite places… but also share with you our own individual take on each experience.
So for those of you who prefer a little bit of rose-tinted escapism and storytelling about what makes a place beautiful you can experience the ‘Alice’ blog, and for those of you who enjoy tell-it-like-it-is prose (accompanied by a touch of sarcastic undertone) then Tobi’s recount of our adventures is for you.
Through this blog we hope to whisk you away with us on our big adventure and share our favourite experiences with you along the way. Everyone from our friends and family to all of the eternal explorers out there dreaming up their own big adventure, we hope to inspire you to eat well and explore often.
To kick things off, we thought we’d ask each other a few questions about the travel planning experience to date… read more below. #adventureawaits
– wetheexplorers –
So firstly, why did you decide to embark on a gap year? It’s been such a long time coming! Everything about taking a year off to travel, explore and soak up different parts of the world just sounds amazing. Maybe it’s the Sagittarius in me – always craving adventure and excitement – and they do say that Sagittarians are the philosophers and explorers of the zodiac :)
So zodiac vibes aside, it just feels like the right time to take time off to discover the world, and I’m lucky I get to do this with someone who enjoys travel, fun times and food as much as I do. Lucky for us we’re both at that stage in our lives where we’ve worked hard to get to where we are in our careers, and are ready for something new and different to inspire and challenge us, and remember for a lifetime.
What do you really want to get out of this adventure? I’m most excited about getting away from it all and spending our days outside in the sunshine, refreshing the soul and opening up our minds to different cultures, people and food glorious food!!
8 hours sleep a day and learning Spanish would be pretty good too. It would be amazing by the end of the trip to be able to have an entire conversation with someone in Spanish… and comment on how that Nicaraguan sunset is as magical as a ray of sunshine bursting across a purple-hued sky in the middle of Summer solstice. You know, all the usual sayings.
Plus this entire experience means that we get to live out the ultimate dream blogger lifestyle, even if just for a little while!! #dreamjob #travelbloggers #fashionbloggers #watchthisspace
The travel quote that best sums up the year ahead for you?
Top 3 destinations you’re looking forward to exploring most?
- San Blas Islands – for the ultimate lost-in-paradise experience of swimming and hanging out on islands in the middle of the Caribbean. Cue postcard-worthy photos and blog posts!
- Costa Rica – an entire month spent in this tropical location volunteering and adventuring is just going to be completely unlike anything we’ve experienced before.
- Colombia – a place we never even planned on going to at the beginning of our travel planning. But after researching a little bit more, the kind of place that could well and truly be the gem that surprises us the most.
And finally, you’ll be travelling together 24/7 for a grand total of 4 months and 7 days followed by an entire year living abroad in London. Describe your travelling partner Tobi in 3 words and what kind of explorer you think they’ll make. Be honest! Practical, spontaneous, calming. Tobi will be the kind of explorer that is up for anything and everything, as long as the decision to do it is quick and straightforward! New experiences? Done. As long as we don’t spend 3 hours thinking about whether to do it or not. And I feel that when I’m in a state of over-excitement-meets-adrenalin-meets-over-thinking-things… he will be totally grounding and bring me back to Earth!
So firstly, why did you decide to embark on a gap year? To trade excel for exploring! While work’s been fun and taught me a lot over the last 7 years, its also been hectic – I need a change. I know what you’re thinking:
How can you say no to further career development and the amazing media lunches/parties albeit with semi regular 9-10pm finishes?
Work hard, play hard was great. Now not so much. To be honest, this is the cliched “I’m going to find myself” trip ***insert wanker emoji here*** (Herein denoted as (WW) – get used to it).
Side note: I’m pretty sure the aforementioned lunches don’t really exist anymore, well they exist, but they seem to require some kind of virgin sacrifice/ritual to be able to get out of the office and enjoy them.
So, in truth, to find myself is probably the biggest reason (WW) – Explore some amazing places with Alice and develop some new skills along the way and grow a man bun (WW). But it also means that we get to go to a region we’ve both never been before, doing it the proper way staying in each place for at least a week.
What do you really want to get out of this adventure? I’m really looking forward to pouring myself into learning a couple of new skills – photography and Spanish. Other than that its probably the same as what everyone wants when they go travelling: immerse yourself in a totally different culture, meet new people, see amazing places, and do whatever we want whenever we want (for 4 months). Then, keep the travel balance high as we work on the side.
The travel quote that best sums up the year ahead for you?
Top 3 destinations you’re looking forward to exploring most?
- San Blas Islands – It looks amazing and by all accounts it is amazing.
- Niseko – even though we’ve been here before I’m still looking forward to Snowboarding, all you can eat crab & bathing outside in the hot springs. THE. BEST.
- Colombia – Another popular recommendation from friends, and strangers. Everyone seems to say this was their favourite part of central and south America so I can’t wait to see it for myself.
And finally, you’ll be travelling together 24/7 for a grand total of 4 months and 7 days followed by an entire year living abroad in London. Describe your travelling partner Alice in 3 words and what kind of explorer you think they’ll make. Be honest! #yayyfriends, Emoti(c)onal & Rainbows. Alice will be a very glamorous, enthusiastic – up for anything want to do everything – explorer. But, I’m pretty sure she’s in denial about the amount and size of creepy crawlies, smells, dirt and raw sewerage we are going to encounter in Central America.
WE THE EXPLORERS 