As you know we are finally in Nepal! We have been waiting so long for this moment and as you can imagine we are uber excited about all the adventures ahead of us.
Preparation for travelling took us a long time and it was definitely not easy. Scouring the internet for cheap flights/accommodation/train tickets, seeking out possible routes through countries, checking immunisation records from 20 years ago, visas (and the associated government website), Skyscanner, trip advisor, hostel bookers, apps, the list goes on and on. It’s easy to get lost in it all and just give up!
When we were going mental over the logistics and reconsidering the million different ways of budgeting, stories of other travellers kept us motivated to finish what we had started. Their adventures and tales, and the way they have told them, have helped us prepare physically and mentally for our trip. We have definitely learnt that the best plans are not always enough if your mind is not open to the outside world!
Ideas are always born from a little spark and we’re forever grateful to the people who travelled before us. They are the ones that made us believe that impossible does not exist!
There are some travellers who made us interested in the world when we were younger. They showed us how accessible the travelling lifestyle actually can be and what it means to be nomadic. There are also the travellers who we’ve got to know more recently that we take many lessons from. They have helped to bring some clarity to our planned adventure.
Our favourite (and most relatable) travellers are those without the massive budgets. They are realistic about what they have, and try to stretch every penny as far as it can go. We want to travel for as long as possible and hopefully figure out a way to make it a sustainable lifestyle. They showed us that you don’t need all the fancy ‘bits and bobs’, must expect things to go wrong, be open and willing to embrace opportunities that present themselves along the way in order to truly live the travelling lifestyle.
Since we have physically embarked on our journey, we thought we would take this opportunity to share with you how we begun our adventure. Simply, it all started with our inspirations! Below is a summary of some of the individuals, couples, friends and families, who we find inspirational.
We fell in love with The Rolling Home, not only because of this couple’s amazing imagery, but also the way they tell stories with it! Their book is simply amazing and we can’t stop looking through it. If only we had space in our backpacks we would definitely take it with us! They’re the ones that make us motivated to never stop going and work hard to reach further.
HK2NY, the two friends travelling from Hong Kong to New York, got us so interested in their adventures because they filmed as much as they could on their journey and had a really cool attitude towards the world around them. We could easily imagine how it was to be in their shoes. It was easy to identify that they were feeling great about travelling and enjoying the freedom but at the same time they didn’t hide the difficulties, which they experienced along the way.
And how could we not love the story of the Nomadic Matt?! He went travelling for a year and pretty much never came back! He’s been doing that for the last 10 years. We really like his guides, advices and The Book Club!
As well as these guys, we absolutely loved Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman’s two adventure stories ‘Long Way Round’ (Asia) and ‘Long Way Down’ (Africa). The way they embraced the difficulties of challenging routes on their bikes is amazing. Although they had a sizeable budget (being super famous and all that), they managed to keep it so casual (at least for our eyes!) as they travelled as friends and were honest about the problems along the way. We particularly enjoyed that they were sleeping in tents, cooking their own food over an open fire from time to time and taking the time to meet locals and the communities! What a life!
Also, Hamish & Andy, who come from Australia, produced a couple of ‘Gap Year’ series that highlight the joy in experiencing something completely unique from a particular country or culture. From announcing ‘Mind the gap’ on the London tube to wearing fire ant gloves in the traditional Amazonian coming of age ritual, their open-mindedness is something that we admire. They just said ‘yes’ to every unique opportunity that came their way. Their optimistic attitude to life is something to envy – and makes for a far more memorable, and comedic, experience.
Jarek Sepek, who is a Polish journalist and traveller, was probably one of Hanna’s first inspirations back when she was a teenager. She loved reading about the adventures he had while over landing Africa and she admired him circling a few continents (Australia on a bike, USA in an old car, Africa using public transport, and more other cool stories!). It was motivating to see that a young Polish person can do such things!
Another inspiring man, who shaped our perception on seeing the world, was Ryszard Kapuscinski - an exceptional Polish journalist; writing his reportage books in a way that delivered knowledge through personal emotions and adventure storytelling. The history of Africa couldn’t be described in a more thoughtful way in his book “The Shadow of the Sun” (1998).
The traveling world doesn’t only consist of the guys and the couples, there are some great women out there too! We think that one of them is Valerie, who wrote her book 'Backpacking Africa for Beginners’. The book is a great source of practical information and doesn’t support general opinions as seen in media, but encourages the reader to be subjective and learn things for themselves in order to make a correct judgment.
Another amazing traveler is Martyna Wojciechowska, who is an editor of the Polish National Geographic – we love her for her spirit and all she has achieved (including climbing Mount Everest!). We see her as a woman who tries to push the boundaries normally set to genders and at the same time broaden people’s horizons.
We mentioned that the world of the travellers’ is not reserved for men only, but what about travelling families with children? We feel that these days it’s still not socially popular to lead a nomadic life when you have young kids. Also, it seems that parents, who decide to take their kids out of school or travel with their babies are often judged and considered irresponsible. Well…we love the whole idea and are convinced that it works in the favour of the children when combined with a holistic educational approach. We have heard the kids themselves saying how much they love it!
About a year ago we went to the travel show in London where the Meek Family gave a talk in front of the audience. The Meek Family consists of Kerry and Tim, both teachers, who travel with their two young daughters. When one of the daughters gave a short speech during the travel show, Hanna almost cried! Being just over 10 years old, at the time, she was able to answer difficult questions posed by the public in such a thoughtful and considered way. We envied her spirit, being in our 20s we didn’t expect to find such inspiration in someone so young…She was amazing!
Another travelling family is The Family Without Borders: Polish mum, German dad and their 7 and 5 year old daughters. They have been travelling for years now, only stopping for the arrival of their second child before continuing on when she was 6 months old. They have some pretty amazing trips in their collection, and we admire all of them! They prove to the world that you can do what you want, even being a parent with young kids!
There are so many more incredible travelers out there, however the last one that we would like to mention, and one who we truly admire, is Arkady Fiedler and “Po Drodze”. This guy travelled all the way from Egypt to South Africa in a little old Polish ‘Fiat 126p’ car! Every Polish person knows that this fragile car would be the last one considered for travelling...yet he did exactly that! And now we’re about to start reading his book from this African adventure – it has just been released. We can’t wait to see his series about the same trip too, coming out soon in Polish TV!
Have you heard of any of these people? Or do you know any awesome travellers that you think we should know about? We would love to hear about them :)
H&Z
P.S.
We’re not sponsored by any of these cool people we mentioned so we didn’t mention them to gain any profits :) We simply love them and wanted to share that with you!
