#TravelEating by Georgia

New Year, New Project, New Travel Pictures!

@TravelEatingByGeorgia is our new Instagram account but most important the next publication for this year. A tasteful blend of perpetual travel lifestyle and local food culture and a creative way to communicate all our culinary experiences from all around the world.

Having explained before the phrenitis of social media and their ephemeral power, we are aiming to use Instagram clearly as a sharing & engagement tool rather than a show-off machine with daily posts & thousands (paid) followers.

So, the next big thing is TRAVELEATING, our first travel cook book with local recipes as well as recipes for the camping that we will keep us busy for a while. Plus, we will contribute our knowledge, passion and yummy experiences to the vast community of travellers and food lovers 😉

Pre-orders in the form of crowdfunding will open soon. In the meantime, check our van-made travel recipes as well as local food pictures at @TravelEatingByGeorgia (no need to follow, JUST CHECK the pics!) and stay in touch 😉

Thank you all for being part of this trip.

Georgia & Nikos

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The Traveliving Series: Akis Temperidis

What we love when talking about our trips is talking about others. Its so vain to talk about yourself all the time.. People get bored, don’t they?

Akis Temperidis is a professional photographer & journalist who specializes in car industry but what makes Akis an exceptional friend is his passion about travel adventures around the world.

Akis along with his wife Vula did a RTW trip in 3,5 years from 2007 to 2010 in a Land Rover Discovery and they are the first Greek overlanders to accomplish such a mission under the name TheWorldOffRoad. To be really honest, we didn’t follow their stories when they were travelling. We knew though that a Greek couple wanders around the world and we first got in contact after they finished their trip and settled down in the jungle of Tanzania.

They provided us with a bunch of useful information, advice and local insight that only a world traveller knows and since then we are in contact.

When the Pin Project started in April 2012, Vula was about to deliver their first daughter. Today, Anastasia is 6 years old (same age with the Pin Project) and the guys are setting off AGAIN. What an inspiration to see them travelling again, this time with their daughter on board!!!

Courage, strength, inspiration, charm, self-confidence are some of the values that this brilliant couple carries deep inside and made them an invaluable source of motivation when we were getting prepared for our RTW trip.

Last thing, Akis wrote a foreword for TRAVELIVING and we are so blessed for having such an awesome contribution & support for our book.

 

“In his own prologue, Nikos will “serve” you an array of reasons in an attempt to convince you not reading his book. This is peculiar for a writer in his first work but showcases the overall philosophy of the guy, which is visible -even tangible- in every single page of this book.

What I realised while reading this “Romantic & Practical Guide” is that Nikos doesn’t want to buy our praise, he doesn’t write for our applause. He hates selling himself for money, glory or social following and he doesn’t even feel comfortable with the idea of selling a self-made book to support his ongoing lifestyle – Traveliving. A term that is probably introduced by this book for a first time and describes it all.

Writing books to make a traveliving is a great and decent idea, by the way. And this one is accomplished remarkably well for a young traveller who is not -and not intended to be- a professional writer.

I will not try to convince you buying this book, providing all the good reasons, followed by exclamation marks. It would be considered like a payback for accepting the honor to forward it. So, no advertisement for Nikos’ work, just a few words to describe my feelings while reading this. Plus, the taste in my mouth after I finished it.”

Read more in our book.

You can learn more about Akis adventures at: http://www.temperidis.com, http://www.theworldoffroad.com & https://www.facebook.com/theworldoffroad.

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The Traveliving Series: The Check-Ins

Traveliving means freedom. But also means connection & interaction with the locals. Say buenos dias* or habari za asubuhi** in the gas station or at the reception of your hotel, most of the times is not enough and as a traveller, you have the chance to build a proper relationship with the locals every single day.

For us, the best way to get connected with the local people & communities is through employment opportunities. A paid job, work in exchange for food and accommodation or simply volunteering for a good cause, brings us closer to the people in the countries we visit. Sometimes, this is achievable just by meeting the right person, at the right time in the right place and some other times we need to make use of internet platforms like workaway.info or helpX.net.

When it comes to work exchange, we usually exchange our time, skills and experience for food and accommodation mainly in tourism related businesses simply because we are dreaming to do something similar in the future. This way, we acquire the know-how for free, we see how this type of businesses work, we learn all the secrets without taking any risk, plus we always choose exceptional locations like a luxury fishing lodge on a private island in Canada or a mountain lodge in the Ecuadorian Andes at 3000 mts altitude or a boutique hotel in the heart of Oaxaca de Juarez in México. Some people say that it is a slavery but honestly, we can confirm that it is a fair exchange of resources plus there is no contract or legal commitment, so you can always leave if you don’t enjoy or there is some sort of abuse or mismanagement (we did so, once, in a farm in Calgary).

Caution: there is no such a thing as volunteering in a business that makes a profit and travellers must be really cautious how and why they exchange their time for this kind of work exchange opportunities.

Regarding the volunteering assignments, this must be always for a good cause, and our experience in the Ethandweni Childrens Home in Zimbabwe, made us think different about charity projects and philanthropic initiatives.

So far, we have made proper money or have managed to save our passive income in Ghana, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Canada, México & recently in Ecuador.

 

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In all cases, we created income, we had the chance to do and learn exceptional things, we exchanged culture, skills, knowledge & experience but most important, we got familiar with the local peoples’ traditions, customs and way of living. So far, we are impressed by the differences but also we are shocked by the similarities that all people have all around the wold. Finally, this is part of our travels’ legacy and what we will remember when we will settle down one day.

In the section of Check-Ins, you can find related info about the Travellers Accommodation Facilities that we have been hosted and worked during our travels the last 4,5 years. There is no business affiliation, we do not get anything to list these businesses, but we have deep knowledge of the people and the surroundings and we just want to spread the word and let other people know about it.

*: Good morning in Spanish

**: How are you? in KiSwahili

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The Traveliving Series: The grey area of sponsorships

Deals, bargains, offers. Travellers are always looking for opportunities to save money, create income on their way or even get sponsorships. The common denominator is to find the perfect source of income that will allow you to travel for as long as possible as well as save your passive income. Plus, if you can get some gadgets for free, why not?

Find deals and great bargains is easy and absolutely feasible. Seasonality, competition and simply the supply and demand function that always works, allow travellers who are getting prepared to find value for money stuff and get themselves outfitted and equipped for the great adventure.

However, apply and get a sponsored product or maybe funding for your trip is not the easiest thing in the world for a lot of reasons. First, there is too much competition. Yes! You are not the only one who wants a free Canon EOS to have with and lots of seasonal or long time travellers apply for free stuff in exchange of exposure of the company and its product lines.

Second, you must have great social impact. For instance, our social media exposure is close to zero. If we ever decided to apply for a sponsorship, the first thing that the person who is responsible for approvals (and rejections) would check, is our Klout score. If you are against social media (like us), then you have zero chances to be sponsored. But, if you can sell your trip & have 10K followers on Instagram, immediately you can consider yourself eligible for a discounted (or free of charge) 3 seasons Marmot tent.

Third, you need talent & skills to get the job! Not everybody can get really nice photos, not everybody has talent in writing and of course not everybody can convince the company to give him products for free.

Fourth, you must be prepared to work hard after the deal. Assuming that you managed to get the much-wanted spring set for your car or your motorbike or the waterproof set of side bags for your bicycle, you must be capable to deliver in time with nice stuff. According to the experts, only few people, eventually, deliver what has been agreed and even fewer are able to offer extremely professional content that can be used for commercial purposes just because they have never done this before or never had the talent.

To give you a real-life example, Akis Temperidis & Vula Netou, the first Greek overlanders who circumnavigated the world (and gave us so much inspiration as well), worked their asses every single month in order to deliver articles, photos and travel stories in the magazine that was mainly funding a big part of their RTW trip. Having a look in their content, can give you a good idea of what professional content means. By the way, the guys travelled in the pre-Facebook/ Instagram era and their work-in-exchange-for-sponsorship has double value since they did not have the chance to employ these -great for exposure/ promotion/ sharing- tools for their adventures around the world.

Fifth, you must be very cautious to balance the exposure of sponsored products in your social media channels along with the actual trip. People who sit in their couch and are so jealous of your adventures, do not like ads and commercialized stuff but real life stories for recreation only. The moment you cross the line and start engage in your off road experience, the new helmet or set of tires that you got for free, it is the same moment that you make your followers feel uneasy and your content sort of off-putting. Here is why you need talent to incorporate as authentically as possible a sponsored product into your epic trip.

Finally, having a proven record with some decent portfolio to show up, is not mandatory but certainly will give you a great push. You would do probably the same if you were in the position of a company which receives tons of applications from ambitious travellers and needs to create a shortlist with several criteria.

After all, life is full of surprises. Yesterday, we came across a company which looks to sponsor travellers and for this reason, puts up an advertisement in one of the biggest travellers forums. We were surprised to find this out and travellers in North America (preferably USA) have a great chance to score and get a roof top tent FOR FREE!

Check this out here: http://forum.expeditionportal.com/forums/18-Central-and-South-America. And why not, spread the word & share this story as well as this great offer!

 

Have an awesome summer 😉

The Traveliving Series: The budget

Let’s face it. Traveliving involves an essential budget not only for the day-to-day activities and expenses but also for the preparation. However, is not that dreadful and everybody can organize his financial resources in an efficient way. Plus, it is measurable and can be monitored easily, anytime. At the end of the day, if Greeks can do it, everybody can do it 😉

But, first lets talk about the stereotypes that come with the travelling budget. First of all, you must be rich to travel around the world. Second, you need a fortune to get prepared. Third, you need to go pro. Fourth.. bla bla bla. Lots of stereotypes make people skeptic and hesitant as well as deter them from start planning their once in a life time adventure. Why? Mostly because they follow other travellers who are heavily equipped and outfitted, not being prepared for the unexpected but because they like to have cutting-edge technology, travel gadgets and other partially useless stuff which of course can afford (or manage to get through sponsorships, supporters and funny deals they make with companies in exchange for articles, exposure and Instagram posts).

It is true that you need a substantial amount of money to buy a vehicle and tune it up, purchase some travel gear that you might miss or need for the long term, shop for a travel insurance and book some tickets (or pay for the shipping of your vehicle). However, the biggest mistakes that people do especially when they are getting prepared is due to lack of long-time travelling experience and travel wisdom. We did the same before Africa and we learnt our lessons before hitting the Americas. After all, we managed to cut our preparation expenses by 20% (and the travel gear/ equipment expenses by more than 60%) and our daily living-running cots by 50%. Sounds good, no?

If there is a recipe for success is to always try to adapt your lifestyle with your available budget. If there is a secret, is to slow down your pace, fill up with experiences and spend more time in the places you visit. The slower you go, the less you spend.

As for the practical aspect of how much you actually need to start traveliving, please find an excerpt from our recently published book TRAVELIVING | A ROMANTIC & PRACTICAL GUIDE:

“From my experience, everything depends on the vehicle you want to travel with, the upgrades that will serve for your comfort and safety, the region you want to explore, your travel style and your pace but anything between 15.000 to 20.000 EUR for a car, 6.000 to 9.000 EUR for a motorbike, 2.000-4.000 EUR for a bicycle and 1.000-3.000 EUR for backpacking is a sufficient entry-level amount that will allow someone to leave his couch, get prepared and outfitted, and start wandering for at least 6 months to a year before stopping for the first assignment in a local community, farm or a hostel to work or volunteer (assuming that you are traveliving and not circumnavigating the globe in 200 days).”

 

Last piece of advice: study thoroughly while planning & go through travel forums like HorizonsUnlimited, ADVRider, ExpeditionPortal, WikiOverland and personal travel websites & blogs, and see what other people do. Try to match your personal standards with your actual needs and the territories you are going to visit and DO NOT copy other travellers’ packing lists. Last but not least, talk with other travellers, ask them questions. Most of them, they are happy to answer almost everything!

Finally, save every penny you can for the actual trip and don’t spend ridiculous amounts of money on action cameras, professional clothing gear and fancy stuff. Every cent you save, is a cold beer in the actual trip and much more!

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