Find love, and embark on the adventure of a lifetime. It sounds dreamy, but these five couples made it happen in very different ways.
In covering the outdoors we hear a lot of incredible and inspiring stories. But there’s one that comes up every so often with a new twist: The fairytale of leaving the workaday world to travel the globe with your true love.
If you’re already shaking your head we understand. It can sound sappy and hopelessly romantic. But these five lucky couples made the leap, left the 9-to-5 life, and set sail (some literally) for their dream getaway.
Lindsey & Adam Nubern – Planes, Trains, And Campers
The authors of Nuventure Travels packed up to travel the globe in 2014. The couple saved for a year-and-a-half before embarking on over 17 months of travel in Southeast Asia, Indonesia, and Oceania.
Since returning home, the couple purchased and upgraded a pull-behind camper and are now criss-crossing the the USA and heading up the GearJunkie “Mobile Office” project.
In addition to careful budgeting, which they detail on their blog, the couple manage a mobile CPA business (Adam) and freelance write (Lindsey).
Amy & Dave Freeman – Life In The Boundary Waters
For the last year, Dave and Amy have lived almost entirely off-grid in Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area in an effort to raise awareness about mining and pollution near the Wilderness.
Since 2001, the pair canoed, kayaked, and dogsleded over 30,000 miles “to highlight life lessons, conservation, and backcountry skills.” In 2014, when they paddled from Ely, Minn., to Washington D.C. to oppose BWCAW mining, they were named National Geographic Adventurers of the Year.
The Freemans keep their adventures afloat through speaking engagements and educational programs. The couple wrap up their “Year In The Wilderness” of the BWCA this month.
Raquel Hernández-Cruz & Sam Salwei – Ford Festiva Life
While everyone who abandons the daily grind for life in the wilds has to tighten their belts, no one embraces the minimalist culture of adventure quite like these two.
Salwei, a founding member of The Yogaslackers, and his life and business partner Hernández-Cruz, practice and preach their yogic passion across the country from the confines of a 1988 Ford Festiva.
Pardon, former Ford Festiva. Now it goes only by “PeaceLoveCar,” and a new model is currently being built. These two travel, and often sleep, in the PeaceLoveCar as they wonder and explore across the country. They teach and demonstrate slackline-yoga and other forms of yoga at various events. They’re also known to contribute for GearJunkie from the road.
When not adding to the half-million miles piling up on the Festiva, Sam and Raquel are hosted by friends across the country, providing couches, beds, and food.
Sarah & Tom Swallow – Bike The USA
Up until last year, Swallow Bicycle Works was a quaint, successful bikes brick and mortar in Ohio.
Today, it is an online-only retailer for a small collection of bike-wares, branded apparel, and blog. That blog is probably your best bet for ever finding Swallow’s namesake proprietors, Tom and Sarah.
The husband-and-wife team made the decision to put the professional life on hold and make time for the trans-America (and beyond) journey by bike they’d dreamed of.
“Leaving the stability of normal life and a job for an adventure is not a secure feeling,” Sarah told us. “You can’t predict what will happen next. [But] when you let go, when you open yourself up to the experiences and interactions with people around you, it’s incredibly freeing.”
The couple have crossed the country and are now somewhere in British Columbia, going as far as their wheels, tents, sponsorship, and will takes them.
Danielle Kreusch & Kyle Hawkins – Rowing, Sailing The Mississippi
The most recent team to take the plunge are Kyle and Danielle, self-proclaimed “blue domers” who revere the natural world and all its wonders.
In August, they set sail in “Solvi,” their hand-built, Viking-era faering. The rustic vessel, chosen because it met both his desire to sit back and relax and her desire to paddle, was a tremendous undertaking.
To meet their proposed departure date, Kyle and Danielle had to work 10-12 hours a day for 14 weeks, a total of over 1,400 man hours (see a time-lapse below). But they pulled it off, quit their jobs, and are floating down Old Blue now.
Their trip will take them down to Florida where they will live full time in a 35-foot cutter boat. Beyond that, who knows?
“It’s hard to think of going back to the 50+ hour work weeks and traffic jams found in our old routine,” Hawkins told us. “We are both considering alternatives to that lifestyle. So at the moment we are open minded about our exact future.”
