Time for another travel tales interview. This week we’re delighted to feature our good friends Rob & Natalie from Loveandroad.com

We met these guys last year in Chiang Mai and also in Bangkok just before we left Thailand. Their passion for travel is evident and their blog provides a massive amount of information, so go check it out….after you’ve read this interview with them of course! 😉

Rob & Natalie – tell us where you’re from, and a little about your blog?

We are Rob and Nat, two Brazilians that decided to celebrate their marriage and their 30´s with a big change in life. On 2014, we trade our nice jobs and our comfy house for two backpacks, a bunch of dreams and a master plan: Take the World!! We left home and never looked back!

We are party people, beach bums, runners and travellers, our blog Love and Road is all about that, with a pinch of adventure, coffee addction, and some luxurious getaways. We are a nomad couple, but our stories are nothing like sweet romance. The idea is to inspire people to travel more and better, follow their passions and be happy!

When did you start travelling, and where are you currently?

We started our nomad life on April, 24th, 2014. We flew from Brazil to Spain, and so far we travelled

around Europe, Northern Africa, and Southeast Asia. Currently enjoying our last days in Bangkok, next move is Singapore.

Rob, you do a lot of Ironman events. Is it hard to prepare for those as you travel?

This is crazy s**t!! Here is Nat talking!!

Since I met Rob, 10 years ago, he has always been into sports, surfing, running, triathlon. In Brazil, he did his first Ironman competition, but we never thought it would be possible to combine long distance triathlon with full time travelling. However, Rob found his way to do it and I’m so proud of him!!

So far he finished the Angkor Wat Half Marathon,Chiang Mai Half Marathon, Paris Marathon and the Ironman Langkawi in Malaysia. Now his next race is on May, a full marathon in Singapore, and he convinced me to run the half, what means that I will be running 21 Km and he will do the 42km.

Not easy to training while travelling. Some places are not runner friendly, like the chaotic traffic in Ho Chi Minh City or Bangkok. The constant change of weather and food are another problem. But on the other hand we have been running in some amazing places, like on Philippines Islands, the untouched mountains of Bulgaria, or around ancient mosques in Istanbul! Our running spots are great!

You’ve stayed in some cool spots along your travels – which one stands out the most for you?

SO Sofitel in Bangkok is gorgeous, a 5 stars hotel with a funky and fashion approach. Kind of place I would choose to live if hit the jackpot. 😉

Is there any country you’ve not yet visited that’s a must see destination for you?

Can we answer the world!!

Jokes apart, we are dying to visit Iceland and Maldives. These two destinations are a bit pricey and if we decided to go there we want to do it right, with time enough to enjoy all the beauty and nature. So we need to plan this two trips very well. However, one thing that we learned during these two years travelling is that all destinations are possible, any country is one ticket away from us. What we need is to plan it right and be committed to our travel dreams.

What first made you want to travel?

The curiosity to see new places, meet new people and experiment different things. The world is so big, so beautiful and so diverse, we feel the need to explore it.

If you had to choose your favourite destination so far, what would it be and why?

It´s hard to choose, every place has something special! We love Istanbul, that’s a fact. We have been there 5 times and our last visit to Istanbul lasted for 2 months. The city has so many layers of history, it´s so cosmopolitan and has always something going on. And the Turkish food of course!

We also have an interesting relationship with “B” cities: Barcelona, Berlin, Budapest and Bangkok, we like them a lot, specially for party!

Name two personal items that you can’t live without while travelling?

For me, I can´t travel without my facial sunblock and my phone.

For Rob, running shoes & his Mac.

What’s your most epic travel story to date?

The epic ones we can not tell here lol!

In Morocco, we spent 3 days traveling in the Atlas mountains and camping in the Sahara desert. It was magical. Then we decided to leave our group, that was returning to Marrakech, and go by ourselves to Fez. In theory sounds easy, the van would drop us at Rissani town and from there we should take the bus to Fez. To make a long story short, there was no bus on that day, we ended up sharing a 30 years old Mercedes Benz with 7 people for 2 hours to reach another town to get a bus to Arzou and then another one to Fez. In the end, we decided to stay in Arzou, eat, relax and only on the following day we set foot in Fez. It was a long journey, but a unique opportunity to see the real Morocco.

Is there one post on your blog that you prefer over all the rest? If so, then why?

Hummm, that´s a trick question, I like them all. I like a lot two posts, one that is a very personal article “ Lesson I learned of 1 Year Travelling the world” and “Rediscovering Boracay”.

Rob´s favorite is Top things to do in Cappadocia.

Was there a specific moment when you realised that travel was a lifestyle you wanted to pursue?

Yes, it happened after our honeymoon. Everything was fine, we had good jobs in Brazil, we built our house and we got married. Our honeymoon was a 20 day trip to Istanbul, Ukraine, and Ireland, bottom line, when we arrived back home we were depressed. We knew we couldn’t settle, it wasn’t our time yet. So we had a serious talk and seven months later we kicked off our nomadic life.

What motivates you to keep travelling, and do you have days where you think a more settled life back home is more attractive?

The new, the unknown and the beautiful places around the world! That´s the fuel of our travels. For now, we don’t see ourselves settling, having a house with kids, not yet. What we plan is to have a base, a safe harbour and travel from there, two or three big trips per year… That’s how we imagine our future.

Go back home?! No, no, no… We only feel extremely homesick when one of us get sick.

During your travels, what’s the best travel tip you’ve received?

Go local, try to learn about the people and you will understand and enjoy the destination better.

Is there any one country that you’ve been to that you didn’t like, and would make you not want to return?

Yes, Cambodia! We have been there twice, and the country is not our cup of tea. We loved Angkor Wat though, we had an amazing time exploring the temples in Siem Reap, but we didn´t like the country.

In order to sustain a life of travel, you need to have some sort of income stream. How have you funded your travels?

We work a lot, is not only holidays and pristine beaches. We have Love and Road, our travel blog and sweet baby, we also do social media consultancy and management, and freelancing writing. Our house in Brazil is rented, so we have another income stream.That’s how we earn money! For this year we have two other projects, we are writing two ebooks and we’ll be launching a video course soon! Big announcements for 2016!

What are your travel plans for the rest of 2016?

Good question!! We travel to Singapore for one month house and pet sitting, what means we’ll have a nice apartment and two cats to plays with. House sitting is an amazing way to travel without spending on accommodation and you get to live like a local. We love it! On July, we head to Bali. After that, no plans yet. Let´s see what the future hold for us!

Biography

Love and Road is all about passion. Passion for living, for travelling and for writing. Great stories, postcard pictures, deep memories and some precious travel resources.

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/loveandroad/

Twitter name: @loveandroad