The Story So Far
Here's how we got here.A Quick Intro
Hi, we’re Carlo and Florence.
We’re both from Boyle, a small town in the west of Ireland, and we’ve been together for 21 years.
Unlike a lot of people who travel as much as we do, this wasn’t something baked into us as kids. We never dreamed of backpacking through far-flung places or crossing the Taj Mahal or Machu Picchu off a list. Two weeks in a resort once a year, feet up, sun on the face, home before the rain came back — that was the plan.
Then it wasn’t.
The Turning Point
Vegas, 2005.
Carlo had a solo trip to Las Vegas booked before we started seeing each other so he flew out in August 2005.
Ten days later he came home a different (and much poorer!!) man. Something had clicked.
He wouldn’t shut up about the desert, meeting new poeple, the buffets, the hustle and bustle, the nightlife, the casinos. But it was the feeling of freedom that made the biggest difference to him.
The resort holiday was quietly dropped, and in its place we started taking longer trips to places where you could actually get lost.
Africa, 2009.
I (Florence) had always wanted to volunteer with kids. One evening in late 2008, Carlo casually suggested Africa. Three weeks later we had flights booked and our families told we’d be gone for three months. This was pre-Facebook so they genuinely thought they’d never hear from us again!!
We spent January to April 2009 in Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda. It was the hardest and best trip we’d taken. Every day something new, someone new, a fresh reminder of how much of the world we hadn’t seen. By the time we came home, we knew the old plan wasn’t the plan anymore as so much had changed.
Countries
Years on the road
Continents
regrets
Going Full-Time
Every trip up to late 2012 was funded with savings. We skipped the nights out, skipped the cinema, we worked extra hours, and we saved as much as we possibly could.
It worked for many of our early trips, but it wasn’t sustainable, and we were tired of coming home rich in memory but broke with no money in the bank.
Teaching English in Thailand was the obvious answer, but that meant swapping one 9-to-5 for another. So I handed Carlo the research task of how to make money online, and after a rabbit hole of options, he landed on freelance writing. No experience needed, work from anywhere with WiFi.
Late 2012 we bought one-way tickets to Thailand.
That was thirteen years ago so it clearly worked.
What This Site Is About Today
Next Stop Who Knows is where we share the honest version of what we do.
The places worth the flight and the ones that, in our opinion, aren’t. We talk about the countries that surprised us most and the practical stuff nobody tells you about long-term travel — tips on how to plan it, pay for it, and stay sane (and married!!) doing it.
Our aim isn’t to convince anyone to sell their house and buy a backpack. It’s to be honest about what this life actually looks like, so anyone thinking about it has more to go on than an Instagram highlight reel.
We never know what’s next. Turns out that’s the best part.
Questions We Get Asked Most
How do you afford it?
Short version: we built an online business in 2012 and it’s paid the bills ever since. Long version [here].
Do you have a home base?
We don’t own our own home. We stay with Carlo’s mum when we’re in Ireland and we do long rentals in different countries for weeks or months at a time. Ireland will always be home-home.
How do you plan trips?
Very loosely usually! We typically book the first flight and the first few days accommodation and we always figure out the rest when our feet are on the ground.
How do you manage to work and travel at the same time?
We’ve managed to get used to working whilst we move so we never have to take dedicated work breaks. It can be VERY stressful at times but overall we love working from different cafés and nine times out of ten, we get the balance between work and travel right.
What do your families think?
They’re very supportive and we love them for it (video calls do help!).
Where We Are Now
Right now (July 2026) we’re in Da Nang, Vietnam.
We’ve just finished a 12 week trip that took us from Thailand to China and Japan and finally to South Korea. We’ll be here in Vietnam for a couple of weeks before our next adventure starts. Follow along on Instagram for the day-to-day updates.
And...that sums it up!
Thanks for reading this far.
If something in here has helped you, that’s great. If you’re wondering whether a different kind of life is workable for you, we hope our story is useful — and if you have questions, we’d love to hear from you.
Carlo and Florence
New Around Here?
We’ve been blogging since 2013. Our Start Here page is the shortcut to the best of it — the guides, the honest reviews, and the posts worth your time.