Traveling has a way of testing your limits, at which point you must decide to either retreat or to grow and go where you've 'never gone before' figuratively and literally. It's being presented with constant change that you have to adapt to. We believe travel is so addictive precisely because of this quality. Now imagine falling in love while traveling? You're building a relationship with another person WHILE both of you are transcending personal boundaries. Sounds like a recipe for an international scale disaster... But, what if you've traveled together and instead of growing apart, grew closer together?
• • •
Today's love story is told by two adventurers Phoebe and Ronnie. Phoebe is from Australia and Ronnie is from the US. They met while traveling and together traversed many a continent. To share their stories and those of other travel lovers they've created Many Many Adventures, a beautiful site for travelers by travelers. There we can get inspired by recounts of incredible journeys not only to the ends of the world, but most importantly to the fringes of ourselves. Today, they share with us how they met, what it's like being in a multi-cultural relationship and how to stay zen in love and in life.
{ LLYT: You two met while traveling. Honestly now, what were your very first impressions of each other? Why do you think you clicked? }
Ronnie: The first time we met we were both backpacking through Central America and ended up spending about 3 weeks together. I immediately had a crush on Phoebe, but she had a boyfriend at the time so nothing happened. And honestly, that was perfect. We were able to become such good friends that it opened up the possibility of us seeing each other in the future, when something could happen.
Phoebe: I was travelling in Central America with my little brother – it was our first time backpacking, and we were a little green to say the least. Since my brother was only 18, he was pretty overwhelmed by the combination of foreign languages, pretty girls and readily available alcohol. When Ronnie saw him standing in the supermarket holding a six pack of vodka-lemonade, he decided to become his mentor. So really, I just tagged along with them, as Ronnie showed Ben the ins and outs of being a man. I honestly thought he was a bit of a player, but he made me laugh.
When we were in Greece together, two years later, Ronnie showed me the diary entry he wrote the day we met, and the part about having a crush on me, and I started to think perhaps this could be more than just a travel romance…
{ LLYT: Ronnie tell us about how you decided to actually make the move to Australia? Did you always know that you were 'destined' to live away from home or did you surprise yourself? }
Ronnie: Ha. That’s a very long and complicated answer, but I’ll try. I enjoy living in new places and the experience of that, so moving somewhere like Australia wasn’t a surprise to me, or anyone who knew me, at that point in my life. The fact that I decided to move to Australia to live with Phoebe just a week after we were in Thailand together and had decided to end our relationship, well, that was a bit more unexpected.
Phoebe: Yeah, that was probably my fault. I took a little convincing that this thing could actually work!
{ LLYT: Now, the trickiest part of any relationship is communicating. Phoebe tell us, even though both of you are native English speakers, being from different continents do you find that you have to try "harder" to understand what the other says? }
Phoebe: There are definitely times when I have to remind myself that Ronnie grew up in a different culture. My family is from England, so even though I grew up in Australia, where people are generally very open, I have a bit of that British reticence and propriety in the way I say things – excuse me...thank you...would it be ok if...I think that maybe…you know what I mean. In my experience, Americans can be a lot blunter in their communications, so there have been moments when I've been pissed off at the way Ronnie says something when he is just being honest.
Other than that, anyone who has tried to have a long distance relationship will tell you how much text communications suck. Ronnie once commented on how cute my “nerdiness” was…which auto-corrected to “neediness”… which resulted in some serious radio silence on my part until we figured it out.
{ LLYT: You guys travel a lot, is there any moment in particular that really stands out as "Wow, I can't believe we're actually here" moment? }
Phoebe: Ton Sai, Thailand, November, 2012. It was the end of eight months of travelling for me, and my last stop before home. We had just done four months of long distance, and we had come so close to calling it quits so many times, that it was surreal to be in the same time zone, let alone staying in the same bamboo hut. We had such a magical two weeks there, climbing, laying on the beach, eating amazing food. It was supposed to be our last hurrah, but it ended up convincing us (well, me) that we could actually make this work. Three days after we said goodbye in Thailand we made plans for Ronnie to move here.
Ronnie: I feel a rush of excitement and gratitude every time I get off an airplane, but mostly that’s because I’m afraid of heights and get pretty bad motion sickness.
{ LLYT: When you are not on the road, what do you like to do to keep your wanderlust satisfied? }
Ronnie: For me, living in a different country right now, it’s all a little bit like traveling. There’s always new places to explore or something new to experience. And because traveling is such a big part of our life, there’s always a trip right around the corner. We just got back from doing a van trip around New Zealand last month. Next month we’re moving to Chicago. And we’re going to spend Christmas this year in Mexico.
Phoebe: I just sit here scratching my itchy feet!
{ LLYT: Tell us how the idea for Many Many Adventures was born? What do you hope to accomplish with it? }
Ronnie: It happened organically. We had always talked about writing about our travels, if for no other reason than to keep them for ourselves, or share with friends and family. But we didn’t know what to do with them. I toyed around briefly with the idea of submitting pieces to travel websites, but then just thought, “why don’t we just have our own site?” At first, we didn’t really do much with it. It wasn’t until this year that we began to spend a lot more time on it, both writing more and beginning to post work from other travelers. And all the positive response we’ve gotten back has contributed to us wanting to keep making it better and inspire more people to travel and share their stories.
{ LLYT: Any additional thoughts? }
Ronnie: Just that it’s so important to be honest about what it is that you want, both in a relationship and with life. It’s easy to get caught up with something that isn't perfect and stop looking for the things and people that will truly make you happy.
Phoebe: Every relationship is hard work. – you have to negotiate all the stuff that comes flying at you out of nowhere – to say nothing of traversing continents and oceans. You need to be with someone who makes you happy, makes you laugh, and loves you. If you have found that person, then all the other stuff is negotiable, and it's worth finding a way to make it work.
(All photos via Ronnie and Phoebe)
Traveling together is a good way to see if you can handle living a "life" together. It's a clever mini test for a couple. Ronnie gives some good advice how to stay zen while traveling. How to go from being being at a stalemate and completely annoyed with each other to being happy and back on the "road". Most of the time it's a very simple thing that you have to do. Take a look at how our love birds handled the situation while in New Zealand.
On Many Many Adventures Ronnie and Phoebe help us share travel stories, get to know some of the travel writers through "Meet The Travel Writer" series and see for ourselves through the eye (lens) of a traveler what the place is really like with "Travel Photography" stories. --- If you're a Global Neighbor who has many adventures to tell and would like to share your Love without Borders story, send us a message!
• • • LESSONS LEARNED • • •
In love as in travel, don't assume people speak your language,
and be ready for life-changing experiences!
Get everyday adventure ideas @LiveLikeYoureTraveling
READ NEXT:
