Meet the Nomads – Erin and Simon of Never Ending Voyage

I’ve been silently following Erin and Simon’s blog called Never Ending Voyage for the longest time. I find their website very helpful especially for me who is also trying to live a nomadic life abroad for as long as I can. Their blog is full of useful information about being a digital nomad, the highs and the lows, their budget, a lot of so many helpful resources and of course about their travel adventures in various countries around the world.

I really admire how Erin and Simon were able to successfully redefine and restructure their lifestyle when they left their jobs back at UK up to this point where they now have multiple income streams. It’s hard to conceptualize, develop, execute and maintain a business (even an online business) while you travel but this couple were able to make it work. Erin and Simon are truly an inspiring couple that made their dreams their reality.

Get to know more about Erin and Simon and follow their journey at Never Ending Voyage.

But before you click away, check out my short interview with Erin and Simon.

How did you discover your passion for travelling?

“I can’t remember a time not being obsessed with travel from when I did extensive projects on Fiji and Iceland at school when I was a kid to pouring over the Work Your Way Around the World book in the library as a teenager. I was lucky that my parents took us on some interesting holidays to places like Turkey and Tunisia, but I think I really became hooked on learning about different cultures (and eating their food!) on a student exchange trip to Italy when I was 17. My first backpacking trip was inter-railing around Europe for a month aged 19—Simon came along and that’s when he fell for travel too.”

What’s the most horrible experience that you’ve had on the road?

“We are lucky that nothing really horrible has happened to us. We’ve had some awful bus journeys and were pickpocketed in Costa Rica, but nothing too bad.”

What’s the best travel experience that you’ve ever had?

“One of our favourite places in the world is a homestay in the lush green backwaters of Kerala, India. Our host was a kind, gentle man called Thomas who each day would take us out to explore the village and meet the local people. One particularly magical moment came after a late night visit to a toddy shop to drink the local coconut sap brew. When we were returning to the homestay by canoe, Thomas and his friend sang us a capella Indian folk songs under the stars. It was the perfect moment in a beautiful place and brought tears to our eyes.”

What’s the biggest realization that you’ve got out of travelling?

“That generally people are kind and generous. We’ve had strangers help us out in many situations all around the world and our travels would be much more difficult without their help.”

What keeps you going? What keeps you motivated?

“We’ve been travelling non stop for over three years now and we have no plans to stop. We are addicted to the freedom of this lifestyle—that we can explore the world while working on projects we love. There is so much of the world that we still want to see—that curiosity keeps us motivated.

That said, we do of course get tired and we’ve begun travelling much more slowly. We mix periods of faster travel with staying in a place for 2-3 months and love having the chance to get to know a place better while working on projects and restoring our energy for the next leg of travel.”

This is a silly and hypothetical one. If you would be given a chance to travel with a popular person or a celebrity, who would it be and why?

“We’d love to join Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman on one of their epic motorbike trips. We had a taste of motorbike road trips when we drove from Chiang Mai, Thailand to Burma on a scooter and we loved the feeling of freedom and adventure. We’d love to do some more ambitious trips.”

Where’s your favourite place in this planet and why?

“It’s getting harder to choose just one, but we’d probably say India. It’s a country of extremes, vibrant, colourful, challenging but never boring. We also loved the food and as vegetarians it’s one of the few places in the world where we can eat local food without worrying that it contains meat.”

What’s your best tip for newbie traveller?

Travel with hand luggage only. We’ve managed to fit all of our belongings into a 30 litre (Erin) and 40 litre (Simon) backpack and it has made our travels so much easier. It’s liberating to realise that you don’t need much stuff and it saves a lot of stress. We save time at airports and feel safer always having our bags with us on planes and buses. It’s also much easier not having to lug a big backpack around when looking for accommodation.

It’s not that difficult to do with some practice. It’s about priorities and only taking things that you are going to use regularly, and not packing items “just in case”—everything has to earn its place in our backpacks. You can see exactly what we travel with on our packing list.”

What’s the funniest and silliest thing you’ve ever done while travelling?

“At a yoga retreat in Nepal Simon took the strangest steam bath where he had to stand upright inside a wooden box with just his head poking out. It wasn’t very comfortable but he did have views of the Himalayas.”

How do you keep yourself safe on your travels?

“Honestly we haven’t really feared for our personal safety anywhere on our travels. We keep our stuff safe by using a money belt on travel days and when withdrawing cash which contains our passport, credit cards and cash, and locking that stuff (plus laptops) inside our backpacks when we go out for the day. A zipped pocket for your wallet and phone really helps too.”

What do you think about yourself?

“Some people think we’re brave for selling everything to travel indefinitely but we think we’re just a normal couple who had a desire to see the world and didn’t want to be bound by traditional ideas of what life should be like. We made a decisionabout what we wanted out of life and then just took the steps needed to make it happen.”

Erin McNeaney and Simon Fairbairn are a digital nomad couple who sold everything they owned and left the UK in March 2010. They write about their slow travels around the world and the ups and downs of life as digital nomads at NeverEndingVoyage.com, and are the creators of Trail Wallet, an easy travel expense tracker app for the iPhone.

Editor’s Note: All pics are provided by Simon and Erin

Next: Ben West of The Red Rucksack Previously: Adam Finan of Tropical Nomad For more interviews with travel bloggers, check out the archives of Meet the Nomads.