A few years ago, Melbourne couple Brittany and Mitchell, both 28, decided to quit their 9-to-5 lives to go travelling around the world together.
The adventurous couple first met in high school and started dating when they were 18.
Brittany worked in retail management, before starting her own cake business, @cakedmelbourne on Instagram, while Mitchell is a graphic designer, who recently worked for an international video game company as well doing some freelance job on the side.
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These days Brittany and Mitchell are also travel content creators and post their travels to Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.
The couple originally intended to do a six-month trip in 2020 to South and Central America but had to postpone because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We had been saving up for a while for that and due to being unable to travel for so long we had kept adding on places we wanted to visit, and the trip kept extending,” Brittany tells 7Life.
“We were both going to have to quit our jobs and pause our lives in Melbourne, so thought why not actually just do it for longer.”
The pair both had experience running social media pages and wanted to use it to their advantage to see if they could earn money while they travelled, as well as securing a few hotel collaborations to help with their budget.
To fund their travels, the couple both worked their full-time jobs and did freelance work to save up as much as they could.
They also got a housemate the year before they left to help with mortgage payments and savings.
Then they rented out their house last year and moved in with Mitch’s parents for a few months before they left so they could continue saving as much as possible.
“This was the best decision as it gave us four solid months of no mortgage payments and full savings before we left, which we were lucky to be able to do,” Brittany says.
“We sold a lot of our furniture and belongings, and then have left the rest of our things in storage at Mitch’s parents’ house.”
Brittany and Mitch are currently travelling their ninth country — after a few months in Asia, they are now travelling around Europe.
Travelling Asia gave the couple a whole new perspective.
“It’s incredible not having to worry about mortgage payments and opened up a new perspective on living in Asia vs Australia,” Brittany says.
“Europe has been a lot more expensive than Asia; London was a shock to us and Switzerland we knew would be expensive so only stopped a few days there.”
As the couple have travelled more, their social media following has increased, so they have been able to secure a few collaborations with hotels and restaurants, helping them save on accommodation and meals.
While the pair try to budget, they find it difficult to do so, because of the very different prices they encounter in each country.
“In Asia we budgeted $60 each a day on food, accommodation and activities.
“We try and set budgets according to where we are — we have cut out as much alcohol as possible and will try and opt for supermarket shopping, so we are only eating out once a day if possible,” Brittany says.
“We keep saying there’s a difference between ‘vacation/holidays’ and ‘travelling’. We are experiencing similar things but have to give up some things like ordering cocktails and eating out every meal like we’ve done on smaller trips in the past.
“We were aiming for $100 a day in Europe but have found this harder to meet. If a country has amazing cuisine, we will eat out more or if it’s super expensive (Switzerland) we only ate out twice in five days there.”
While the couple were happy to downsize for their travels, there are a few things they miss.
“I miss my hair straightener for sure! I always feel like my hair is messy without it but it’s too bulky to carry. We both miss having more of a range of clothes to pick from,” Brittany says.
The couple also had to leave their beloved cat at home and the lack of Aussie food is getting to them.
“We miss Bega Peanut butter, Vegemite, (chicken) parmas, Shapes and honestly just home cooked meals. We do cook overseas when we have kitchens, but the supermarkets just aren’t the same.”
They each brought a 9kg backpack on their travels and “make do with what they have”.
Before their indefinite travels, the couple had never been away for longer than a month, so with that came some challenges.
“Finding travel insurance with no end date, which travel cards are the best to use, what phone plan to be on to pay minimal cost and keep our phone numbers.
“Not having access to a computer can be tricky as well, having to book everything on our phones and even editing content for our socials (especially for YouTube long-form videos). Also working out how we can possibly make money while we are away and have a passive income,” Brittany explains.
Although life in many different places can be tricky, the couple love the way each day is different.
“I set up an Excel spreadsheet of a calendar of the whole year before we left which we set our rough plans in and were able to plan most of Asia and Europe … which has saved heaps of time and money for us,” Brittany says.
“We normally check it every week and make sure we haven’t missed any flights or accommodation for the upcoming weeks.
“We also spend a lot of time editing content for our socials which probably what keeps us sane as we are both driven people and don’t like wasting time. It’s been great to see the growth on it and build something while we are away which we can hopefully continue with/turn into a career when we eventually come home.”
The couple say they are planning on travelling for “around one-and-a-half years full-time” and maintain the momentum when they return home.
“We are hoping with our travels this year we can monetise our social media and get more collaborations to sustain it and continue it when we get back,” Brittany says.
Next on their travel list is the US, as well as Central and South America.
In terms of advice for others wanting to follow in their footsteps and consider a life abroad, the couple suggests “saving up as much as you can before leaving and work out what your budget/goals will be”.
“Research into other ways of earning money while you’re away, there are so many options with the power of the internet. We wish we’d started on YouTube earlier as that’s the easiest way to earn a bit of extra on the side,” Brittany says.
“Our favourite quote is ‘The best time to start was 10 years ago and the second-best time is now.’ This is in relation to everything; saving, researching and social media.
“So many people had said to us the travel industry is oversaturated and it’s too hard to grow on Instagram, but we’ve still given it a red-hot crack and have been surprised with how much we’ve achieved on it so far. Our best advice is to just start.”
