How couple pays to travel to seven countries a year
Jack and Becky share regular updates of their travels around the world with their fans. But they admit there is a hidden side.
A couple that travel the world full-time, posting envy-inducing photos on their Instagram account, have revealed the secrets of their incredible lifestyle.
The twosome run @twotickets.toanywhere, an Instagram page where they detail their amazing lives of travel for their 25,000 followers as they traverse the globe visiting exotic locations.
Jack Goodwin-Jones, 26, and Becky O’Connell, 25, met when they were studying at Sheffield Hallam University in the UK.
And despite meeting in the rainy northern city of Sheffield, the young couple had dreams of escaping the 9-5 lifestyle that most graduates face and travelling to more colourful locations.
Their first holiday was to Cyprus in June 2014, and after series of mini-breaks they realised how much they love exploring places together.
Now their Instagram account is filled with wanderlust photos from Australia, Cambodia, Thailand, Spain, Slovakia, Singapore and many more.
And while other young graduates are chained to their office desk, Jack and Becky have visited a staggering 34 countries together — an average of 6.8 per year.
“Honestly, we never like to say this to people as it sounds like we’re bragging, but we love our life,” Jack said.
“Travelling every day, not really having a schedule and being free to wake up when we want — don’t be fooled, this is often 5am — gives us a massive sense of freedom.
“No 9-5 job could ever give us this. The freedom we have helps us to keep our minds clear and happy, we decide our own routine.”
The couple explained how they were able to go away in the first place.
“Before we started travelling, we obviously saved a fair amount of money,” Jack said.
“We did this by never going out for expensive meals and only going out drinking with our friends two times in an entire year. Having full time jobs and living like this, it was easy for us to save the money.
“So for one year of full time travel we lived off our savings.
“Even though we’d have loved to, when we were living off our savings, we never stayed in 5-star hotels — or any hotels really, unless the price was right — instead choosing guesthouses and homestays. They’re a fraction of the price, always clean, private and usually come with good breakfast.”
The couple said around one year into their travels they realised they needed to make money if they wanted to keep it up full-time.
“This is when we looked into online teaching,” Jack said. “Now, we teach English to Chinese children online for 12 hours a week each.
“This completely pays for us to travel, albeit at a slower pace than we used to.
“Online teaching isn’t the only option though. There are ton of jobs that you can do remotely, we’ve met everything from wedding planners to health consultants who travel and work from their laptop.”
However, the twosome admit to having to be very careful with their budget and confess that there are days when not everything is magical.
While their social media feed may look like one incredible sunset after another, the couple are refreshingly honest on their Instagram stories and speak honestly about what life is really like behind the glamorous photos.
“Basically, to do what we do, you have to be sensible with your money,” Jack said.
“You can’t treat yourself to everything you want, every day in your home country and the same applies when you’re travelling like we are.
“We know people who had planned to travel for a long time and returned home within two months because they partied their money away. Partying is the number one budget killer, we promise you that.”
The couple admit despite their picture-perfect appearance, not everything is always as it seems.
“People who look at our Instagram feed might assume that full time travelling is the perfect life and every day is full of fun and adventure,” Jack said.
“The truth is, we only post the good times and our best shots to our Instagram feed itself.
“Nobody wants to see our bad experiences documented in pictures and posted to our feed, nor do they want to see us sat on a bus waiting to cross a border or chilling in the airport looking tired at four in the morning.
“We still do share all of our most real candid moments, good or bad, but we reserve those for our Instagram stories where we can show it in a video and explain what’s happening in our day to day life.
“We’re all about staying real and relatable. It’s clear to most that we’re far from the ‘perfect’ Instagram couple — there’s enough of those already. We’re just here to enjoy ourselves, be real and hopefully make people laugh.”
Becky said there were a few drawbacks to their incredible lifestyle.
“I love what we do, but it’s still difficult being away from family and friends for long periods of time,” she said.
“We’ve managed to visit home twice since we’ve been away but it would obviously be nice to see family more often. Face time is great though.”
COUNTRIES THEY’VE BEEN TO
October 2017: Indonesia
November 2017: Northern Thailand
December 2017: Cambodia
January 2018: Australia
February 2018: Malaysia and Southern Thailand
March/May 2018: Australia
June 2018: UK
July/August 2018 (Inter-railing): Portugal, Spain, Luxembourg, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Austria
August/September 2018: Singapore and Malaysia
October/November 2018: Indonesia
December 2018/January 2019: UK
February 2019: Northern Thailand
March/April 2019: Malaysia
April 2019 to now: Bali, Indonesia.
TRAVEL TIPS FOR OTHER COUPLES
“It’s probably not the best idea to travel full time with somebody you’ve not been with for too long,” the couple said. “We were together for five years before we did it.
“It’s such a big commitment and if you don’t know all of your own and your partner’s quirks then you might very quickly start to get on each other’s nerves.
“It’s important to know that you’re comfortable with each other, the travel life throws all kinds of unexpected twists and turns at you. You need to be able to stay calm and deal with it.
“Set your boundaries before you travel. What’s your budget? How much are you comfortable spending on accommodation etc. Will you be sharing all your money or keeping it separate? We have a joint account that we pay for all of our travels with. It works for us but not for everyone.
“Don’t think it’s easy to just become a travel blogger/Instagrammer. It’s not only very hard (especially if you have no previous experience) but also takes up a lot of time. We work every day on our photography and editing skills, blog writing, replying to people on Instagram to help with their own travelling. Being a content creator takes up more time than a full-time job. But at the end of the day, we enjoy it and do it on our own terms.”
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