About​

We are Paul and Victoria, former professionals turned full-time travelers. We have the epic goal of visiting every single country on the planet—195 countries to be exact!

Welcome to our corner of the web, where we document our adventures, share our stories, and explore the world of blogging and online business. We see this space as postcards to our two beautiful children, hoping to inspire them to live extraordinary lives filled with incredible stories and achievements. And if you’re here too, we hope to inspire you to do the same.

Live life like someone left the gate open!

Paul and I met in 2000, in Tauranga, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand. I was an 18-year-old single mum looking for a job, and Paul was a 21-year-old recent university graduate with a half-share in his parents’ Middle Eastern restaurant and a nice car! Fast forward to 2022: we’ve been married for 19 years, bought, built, and sold several businesses and houses. Our daughter (22) and son (18) have moved out and are living their own lives. Paul’s company, which he co-owned, has just been sold, and my business, despite many hours of hard work, didn’t yield great rewards. We were living in a beautiful home in a great neighborhood, enjoying dinners out, concerts, and the occasional overseas holiday (pre-COVID). Simply put, we were 40-something empty nesters wondering, “What next?”

“What Next” was loosely discussed over a few glasses of wine and grew into a living, breathing plan: LET’S SELL UP AND TRAVEL THE WORLD. But let’s make it epic and visit EVERY SINGLE COUNTRY—ALL 195 of them!

In May 2023, with my business still not sold, we set the date of September 1st to start our journey in Adelaide. From there, we planned to go to Thailand and then on to the UK (we both have ancestry visas that allow us to work in the UK). We bought our tickets, started selling our belongings. Then, as these things go, we received an offer on my business, which was sold on August 23rd!

I’m constantly amazed at how things fall into place once you decide to do something.

So here we are, nine months later, back in NZ for Paul to recover from planned hip surgery. Our journey has taken us to 10 countries (counting Vatican City as a country is legit!). In our lifetimes, we have both been to 17 countries as of May 24, 2024, with 178 countries to go.

Amidst the constant giddy excitement of “this is our life,” we have seen and experienced amazing things in all the countries we’ve visited. We’re learning tips and tricks to make the most of our travels. Discovering new cultures, different ways of living, and unforgettable foods (some unforgettable in bad ways!). We are learning about ourselves and relishing the opportunity to try something different.

We are not expert travelers with inside knowledge about all the countries. In fact, we are pretty rubbish at planning, but this has allowed us to be flexible. We don’t have a massive social media following and are still working on taking good photos. Our intention is not to become “know-it-all travelers” but to inspire. Inspire you to live a life less scripted, a little more wild, joyful, healthy, and free.

We hope you enjoy our stories of travel. Welcome to our world!