Hi fellow travelers! We’re Brigitte and Jake from Nothing Familiar.
Our love for traveling together began in 2010 when we drove California’s Pacific Coast Highway. This was followed by a trip to Puerto Rico, and then we decided to do something kind of crazy…
Our First Backpacking Journey
What started out as a backpacking trip through Europe in 2014, quickly expanded into a full blown world tour. Over the next year, we traveled extensively through Southeast Asia, South America, and Central America.
From floating down the Mekong River on a long boat in Laos to driving across the salt flats of Bolivia, every new country we explored only fueled our desire to see more. Back then, we traveled with zero plans and no expectations – just a severely dwindling bank account!
Towards the end of our first year abroad was also around the time we started Nothing Familiar Travel.
The Start of Nothing Familiar
After spending one morning zip lining through the Ecuadorian jungle, we were laying in our hammocks and day dreaming. How could we continue this life of travel? We wanted to keep exploring the world, but after almost a year on the road we were out of funds.
So we did what any normal person would do and googled “how to start a travel blog.” After spending a few hours throwing around names as an intense rain storm poured down around us, we decided to take the leap. We started Nothing Familiar with very limited wifi, on a 3 year old tablet, and nothing to take photos with except an old iphone!
Moving to Spain
After returning home for the summer to work, we thought of a plan. Instead of going back to normal life, we would work and save all summer and move to Spain. The goal was to have a one way ticket, perfect our Spanish, and try to make it work.
Well, after three months of tapa hopping around the south of Spain, we realized we had come no closer to figuring out full-time travel. For now, we decided to head home, and put our dreams of living and working abroad on hold.
Back to the “Real World”
In 2016, we went back to corporate office life. Although we were now enjoying living in sunny San Diego, we were still constantly searching for a sense of adventure. We were what most people would call successful. Good paying jobs, benefits, retirement plans, and a great life… just not for us!
Somewhere between getting engaged and planning for a “traditional wedding,” we started to think about what we wanted in life. With a little over one week notice, we called our families and told them we were going to elope. Soon after, we dropped another bomb that we were quitting our jobs (again), and heading back out on the road!
Choosing a Life of Travel
So now we needed to save hardcore. As in only eating out if it was $1 happy hour tacos, packing our lunches, budgeting groceries, carpooling to work, and getting every deal we could.
After a lot of saving up, we once again headed out into the world. This time with some better equipment and the hope of going full-time with our website!
Since then, we have been back in Southeast Asia, South America, Oceania, and all over Europe. Dozens of countries later, and we are still loving every moment! We have written hundreds of travel blogs, which showcase our authentic experiences in over 60 countries.
It has been a long grind to get our blog to the point it is today, but it has all been worth it. We now spend most of our days writing, hiking, swimming, travel planning, and always trying to grow and learn.
Where Have We Traveled?
Our love for travel didn’t start the day we set off on our first longterm trip in 2014. In fact, it actually began much earlier for both of us! Brigitte traveled for several years with her family growing up, living in countries such as New Zealand, Mauritius, and Singapore.
Jake studied abroad in college on Semester at Sea, where he spent 3.5 months on a boat that went to 13 countries. It’s safe to say the seed was planted early for both of us!
Answering Our Most Commonly Asked Questions
Do You Work? – Let’s get this one out of the way… Yes! Of course we work, and much harder than we have at any corporate job to get to this point. We spend most of our time building our business and constantly striving to improve our website.
This includes writing, SEO (Search Engine Optimization), promoting on social media, and networking. Sometimes our office is at a cafe overlooking the ocean, while others it’s on a high speed train or even night bus!
How Do You Make Money? – This is easily the most common question we get about our business. When it comes to Nothing Familiar, most of our revenue comes from affiliate marketing, advertising, tours, and partnerships.
Each month brings a different level of income depending on the season and our travel plans.
What Are Your Favorite Countries? – This is a tough one! Two of our favorites are Vietnam and Thailand for their amazing street food and affordable lifestyle. Argentina was our biggest surprise, as we went for three weeks and ended up staying for six.
Greece is the country we have blogged about most, and we have now been to over 20 islands. We also love Spain, which is where we have chosen for our current European home base!
Are You Married? – Yes! We were married in 2017 and have been together since 2010. Going on 15 years of love and travel!
Where is the Best Food in the World? – Our personal favorites are in Southeast Asia, specifically in Singapore. We’ve eaten more bowls of noodles than we can count and crave the spicy flavors, no matter where in the world we are.
Some of the best meals we’ve ever had were while squatting down on a little red stool, and slurping back a bowl of noodles on a hot day. However, we have no complaints about the tapa life in Spain, where we currently live.
Who’s Been to More Countries? – Current count is Brigitte at 66, and Jake at 64. We’ll see if Jake can ever catch up!
Where Do You Sleep? – We have to say our hostel days are definitely behind us. As we have gotten older and more successful, we’ve transitioned more to hotels and Airbnb monthly rentals.
Really, it all depends on our travel plans! We also do a lot of work with luxury resorts in different parts of the world.
Will You Ever Settle Down? – Yes, we actually now live full-time on the Costa Blanca in Spain! We will be using it as a home base for the next few years to explore more of Europe.
Follow us on our journey for unique destinations, amazing eats, and advice, as we share our own success and mishaps along the way. We hope our blog gives you some cool new ideas, and inspires you to live out your own personal travel dreams, no matter how big or small!
Safe Travels,
Brigitte & Jake
