Traveling is inspiring, exciting, and takes us out of our comfort zone. As funny as it sounds, there are numerous benefits to hopping on a plane to a new, unknown destination. So isn’t it time that you stop putting your travels on hold and start packing your suitcase? Mike and Anne Howard, the World’s Longest Honeymooners and founders of the popular travel site, HoneyTrek.com, join this episode to discuss why you should never put travel on hold.
Mike and Anne share how they kickstarted their travel journey with the help of savings from their nest egg, the evolution of their website HoneyTrek.com, along with some of their favorite travel destinations. The pair also shares budgeting resources for booking a stay and finding specific foods when traveling, how they fund their trips, and describe what it means to travel hack. Furthermore, Mike and Anne provide advice for traveling couples, discuss how longer trips deepen your experience, uncover details from their recent book and describe why people should not only retire sooner but travel sooner as well.
Read Show Notes From This Episode (click to expand and read notes from the full interview)
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- Wes says we know them as the world’s longest honeymoon – Anne and Mike of Honeytrek.com. Hard to fathom that this all happened.They met playing volleyball in Hoboken, NJ. That’s their last permanent address. They got married in Vermont. There was a blizzard. Her mom had to make an emergency landing in another state and drive in.Instead of asking for kitchenware, they asked for travel trips for their wedding.
Anne was a magazine writer. She was writing for interior design. Mike was with a social media company.
So they had a nest egg to go and travel for 1 year. They had some savings – $35,000. They figured they could go on the trip for a year and then come and back to start working again. They took a 1-way ticket to Brazil. They didn’t even have their first hotel room booked.
Tell a story about bathing in piranha-infested water.
South America. Respite back in the US. Then back to South Africa.
12-12-12 party.
They said there’s just something about Asia.
Look at your bucket list and organize it by the level of difficulty. Wes says Asia seems hard. Europe seems easier.
To this day they still don’t have a home base. They haven’t had a house key since December 2011.
They bring up homestay.com (Sort of like couchsurfing.com) They said this is a really good way to get to know a place.
They are environmentalists. Gave us single-use water bottles. Gave up eating meat. They saw all the plastic in the rivers and forests. They use a “Steripen” to clean water everywhere they go. Put it in a Nalgene bottle and spin it around. This allows them to go all over the world without buying bottled water.
Happy cow – is a good app that finds your vegan or vegetarian options.
People ask them how they get their protein if they don’t eat animals and they say “Well, you know, most animals are vegetarian.”
Fringe Festival in Scotland.
Wifi is a huge thing for them. Starlink is going to open that up even more. You’ll have 5g in a river in Montana.
Wes asks them to talk about money. How do they pay for all this?
They have 350,000 followers across social media. They have highs and lows in terms of finances. They said they save money where it counts and spend on things they really want to do.
Travel-hacking – play the airline mile game. Credit cards. The flight to Memphis was the 182nd free flight. They recently went to Hollywood and didn’t pay for lodging at all. They used “trustedhousesitters” – but there are other sites, too. Dog-sitting ones, too. The longest was a 3-month house sit.
If you want to really learn you can join local groups. Sports, etc.
They’ve been to 63 countries, 7 continents, and more than a night in 1200 cities.
The South island of New Zealand is a favorite. Antarctica. Nepal.
The most underrated or surprisingly good place – is Ecuador. Galapagos is amazing but the mainland stuff is, too. Saw way more of the amazon wildlife than they did in Brazil.
Their most recent book is “Comfortably Wild” about the best glamping destinations.
Wes likes the idea of glamping in Wyoming or Montana. He asks them where they would go.
Follow honeytrek on Instagram.
The Brando – amazing eco resort in French Polynesia. Marlon Brando bought the island back in the day.
https://www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/travel-guide/a12437187/brando-resort/Advice for couples traveling – get out there as a team. You’re building something together. Find out what each of you is jazzed about and do both things.
What about having kids? Long story. They ask if Wes talked to their parents.
Anne is very conversational in Spanish.
Travel rule – Mike says to not listen to news when it wants to make you fear “the other.”
Wes talks about how he doesn’t remember much about what he learned when taking college courses. But he remembers so much about his travels to Spain and Northern Africa and Russia.
Mike says on a long trip you get a much deeper experience. Do it as early in your life as you can.
Wes says he still remembers the breakfast he had in Iceland. Specifics like that.
Wes asks them how they’d advise people to get into the culture. They bring up homestays and house sitting. Homestay.com or asking around. Or sometimes an AirBnB – they are willing to pay the same amount to have a room in a shared place so they can meet a local.
Wes asks about the US. Quick overview of US travels. Anne says they bought an old camper and it’s been very good for them. They’ve been astounded at how amazing North America is. They’ve been doing it for 4 years. They named it Buddy.
Wes says “traveling sooner” is great advice for happy retirees.
END
- Wes says we know them as the world’s longest honeymoon – Anne and Mike of Honeytrek.com. Hard to fathom that this all happened.They met playing volleyball in Hoboken, NJ. That’s their last permanent address. They got married in Vermont. There was a blizzard. Her mom had to make an emergency landing in another state and drive in.Instead of asking for kitchenware, they asked for travel trips for their wedding.
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