Interview with Craig and John from Flashpackatforty

Added by Dave and Vicky on April 8, 2013

Can you start by giving us a little bit of background about yourself and your blog. How did you start traveling? When did you start blogging, and what did you expect readers to get out of it?

We are Craig and John a gay couple from the UK who have been together over twenty years living in London and more recently in the North West of England.

We began our around the world trip in 2011, and started writing a travel blog a few years earlier during our annual holidays to Asia and Morocco. Initially we started writing Flashpackatforty just to keep family and friends up to date about where and what we were up to. We quickly realised that other people were interested in our journey, as our readership grew, and we decided to make the blog a more useful travel resource for other travellers. This changed the way we write to now include more detail about our itineraries, tours, costs and reviews about where and how we travel to places.

Let’s talk experiences – what has been the best experience you’ve had on the road? The worst?

I think our biggest surprise was visiting South Korea, which has to be one of our top recommendations of places to see. We’ve long given up doing lots of travel planning, and based our itinerary for a 3 week tour of the country on some helpful advice from a couple of travel bloggers who were very knowledgeable about this destination.

We didn’t really have any expectations before arriving in South Korea but were really surprised at what a beautiful country it is. The capital city Seoul has everything you’d expect from a modern city in Asia, plus some more. The country itself is amazing with UNESCO heritage sights and lots of cultural experiences. It was a great opportunity for us to learn a bit about Korean culture and food which is amazing. The best thing about Korea was the Korean people, who we found to be very hospitable, generous, charming and who have a wicked sense of humor making our tour here very special. We hope to return one day as there is so much more to do and see around South Korea.

We’ve been very fortunate with our travel experiences and haven’t had too many bad ones, except what you’d expect like flat tyres on long bus journeys, a few very minor car crashes etc. We both love the Philippines but had a bad experience in Manila, which was our own fault I suppose. It was dark and we turned a corner, where a group of street children tried to mug us, thankfully nobody was hurt when an armed security officer hearing the shouting came to our assistance with a very large gun. We felt really sad after having had such a great day in Manila, but is one of the travel moments that makes you appreciate how lucky you are.

You made the leap at forty – what was the straw that broke the camels back?

It sounds a bit dramatic, as we’re only in our forties, but finally realizing that time was running out. There was so much we wanted to do and so many places we wanted to visit, it wasn’t going to be possible without quitting our jobs and starting a new chapter in our lives. We’d both worked hard in busy careers and vacations and holidays simply didn’t allow us the freedom we wanted. We just wished we’d done it sooner.

After being married for such a long time, was the switch to traveling easy, or have you hit a few bumps along the way?

Having lived together for nearly a quarter of a century, before we started our around the world trip, we thought we knew each other pretty well and had a good relationship. It sounds really clichéd, but it’s true, we are probably now happier than we’ve ever been, and we’re still very much in love. The most surprising thing is we’re still learning about each other. On this trip we’ve learned so much more about each other’s strengths and weaknesses and how we can use these to our advantage.

In your opinion, is there any comparison between the traveling lifestyle you have now and the more traditional 9-5 work life you had for so long? What requires more energy?

When you work for any organisation you represent their interests and this dictates how you perform. As former ‘workaholics’ who never just did 9-5 , I’d have to say working full-time requires much more energy, mainly as you have little choice in the tasks and people you need to deal with.

However, traveling on a long-term basis still allows us to use our personalities, and many of our skills, in a variety of different ways but we have much more freedom. I think these choices, and being able to place your own priorities above others, is far more stimulating and personally fulfilling.

Have you had any issues with other cultures not understanding or not being tolerant of your homosexuality?

As a gay couple we’ve not had any issues being in a same-sex relationship since we started our trip. On the contrary, people have been interested and supportive of us, particularly fellow travellers from all corners of the world. Occasionally we do step back into the closet, but we leave the door ajar. If somebody can’t see that we are a gay couple by the conversations and stories we tell dating back years then they probably don’t want to. We are both very comfortable with our sexuality and would never lie, we just wouldn’t advertise the fact that we are a gay couple if we thought the person or culture is not yet developed enough to accept our gay relationship.

What are your upcoming plans, both travel and non travel?

We’ve had a great offer to visit some really interesting places in Africa, which is causing a bit of dilemma for us both logistically and morally (Africa is not top of the list for most gay travellers).

We’re currently in Turkey and had planned to travel, east to west, across Europe attending our first travel bloggers conference. If we go to Africa now, we can’t attend the travel bloggers conference and we’d love to meet up with some other bloggers and get some advice about our own blog. We’re usually quite decisive, but we’re struggling to know where to go.

What are some of your interests outside of traveling?

Travelling, blogging and photography does not leave a great deal of time for anything else, but Craig likes to unwind with a good crime novel (Lee Childs, Ian Rankin, Michael Connelley etc).

John has an uncanny knack of being able to spend time doing absolutely nothing as a hobby and can has now reached guru status if you need any tips.

We both love cinema and try to keep up with Hollywood and international films while on the road, often hunched round our small laptop on a bouncy bus trying to read subtitles on the latest French classic movie.

What do you miss most about being home?

Obviously friends and family, but we also loved keeping up to date with the latest technology and gadgets. As we’re travelling non-stop we just don’t have the resources to do this at the moment. So very occasionally, we wish we could by at home with our enormous LCD screens, entertainment systems and host of computing devices checking out the latest technology to enter the market.

Can you give some advice for older couples who are thinking of making the leap but aren’t quite sure yet?

I think in a way it may be easier for older couples to make the leap of faith and go traveling. They have had the time to make their life choices and through experience should have a fair idea, as best anyone can do, of how the rest of their life may unfold. Before making the change, I would recommend taking some independent travel trips together, for as long as possible on a very low budget to a more challenging travel destination. You’ll then get a taste of what it’s like to travel long-term and not just be on vacation together.

If you’ve got any problems or issues in your relationship, get these sorted before you hit the road, chances are these will only be amplified once you start spending so much time together. Travelling as a couple is very rewarding and has enhanced our own relationship. We honestly don’t know why we spent so long agonising whether to quit our jobs and travel long-term.

Author Bio

In 2011 Craig and John sold off most of their belongings, quit their jobs and set off around the world. They bought a one way ticket to Australia and have been heading West across the globe ever since. Their blog features destination travel advice and tips for the older long term traveller. They travel in what they call the flashpacking style avoiding shared dorms and bathrooms at all costs. Their posts are accompanied with some great travel photography featuring the architecture, cultural treats and people they meet on their travels. Join them over at Flashpackatforty or follow them on Facebook,Twitter or take a look at some of their favourite photography on Pinterest.

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