Interview With yTravel Blog

1. 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?

I first started travelling in 97 when I moved overseas to live in London. I fell in love with the working holiday style of travel and when Craig and I married we chose this style for the first few years of our marriage living in Dublin, Bangkok and the States and travelling Africa, Asia, UK Australia and America.

Our travel blog has been created to help people travel more. It is not defined by a particular style, mostly because we have been travelling since 97 and our style has evolved as we have. As our blog is a reflection of our personal story, we cover many different angles such as solo female travel, couples travel, family travel, budget travel, expat travel and short term breaks.

We are not about preaching one style as better than another. All we want is for people to have more travel in their life, and in the way they want to do it.

We believe life is all about the memories- the only thing that stays with you as you evolve, therefore our motto is “Travel more. Create better memories.”

We hope our readers get the inspiration to do this and then we can empower them with the knowledge they need to travel more.

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

I think the best was our 5 month backpacking trip through Africa. It was so amazing to travel like a local from Uganda to South Africa, we created many unbelievable memories hanging out with gorillas, spending time with the animals of safari, climbing the world’s highest sand dunes for sunrise, enjoying some of the world’s most beautiful beaches, riding ostriches and having special interactions with the locals.

I think the worst has been any time we have rushed on a journey. It’s stressful and you don’t end up remembering much. We recently had that experiencing travelling in our home state. We tried to do too much in a short space of time which is stupid when you have kids. It didn’t make for a truly awesome time. And if you are living you might as well make it awesome.

3. What is it like educating children on the road? Please discuss the benefits and drawbacks if you believe there are any.

As I am a primary school teacher who has taught in five countries, as well as a mother who travels with her children, I do feel I am qualified to answer this question confidently.

Travel is the best form of education for your children. Schools will never be able to teach them the most essential life skills like travel does: that is learning to get along with others, thinking for themselves, solving problems, making decisions, flexibility, adaptability, global awareness, compassion, tolerance and the list goes on.

I think travelling on the road with children the less they will have to do bookwork and the more they will learn purely from absorbing and interacting in the world around them.

You will need to have time out to sit down and teach the basic skills of reading, writing and arithmetic however, but these will come so much easier once your child has a love of learning and a passion for the world around them.

4. How has your method of travel changed since you first started?

It has changed so much. We first started as very budget backpackers. That would entail sleeping in cars, hitchhiking, riding on the back of pickups like the locals, and even refusing to pay for hot showers, opting for cold ones on the beach instead!! Those were the days.

While we still are interested in reducing our costs on the road, we do like a little more comfort now, especially when traveling with kids. Now we are more likely to rent an apartment and take more road trips.

Our choices are very different with the kids. We are more concerned with safety and having comfort for them (happy child= happy parent) There are also many activities we loved to do which don’t work so well now: hiking, adventure sports and partying to the wee hours of the morning. We still have that spirit though and can be found doing these things when we get to travel without the kids.

5. Had you guys ever travelled together before? How have you been managing on the road thus far, and do you have any advice for couples traveling abroad?

We made the very risky decision of travelling together 3 days after we were married!! Make it or break it. 10 years later and we are still here.

We had lived together beforehand so were used to each other, but not to the extent of being together 24/7. Because we spent so many years travelling together the friends we met along the way were common to the both of us, so we rarely had time apart to go do our own things.

The biggest advice we can give is to see yourself as being a team. Then you’ll play to each other’s’ strengths and work together to overcome challenges and achieve your common goal. Read more of our tips for couples travel.

6. Where are you looking forward to the most (but haven’t yet gone)?

I really would love to go to South America. Apart from Antarctica it is the only continent we have not touched.

7. What are some of your interests outside of traveling?

I think all our interests can somehow be related back to or remind us of travelling! That’s the beauty of travel all your hobbies can be explored through it. We love sports, outdoor adventures, socializing, reading, writing, exercising and healthy living.

8. What are your upcoming plans, both travel and non-travel?

Next year we are hoping to put a lot of effort into creating our own travel related products: eBooks and apps. We’ll slow the travel down a little so we can get some of this done.

We are heading back to Thailand in February and if we can work something out either a round the world or Australia trip. It’s all very up in the air at the moment. Let’s just see what happens.

9. Do you ever think about calling the quits?

Oh nearly every day, but then I stop and think about the alternative- stuck in a job I hate and being unfulfilled.

The challenges are so worth it because I am doing what I love. You’ll quit if you don’t have a big enough why. Our why is big enough to keep us going.

Bio: Caz and Craig Makepeace are serial travellers, bloggers and sunset hammock swingers. We aim to inspire you travel more through the stories and tips on our travel blog. You can follow us on Pinterest, Facebook and Google +

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