Go-with-the-flow-travel: Meet Sam and Leash

1. Can you introduce yourselves quickly in one or two sentences?

We are Alicia and Sam, an Aussie and a Kiwi living together on the Gold Coast.

2. Sam and Leash, Lac and I met you in a hostel in Pichilemu in Chile and followed you up all the way to San Pedro de Atacama. What an experience! Since then, you’ve been travelling to various places. Where are you at the moment?

We are back home on grind.. but after we left you in San Pedro we went to Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Galapagos, the US, Costa Rica and then finished our trip in a surf spot in Sumbawa, Indonesia, before coming back to reality.

3. Do you have any favourite country/city/place?

Alicia – from that trip probably Galapagos was my favourite place. I loved all the wildlife and how pristine the environment is.

Sam – I loved Galapagos too, but if I had to pick one place, Mancora, Peru comes to mind. A great local left hand point break, a fun downtown vibe and some of the cheapest and best ceviche money can buy.

4. I’m a big fan of go-with-the-flow travel. Do you plan ahead and always know how long you’re staying at one destination or do you prefer not to plan too much?

It depends how much time we’ve got. If we have more than 1 week to explore somewhere, then we will often just book the first couple of nights, and in a place like South America or Indonesia you can organise 1 day in advance, as opposed to America where we tried winging it and ended up sleeping in the dodgy car park of a Carl’s Jr in our camper. Some places you need to book ahead!

5. What are the 3 most important things you look for in a destination?

We would say in no particular order: activities to do in that place, nature in the area (surf, hiking trails etc.) and novel experiences that we haven’t tried yet.

6. How do you earn money while travelling ? Working remotely or do you pick up jobs along the way?

We just dip into the savings… our professions need face to face contact, so we can only work when we are home.

7. Do you have a (monthly) budget when you travel? If yes, how do you stick to it? Any tips?

We have a rough budget to try to keep to, but there is definitely wiggle room depending on how we are feeling!

Self catering, getting food that is easy to store and take with you, and easy to cook. Get fresh veggies on the day and get creative with what you find! It’s nice to have a night a week or a few days where you splurge and treat yourself. If you’re going to be out and about and not at your accommodation much, then go as cheap as you can!

8. What are the downsides of living the nomad lifestyle?

Wearing the same clothes all the time and not having your own space. It’s hard to do regular exercise and sometimes can be hard to find healthy food because cheap/convenient food is sometimes all that you can get!

9. On the other hand, what do you love most about this lifestyle?

 Doing whatever the hell you want!! Not having a schedule or commits to keep. Meeting interesting people and having the freedom to be a yes man (or woman) to opportunities that present themselves.

10. What are the 5 things you always take with you when you’re travelling?

A good book, headlight, hand sanitizer is a must, a good camera, bag of travel medications.

11. What’s the craziest/funniest/most memorable experience you’ve had so far?

 Ahh so many! A funny story springs to mind – we adopted the hotel dog while we stayed in Mancora and he was the ugliest dog we’ve ever seen (Peruvian hairless dog) but he chose us to follow around town all night, even waited for us outside the restaurant while we had dinner. So we called him Ralph and he was our buddy. It was great having him around albeit a little awkward when he started peeing on the restaurant furniture and fighting with other dogs.

12. Where can people follow you guys on social media?

Ha! What’s social media?

Photo credits: Sam & Leash