Go-with-the-flow-travel: Meet the Salty Roamers

1. The Salty Roamers. I love the name. Can you introduce yourselves quickly in one or two sentences and how you came up with your name?

We, the Salty Roamers, that´s Andi and Kathi, are both Austrian but met while travelling in Nicaragua. The name is a creation of being salty – because we love the ocean and everything with it – and roaming around – meaning to travel and maybe even get lost on the way.

2. I met you when we pulled up with our van next to yours? How long have you been on the road for?

Yes, we love that we meet so many like-minded people, simply by just parking next to them! Andi moved into the Van in October ´18, Kathi joined in December. But we have no end ahead so far.

3. Where did you start your trip and which destinations have you visited so far? Do you have any favourite country/city/place?

We started off in Portugal, a country we fell in love with and where we both lived for some surf seasons already. When it got colder we headed over to southern Spain and spent some time there before taking the ferry to Morocco, where we will be this winter. We´ve been traveling a lot – but not in our Van – before that also, but it is super hard to name one favourite place. The big dream is, to one day find a place, which we fall in love with and stay there longer. This is also one of the reasons we wanted to travel in the van: to see all those beautiful spots along the coastline and probably get lost at one of them and stay. But that’s far far ahead from now!

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?

Definitely roaming around and see where the waves are taking us. Often we do not even know what the next place is we wanna head to. We love to talk to fellow travellers and locals to find out nice spots and places we can explore. And so we drive, road after road and find our way.

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

First of all waves, apart from that, there is nothing really, but probably free parking and free drinking water. We just like to be close to the ocean and as we have everything we need with us, we just see where it takes us. If we like the destination we stay there longer if we don´t feel comfortable, we move on.

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

We started documenting our conversion of our van and built up a platform that includes a shop and a blog with all the important information about building your own camper van.  Sometimes we get remote jobs we work on, and apart from that we also pick up jobs on the way. Andi is a Photographer and Videographer, Kathi works as a Communication Consultant and also teaches yoga and leads retreats.

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

Stay tuned about this one. A blog post is coming about how much money the Salty Roamers spend living in a van in Spain and Portugal. Check out their blog in the next couple of weeks for more info.

8. What are the downsides of travelling/living/working in a van?

One downside of traveling is, that you get to know so many people in so many places, but in the end, you or the others are leaving and moving on. But that’s also something beautiful as we have friends all over the world. Also, when it’s raining for a longer period of time, and you stay in the van without going outside, this is when you actually feel that it is a small place. Being a couple and living in the van, full-time, is quite interesting, because we are so different when it comes to being neat and tidy and messy and crazy. But in the end, it is the best thing that we could have done!

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

Getting into the front seats and hitting the road, with our little home anytime we want to. At the moment we are traveling with 5 surfboards. We have a kitchen, a workspace, loads of storage… what else do you need? It’s just perfect for us. Also we love that we can just go to different countries, work as freelancers there and have our home always with us. We like the simplicity and the kind and open people we meet on the road.

10. I can imagine that cooking in a van can be tricky sometimes. Do you have a favourite meal to prepare in the van?

We actually love cooking in the van! We have two gas plates and can easily cook (almost) everything. The different countries we drive through inspire us for new dishes so we often cook locally. Everything that can be made as one pot dish is just perfect, but we also can set up pan and pot! And we love popcorn. What we sometimes miss, is having an oven. Pizza and cakes are not van-home-made if we get them ;)

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

Taking our van on the ferry over to Morocco and driving on the narrow roads here. Also we´ll never forget that we had the opportunity to move into a surf camp, as we were producing some content for them, and ended up sneaking back into the van in the middle of the night.

12. Where can people follow you on social media?

People can follow us on Instagram under @salty.roamers and on our van build platform.

Photo credits: Andreas Weiss