I created the “Travellers’ Tales” section to give other travellers an opportunity to talk about their travels on my blog. Today I would like to introduce you to Nick and Kia, travel bloggers from Denmark. They blog at The Danish Nomads .
I would love to hear about your travels too. Go to “Travellers’ Tales” , fill in the quick questionnaire and email it to me with your blog links.
We are Nick & Kia, a young couple from Denmark running a travel blog called The Danish Nomads . Through that, we do our best to help others live a life of adventure. That’s the ultimate goal for ourselves as well, and we’re starting to feel like we’re getting there. We quit our corporate careers, sold all our stuff, and are now travelling full-time. It may sound like we’re living the dream (and sometimes we are), but it's also hard work.
Our lifestyle has taken quite some getting used to, and a lot of sacrifices, but it has all been worth it. Although we can no longer afford a proper hotel room and are living out of our backpacks, we are happier than ever.
We wholeheartedly attribute that transformation to our travels. We think it would do a lot of people good to travel more and so we want to help people do just that. Think of it like this: Although you may end up with a ton of regrets on your deathbed, travelling too much can't possibly be one of them!
Both of our earliest travel memories are from Greece. We didn't know each other back then, obviously, but Greece used to be very, very popular with Danes. It was the time of fake football t-shirts and banana split desserts. The first time Nick visited Greece, he came back with like 20 of those t-shirts, and he probably devoured the same amount of bananas with ice-cream. As a kid on holiday, you don’t need much more than sunny weather and a pool or a beach. The location in Central / Southern Europe is hard to beat, and it was (and still is) a very cheap destination, so we can’t blame our parents for taking us there!
We are always travelling, so that's easy to answer! Right now, we are sitting in Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand, enjoying the delicious food and hospitality the country is so famous for. Soon we’ll be going to Laos, following the classic banana pancake trail, and then onwards to the rest of South-East Asia. It's a great region to visit during European winters, obviously, as the weather is just fantastic. All the countries here are relatively cheap as well so you get a lot of bang for your buck. That is quite important for us nowadays when we can't rely on our well-paid corporate careers anymore.
We are big nature-lovers, so going on a 2-day jungle trek was our favourite activity here. Going out there was like taking a trip back in time. These days, the cities in Thailand have quite a western feel to them, but that's definitely not the case out in the jungle villages.
We had lunch on the ground (prepared on big palm leaves), shot slingshots, had a campfire and some local “happy water”, swam in a waterfall, slept on the floor, ate some living ants, saw a tarantula – well you name it. We just love getting out of the cities and into mother nature. To us, it’s the best place to be.
Back when we lived in Abu Dhabi, we went on a three-week trip around South Africa, Namibia and the Victoria Falls. As we came back home, that’s when we realised we wanted to travel the world full-time. We might not have fully realised it back then, but this trip was a big turning point for us. It was a fantastic trip which, in hindsight, has transformed our lives. And it makes sense because Southern Africa was EPIC. The natural beauty and diversity can't be beaten.
We had so many travel experiences on that one trip that we could probably write blog posts exclusively from there for years to come. The biggest highlights included swimming at the edge of Victoria Falls, climbing the Big Daddy dune in Namibia and doing a bunch of exciting safaris in South Africa. But there was so much more!
We absolutely loved Kruger National Park. Being able to go on safari from the comfort of our own (rental) car was just fantastic. We had the time of our lives there, and we are definitely coming back. The highlight was finding a cheetah, and watching it hunt, with not another human in sight!
We'd have to say Iceland. Wow, what a country. We visited for the first time recently, and it just blew us away instantly. We spent a week driving around the famous ring road and another week hiking in the highlands. Our visit was in the middle of summer, so we are already dreaming about going back to see the country during winter. Maybe we’ll get to see some auroras as well.
There are just so many amazing things to see and do in Iceland, and the nature is absolutely breath-taking. We highly recommend it. Oh, and the food, don't even get us started on that. We had the best fish of our lives!
You must visit the highlands and do at least a day hike there. We went on the famous 4-day trek called Laugavegur, and it was our favourite ever hike. It even beat the Everest Base Camp trek. The area around Landmannalaugur is relatively easy to get to and offers some fantastic scenery. Even though we had looked at hundreds of pictures before going, we weren't the least bit disappointed. It's incredible.
Each other! We are a travel couple so, of course, we are each other's favourite travel companion. After we started travelling full-time, we are only loving each other that much more. We feel so lucky that we share this passion and that we can spend almost every living moment together. It sounds cheesy, but it sure feels good, and we don’t care!
Your passport. Just kidding (but not really). Something we really couldn't travel without is our camera(s). We love taking pictures, and as of right now, there are 70.000 photos on our hard drive. We might be overdoing it slightly, but you should really remember to take some photos. You'll look at them years later, and all the old memories will come rushing right back.
Our best travel advice is to travel. Seriously. Too many people are not even using up their annual leave allowance, and it's eating us up watching that! Get out there and explore the world for yourself. Maybe you feel like you don’t have enough money, you are too old or all alone. Well, quit your excuses because they just aren't valid. Everyone can travel! You can always start small, and we bet you'll soon catch the travel bug – just like we have.
It would be so awesome if we could one day go to space – the final frontier! That’s the dream! We are also really dreaming about Antarctica, though. And Greenland. And New Zealand. And the Serengeti. There are a lot of places left on the bucket list, but we just see that as a good thing. The world is an exciting place, and we wouldn't want it any other way!
You can read all about our adventures (as well as receive plenty of travel inspiration for your trip on social media. We would love to hear from you!
Thank you, Nick and Kia, for sharing your fascinating adventures with us!
I would love to hear about your travels too. Go to “Travellers’ Tales”, fill in the quick questionnaire and email it to me with your blog links.
Who will I feature next? I’ve got an exciting line-up ahead. Make sure you subscribe to the free newsletter so you don’t miss out on some exciting travel tales.
Disclosure: 17
Sara Essop is a travel blogger and writer based in South Africa. She writes about family travel and experiences around the world. Although she has been to 50 countries thus far, she especially loves showcasing her beautiful country and is a certified South Africa Specialist.