Let's Get This Party Started!
Hello and welcome to our little corner of the internet!
We are Rachel and Sasha, the American couple behind this blog. After meeting at Rothbury Music Festival in 2008 and dating on Phish tour in 2009, we moved to China together to teach English in 2010. While you might read that last bit about moving to China and think, “Oh, they must be teachers who always planned on moving to China,” that couldn’t be further from the truth.
To be honest, it was an act of desperation. We were struggling to find work, having to borrow money, and even needing to get on food stamps. After a string of unfortunate events, which you can (and should) read on our About Page, moving to China seemed like the best option we had to finally get on our feet.
We arrived in Beijing with very little money. But within our first year we had our own 3-bedroom place in a great part of the city, within 3 years had saved enough to quit our jobs to take a gap year, and within 6 years found ways to work remotely and create our own digital nomad lifestyle. Now we can live and travel where we want when we want for as long as we want and – here’s the best part – not ask anyone for permission to do so.
Our mission is to help you do the same. We’re here to show you that your life does not have to follow a clear-cut path. In short, we’re going to teach you how to improvise your life!
Our list of travel experiences is quite extensive but here are some highlights:
- Trekking 13,000 ft. to the top of a Sacred Tibetan mountain over 3 days in JuiZhaiGou park
- Camping on the Great Wall of China
- Hiking Tiger Leaping Gorge
- Seeing Elton John live in Beijing
- Motorbiking through Vietnam
- Seeing one of our favorite American bands (Lotus) in Tokyo
- Taking a 14-month gap year across the US, SE Asia, and China
- Climbing Indonesia’s active volcanoes including Kawah Ijen where the lava burns bright blue at night
- Getting paid to study in Bali
- Skydiving over Canyonlands and Arches National Park in Moab, UT
- Following our favorite band (Phish) around the US
- Being the only two people on Borobudur – the biggest Buddhist temple in the world
- Drinking out of buckets at Thailand’s Full Moon Party
- Partying all over SE Asia
- Motorbiking around all 1,864 curves of the Mae Hong Son loop in Thailand
- Seeing sunrise at Angor Wat
- Having bucket list experiences in South America such as
- visiting the Galapagos Islands
- celebrating Carnival in Brazil
- seeing the Salt Flats of Bolivia
- hiking to Machu Picchu
- Attending Envision Festival in Costa Rica
- Watching the largest Easter Processions in the world in Antigua, Guatemala
The best thing about this lifestyle we’ve created for ourselves?
The freedom.
We can hit the beach on a Wednesday afternoon, take a 3-4 day weekend with no trouble, and even plan to spend a few weeks to a month in another country. Life isn’t meant to be lived inside of a cube, and we’re living proof that it doesn’t have to be.
So….how can you do the same?
Step 1: Join Our Community
We love creating content and we do it a lot! So we’ve come up with a couple of ways to make sure you don’t miss a thing…
We HATE spam and we will never sell your email address. You can also unsubscribe at any time.
The first and best way is to subscribe! We send out (almost) weekly newsletters packed with inspiration, tips, and practical information for full-time travel. You’ll also get a behind-the-scenes look at what we’re up to. You never know what we’ll get into but I promise it’ll be cool!
Plus, you’ll get access to our downloadable e-books that’ll help you travel smarter, create your own digital nomad lifestyle, and start working remotely.
We hang out on Instagram and Facebook on the daily and we’d love it if you gave us a follow on either platform. Shoot us a message to say hi! We’re always down to chat and answer questions. We’d love to get to know you too.
You could also subscribe to our YouTube channel. Sasha’s degree is focused on video editing and he’s been doing it since the days of stacking two VCRs together to edit footage of his backyard wresting league. Rachel has also made a couple of videos about teaching English online. Here’s a samping:
Check Out Our Videos
Step 2: Dive Into The Blog
After you’ve joined our community so you don’t miss a thing, the next step is to dive into our content and find the information to get you where you want to go. We’ve compiled some of our best posts below to help get you started.
Digital Nomad Lifestyle
Creating your own digital nomad lifestyle takes time. It may seem difficult at first but the reward is so worth the effort. Here are some of our best articles about digital nomad life to help you get started and know what to expect.
Need help creating your own digital nomad lifestyle? Grab our 5-step Roadmap to Digital Nomad Life!
11 Things No One Tells You About Digital Nomad Life
Don’t head out on the road and end up disappointed. Learn what to expect from real-life digital nomads!
SafetyWing Digital Nomad Health Insurance Review
Make sure you’re covered in case there’s an emergency or you need to return to your home country.
5 Reasons Teaching English Online is the Fast-Track to Digital Nomad Life
Teaching English online is one of the faster and easier ways to jump-start your digital nomad lifestyle.
Travel Tips
From the city of Beijing to the beaches of South America, we’re always on the move. We do our best to document all of our big trips to share our tips for planning the trip, finding a place to stay, and enjoying the best experiences.
Learn how to get the best bang for your buck with our free e-book: 7 Tips to Help You Travel Smarter
Looking for information about a specific country? Check out our Destinations Page!
Travel Hacking 101: How to Travel For Cheap (Or Free)
Flights are the reason why people think travel is expensive but they don’t have to be. Learn how to save money on flights and hotels.
Our Favorite Travel Gear For All Types of Travel
Choosing the best travel gear for a long-term trip is difficult. It helps to see what other people like. Check out what we use and love!
How to Plan a Great Smoky Mountains Vacation
The Great Smoky Mountains are the most visited national park in the USA with good reason…it’s gorgeous and it’s free! Start planning your vacation with this post.
Teach English Online
Teaching English online is what propelled us into location independence. It has allowed us to live and travel where we want. All we need is decent WiFi. We truly believe it’s the fastest way to achieve a digital nomad lifestyle so a large portion of our content is dedicated to helping you do just that.
Get started with our free e-book: How to Travel the World as an Online English Teacher
Teaching For Freedom: Your Ticket to Digital Nomad Life
One of the biggest reasons we’re able to live a location-independent lifestyle is teaching English online. That’s why Rachel created an online coaching program to show you how to do the same.
3 Reasons Teaching English Online is the Perfect Way to Work From Anywhere
Now more than ever, people are looking for ways to work from home. Whether you’re interested in being a digital nomad or just want to ditch the commute and the cubicle for a home office, teaching English online is a fantastic option.
Top 10 Travel-Friendly Teaching Supplies
Putting together your traveling classroom can be a nerve-racking task. It can be difficult to find the most packable things. After 5+ years as a full-time traveling teacher, I’ve found some pretty useful supplies that every portable classroom should have.
Teach English Abroad
Teaching English abroad in China is how we started our journey to becoming world travelers and digital nomads. It was an incredible experience and we highly encourage you to go for it if it’s something you’ve considered doing. We’ve conducted several interviews in our ESL Around the World Series so you can get a first-hand account of what teaching English abroad is like.
How Teaching English in China Gave Us a Better Life
Are there any moments in your life that were a major turning point? Teaching English in China is one of those major decisions that turned out to be the best we’ve ever made.
Teaching English in South Korea
Teaching English in South Korea is great for saving money. Learn everything you need to know about teaching English in South Korea including how to find a job, what to expect, and how much you can earn.
Teaching English in Dubai, UAE
From the glitzy high-rises to beautiful beaches, Dubai is a cool place to teach English. Learn how much you can make, how to find a job, and what to expect from daily life.
Live Music
As I mentioned at the top of the page, we met at a Rothbury Music Festival, started dating on Phish tour, and even got engaged at a Phish show (NYE 2014 in Miami). Live music is a big party of our lives and we love traveling for music. We compile everything into our live music travel guides to help other fans.
On Pillow Jets of Sound: a Phish Summer Tour 2024 Preview
Cancel your haircut, quit your job, and load up the van. It’s time for Phish summer tour 2024! The band is making the rounds doing an NPR Tiny Desk and
Dead and Company Sphere: Las Vegas Gets Tie-Dyed
The future of live music has arrived, and it’s in Las Vegas. Join us for a closer look as the 24-show Dead and Company Sphere residency gets underway. With three
50 Awesome Handmade Gifts for Phish Fans
It’s well-known that we like the band Phish. The thing about Phish fans is that we are everywhere and we love showing off our deep affection for the band. We’re
Jamtastic June: Kicking Off Summer 2022
Just like that, we’re already halfway through 2022. The year is flying by for us and the last month went by in the blink of an eye. That’s because we
Take a Gap Year
Of course we can’t leave out our content about the very thing that made us want to become digital nomads so we can travel full-time – our gap year.
As Americans, the concept of a gap year was foreign to us until we took our first backpacking trip in Thailand and Laos. During that month-long trip, we met plenty of Brits and Aussies in the midst of their gap years – a year off in between high school and college or graduation and the working world. We strongly believe it’s something everyone should do. Find your inspiration here!
Should You Take A Gap Year?
Deciding to take an entire year off of school or work to travel extensively is no easy decision. Here’s a list of questions to ask yourself.
Saving, Planning, and Budgeting For A Gap Year
For those hoping to take their own gap year and wondering how to finance and plan for it, this is for you
Our Gap Year
Planning a gap year trip is no easy task. We spent a lot of time staring at maps and reading travel sites. To help give you some inspiration for planning your grand journey, here’s a recap of what we did with our 14 months of travel.
Step 3: Us + You
Let's Work Together
Beyond just offering a wealth of information for travelers and expats alike, we also make great business partners. We’ve worked with villa owners, tour guides, festivals, and more to produce original content – written posts, high-quality photos, short videos, and social media campaigns. Check out our Work With Us page and if you’re interested in working with us, just drop us a line.
So, if you need help planning that big trip, are looking for advice from experts about living abroad, or have a great travel product/service that the world needs to know about, get in touch! We’re all over social media – Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. Or you could always go old-fashioned and send us an e-mail.
Happy Trails!
Rachel & Sasha 🙂