It takes some people a lifetime before they realize that life is short should be lived to the fullest. We’re easily sucked into the safety and security of routine, though as Anna Faustino and Tom Rogers discovered at an early age, this can often come at a hefty price. Becoming too dependent upon routine comes at the cost of not having lived your life. Live life to the fullest.
Because you can’t live the same year 75 times and call that a life. We are expected to go to school, work, get married, and have kids, but where and when does society’s handbook lay out time for pursuing your own passions and adventures in life? Will traveling full time make me happy?
For Anna and Tom, their adventure is traveling, but for others, it might be a career, or raising a family. But whatever it is, life doesn’t truly begin until you’ve broken out from your comfort zone, and having the courage to break free from routine is the only way you will find the adventure in you. Because life is too short to be anything but happy. How to be happy.
This week’s inspiring traveler interview is on giving back and living life to the fullest through travel. An interview with Anna and Tom from “Adventure in You“. What is the purpose and meaning in life?
You can hover over these (or any image) to quickly pin it!
What do you love the most about travelling?
We both love the freedom and the adventure that every day can bring. As people, we can easily get stuck in a routine. Routine is easy, safe and nice. However, when you get out of that routine, that is when the fun really begins.
You remember more of your days, the food that you eat, the things you see and the adventures you experience. When it comes to traveling you never know what is going to happen the next day and that for us is exciting!
The fact that traveling is the main reason why we are now together makes it even more special for us. We met on the sand dunes of Mui Ne, Vietnam one fateful day and have been together since. Traveling just does that for you.
What inspired you to start travelling?
Tom: Anybody who knows me will say that since a young age I have always wanted to travel. When asked what I wanted to do with my life, I would simply reply with, “Travel the world”. Will travel make me happy?
My Uncle passed away at the age of 25 when I was around 2 years old. I realized that life is short and we need to live it to the fullest. When studying Aerospace Engineering at university, I made it a priority to work on the weekends and save up as much money as I could. 4 years later, I had enough money to travel. I want to travel the world and be happy.
Many motorbike, mountain, jungle and underwater adventures later, I am happy to say that I feel like I am living my life to the fullest.
Anna: Similar to Tom, I always knew I wanted to see the world. I just always felt like there was so much more to see and do. Coming from the Philippines where you are expected to go to school, work, get married, and have kids, quitting your job and traveling the world wasn’t part of the norm.
However, as soon as I took the first step, I knew that I was hooked for life. For me, it is a way to widen horizons, get to know other cultures, and open myself up to experiences that have ultimately, inspired me to be a better person.
What is ‘Adventure in You’ all about?
Every day, Adventure in You is growing and changing as more ideas come to us and as we put more work into it. We started it when we were both living in the city working to stay connected to traveling.
In our blog, Adventure in You, we document our travels through our Adventure Reviews while writing about practical tips and lessons on traveling. Since then, it has evolved into our outlet to inspire people to pursue their own passions and adventures in life.
For us, it is traveling, but for others, it might be a career, or raising a family. Whatever it is, adventure in you is about inspiring people to go out of their comfort zones to pursue the things that they love. We believe life is too short to be anything but happy. How to live life to the fullest.
Tell us about your adventures to date!
After a few months in the city working and building Adventure in You on the side, we decided to walk the talk and pursue our dreams. Tom turned down a great job opportunity, and I quit my job despite just completing my Post Graduate Certificate. What’s the best way to be happy?
We are lucky that we were at a point in our lives where we had little financial obligations which is why we can afford to just go away. We are now both dedicated to becoming digital nomads, freelancing and building our blog.
Currently, we are in exploring Indonesia, with the goal of becoming pro-surfers and bloggers, Ha! Kidding aside, the last 2 months have involved us paddling out to many different surf breaks in Bali, diving all over Komodo National Park, hiking countless mountains in Java and shooting back to Singapore for a visa run. Will travel make me a happy person?
We are heading back to the Philippines to spend some time with family before flying to France and exploring Europe for a few months. Of course, anything can happen but we are hoping to travel around South America by next year.
What is ‘Wandergive’ all about?
Wanderlust, a world that people use all the time. Defined as a strong desire to travel. With this in mind, we created the word, Wandergive, which means to have a strong desire to give while traveling.
Our vision is to set up small charity projects under the umbrella of The Wandergive Project. These projects could be anything from buying flip flops or toothbrushes for the children of a small village and getting backpackers to join us during the outreach programme.
We want to start a movement of people who are giving back, however way they can! Our very first campaign is set in the slum area in the Philippines where we partner up with a Dutch organization called Young Focus. Together with others, we are aiming to raise enough money to pledge our support to feed 20 malnourished children for a month.
It only takes $1 to feed a child for a day and $30 for an entire month. When Tom and I visited the area, we both left in tears as we saw their living conditions. How to donate money to children in the Philippines.
The children that we are raising funds for all live in what used to be Manila’s largest dump site. For a living, they sort through trash just to make ends meet. It is truly heartbreaking. Help children in the Philippines.
If you are interested in finding out more about our cause, please check out: The Wandergive Project: Feed a Child Campaign.
Why is it important to you both to travel with a purpose?
This world is beautiful and when traveling, you get to see even more of its beauty. However, you also get to see how other people live.
While traveling around South East Asia, you see people without access to clean water, education, shoes on their feet or even a solid shelter above their heads.
Every day, we feel so blessed that we are able to explore this big beautiful world, and part of that is showing our gratitude to others, however way we can.
How has travelling changed you each as a person?
Anna: Since I started traveling, I realized that I don’t need a lot to survive. Instead of collecting material possessions, I now want to accumulate memories and build relationships instead.
I have become more tolerant and accepting of both other cultures and myself. Most importantly, I have learned to become a more grateful person. Grateful to be able to pursue what I love in life and to be able to share it with others as well.
Tom: I feel the same way as Anna but also for me, traveling has taught me that anything is possible.
Since travelling I made my way around countless countries, got an exciting job in a foreign country and started an online blog. I never expected to do any of these things and even though I walked away from that job, it taught me so much.
What are some examples of how other travellers can help out where they can?
When traveling, we are always presented with different situations on how we can give back. Whether it’s sharing a meal with a child on the street, helping out a fellow traveller, or even just giving a sincere thank you and smile to the people we see working around us.
We believe that it’s the little things that count.
You promote local living – what does this mean?
When traveling, tourists are often bombarded with “tourist traps” which make you miss out on the real essence of the place. Local living is all about seeking authentic experiences where you can really get to know a place, its people, and culture.
In Palawan, Philippines, instead of staying in a nice resort, we found a local fisherman who took us in his home. There, we got to know their way of life, his family, and even the people around their village. We even got invited to a children’s birthday party where we were “honorary guests.”
It was both an awesome and humbling experience as there was a time where we were eating just rice as they had no catch for a few days. We got to see and more importantly, experience how life was like for them.
We feel everyone should try living local while travelling, which is why we wrote, “Why you should live local while travelling”.
What are the benefits of interacting with local people while travelling abroad?
Interacting with locals are the best way to get to know a place. They can tell you where the best place is to eat is, where to go, and what to do, without getting ripped off. Apart from that, we feel that by talking to locals, you really get a feel of the place you’re in.
The both of us always try to engage in conversation with the people that we meet. Talking to the people around you gives you a good background and perspective on other people’s way of life.
What is the one thing you know now that you wish you knew when you started traveling?
We used to have this big misconception that you needed to be rich to travel. Now that we are back to traveling, we realize this is far from the truth! We have learned to adapt, scrimp, save, and be resourceful!
In fact, I think we end up spending more while living in one place in the city. There, you get comfortable and caught up with city life. We would spend money of dining out, movies, and other unnecessary expenses. Now that we are traveling long term, we try to eat cheap and save up on the little things.
If you want to explore the world, there are definitely ways-even if you don’t have a lot of money! You just have to take that first step. It all boils down to us making travel a priority.
We were both unhappy living our lives in the city so we decided to make travel our priority. Instead of shopping, we save our money for trips. We also work along the way and have plans of where we want to take our blog.
Currently, Tom does Freelance business consultancy while handling all the technical business side behind our blog. I on the other hand, do freelance writing and graphic design both for the blog and other clients. We both work hard in order to do what we love.
Biggest cultural shock you have experienced while travelling?
Tom: For me, the cultural shock came very early on when I left my home in Wales. My first destination…China. I was shocked on how busy it was everywhere. I actually had to stand on a train for 6 hours with my backpack balanced on my head because it was so packed.
I don’t know how I managed to travel for 7 days with no English speaking person in sight and most of all, I was shocked at the conditions of their toilets (or the lack of one).
Trust me, you do not want to hear about my toilet incident involving an old Chinese man and two spectators. Having said all of that, we love it. We love discovering about other cultures and how other people live. That for us, is traveling.
Three things you can’t travel without?
Before, we didn’t need much to travel. We would pack a bag and happily disappear for a couple of days. Nowadays, because our work is online, we need a few gadgets. Our most important ones are:
Laptop: Ideally with good wifi (virtually impossible in South East Asia).
Camera: To capture the moments and things we see around us.
Book: To kill time and to help us develop our skills.
Which destinations are at the top of your bucket list?
Ahhh…so difficult as nowadays, everything is on our list! Our top picks would have to be Peru, Iceland, Africa, Turkey and the Caribbean.
Most practical piece of advice for those planning travel?
Don’t be afraid to get out of your comfort zone. Good news is, you’re already there! The fact that you are already planning your next adventure is already a great start. Traveling is all about trying new things, tasting new food, getting to know strangers, and even doing things that you won’t normally do.
We have met people that backpack around but are still stuck in their old ways. They look for the food that they would normally eat at home, complain about how different things are from back home and ultimately end up missing out on the whole experience.
Put yourself out there, open yourself up to new experience, don’t be too consumed in documenting your travels but rather, learn how to relish in the moment and the experience, and lastly, smile and enjoy yourself!
Why should people travel?
We literally can go on and on about this! Traveling has been one of the best decisions that we have made and we have never been happier! Every day, we learn, adapt, and grow. Traveling for us puts things in perspective.
Now, we’ve learned to stop complaining about the little things as we’ve seen people who are the happiest despite not having anything!
Traveling bridges gaps, it brings people together, and allows you to discover new things about the world around you and yourself.
INSPIRED? PIN THIS TO YOUR TRAVEL PINTEREST BOARDS ↓
If You Liked This Post You May Also Like:
25 Comments
What a great read and insightful interview into 2 who get it so young! I too am a firm believer of local living having the biggest rewards to travelers
Thanks for introducing this adventurous pair to us! Whoohoo!
So glad you enjoyed the interview Kimberly! Definitely click over to their blog for more inspiration – they have some fantastic articles about local living which I’m sure you would love :)
Have a wonderful week!
Thank you for taking the time to read, Kimberly!! We are stoked to be able to share our story!
Hi Meg,
Loving Tom and Anna’s story. I too was urged to seize life after seeing folks pass on around me. My cuz was 26 when she moved on so although another stage waits for us it makes sense to make the most out of this one.
Ryan
Hi Ryan
I’m so sorry to hear about your cousin having been taken from you so young. I have no doubt there is another life waiting for us at the end of this one, though we should absolutely make the most of it while we’re here.
We should seize the day because we truly never know which will be our last.
Happy travels – take care XX
Thanks for reading, Ryan. One of the reasons Tom decided to travel was because his uncle passed at the age of 25. Life is definitely too short to not be doing what you want!
Love this interview – and they way you are exploring and helping the world!
They’re doing a fabulous job of giving back as they make their way throughout the world – we need more travelers like this! Every small difference adds to a larger effect :)
Nice inspirational post! The Wandergive Project is a great idea and “local living” while traveling is such a great way to better connect with the people, culture, and environment around you.
Absolutely Mary – so glad you enjoyed getting to know Anna and Tom. There seems to be a pretty big movement coming up behind the concept of local living, so I really feel that traveling with an emphasis on sustainability and responsibility will lead to much more immersive experiences for those who travel :)
Thank you Mary! The project was a success and we plan to do more while on the road!
It’s so wonderful when people discover what gives them the most satisfaction in life, and strive to achieve it. This was a fun and happy-making read, thank you!
It really is! So many people are happy settling for the conventional life that they’re told they’re supposed to lead, so it’s so inspirational when couples like Anna and Tom come along and prove that reality is negotiable and life can be anything you want it to be :)
So glad you enjoyed the interview Jennifer :) Thanks for stopping by!
This couple has a great perspective on life and travel, and I’m really looking forward to see how Wandergive progresses.
Yes they do Karon! Definitely be sure to follow the Wandergive project – it’s a fantastic initiative and I can see it making a real difference in lives which really need it.
So inspiring to read about other travelers. I really relate to her first impressions of China!
Glad you can relate Lillie! And glad you enjoyed reading the interview :) Thanks for stopping by X
I’ve been following these two for a while now and they actually wrote an article on our site! They’re so inspiring and I love the projects that they are a part of :)
Thanks for sharing.
Awesome Dariece! Glad you enjoyed the interview – they really are an inspiring couple to follow!
Loved this interesting and inspiring interview. I feel lucky that my parents loved to travel everywhere they could possible get to in North America by car, so I got to experience being on the road from a very young age. Since then, I’ve taken every advantage to travel. Even so, I am very aware that time is fleeting and there is still so much of this world to see. Young Focus sounds like a great cause — I’ll take a further look into it.
I’m so happy you enjoyed the interview Cathy :) I think travel from a very young age is one of the best gifts a parent could ever give their child. The wanderlust and curiosity for the world which comes from that, and the sense of adventure and willingness to try new things and explore. Travel teaches you so much and I feel like if more people traveled and pushed their kids to, the world would be a much better place.
Young Focus is such a fantastic organization – definitely check them out :)
“We want to start a movement of people who are giving back, however way they can!” This is exactly where we have to start: from the bottom. Very inspiring interview, keep on dreaming! ;)
So glad you enjoyed the interview Nicola, and I agree. If we can all start giving back as we make our way around the world I think there would be noticeable changes and we would start really seeing a positive impact.
A great interview, Meg and inspiring words from Tom and Anna! We’ll be reading their blog (and yours) with interest from now on! James and I travelled together after meeting at university. Now, almost 20 years later, we have been lucky enough to tick the ‘ get married’, ‘build a house’, ‘have kids’ boxes. Earlier this year, we moved to the French Alps to follow our ‘plan’ of living in a ski resort and blogging is allowing us to do this! We, too, would love to give back and will check out The Wandergive Project. Keep up the wanderlust guys! :)
Thanks Nina! So glad you enjoyed the interview and that we could introduce you to Anna and Tom.
Thanks for introducing yourself too … the French Alps sounds like an amazing experience – living on a ski resort is definitely one of our dreams! So glad blogging is allowing you the freedom to pursue any lifestyle – it’s amazing how many opportunities and possibilities open up with a location independent career!
Wishing you both all the best – enjoy France!