Interview with Nicky and Rhys from 2nomads1narrative.com
2 Nomads, 1 Narrative is a blog filled to the brim with extremely useful information, interesting blog posts and extremely user friendly. Nicky and Rhys, bring two distinctly different writing styles to their blog keeping it fresh and appealing. If anyone is thinking of heading to Asia to teach, live or travel, I highly recommend you read what they have to say, because they know all the ins and outs, do’s and don’ts, and are still their learning more ready to tell us all.
Tell us a bit about yourself.
Hi! I’m Nicky and have been traveling alongside my boyfriend Rhys for the past 2 years. I am from Maryland, USA and he is from Cardiff, Wales. Our overseas relationship had us pack and move to Asia where we have been traveling and teaching our way through. Go figure that it’s easier for us to live in Asia than either one of our actual homes! Damn immigration laws. We left home in May 2009 with a one way ticket to Bangkok & traveled all over South East Asia for 3.5 months before moving to South Korea to teach English. We finished our one year contracts for public schools in Ulsan before hitting the road again through India for 9 weeks & then on to Nepal for a month. We are currently living & working in Ho Chi Minh City, teaching & traveling once again, but this time in Vietnam.
Tell us about your blog.
Our blog address sums us up pretty well. 2nomads1narrative.com translates into 1 American + 1 Welshman = 2 Nomads, and 1 Narrative is our travel story told through our blog. The main focus is to tell all there is to tell about teaching and traveling abroad in Asia. The do’s and dont’s that we wish we would have known while on the road & to give people the information they need to make their hopes of teaching abroad come true. The glamorous and not-so-glamorous Asian lifestyle!
Do you target a specific audience?
Travellers in all shapes, forms, and definitions. People who are exploring every nook, cranny, and crevasse in the world on a never-ending round-the-world trip and are seeking information on a place. Or people working the dreaded 9-5 at home, and are looking for the needed motivation and resources to make living and traveling abroad a reality. Or those who are bored and sitting on StumbleUpon.com looking for a funny story or interesting photo to keep them occupied for a few mundane minutes!
What got you to first start travelling?
When I was a junior in college I took the leap to study abroad in England, and from that moment on I was hooked. The travel bug has never stopped crawling through me making me itch to get on the road & explore! Than Rhys Farrow the Welshman happened and it was either:
option 1. go runaway to Asia
option 2. get married.
So, duh..the choice was easy, Go Runaway to ASIA!
Adorable Kids in Khajuraho, India
What got you to start blogging?
After family and friends asked us to blog for months, we finally caved and the rest is history. We both have very different writing styles I like to keep stories light-hearted and funny, while Rhys has an uncanny ability to write so passionately it draws an image in the reader’s mind. At first I thought it would be a pain to keep up with, and I didn’t want to be the traveler only looking at a country through a camera lens or from behind a keyboard, but surprisingly it is so much fun . I think we do it more for ourselves than anyone! Looking back at entries and thinking, ‘Holy Shit, I forgot that ever happened to us!”
Tell us about your travel background. What places have you been to?
Between the two of us we are on a mission to take over the world! Or.. travel as far and wide as we can, which ever comes first. Between us both we have probably been to around 40 countries? I’m not much on country counting and ticking off the places, for us it’s all about the amount time of time we spend in a country. Digging into it and getting a real feel for the place.
In a nutshell all over Asia, parts of Europe, Africa, Australia, & the Caribbean.
What aspects of travelling do you enjoy most?
For me it is all about meeting people of different backgrounds and witnessing how people from all over the world live their lives so differently… but yet we are all so much alike. Life is so simple without all of the headaches that the Western world pushes on people. The moments when I am able to connect with people who speak a different language and live in a completely different world than me. That sounds so cheesy and lame, but I can’t help it– it’s so true!
Lazy Days and Crazy Nights also comes to mind a lot…!
What things do you always pack, regardless where you go to?
I definitely need my iPod, it’s a god send on buses, beaches, or on sleeper trains where the men in the same car as me decide to snore louder than the train! But, something less essential that is so simple and gets overlooked is a sarong. It does it all. It’s a sheet on cold airplanes, a towel on the beach, a dress or skirt, a pillow on long bus journeys, or a blanket when you find yourself sleeping on the floor of a dirty Indian train station next to a homeless man and a rotting banana peel.
Beautiful sun set over Mt. Everest
What is the most memorable travel experience you have ever had?
Arriving at Mt. Everest Base Camp was an unbelievable achievement for us both. After a relentless 9 day hike deep into the heart of the Himalayas, 7 mountain villages, ascending 3,000m, altitude headaches, nights shivering huddled around a yak dung fire stove, one very cold wash up, and a nail-biting mountain flight, we stood at 17,600 feet and looked up at the mightiest mountain in the world. I remember feeling so small standing amongst the world’s biggest white giants and feeling so accomplished. It was truly a once in a lifetime experience.
I felt so accomplished and ecstatic over our small achievement, I can’t even imagine the feelings people have when they are actually climbing the damn thing!
It’s all here: http://2nomads1narrative.com/2011/03/22/mt-everest-base-camp/
Where are you to heading next?
That is the question I get bombarded with every time I talk to friends and family at home, “Where next?”As for now, we are really digging life in Vietnam. It’s pretty intense! We are going to settle down here for the next year (or so) and than, the world is our oyster– but African safaris and Mt. Kilimanjaro are quietly calling my name!
Thanks Nicky and Rhys, Great to have you here. Happy Travels!