Guest blogger Clare Watson writes about giving up the rat race to enjoy the beauty of traveling slowly around the world with and her fiancé and a 7-foot triple surfboard bag.

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Ten months ago in an Airbnb apartment lofted above Melbourne, my boyfriend and I sat on the lounge room floor and flicked through a tattered world atlas. We joined the dots between distant destinations and imagined a life not spent counting down the weeks apart and then wishing time would slow for the rare days we had together. We were living split between the east and west coasts of Australia, waiting for the next scheduled visit.

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This is a guest blog post from one of my travel soulmates, Emily Fielder, who writes enthusiastically about falling in love with Australia, unexpectedly returning home to trek across her native United States of America…and falling in love all over again.

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People like me tend to apply famous quotes to explain their often misunderstood, meandering and location-independent lifestyles.

I will admit I have a few of my own favorite quotes too. One that best fits my situation is by Paul Theroux:

“Travel is at its most rewarding when it ceases to be about your reaching a destination and becomes indistinguishable from living your life.”

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I do not like Istanbul. There, I said it. Am I allowed to say that? Surely everyone loves Istanbul, with its ideal seaside setting, the amazing food and beautiful mosques. The mix of European, Middle Eastern and Asian influences. The hospitable Turks. So what is wrong with me? Why can’t I appreciate what everyone else does?

I feel like we have to maintain a ‘front’ with our travels, thinking that every travel experience destination has to be worthy of hashtags – #stunningsunset, #backpackerlife, #fromwhereyoudratherbe…

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This is a guest blog post from my dear friend Thom Marin, originally from France, now globetrotter, on the benefits of travelling and working remotely.

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MATT AND I

I met Matt three years ago through our mutual and very good friend Valentina. Matt was visiting her in Paris. Since then we kept meeting all over the world: Madrid, Berlin, London, New York, Guadalajara! Mainly to meet with Valentina, or just happening to be at the same place at the same time!

And today I consider Matt to be one of my really good friends. It is not that often that you meet someone with the same love of long-term travel. Matt is also one of the most positive and sociable people I know and his social skills inspire me a lot.

So, like Matt, I love travelling! And he asked me to tell you about my recent work and travel lifestyle…

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Have you ever done your best to save up as much money as you can for a trip, only to come back broke and wonder where all your money went? I know that has happened to me more than once.

Both when planning for an upcoming trip and also when you are actually on it, I find it very useful use a budget spreadsheet for the trip. One half should be the amount of money you have (income) and the other half what you expect to spend (expenses).

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We all know how uncomfortable airports can be with hard, cramped seats at the gates (if any), lots of noise and expensive food. Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to just dash away for an hour or two before your flight for some good food, a shower and free wifi? Well, that is what lounges are for.

‘Aren’t lounges just for people flush with cash?’ I hear you say? Well, not necessarily.

On my way to Europe last month, I was lucky enough to have lounge access in four airports in the US, Turkey, Sweden and Switzerland. Have a look at them and read below as to how you can get behind those exclusive glass doors too without flying first or business class.

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Every year I have the pleasure of coming back to Spain to teach kids English.

As I enter Spanish Summer #6, here is a collection of my favourite Camp Stories from last year’s camp. I hope you enjoy.

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Camp stories #26

Six-year-old Elena joins my class after three weeks in Vanesa’s class

Me: ‘Elena, I have a question for you. Who is a better teacher? Vanesa or me?’

Elena: ‘You, Matt’

Me: ‘Girl, you got swagger. Five extra minutes in the swimming pool for you’

Score.

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I strongly believe in following your heart, wherever that may take you. And as our world becomes even more interconnected, cross-country relationships become more of a reality.

My first love was an Italian working in Madrid but living in Mexico City. I followed him to Mexico.

My brother is married to a Canadian who he met studying in Denmark. They now live in Sweden.

Three Virgin Group airlines – Virgin America, Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Australia – produced Departure Date, a half-hour short about falling in love in the air.

I found it very touching and hope you enjoy it too.