BY: STEFANIE PHILLIPS
Seeing yoga poses performed on Greek beaches, explorers hiking the Norwegian Fjords, and daredevils standing spitting distance from beautiful Swedish waterfalls on your Instagram feed is enough to make any nine-to-fiver green with jealousy.
21 724km // Hallstatt // Austria This is Steve’s epic Titanic moment. After a 60-minute hike we came to the World Heritage Skywalk hovering 350m above the town and offering a breathtaking view of Lake Hallstatt. We’ll let the picture tell you the rest. Tag someone you would want to do this with! Follow our story >> link to blog in profile. #HFFH_travels A photo posted by How Far From Home (@howfarfromhome) on
Chanel Cartell, 30, and Stevo Dirnberger, 29, left their home and high profile advertising jobs in Johannesburg, South Africa to pursue a Wanderlist composed of everything they wanted to see and do in the world.
24 829km // Hydra // Greece After docking in one of the smallest and busiest harbours, we explored one of the most beautiful islands we had ever seen. A short stroll along cobbled pathways to end up here. Friends, say hello to Hydra. Follow our story >> link to blog in profile. #HFFH_travels A photo posted by How Far From Home (@howfarfromhome) on
But the couple behind the travel blog, How Far From Home, wants you to know that the nomadic lifestyle isn’t all sunsets and perfect landscapes.
As they travel, crossing things off their list, they take breathtaking photos and post them on Instagram and Twitter. What you didn’t know is that while doing all of these amazing things they’ve also been scooping dog shit, cleaning toilets and polishing wine glasses, as confessed in their most recent blog post.
They’ve also been scooping dog shit, cleaning toilets and polishing wine glasses.
“I think we’ve tallied 135 toilets scrubbed, 250 kilos of cow dung spread, two tons of rocks shoveled, 60 metres of pathway laid, 57 beds made, and I cannot even remember how many wine glasses we’ve polished,” Cartell wrote in her August 31 blog post.
By using WorkAway, the volunteer program that allows you to work in exchange for food and board, they have left behind a life of luxuries for one of volunteer work. Work that has been “painstakingly hard and dirty.”
Not only has the couple been going face-to-face with dirty work, they’re also lacking a balanced diet and proper sleep.
“I am not at my fittest, slimmest or physically healthiest. We eat jam on crackers most days, get roughly five hours of sleep per night, and lug our extremely heavy bags through cobbled streets at 1 a.m., trying to find our accommodation (because bus fares are not part of the budget, obviously).”
Even though the past six months have provoked tears, challenged their souls, and sprouted greys – they have been the most rewarding months of the couple’s lives.
Cartell told Mail Online that the hardships “account for one percent of hard labour in exchange for 99 percent of bliss — a fair trade, we’d think.”
Last Friday they marked 28,428 kilometres travelled on a chalkboard they’ve been carrying with them to track the distance they are from anything comfortable and safe. Standing on a cobblestone street in Florence, Italy they are far from home, but growing their character in ways most people never will.
28 428km // Florence // Italy Ciao Italia! Arguably, the centre of creativity and art as we know it, and strolling the streets of Florence couldn’t have made that more apparent. We chose to eat our first, second and third meal in Florence outside Il Duomo di Firenze, one of the most beautiful architectural creations we’ve ever photographed, and the city’s most iconic landmark (no shock there). Follow our story >> link to blog in profile. #HFFH_travels #visititaly A photo posted by How Far From Home (@howfarfromhome) on