jetsetters: @wanderlustersuk

Happy Jetsetter day, little travelers!

Meet Charli and Ben of Wanderlusters, a traveling duo living the nomadic life since June 2010. Travel writers, photographers, and professional nomads, the Wanderlusters have become one of our favorite blogs to follow (and lust after). Make sure to check out their site, but first, read their Jetsetters interview here:

Favorite Place: Definitely Southern Costa Rica. Pura Vida Baby!

More importantly, favorite meal: Oh man, we’re big foodies, it’s going to be tough to choose! I think it is a tie between SIDART restaurant in Auckland and the tamales sold at the bus stations in Nicaragua. Totally contrasting experiences, but both very memorable.

The moment you caught the travel bug: Monday 7^th August 2011, 9:25am

First experience traveling alone: Ben: I flew to Malaysia with a school friend when I was 15. His parents lived out there and we were visiting during the holidays. I remember everything about the trip so vividly. The food, the culture, everything was so intriguing.

Charli: I never really did the whole ‘mates trip abroad’. My first experience of solo travel was flying out to meet Ben in Las Vegas. I despise getting on an aeroplane so the experience was pretty traumatic!

Ever been (or thought you’ve been) in imminent danger while traveling?: On two occasions we have come face to face with an aggressive species of shark. One while snorkelling in Western Australia and the other while scuba diving in Costa Rica. Fortunately we don’t pull off the shark bait look very well so lived to tell the tale on both occasions!

Worst hotel/hostel experience: We tend to avoid hotels and hostels, instead using house sitting assignments and home stays. We did stay in a rather questionable hotel in Munich. We arrived in the city rather late and had no reservations. Snow was falling and we were starting to lose the will to live so we just chose a hotel at random. Such an error.

Best hotel/hostel experience: The best would have to be Palms Place in Las Vegas. We visited in 2008 when hotels were literally giving away nights for free and landed a penthouse apartment with insane views over the strip.

Favorite family vacation: Disneyland, could we really choose anything other than a trip to the Magic Kingdom??

Must-have packing item: Toothpaste

Most unbelievable travel experience: It’s going to have to be the distances we covered while road tripping around Australia. We bought ourselves a very vintage Winnebago and almost circumnavigated the country.

Favorite “I can’t believe I’m doing this” moment: Landing in Hawaii, it was one of the first destinations that found its way onto our bucket list.

Place you can’t wait to return to: Ojochal, Costa Rica

Place you can’t be paid to return to: Home

Any exciting trips coming up?: Well we’re permanently nomadic so life is one giant trip at the moment! We’re here in New Zealand for another six months and then who knows. We’d love to explore some of the island chains out here. Fiji, The Cook Islands and Papua New Guinea are top of the list.

Dream vacation: At the moment we’re lusting after a visit to Greenland. Diving in the glacial waters and exploring the remote wilderness sounds pretty awesome to us!

Favorite tourist attraction: The series of ‘Big Things’ that litter the highways of Australia. Throughout our road trip we came across the most bizarre sculptures of objects the local area had become famous for. From giant lobsters and birds, to wellington boots and pineapples. Those Aussies are pretty creative when it comes to trapping tourists!!

Favorite “I’m trying not to look like a tourist” attraction: We gave into temptation and bought cowboys hats while road tripping across the west coast of the USA. Always a sucker for native clothing and apparel. When in Rome…

Favorite travel photo Oh that’s a tough one. We’re going to go with this one of Ben and the shark.

We were surfacing from a shark feeding dive out in the Coral Sea and I spotted this giant looming behind him. As I tried to communicate the close proximity of the man eater and capture a photo I failed miserably at both.

One of half of the Wanderlusters, Ben, swimming with the sharks.

And for good measure, a photo of the duo:

Check out more of the Wanderlusters’ photos on their Twitter & Facebook.

And hey- if you want to be our next jetsetter, you know how to reach us!

xo!

the romantic & the wino