Bringing two different, independent souls together to experience the world side by side is what couples travel is all about. And that’s the essence of Ruben and Rachel’s relationship, and what makes their blog, Gamin Traveler, work so well. They met by chance, and haven’t stopped world-hopping since. The good news for us? They’ve gained a TON of experience and are sharing it with us!
What’s your story?
We are Ruben and Rachel and we actually met during my trip to the Philippines. I was traveling around the world and it was my first time visiting the country. I tried couchsurfing as I usually do in my travels and Rachel was my host. She, on the other hand, has never gone traveling as extensively as I have. She was very much involved in her work on social media at the time.
After a couple of years, we realized what a perfect match our experiences and skills were so we decided to build a travel blog together. We began our travel blogging adventures as a couple traveling around Southeast Asia. We’ve been doing it for more than 2 years now combining with our online job in Instagram.
Do you have the same travel style or different travel styles? How does this impact your adventures together?
I have always been a budget traveler and always find ways to spend less while traveling. With Rachel, I try to put in as many nice places as possible. We stay in hotels and dine in restaurants to maximize our stay in whichever country we’re visiting, whereas I only used to dine in local restaurants and would often couchsurf since I only did traveling for myself. Having a blog makes us want to try the best each place has to offer. Even if my traveling style has changed, we still do lots of adventurous things when we’re not too busy working online like hitchhiking in Malaysia or Thailand.
What’s the biggest thing you’ve learned from traveling as partners? What makes your partnership work on the road?
Through our travels, we learned so much about each other. Since I’m European and Rachel is Asian, there are so many differences when it comes to our culture and upbringing. For example, one of the many things she taught me is how growing up in Asia, you learn to be more patient.
We always make decisions together on where to go, where to eat and where to stay. Each trip is a collaborative effort and brings the best out of our differences. There’s always a balance of what we enjoy so we are able to explore and experience more things that are new to both of us.
What’s the best part about traveling as partners? And the biggest challenge?
The best part about traveling with Rachel is that I never get bored! She is a wonderful conversationalist and loves to joke around. The biggest challenge that we find when traveling as a couple is not being able to meet as many people as we would if we traveled on our own. As much as possible, we try to get acquainted with whoever we encounter but sometimes there aren’t many opportunities to do so.
Based on your experience, what’s the best advice you have for couples who have just scheduled their first trip together?
As a couple, it is important to share both the decision-making and the responsibilities when traveling. Let’s say one of you will plan the route and places to visit, complete with detailed maps and a comprehensive itinerary. The other then has to take care of choosing the accommodations and finding the best spots to visit in a certain place.
In our case, I’m the one who sorts out the more technical parts like the route and our accommodations while Rachel is in charge of exploring the places we visit. I make sure we have everything prepared before the trip. She makes it a point to find the best locations to take nice pictures in, where to eat and where to go at night. The tasks are all balanced out and makes each post more detailed and each trip more enjoyable.
Any additional thoughts or words of wisdom?
A very important thing for us when it comes to traveling as a couple and working on the way is to just take things slow. For example, we usually stop every 2-3 months for a few weeks. This gives us time to get all our work done, go back to our comfort zone and regroup, and to plan our next trip wisely.
Don’t forget to share the wisdom!
Hop on the Finger Lakes Beer Trail with Lucky Hare, our favorite Seneca Lake brewery
