journey-junkies

We are T & Ku, otherwise known as journey-junkies, and we are from Brighton in the UK. Our passion is travelling. We travel lightly, cheaply and slowly. Travel Light – We have been carrying only daypacks since we took a trip to South East Asia in 2011. We don’t check bags and the pros far outweigh the cons. We both agree that we could never go back to carrying full-size backpacks! Travel Cheap – We travel on a budget and therefore are able to travel for longer periods of time. We are not averse to a night in a mid-range hotel if we feel the need to, but generally we take local buses, eat street food and stay in budget accomodation. Travel Slow – We enjoy taking our time to get to know places in depth rather than rushing around checking off the sights. We love to befriend the locals and make wherever we happen to be our home for a while. Housesitting forms the basis of journey-junkies nomadic lifestyle. We have carried out around 300 housesits since 2012. This has not only saved us thousands of dollars every year, but has been an incredible experience. As well as getting to know a wonderful array of pets, it has allowed us to live like locals in cultures very different to our own. We love camping and hiking in deserts, forests, and mountains. Nothing beats being in nature and exploring extraordinary landscapes. Additionally, we also enjoy a fix of big city living – art galleries, museums, street art, restaurants and the buzz of the streets. New York, San Francisco, and Mexico City are three of our favourite places in the world. We have travelled or lived in over fifty countries and our favourites to date are the equally colourful and compelling India and Mexico. We also love the wild, open spaces of the American South West. Seeking out the unusual is something else which journey-junkies love to do. As a matter of fact, we have been known to travel hundreds of miles out of our way to visit such offbeat attractions as the jungle wonderland of Las Pozas in Mexico and Nek Chand’s bizarre gardens in India. Fusterlandia in Cuba, Terracotta House in Colombia and Chauchilla Cemetery in Peru are a few of our other favourites. Before we quit the rat-race, we worked in a variety of jobs. Ku has been an office administrator, dental nurse, tennis teacher, cleaner, theatre sound operator and stringer of tennis rackets! These days she writes about travel and has had articles in a wide range of magazines and on websites. Her portfolio features many of her published articles. Additionally, Ku recently wrote an app guide about our home city of Brighton for Touchscreen Travels. T has worked in banking and office management positions and now writes fiction. She is the official photographer for journey-junkies. We took our first year-long round-the-world trip together in 2000. On our return to the UK, we made the mistake of getting caught up in the rat-race again. In 2012 we threw it all in and headed to India. This was followed by our first housesit – five months in Toronto looking after a cat next to Lake Ontario. From Canada, we headed to Mexico, which we explored by bus. Since then we haven’t looked back. Our most recent trip was a multi-month trip to Mexico, Cuba and Colombia, which came to an untimely end due to the Coronavirus Pandemic. As committed journey-junkies, we still have many, many places still to go and experiences to have. In fact, the list seems to get longer, instead of shorter. Our next major plan is to hike a section of the Pacific Crest Trail, something we have dreamed about doing for many years. Of course, we understand that people aren’t able to go far at the moment, but there’s no reason you can’t dream and plan for future adventures and we are here to help you do just that. We advocate long-term travel for everyone, regardless of age. If you have been thinking about taking those first tentative steps towards an adventure of your own, we hope journey-junkies blog will help inspire you. If you have an questions or comments, don’t hesitate to contact us – we’d love to hear from you! r