(Excuse us while we go all third person on you!)
Once upon a time, in a crazy city called Dubai, lived a cynical writer, Andrea, and an ambitious sales guy, Ankit.
In 2012, after almost five years working as a journalist and copywriter in Dubai, Andrea decided it was time to leave. Her well paid but boring corporate job was sucking the life out of her, so it was the perfect excuse to finally do what she always wanted to do.
She was going to travel the world.
She quit her well-paid copywriting job, sold her car, got rid of her apartment and 90 per cent of her belongings, and was all packed and ready to go.
But fate had other plans.
Three nights before she was due to leave, she and Ankit drunkardly stepped into the same bar. Ankit came up to the bar where Andrea and her friend were sat enjoying a quiet pint.
“Nice biceps,” Andrea said with an unimpressed face that left Ankit wondering whether she meant it or not.
She then turned back to her drink.
Turns out, she did mean it, and after exchanging numbers they decided to meet again. They did, and hit it off straight away. Andrea did, indeed, leave Dubai, but the duo stayed in touch for three months. And on her way to Bangkok via Dubai they met again and spent every minute of Andrea’s two-week stay together. And then she, the independent man hater, did the unthinkable.
She ditched her travel plans. For a guy.
And in a whirlwind of love and pheromones, they moved straight in together and navigated the crazy thing called a relationship.
The one thing they both agree on is that they bring out the best in each other: he taught the once self-professed ice queen how to love, and she taught him how to follow his dreams.
So almost two years after getting together, they are about to embark on a journey around the world, only this time it wasn’t Andrea spearheading the change.
This year, Ankit reached the exact same point that Andrea reached back in 2012. He wants more from life than a 9-5 cubicle job. He wants to see the world. He wants to pursue his passion.
And now they’re on the same page, they are doing it together.
Our Dream
For Andrea, that is to finally write a novel and have it published.
For Ankit, that is to start his own photography company and make a living from his passion.
For both of us, that is to see the world, slowly and responsibly, while we do these things and write this blog.
So, Ankit left his job, we’ve sold everything and bought a one-way ticket to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, where we started our adventure in August 2014.