Hello everyone!
I’m a writer by trade, and am pretty decent at making other’s look good on paper [if I do say so myself], but I really have a hard time figuring out what to say about myself! Anyway, now that you have been warned….welcome to my brand new travel blog!
I’m currently 23 years old and have been traveling ever since I was a tiny child. As a homeschooler, my parents had the freedom to take my sister and I on the road anytime they desired. [Don’t get me wrong, I was still “forced” to do math and all the hard stuff, even during the summer time!]. As a result, we traveled via RV for 4-5 months out of the year, for at least 7 years of my life. This extensive travel led me to visit 49/50 states and 7 Canadian provinces [among other Caribbean countries], before my 14th birthday. Then the high school years hit and I wanted to be “normal” [ew!] and stay home with my friends, who I never got to see. Travel with my parents ended as I knew it and I settled into college life.
As a young 20 year old, I became increasingly unhappy with trips a week here and a week there, but I was in college and had to focus and finish. I graduated in May 2015, and in June 2015, I took my first real trip as an “adult.” That trip changed my life and reminded me that travel is in my blood. I knew I couldn’t be tied down to my hometown, at least not for a good while, and so I immediately started taking action to make this dream a reality.
I saved money from each pay check and put it into a travel fund. I rarely go out to eat, I never buy myself any clothes, and I do everything as cheap as possible to afford the ability to travel. My current day job has been wonderful enough to grant me full-time telecommuting privileges, and I have my own fantastic client base on the side so I can do this thing from abroad.
Why a travel blog?
My mother was the original travel blogger for our family. If I really think about it, she probably basically invented travel blogging and was blogging before it was even a thing! Starting in the late 90’s, my mom would send out super detailed emails to friend and family to update them with our whereabouts and travels around North America.
After taking my own major trip as an adult, I had so much to say! Between June 2015 and January 2016, I took 6 trips, and knew I just had to share my experiences, tips, tricks, and photographs with other people.
I am constantly getting questions like “how did you find a flight that cheap” or “how can you possibly afford this?!” and this blog is the perfect medium to answer travel questions, offer travel tips, talk about destinations, and share photography. I love traveling with other bloggers via the internet, and I hope you enjoy traveling with me.
Keep in mind that I am super new at this! At the time of this article, this site is super bare bones. I’ve never built a website in my life, but I’m pretty proud of how this one has started out, even if it is super basic. Look for fun updates in the future!
Why Terrence?
For years I had dreamed of the time when I would graduate and finally have the opportunity to travel. Although I totally could have traveled alone [shout out to all my solo female travel bloggers], it just wasn’t what I had wanted for this time in my life.
I, somewhat recklessly, reached out to a bunch of friends who I barely knew to see if they wanted to travel with me. It never worked out. I met Terrence in April 2014. Since I was desperate, in June 2014, I asked him if he wanted to go to Europe, and he said sure [lol yeah right, everyone wants to but no one follows through]. Well guess what? Exactly one year after our first conversation, we were smack dab in the middle of Italy.
Turns out, I unexpectedly stumbled upon the perfect person for me to travel with. Terrence is the complete opposite of me in every sense of the word, and that balance has proven to be so helpful when traveling. Even though we are a model/photographer duo, photographs are NOT the reason we have decided to travel together. Despite what the skeptics may say, our creative collaborations bear(ed) no weight on this decision.
Why Follow Me Away?
Terrence and I worked together creatively so much that our portfolios were becoming overrun with each other’s work. We decided to create an Instagram for just our creative work, and that exploded in the short amount of time we had it. We love the idea that same photographer+same model+different locations=different look in each photo, so we have decided to run with it. We enjoy taking some of the same elements; us, and maybe wardrobe, and creating something entirely different everywhere we go. We are out to create and popularize a new genre of photography that we are currently calling “adventure/travel portraiture.” You will find tons of fine-art style portraits we have done around the world on this blog, as well as prettiful landscapes and cool architecture.
Who does what?
I will be in charge of the writing and social media management, while Terrence will verbalize his side of the story/article for me and do all of the DSLR photography. I will also take/share tons of selfies and photos using my favorite photographic medium…the smartphone. The majority of blog posts will be written by both of us, but you may see a few show up in first person as well. Don’t ask, just go with it!
What next?
Well, tons of travel is what is next! No but really, our first really major trip will be launching on February 29th, leap day, and we will head to Iceland for 8 days. We will then land in Berlin and have absolutely no plans for the next 3 months after that. As a youngling, my parents traveled very free flowing, and this idea really scares me, but Terrence and I haven’t had any luck finalizing any sort of itinerary so we are just going to go out there and jump in feet first. Maybe not the smartest decision, but it’s our decision.
I promise that not all blog posts will be this long! I just had to give you a brief overview [I talk a lot #sorrynotsorry] of what Follow Me Away is all about and our current future plans. If you are even slightly interested, I encourage you to subscribe to our email list so you can receive posts in your inbox. I also ask that you comment with your own travel blog so I can follow you as well. Oh! And don’t forget to follow us on social media to keep up with a different side of us! If you have any more questions or want us to write on any topic in particular, contact us or comment below and we would be happy to look into it!
I’m excited, concerned, thrilled, and terrified of what is to come, but I hope that you enjoy the experience with me!
Thanks for listening,
Victoria (and Terrence)
