World Travellers: Dariece and Nick from Goats on the Road

My latest World Travellers interview today is with Nick and Dariece who run the website Goats on the Road and are very experienced travellers and writers.

Who are you?

I’m Dariece, a travel fanatic! Together with my spouse, Nick, we travel full time and run the website, Goats On The Road.

Where are you from?

We’re both from Canada, but have put down temporary roots in China and Grenada. We haven’t lived in Canada for 5 years now.

Where have you been?

During our 5 years of travel, we’ve been to 46 countries spanning across the regions of the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Asia and the Caribbean. We plan to add to this list very soon!

Where are you now?

We’re currently pet-sitting in Grenada, a stunning island in the Caribbean. We will have been here for a total of 7 months when we move on in November.

What are the top 3 places you’ve visited?

Only three?! This is a hard one, but if there are three places that really stand out, they would have to be: India, Iran and Indonesia (China and Egypt would be the bonus 2!)

India is crazy, chaotic and on a whole other level than any other country we’ve been to, which is what makes it stand out. Iran is totally off-the-beaten-path, has the most friendly people in the world and the sights there are amazing. Indonesia is such a beautiful country, the beaches, the food, the people and the landscapes are all fantastic.

What is the best travel experience you’ve had?

We’ve had some pretty amazing travel experiences, but two of them stand out. We were on an island in the north of Mozambique and a local villager came over to me, grabbed my hair and started braiding it! After that, her and I danced to the sound of make-shift drumming from the villagers and our friend’s ukulele.

Another time was in Iran when Nick and I were invited into the home of complete strangers. They housed us for 6 nights, fed us their incredible local food and even took time off of work to show us around their city of Esfahan. They were the same age as us, which made the experience all the more fun.

What is the worst travel experience you’ve had?

People play a huge part in travel for us, if the locals aren’t warm, welcoming and friendly, we get pretty turned off. In Morocco, we were sworn at numerous times and told to go back to our own country! In parts of Eastern Africa, hearing “give me money” repeatedly throughout the day, every day, got to be a bit difficult as well.

What is the funniest travel experience you’ve had?

In the middle of the Gobi Desert in Mongolia, as if out of nowhere, a random museum of desert animals appeared. Us and 4 other backpackers hopped out of our jeep and went to check it out. Inside we found maimed, stuffed, contorted creatures! There was literally a roadkill lizard on display. The taxidermist was definitely having a laugh when he created these “masterpieces”. By the time we left the museum we could hardly breathe we were laughing so hard.

What is the scariest travel experience you’ve had?

We haven’t had too many scary experiences, but when we were in Kenya, a crazy drunk man came up to me and held a knife at my head. I didn’t even notice because I was sitting on the curb, looking down. Nick noticed though and freaked out, yelled at the guy and chased him away.

What is the most random job you have had on your travels?

When we were living in China we got a side job one day. We were paid to be White basically! A large business wanted us to pose with the CEO of the company for a magazine shoot. We held the phone and pretended we were talking on it, looked at documents with interest and acted as though we worked in the office! Having foreigners working at your company is a big deal in China and if you’re a white face, you’ll get asked to do random things like this all the time.

We got paid $30 each and were taken out for a nice dinner.

How do you fund your travels?

Currently, our travels are funded solely from the money made on our website. We do freelance work, have advertising, use affiliate links and go on sponsored trips occasionally. We also house-sit in order to help cover some monthly expenses.

Before the money from our website, we taught English for a year in China and saved a lot of money working in Canada.

What 3 tips would you give a new traveller before they set off on their adventure?

1. Get travel insurance. There are some cheap insurance plans out there that cover your belongings, flight cancellations and adventurous things too. You don’t want to be in the middle of Nepal and need to be emergency airlifted out, only to remember you don’t have travel insurance. We recommend World Nomads for backpackers.

2. Don’t pack useless stuff. Ladies – hair dryers, high-heels, a bag full of makeup and skin care products aren’t what you’ll need on the road. Your hair will air-dry, you’ll want to wear flip-flops or hiking shoes and why wear makeup when you’ll most likely be at the beach or out in the sun where your “face” will melt off? Also, anything you want to buy while you’re abroad, you can. You don’t need to pack anything and everything. I travel with a 32L Osprey backpack and have more than enough space.

3. Venture off the beaten path as much as you can. Once you’re on the road, try to veer from the tourist trail a bit. There’s nothing to be afraid of and you’ll end up having experiences that no one else is having. You’ll make memories that’ll last a lifetime..

What are your future travel plans?

We have too many ideas running through our minds at the moment!

Either:

a) We backpack through Central and South America for 2015.

b) We spend November – April in Central America and then go to Europe for a couple of months before starting the Mongol Rally (driving a shitty car from London to Mongolia) in July.

c) We do a road trip with a van or something similar around all of Europe.

d) We do a road trip from Mexico to the tip of Chile.

The only thing that is for sure is that we have a flight out of Grenada to Mexico at the beginning of November. We’ll be meeting up with friends and family in the area until January.

Author’s Bio:

Dariece is half of the duo behind Goats On The Road, a website designed to inspire others to live a financially sustainable, location independent lifestyle. Masters at making money abroad and turning their travels into a way of life, they’ve been on the road since 2008 and have explored some of the least visited places on earth, finding adventure wherever they go. They’re also full time contributors at Travel Pulse and Credit Walk where they share their stories and expertise of long-term travel.

Website: www.goatsontheroad.com

Twitter: @GoatsOnTheRoad

Facebook: Goats On The Road

YouTube: Nick Dariece – Goats On The Road

Thanks to Nick and Dariece for being the latest in my series of World Travellers! If you travel the world and run a travel blog or are a travel writer, please get in touch, you can be featured (there’s a HUGE waiting list at present), either e-mail jonny (at) dontstopliving (dot) net or head to my contacts page and get connected! You can also subscribe to Don’t Stop Living by filling in the form below! Safe travels!