In my short blogging career, I’ve come to know and admire many like-minded individuals living out their lives in much the same manner as me–by the seat of their pants, more or less–and I’m excited to share their stories with you in the first of hopefully many interviews with fellow travelers.
Maybe you’ll see that I’m not totally crazy after all, or at the very least that you don’t necessarily have to be single and career-less (like me) to make long-term travel a viable lifestyle.
Enter Justine Lopez, also known as The Travel Lush. Justine and her partner Aaron have traveled the world over as a pair, backpacking and now living as expats in Southeast Asia. Their story is inspiring to me for many reasons, not least because it’s proof that if both people want it badly enough, traveling or moving abroad as a couple isn’t as hard as it might seem.
So a big thank you to Justine for shedding some light on a topic perpetually single me doesn’t know the first thing about!
Long-Term Travel as a Couple
A Brief Introduction…
Names: Justine Lopez and Aaron Anderson
Ages: 32 (Justine) and 33 (Aaron)
Hometowns: San Diego, California (Justine); Ojai, California (Aaron)
Occupations: Freelance Writer (Justine); University Professor (Aaron)
Currently living in: Jakarta, Indonesia
Just for Fun…
Favorite beer: San Miguel Light (Justine); Beerlao (Aaron)
Favorite food: Chile relleno burrito with really spicy salsa (Justine); Vietnamese pho (Aaron)
Favorite travel destination: Havana, Cuba (Justine); Boracay, Philippines (Aaron)
Biggest fear: Public speaking and being asked to do karaoke, which they love in Indonesia (Justine); Working a 9-5 (Aaron)
On to the interview…
Let’s start from the beginning…how did the two of you meet and how long have you been together?
Aaron and I met during our first year of college at UC Santa Cruz, when we were both 19. One of his high school friends actually ended up being my roommate and introduced us. We just started hanging out one day and that was that. We’ve been together for 13 years, which is crazy!
What did your lives in California look like before you started traveling?
We were living in a little beach town in northern San Diego called Leucadia. We moved there after college so Aaron could attend grad school. Our six years there were pretty incredible; we lived in a cute little house that was only a 10-minute walk to a gorgeous beach. During the past few years Aaron spent his days teaching and working on his dissertation. I went to grad school up in Orange County and was working at a magazine and then a marketing firm. It was a tad stressful and let’s just say I do not miss that commute! We loved our time in San Diego but we were both ready to move on to something new when he graduated.
When did your travel obsession begin?
A few months after we met we took a completely impromptu road trip from Santa Cruz all the way up the West Coast to Vancouver, Canada. We pretty much just threw a bunch of clothes and camping equipment into my car and started driving north with no real plan. I think that trip ignited the wanderlust in both of us. Since then we’ve traveled internationally almost every summer, mainly around the Caribbean, Southeast Asia and Central America.
What made you decide you wanted to travel the world indefinitely, and how did you set about putting your plan into motion?
About a year before Aaron’s graduation, we decided that we were going to skip town right after. We’ve always done a lot of traveling together, but we’d never had the chance to travel long term. It just seemed like the perfect opportunity. So we spent that year saving our asses off to make it happen. After his graduation I quit my marketing job, we sold most of our stuff (including our cars) and flew one-way to Bangkok!
What were some of the logistical challenges of planning long-term travel with your partner?
Both of us were so ready to start a new phase of our lives that the whole thing was relatively easy. I think it would have been really difficult if we hadn’t both been on the exact same page. The process of moving and deciding what to sell and what to keep was one of the more frustrating aspects, but overall it was exhilarating and terrifying and I’m glad I had Aaron by my side through it all. I might have never taken the leap otherwise!
How many countries have you now visited together? Any standout favorites?
I think we’ve been to 19 countries together. By far my favorite country in the world is Cuba. We went there in 2005 with the intention of spending six weeks studying Spanish in Havana. We both scrapped the plan on the first day of classes, got our money back and spent the entire time traveling the length of the island. Best decision ever! We stayed in local families’ homes the entire time, met so many incredible people and learned so much about the country. We loved it so much we went back two years later and I have no doubt we’ll go back many more times.
Do you have similar travel styles and preferences or do you each do things differently?
Aside from a few trips with family and friends, I’ve really only traveled with Aaron so I think our travel styles evolved together. That said, I think I’m a little bit more on the active side and I tend to get antsy when we’re not doing enough. I also have a thing for wandering aimlessly around new cities for hours on end, even in the scorching heat of Southeast Asia. I’ve made that guy walk hundreds of miles throughout the years in the most hot and humid of weather. I’m sure that must irk him sometimes! I’m also much more obsessive about sticking to our budget than he is and sometimes I’m a bit too adamant about scrimping on meals and hotels rooms.
Do you often find you need your own space or do you do everything together?
We’ve always done most things together. But after taking my first-ever solo trip to Penang, Malaysia, and loving it, I think it might change how I travel with Aaron. We’re headed to Cambodia this month, so I guess I’ll find out soon enough! Since I tend to be on the shy side, I’d never really considered going off and doing my own thing. But now if there’s some sort of activity I really want to do and he doesn’t, I have no issue doing things on my own and vice versa.
What do you think makes you such compatible travel companions?
I don’t really know. We just get along. We’re both pretty laid-back and it doesn’t take too much to entertain us or make us happy. I think having a good sense of humor about things is super important when traveling with someone else. Let’s face it, things get weird and frustrating when traveling and you have to have a sense of humor and lots of patience to pull off a long-term trip.
What’s been the most challenging aspect of traveling as a couple?
For me, the only challenge or downside of traveling as a couple means that we don’t always meet a ton of people on the road. I think traveling solo or with a friend is more conducive to putting yourself out there, meeting people and trying new things.
Conversely, what’s been the best part about traveling as a couple?
Having someone to share incredible travel moments with is awesome, and having someone to laugh at all the weird things that happen on the road is pretty great too. I try to recount things to friends and family back home and they just don’t get it–like, when the Cambodian boy sitting next me started stuffing his mouth with huge, deep-fried crickets or when we rode on the world’s worst bus in the Philippines surrounded by crates of chicks that were chirping at a deafening level as we inhaled their feathers. It’s nice to have someone to share all these crazy things with. Also, when things go wrong, as they tend to do, I am so grateful to have someone to mull everything over with.
Tell us where you are now, and how you ended up there?
We’ve been living in Jakarta, Indonesia, for the past five months. When we left on our big trip in August, 2013, we had the plan to travel indefinitely, but Aaron was applying to university jobs for the fall of 2015 pretty much the whole time. Exactly one year after we left California Aaron was offered a job to teach at a university here in Jakarta. We’d always wanted to live abroad so we made the hasty decision to move to Indonesia!
Tell us a little bit about your lifestyle in Indonesia. What do your day-to-day routines look like?
Aaron pretty much works 9-5, so he’s in the office most of the day either teaching, lesson planning and meeting with students. He works with all native Indonesians so I love hearing his stories about quirky cultural customs and all the weird foods his co-workers force him to try, like durian and bird’s nest tea (both of which totally freak me out!).
As for me, I learned the hard way that getting a work visa in Indonesia is a ridiculously complicated process. So, because I have a background in journalism, I decided to take a stab at doing some freelance writing. During the day I’m either working from my apartment or I’m going around the city doing research and interviews for articles.
What’s your favorite part of living abroad?
For me, the best part of living in Jakarta is that it has really pushed me to be more independent and step way outside of my comfort zone. Seriously, if you would have told me last year that I’d be gallivanting around Jakarta by myself, writing and traveling solo, I would have just laughed. The process has not always been easy and there have been many frustrations and tears but, for me, this whole thing is making me a stronger and more independent person.
What do you both miss most about home?
I just wrote a blog post all about being away from home for Christmas. And it just made me so nostalgic about all those great family-filled holidays of years past. Being away from family and friends is really hard. Also, food and wine. Indonesia has some great food but I can’t find a lot of my favorite staples from back home. There is a serious lack of good cheese here. And because it’s a Muslim country wine is crappy and the imported stuff is a minimum of $40 for a bottle! Suffice it to say I’ve had very little wine during the past five months.
You recently took your first solo trip on a visa run to Malaysia. How did that compare to traveling with Aaron?
I was so nervous about my first ever solo trip. I’ve traveled a lot but there was something terrifying about going to another country by myself. But the second I touched down in Penang all of my fears went away. I was shocked by how great of a time I had wandering around the city on my own, going at my own (very slow) pace and being able to take as many photos as I wanted without driving Aaron insane. Eating by myself was super awkward though and I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to doing it.
Traveling with someone has a way of exposing our deepest, darkest secrets to each other. What interesting things have you and Aaron learned about each other since starting your travels?
We’ve been together and traveled together for so long that we pretty much know everything about each other. But I will say that one of our first international trips together was a three-week trip to Jamaica when we were 20. It was our first experience backpacking, dealing with ultra-aggressive touts, getting ripped off. The first week was pretty rough and I remember vowing to never travel with Aaron again. We learned a lot about traveling as a couple on that trip, specifically dealing with travel frustrations as a team and about having a positive attitude when things don’t go according to plan. It was probably good to learn those lessons early on. We ultimately had an awesome trip and ever since then we’ve been great travel partners.
What advice can you offer to couples who may be thinking of embarking on their own long-term travel journey or moving to another country together?
For us, being able to go with the flow is key. I can’t believe Aaron and I were able to live in crappy budget hotel rooms for over a year and I don’t think we’d have been able to do that if we didn’t have such a laid-back approach to the situation. One thing that I’m now learning is that giving one another space is super important. Everyone needs alone time, so taking an hour or two out of the day to go for a run or go walk around a city can really help you to not get on each other’s nerves.
Money is another big one. Most couples fight about money. So for us, understanding how we were going to deal with our finances while abroad was really important. We split costs down the middle and if either of us splurged on a big purchase we paid for those from our own funds. I’m not saying this is the right system for everyone but making sure you discuss finances is pretty important if you’re traveling long-term.
Is your plan still to travel indefinitely? Do you ever see yourselves moving back to the US, or would you prefer to settle down abroad somewhere?
Both of us have this dream of traveling and living abroad for the foreseeable future, but whether or not it’s going to happen is up in the air. Since I don’t have a job waiting for me back in California, I’m very open to living pretty much anywhere. At this point, it seems like Aaron’s career will dictate where we’ll move next. Because we both want to live abroad Aaron is definitely looking into international jobs. I have my fingers crossed that his next job won’t be back in the US, but honestly, I have no clue what will happen!
About The Travel Lush
Justine is a California girl who set out on a year-long journey to travel the world in 2013. In a crazy turn of events she is now living in Jakarta, Indonesia. As she meanders her way through Indonesia and Southeast Asia she’s always seeking out great vegetarian eats, budget travel deals and, of course, amazing new travel destinations. Keep up with her latest travels and expat misadventures on her blog, The Travel Lush. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Many thanks to Justine for the inspiring and informative interview! Have you traveled with a significant other?
*If you enjoyed this interview and want to read more like it, leave me suggestions for future interview topics in the comments below! 
