Portrait of a traveller: Jack and Jill Travel The World

Jack and Jill are just about to take-off on a round-the-world adventure. They’ve quit their day jobs and are in the home stretch to pack up all their things, move out of their San Francisco apartment and head to South America, the first stop on their journey. Here’s what they had to say about it.

ID Card

• Names: Jack and Jill
• Current location: Bay Area, California
• Next location: Cartagena, Colombia
• Favourite flavour gelato: gianduia/bacia (hazelnut + chocolate, Jill), stracciatella (chocolate chip, Jack)
• Most essential travel gadget: headlamps!
• Item most likely to forget: extra socks
• Blog: jackandjilltravel.com
• Twitter: @JacknJillTravel

Questions

1. You’re about to embark on a RTW (round-the-world) trip. What first inspired the two of you to just go for it?
A long time ago we decided somewhat arbitrarily that 2011 was going to be ‘the’ year. We marked our Google Calendar and forgot about it. Then 2011 came.

There’s something about marking that calendar that made the trip almost non-negotiable. We have to do it. I mean, look… it’s on the calendar!

2. What’s been the hardest part of planning the trip?

Without a doubt deciding on an itinerary. That’s why we decided to not have one. We have a rough idea of direction, but we don’t have a list of countries to visit per-se.

The second hardest was determining date/month. We knew the year, but deciding the exact date was a combination of work situation, money situation and some other random factors.

Then we found out that we’ll be in South America during its rainy season.

Sigh. Oh well.

3. First stop is Columbia. Why?

Because it doesn’t require visa for either of us. We’ve heard sooo many good things about Columbia, and it’s conveniently located at the top of the SA continent.

4. You’re a travelling couple. What are the pros and cons of travelling with a partner? Would you ever take on the world solo?

We wrote about the benefits of travelling with your significant other here:

7 Reasons to travel with your significant other

The cons? Well, it’s definitely harder to meet other people. Other travelers seems to assume that couples prefer to be left alone and hesitant to approach us because of that. Remember that couples who travel probably are dying to have somebody other than their partner to talk to for a change. So, come say hi!

5. If a genie gave you three wishes, what would they be?

• Jill’s passport would be transformed into either a EU or a US passport (visa paperwork would be 100x easier).
• I’d like a flying carpet, please (to avoid airports).
• And uh, world peace? (for obvious reasons and also so we can safely go to any country we want)

6. Which destination is at the top of your list? (In other words, if Jean-Luc Picard could “beam you up” right this instant, where would you want to go?)

Oh, let’s see… is space and underwater off limits? If so, top of Everest. We love mountains! Yeah, to be the tallest things in the world would be quite an awesome feeling.

7. What advice would you give someone thinking about doing the same?

Don’t dwell too much on the “what if’s.” Save some money as a safety net and take the leap. If traveling around the world is your life dream, it’s worth any risk you can think of.

8. You’re fro the San Francisco Bay area. What would you tell visitors to your neighborhood to definitely see and definitely skip?

Oh gosh… definitely see (let’s assume you’ve done the whole Golden Gate bridge, and all that): Yosemite National Park – our favourite place on earth. Skip? Uggh… well, for us California Academy of science is a little overprices, but some people seem to like it.

9. Would you rather… drink snake blood (a Vietnamese delicacy) or eat cow tongue (a French delicacy)?

Since we’re vegetarians I think we’ll stick with Vietnamese crepes and French pastries 🙂

Thanks Jack and Jill for answering our interview questions! Are you planning your own round-the-world trip or have any questions of your own to ask this backpacking duo?

Img: anirudhkoul, Flickr cc.