While working at Gearhead Outfitters, we outfitted many people for all kinds of adventures. A few weeks ago, a couple came into the store to talk about the things they were needing in order to hike the Appalachian Trail next year. Cue Jackson. Jackson spent a good bit of time talking with the couple about his experience on the AT and recommendations for gear. Then, to my delight, he told them about the blog and asked for an interview to chat adventure and travel inspiration.
Carlie and Brady London have traveled all over the world, run their own travel blog (Happy Go Londons), and are currently remodeling their home in order to sell it and make some money before heading to hike the AT.
Intro
Lindsey: If you would, just start by telling me your full names and a little bit about yourselves.
Brady: I like to… explore the world and experience as many cultures as possible. I love video games. I’m a nerd. If I have time and I’m not doing something else I’m probably playing a video game. And I enjoy music. I group in band; marching band, jazz band… I’ve played trombone and guitar. And… I don’t know what else to say.
Lindsey: Carlie?
Carlie: I like flowers, I like gardening.
Jackson: What’s your favorite flower?
Carlie: That’s too hard.
Brady: What day of the week is it?
Carlie: Yeah. Depends how I’m feeling. So yeah, I like gardening. I like art. I enjoy film, graphic designing, painting and drawing… which, I don’t do that as much anymore. But I enjoy it a lot. Traveling, definitely… that whole saying, “I haven’t been there but it’s on my list” is… cliche in that you hear it all the time, but it’s extremely accurate in that I just really want to go everywhere. There’s not one place that I want to go next, it’s more of a “Where can I get to the fastest?”
Brady: Or “What can we afford?”
“We occasionally take “Follow Me To…” photos. This is us hiking out of Hawksbill Crag – we night hiked in and then spent time exploring and hiked out during the day the next day! This was actually before we were married, not even engaged yet, this was the trip Brady wanted to propose on but the ring wasn’t ready yet! I (Carlie) had no idea.” September 2016
World Travels
Lindsey: So, as a couple, where all have you been?
Brady: Within the U.S…. Colorado, Arkansas, Missouri. Outside the country, together… New Zealand, Ireland, England (specifically London), France (specifically Paris), and Mexico. In the two years since marriage.
Lindsey: Nice.
Carlie: We just like to travel. We don’t really have the money, we just-
Brady: We do, it’s just instead of spending money on a new TV or new whatever, we choose to spend our money exploring and… mostly on plane tickets.
Lindsey: I think that’s important to bring up because a lot of people wonder how other people manage to afford traveling. But it’s important, I think, to realize that everyone spends their money in different ways and if you are intentional about it you can totally make your travel dreams a reality.
Carlie: Yeah, I was having a conversation with a friend recently and said, “Anything we have extra… travel, it goes to travel.”
Brady: Sometimes our friends might ask if we want to go do something and we often say, “No, we don’t really have the money for that.” Then I have to clarify myself, “It’s not that I don’t have the money and don’t want to spend it on that, but we’re making a conscious choice not to spend money on certain things because we want to invest our money into travels.” We have a savings account specifically dedicated to traveling and at the end of the month if we have anything left over it goes into that account.
Same at home, we have a little box and if we have any spare change or any extra cash, maybe we paid for someone’s meal and they paid us back in cash, it goes in there. Then we pretend like we don’t have it and it will build up pretty quickly. So we do make it a conscious effort to forgo some things, some luxuries that I’m sure many other twenty-somethings enjoy… like having a house that isn’t a construction site.
Funding and Travel-Hacking
Before they started dating, Brady bought a house with the sole intention of remodeling it. Carlie had every intention of hiking the AT when they met, so they’ve combined skills and hard work in order to flip the house and make some money to live on when they head hike together in 2020.
Brady: So flipping the house is one thing that will help fund our travels for next few years.
Carlie: Also, I have a knack for finding cheap flights.
Lindsey: Well then we need to talk a lot more. What’s your number one tip for finding a cheap flight?
Carlie: Don’t have set expectations. Have some flexibility set in. Maybe have a location, or a time and not a location. So, pick one thing, and then be flexible with the other half. Say you want to go to Mexico, but it doesn’t matter too much when. Give yourself enough time to ask off work, but focus on the destination and not specific dates.
Lindsey: Do you have a recommended site?
Carlie: Yeah. A bunch. So, Scott’s Cheap Flights. I check Kayak a lot. Student Universe. And Sky Scanner is really great for finding cheap dates or cheap locations because you can do a broad, everywhere search. You can type where you’re leaving from and leave the rest blank. But I recommend just searching through them, and just using it as a place to start because you can usually find tickets cheaper elsewhere.
Lindsey: I think that’s something else a lot of people don’t realize… you have to be….
Carlie: Flexible…
Lindsey: Yeah, and diligent.
Carlie: Exactly. If you’re planning a trip you have to check frequently. If money isn’t an issue you can spring for set dates and places, but if you want to do it more affordably you have to be flexible. You have to be diligent and check often.
“Not Lost”
Jackson: I see you guys have matching tattoos… Can you tell us a little about that?
Carlie: Yeah, it says, “All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost,” which is from Lord of the Rings. I did this art… I wanted a map right here for a long time. Then we got them matched with the quote and had it done while in New Zealand. We’re nerds, but, it’s also just a good reminder. The things gold, or riches, or whatever you chase aren’t necessarily what they appear and aren’t necessarily your time best spent.
Brady: And the newest, latest, flashiest… aren’t where our hearts are. Our hearts are things that maybe aren’t so flashy.
Carlie: Our hearts are actually more in the wandering aspect, not because we’re lost… I mean, everyone goes through a lost period but it’s more… our desire, I guess?
Lindsey: I think that’s an important thing to touch on here because the idea around the blog is about feeling lost but to help people see that that’s okay. So just because you don’t know what’s next doesn’t mean you’re doing something wrong. Just because you’re moving around unsure of where you’re headed (wandering), doesn’t mean you’re lost as a… a soul.
It’s okay to wander, it doesn’t mean you’re lost. It’s okay to be in-between.
Carlie: I think we learn a lot more about ourselves in those times when we aren’t certain. It’s not easy… I know its been harder for me this year because we’re coming into the last year of living in Tulsa and in our house before we sell everything to hike the Appalachian Trail. And it’s been really hard for me to be in the moment.
Jackson: So why did you want to hike it in the first place?
Carlie: It was one of those things I always dreamed about but never talked about because I’m a girl and I wanted to do it by myself. So I didn’t tell anyone because I didn’t want to feel their judgement… And I don’t know when that first came to mind. I don’t remember. But, I read Wild. I realized this was a dream I’d had for so long and hadn’t told anyone because I was scared. I felt like my dream wasn’t normal. But reading that gave me the confidence to say that this was something I wanted to do.
Lindsey: So, why would you say that you like traveling?
Carlie: We both grew up traveling… as I get older, I’ve started to realize how small I am and how small my bubble is in comparison to the world; to the state, to the country, to the entire planet. And so, I don’t want to just know the one culture I grew up in. I want to experience as many as I can. I feel like, if you don’t travel and you only know the one thing, you’re missing out because the world is big and there’s just a lot out there.
Lindsey: What’s you’re advice for someone feeling “in-between” and asking themselves “Why am I here? What am I supposed to do now?”
Brady: I’m someone asking myself those questions… That’s probably the reason I want to go walk the AT. I spent a lot of years in school and then got a job I’ve realized I hate So now I’m asking those questions, “What do I do next? What are my passions? How can I use those passions to help society? How do I make a living out of doing that?” I don’t know. That’s what we have to figure out.
Lindsey: That’s good! That’s my point! Especially in the age of social media it seems we’re all trying to say we’ve got it together, that we have it figured out. And we just don’t. No one does.
Carlie: Yeah. That’s what you see everywhere. It looks like everyone else has it together. But we have to remember that if that’s true, you didn’t see the process. You didn’t see how they got there. You’re seeing their end result. And, most of the time that’s not true, they’re probably still figuring it out too. And that’s okay.
I can’t quite express how grateful we are to have met this couple or how glad we are that they agreed to this interview! Check out more of their adventure and travel inspiration over on their blog: Happy Go Londons.