Born at opposite sides of the world, Chris and Heather still managed to find each other, now they travel the world together visiting some of the worlds most amazing places while blogging about it at A Brit and a Southerner.
I put some questions to Chris and Heather, see what they had to say below.
We are Chris and Heather Boothman from A Brit and A Southerner. Our backgrounds are completely different as I (Chris) grew up in Manchester, England and Heather was just a “small-town” girl from Arkansas. Our paths crossed in 2008 and we haven’t looked back since. I arrived in the States on a collegiate golf scholarship in 2006 and moved to Arkansas in 2008 to pursue my MBA.
We married in 2010 and our mutual love of travel allowed us to start exploring the beautiful world we live in.
When did you start blogging?
Our travel blog started out in early 2012 following our late honeymoon in Australia (Christmas 2011). We initially named our blog “Tourist Guide Central” and looking back on this, “What on earth were we thinking?” I think we soon realized that this sounded way too corporate and we needed something a little more personal. In June 2013, we devoted our attention to rebranding and established “A Brit and A Southerner”. To this day, we are delighted to have made the switch and have no regrets at all!
What made you start a travel blog?
It all started out in 2012 as a way to share our travel stories with friends and family and also as a way to keep a journal of our travels. After memorable trips to England in 2010 and Australia in 2011, we well and truly had the travel bug! But we knew nothing about travel blogging.
After a few months of just writing for ourselves, we heard about Google Analytics and soon noticed that we had folks from all corners of the globe checking out our website. Why would anyone be interested in what we were writing about! In hindsight, when I look back on those first few posts that I wrote, I cringe to think what people were thinking but clearly it wasn’t all that bad.
Looking at the list of visited destinations on your blog, it appears you’ve been to some incredible places. Do you have a favourite?
That’s the million-dollar question and honestly, it’s one of the toughest questions we are frequently asked! We both LOVE Iceland despite only spending three days there in the middle of winter. There is something mystically beautiful about the Icelandic landscape.
New Zealand is another “bucket-list” destination that we have recently visited and it was just as amazing as we envisioned. We cannot wait to go back and explore more, particularly the South Island as we spent a week road-tripping around the North Island.
Where did your love of travel come from?
Another great question! It may sound crazy but growing up in England, I always thought that I was the “odd one out” because I never got to go on a plane. I would always take holidays to English destinations such as Cornwall or the Isle of Wight and I would tell me parents that I was the only kid never to go on a plane. What I didn’t realize at the time is that I wasn’t the exception but perhaps those thoughts inspired me to travel.
Heather’s story is very similar as she would take trips to places like Destin, Florida every year but she was even older than myself before she stepped on a plane.
Has having a travel blog brought any exciting opportunities your way?
Way more than we could have ever imagined! We have been fortunate to work with a number of amazing travel brands, hotels and local CVB’s around the world. Travel blogging is not about getting “freebies” because it is a lot of work.
Anyone that thinks you can start a blog and immediately get free trips are completely delusional because you will start to reap the benefits over time as you work hard. Be patient and opportunities will come your way! It’s all about networking and showing brands how valuable you can be to them because travel blogging is an awesome medium for brands to advertise.
What one place that you haven’t visited yet, would you love to travel to?
There are a lot of places that we have yet to visit but would love to. If I had to name one, I would probably say South Africa. We haven’t been anywhere in Africa and I think this would be a great place to start. We would both love to take a safari through Kruger National Park and visiting Table Mountain is another iconic landmark that would be awesome.
What advice would you give to someone who is thinking about going travelling?
Stay open-minded and be prepared to get out of your comfort levels to really enjoy and experience a destination. Don’t allow anyone to tell you that traveling is too expensive or you don’t have enough time. We both have full-time jobs at a university and yet we are still able to travel as much as we do.
Our focus is on “Exploring the world one weekend at a time” but ultimately it’s personal preference. Be prepared to leave your home town and get out to explore this beautiful world!
What has been the best experience you’ve had while travelling?
Our best experience has been having the opportunity to travel the world together! We have both achieved the feat of visiting all 50 US states at the same time and we have both visited 27 countries around the world together. All of our travels have been as a couple and we wouldn’t want it any other way. Experiencing different cultures and gaining a greater appreciation for diverse societies has made us better people and certainly helps in our day to day lives.
What else do you enjoy?
Away from travel, Heather’s main passions are photography, history and sport while I love writing and of course, every sport you could imagine! When we travel, we love to experience all of our passions around the world. Any opportunity that I get to play golf around the world is awesome and Heather is always looking to find some unknown historical spot to capture a great story or photograph.
And finally, what do you have planned for this year?
After our epic round the world journey over Christmas and the New Year, we are in recovery mode right now! But 2017 is going to be another awesome year. We already have a couple of trips to Europe booked in February and October to England and Ireland.
We are also hoping to visit Canada a couple of times to explore their national parks as they are celebrating their 150th anniversary. Beyond that, we will let spontaneity take over and we will see where our travels take us!
Make sure you follow Chris and Heathers Journey. Follow them here -
Website: http://abritandasoutherner.com
Facebook: http://facebook.com/abritsoutherner
Twitter: http://twitter.com/abritsoutherner
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/heatherboothman
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/abritandasoutherner
Thanks to Chris and Heather for answering our questions.
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