Living The Dream: Be The Author Of Your Own Story

We met videographers Tawny & Chris first in Athens, Greece and then again when I travelled for a week with them in Sri Lanka. This is a real on-the-go couple that has no boundaries. If they want to be home they’ll be home. If they want to travel they’ll travel. They are the author of their own story. They are Living The Dream.

Chris & Tawny

What was the first country you visited? Who with and why did you choose it?

Tawny: The first country I ever visited (aside from soccer tournaments across the border in Canada) was Martinique. Believe it or not, I never really left the country until I was in college. My university offered its students the chance to study abroad for the month of January. As I was double majoring in French, I decided to take a month-long course in the French Antilles. I spent thirty days on the island taking French classes, stuffing my face with pain au chocolat, and studying on the pristine beaches. It was heaven.

Chris: The first time I left the country I was two, and it was to Canada. Of course, I had been to Mexico and New Zealand by the time I was 12 and by 16 I got left behind in Guatemala. My father and I were studying Spanish in the town of Xela, Guatemala. He got me all set up with a home-stay program, made sure I knew the lay of the land, and then left me in a market in the center of the city. His plan was to make me more self reliant and to encourage a life of adventure. Clearly it worked.

When did you start a travel lifestyle? What inspired that change?

Tawny: I was enamored with traveling from an early age. I would pour over my history and geography books, imagining what it would be like to walk under the Eiffel Tower or see the pyramids in real life. It never really occurred to me at the time that I COULD see those places. When Chris and I graduated, we knew we wanted to travel but we also had to make money. So, we packed up our things and moved to South Korea to teach English. We thought we would only be there for six months but we ended up falling in love with the country and stayed for over two years.

Do you have a base you travel from? Or is it continuous travel? And why do you choose that style?

For the past year, we've set up shop in lovely Tacoma, Washington. We ended up getting an apartment a few months after our wedding and we absolutely love it. For us, having a home base makes our travel more meaningful. We're able to fully embrace each destination while knowing that our home is waiting for us. We used to think that we could travel indefinitely but now we're finding that we enjoy not having to carry everything we own on our backs or doing laundry in bathtubs. It was a transition that we never expected.

How do you fund your travel lifestyle? Is it something you do when travelling or are you a saver?

We fund our travels a number of ways. Most our income is from brand partnerships. We'll also write articles and produce videos for different media outlets. Like most travel bloggers, we've had to get creative. We're very fortunate in that a substantial amount of our travel is covered by our partners, but we'll save up for a true vacation (no laptops, social media, or blogging related work allowed) to a place we've always wanted to visit.

If you could tell yourself one tip before you started your travel lifestyle, what would it be?

Don't be afraid to fail. There are so many opportunities in the world, to meet new people, to explore, to master a new skill. In the beginning we both had some apprehension of looking foolish or failing. The truth is, you can choose the safest life in the world with all the security you could want and still fail at it. You might as well run the risk of failing at something you love. And to be honest, a little failure isn't that bad. The rewards of a life well lived, and hard traveled, are so great.

What does "Living The Dream" mean to you?

For us, living the dream means waking up and setting your own course. Being free to choose your challenges and being the author of your own story.

You can find Chris & Tawny here -

Website: Captain & Clark

Twitter:  @CaptainandClark

Chris and Tawny are an adventurous newlywed couple that met on Kilimanjaro, courted in South Korea, and got engaged at the Taj Mahal.