Sofie from Wonderful Wanderings has a full time job. She is not Living The Dream yet, but she is working towards it and travels whenever she get’s the chance. We hope this inspires you to keep moving forward. 

Living The Dream: You Got To Choose It

Living The Dream

Sofie Couwenbergh

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

I was only two or something like that when I went abroad for the first time. I believe my parents took me to France. No choice in there. 

The first time I went abroad by myself was to Barcelona with a friend from high school when I was 18. I actually don't remember why we chose Barcelona. I guess it's one of those typical city trip destinations that automatically come to mind when planning something in Europe.

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

I don't think I can pinpoint this down to one specific moment as I've never embarked on a 'round the world trip or sold everything to become nomadic. 

Travel is just something that was always there growing up and ever since I organized that first trip without my parents, I've been hooked and trying to travel as much as possible.

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

I share an apartment with Boyfriend in Belgium, work a full time job and try to take dance classes at the same school in Brussels whenever I'm not traveling.

I'd love to travel more and for longer periods of time, but I don't know if continuous travel would be something for me. Should I ever give it a try, I would definitely opt for slow travel. I don't mind switching hotels every two nights when we're on a two-week road trip, but I think it would get tiring if I'd do that for  more than a month.

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

As I work a full time job it's not that hard for me to save money for travel. I don't have an enormous paycheck at all, but I try not to spend any money on unnecessary things when I'm not traveling. I don't eat out a lot, I don't go shopping a lot and with the exception of real cola and the likes we always buy cheap brands when we do our groceries.

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

Prioritize. For most people travel is as possible as they want it to be. When you say that you don't have the time or money to travel, that usually means that you do have the time and money, you just prefer to spend it on other things.

I could travel every weekend. If I'd do that for a year I could cover a very large part of Belgium. I don't travel every weekend, though, as I also want to work on the blog a lot and often take dance classes on Sundays. It's all about choices. 

What does "Living The Dream" mean to you?

I think that for me it means living the lifestyle you want to live. It might not be perfect just yet, but in essence it's the way you want it to be. It's when you're not thinking of a way out anymore. It's when you feel you're where you need to be.

I'm not there yet, but I'm working towards it.

You can find Sofie here - 

Website: Wonderful Wanderings

Twitter: @WondWand

Hi! I’m Sofie and I’m here to show you how to travel the world your way.

Reader Comments...

"I respond to every comment by direct private email. I look forward to your feedback" -

"When you say that you don't have the time or money to travel, that usually means that you do have the time and money, you just prefer to spend it on other things." Couldn't agree more, Sofie! It's all about choices, as you say. Good luck with pursuing your travel and life dreams!

Jessica - Notes of Nomads Feb 22nd, 2014

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