Couple who quit their 9-to-5 jobs to travel around the world share how they're doing it

Working a 9-to-5 job and having the same routine almost every day is not for everybody and that's what a couple from Melbourne realized about themselves. Brittany and Mitchell left their 9-to-5 jobs to travel around the world, according to 7News. Brittany used to work in retail management and Mitchell is a graphic designer. 

The couple is now traveling in their ninth country after being in Asia for the past few months. They are currently exploring Europe. Sharing about their experience in Asia, Brittany said that it gave them a different perspective. “It’s incredible not having to worry about mortgage payments and opened up a new perspective on living in Asia vs Australia," she said. According to them, Europe has been a lot more expensive than Asia and they already knew Switzerland would be costly so they only stayed there for a few days. 

She shared that in Asia, they budgeted $60 a day on food, accommodation and activities. Brittany said, “We try and set budgets according to where we are - we have cut out as much alcohol as possible and will try and opt for supermarket shopping, so we are only eating out once a day if possible." She added that there is a difference between vacation and traveling. "We are experiencing similar things but have to give up some things like ordering cocktails and eating out every meal like we’ve done on smaller trips in the past," she said.

The two met in high school and started dating each other when they turned 18. She now owns a cake business called @cakedmemelbourne on Instagram. Meanwhile, her partner does freelance projects and recently worked with an international video gaming company. They also post videos about their travel adventures on different social media platforms like YouTube, TikTok and Instagram. Initially, they were only planning to travel for six months in 2020 to South and Central America. The trip got postponed because of the pandemic. Brittany told 7News, “We had been saving up for a while for that and due to being unable to travel for so long we had kept adding on places we wanted to visit, and the trip kept extending."

They were anyways going to quit so they decided to do that and travel for a longer period. The duo already had prior experience with managing social media pages so they tried to see if they could do that and earn money. Meanwhile, they also ended up having a few hotel collaborations. To save for the travel, the couple worked full-time and also took up freelancing opportunities. That's not all. They even got a housemate and it helped them to make their mortgage payments and save more. After this, they even put their house on rent and shifted in with Mitchell's parents for a few months to save more for their travel.

Talking about the sacrifices they made, Brittany shared, "This was the best decision as it gave us four solid months of no mortgage payments and full savings before we left, which we were lucky to be able to do." She also said that they sold a lot of furniture and belongings and the rest of the things they left in storage at Mitchell's parent's house. Despite traveling for some time, the couple does miss some things from home. She said, "I miss my hair straightener for sure! I always feel like my hair is messy without it but it’s too bulky to carry. We both miss having more of a range of clothes to pick from."

Another thing they miss the most is the Australian food. She shared, "We miss Bega Peanut butter, Vegemite, (chicken) parma, Shapes and honestly just home-cooked meals. We do cook overseas when we have kitchens, but the supermarkets just aren’t the same.” However, the couple wants to travel for one-and-a-half years full-time and hopes to monetize their social media platforms, get more collaborations and continue working on it once they are back in Australia. 

Next on their list is the US, and also Central and South America. Their advice to people who want to travel is to save up much as possible before leaving and work out how much budget they want to spend. “Research into other ways of earning money while you’re away, there are so many options with the power of the internet. We wish we’d started on YouTube earlier as that’s the easiest way to earn a bit of extra on the side,” Brittany shared. 

You can follow Brittney and Mitchell on Instagram and TikTok for more content on travel.