First, welcome! We are so grateful you decided to check out our new website! Jackie and I are very excited to create a space for us to talk about our travel experiences and what we have learned. We also kept getting asked the same question every time we took a trip, how did you do it? So, we decided a blog and Instagram page (@chasing_ourcompass) would be a great place to start.
Second, a little more about us. On most nights, you’ll find Jac and I watching Grey’s Anatomy and eating dinner way-to-late because we have been at our various second jobs. She teachings dance 2x a week at an incredible local studio and has been ever since an injury stopped her from dancing herself. I am either traveling for work, I am in music equipment sales that keeps me on the road often, coaching basketball for a middle school AAU team, or doing consulting work on websites and blogs.
That’s the key, the side hustles, the extra work that people seem to have such a hard time “finding”. We both tapped into what we are good at, outside of our careers, and turned those passions into extra cash that allows us to travel the world. We also focused on eliminating all debt as quickly as possible. While we are still working at this, I have listened to multiple podcasts and audio books how to make our money go further, thus giving us room to plan our trips!
Third, our travel secrets. The “how”, if you will. There is a laundry list of things we do in order to hack our way to great trips. From budget flights & backpacking, to free walking tours and hostels. But we also like nice digs, really nice digs, and great food. So, we have times where we splurge intentionally to make the trip what we want it to. There will be multiple blogs based on these two contrasting things – how to keep things cheap while splurging for what’s important to you. Because traveling is only fun if you can enjoy the trip, not just stay in cheap spots and eat sidewalk sandwiches the whole time.
Lastly, our goal is to inspire you to travel more. To show you how two women with full-time careers, a wedding to plan (in Spain!), a house and dog, and realistic salaries can travel well and travel often. We believe there is a stigma around what it takes to get around the world and we want to show you how realistic it is.
Realistically, we have made some serious mistakes when traveling, just like most travelers. From waiting too long to book a train to paying far too much for a private room at a hostel. We have also had some of the most incredible experiences that have left us craving for more and more travel. We have some big thing’s ahead of us and we cannot wait to share the journey with you.
Cheers to Chasing Our Compass!
-Mandy and Jacki
