Couple who travel the world full time reveal their backpacking tips

Millennial couple who travel the world full-time reveal how they’ve funded their visits to 25 countries by teaching English online, never staying in hotels and avoiding the party scene

• Jack Goodwin-Jones, 26, and Becky O’Connell, 25, met at university in Sheffield
• Couple now travel full time and share stories of their adventures on Instagram
• Manage to save money by saving on meals out and skipping drinks with friends 
• Call ‘partying’ the main budget killer, and say that they rarely treat themselves
• Say they love their travelling life, but that they do end up missing family at home 

A British couple that travel the world full-time posting envy-inducing photos on their Instagram account have revealed the secrets of their incredible lifestyle.

Jack Goodwin-Jones, 26, and Becky O’Connell, 25, met when they were studying at Sheffield Hallam University. 

The twosome run @twotickets.toanywhere, an Instagram page where they detail their amazing lives of travel for their 25,000 followers – as they traverse the globe visiting exotic locations. 

They managed to save their funds for their adventures by saving on meals out, skipping drinks with friends and call partying abroad ‘the number one budget killer’.   

Jack Goodwin-Jones, 26, and Becky O’Connell, 25, exploring Chiang Dao, Thailand, in May 2019. They share their adventures with 25,000 followers on Instagram 

A love nest: The couple visited Bali in November 2018, snapping this adorable picture for their Instagram account 

The young couple admit they are ‘loving life’ as they travel the world, but say that low points can include missing their family (pictured here in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, March 2019)

The couple, who are now full-time travellers, have visited an average of 6.8 countries per year since graduating university (pictured here in Lisbon, Portugal in July 2018) 

Despite meeting in the rainy northern city of Sheffield, the young couple had dreams of escaping the 9-5 lifestyle that most graduates are faced with after university and traveling to more colourful locations than the steel city. 

Their first holiday was to Cyprus in June 2014, and after series of mini-breaks they realised how much they love exploring places together.

Now their Instagram account is filled with wanderlust photos from Cambodia, Australia, Thailand, Spain, Slovakia, Singapore and many more.

And whilst other young graduates are chained to their office desk, Jack and Becky have visited a staggering 34 countries together – an average of 6.8 per year. 

Jack and Becky, pictured here in March 2019, share their adventures with 25,000 followers on Instagram 

Jack explains that living the travelling lifestyle gives them a freedom that keeps their minds ‘clear and happy’ (pictured in Chiang Mai, Thailand in February 2019) 

After graduating the loved up pair were not keen to get a 9-5 job, and set off travelling the world instead (pictured in Chiang Mai, Thaliand, February 2019)

Jack explains: ‘Honestly, we never like to say this to people as it sounds like we’re bragging, but we love our life. 

‘Travelling every day, not really having a schedule and being free to wake up when we want (don’t be fooled, this is often 5am) gives us a massive sense of freedom.

‘No 9-5 job could ever give us this. The freedom we have helps us to keep our minds clear and happy, we decide our own routine.’

Revealing how they were able to fund their adventures, Jack said: ‘Before we started travelling, we obviously saved a fair amount of money.

Becky, pictured here in Chiang Mai, Thaliand, February 2019, admitted that the hardest part of travelling was missing her family 

Jack and Becky have now visited 34 different countries together (pictured) larking around in Penang, Malaysia, in March 2019) 

After travelling around Asia and Australia for six months, the pair went interailing in Europe during the summer of 2018 (pictured here in Budapest in August 2018)

The couple managed to save money by never going out for expensive meals, and only going out for drinks once or twice a year (pictured in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, March 2019)

For a full year, the couple managed to live purely from their savings, and travelled through Asia, Australia and Europe (pictured in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, March 2019)

‘We did this by never going out for expensive meals and only going out drinking with our friends two times in an entire year. Having full time jobs and living like this, it was easy for us to save the money.

‘So for one year of full-time travel we lived off our savings.

‘Even though we’d have loved to, when we were living off our savings, we never stayed in 5 star hotels (or any hotels really, unless the price was right), instead choosing guesthouses and homestays. They’re a fraction of the price, always clean, private and usually come with good breakfast.

‘After around the one year mark we realised that we needed to make some money if we wanted to stay travelling full-time.

The budget-conscious couple revealed they avoid staying in hotels, opting for homestays and cheaper guest houses (pictured in front of the famous Petronas Towers, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, March 2019)

Jack revealed that the couple love the freedom of the travelling lifestyle (pictured in Chiang Mai, Thaliand, February 2019)

Jack admitted the couple have a joint account from which they pay for all their travels together (pictured in Singapore in August 2018)

The couple help to fund their lifestyle by teaching English to Chinese children online for 12 hours a week each (pictured in Australia in 2017)

The couple say they’ve managed to visit home twice since they started their adventures in 2017, but revealed they rely on FaceTime to keep up to date with their families (pictured here in Prague, July 2018) 

Jack revealed that the couple often stay at ‘home stays’ while travelling, to save money. Staying with locals is often a fraction of the price of a hotel (pictured in at a homestay in Bali, May 2019)

‘This is when we looked into online teaching. Now, we teach English to Chinese children online for 12 hours a week each.

‘This completely pays for us to travel, albeit at a slower pace than we used to.

‘Online teaching isn’t the only option though. There are ton of jobs that you can do remotely, we’ve met everything from wedding planners to health consultants who travel and work from their laptop!’

However, the twosome admit to having to be very careful with their budget, and confess that there are days when not everything is magical.

The twosome admit they’re very careful with their money in order to sustain their travelling lifestyle (pictured in Singapore, August 2018)

Jack and Becky have returned to Malaysia several times during their travels, often posting photographs of visits to temples on their Instagram account 

Jack revealed that the couple love travelling every day, not having a schedule and being free to wake up whenever they wanted (pictured together in Penang, Malaysia, in March 2019)

The couple, pictured here in Bali, admit they have to be sensible with their money and rarely treat themselves

While their Instagram feed may look like the picture-perfect life, the couple say they use their Instagram stories to speak more candidly about travelling (pictured here in Malaysia, March 2019) 

The couple, who met at university in Sheffield had been together for five years before they started travelling together (pictured in front of the famous Petronas Towers, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, March 2019)

The young travellers admitted they work on their travel content every day, and called it ‘more than a full time job’ 

Whilst their social media feed may look like one incredible sunset after another, the couple are refreshingly honest on their Instagram stories and speak honestly about what life is really like behind the glamorous photos.

Countries that Jack and Becky have travelled to 

October 2017 – Indonesia

November 2017 – Northern Thailand

December -2017 – Cambodia

January 2018 – Australia

February 2018 -Malaysia & Southern Thailand

March/May 2018 – Australia

June 2018 – UK

July & August 2018 (Inter-railing) – Portugal, Spain, Luxembourg, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Austria

August/September 2018 – Singapore & Malaysia

October/November 2018 – Indonesia

December 18/January 19 – UK

February 2019 – Northern Thailand

March/April 2019 – Malaysia

April 2019 (Current) – Bali, Indonesia

Jack explains: ‘Basically, to do what we do, you have to be sensible with your money.

‘You can’t treat yourself to everything you want, every day in your home country and the same applies when you’re travelling like we are.

‘We know people who had planned to travel for a long time and returned home within two months because they partied their money away. Partying is the number one budget killer, we promise you that.’

The couple openly admit that despite their picture-perfect appearance, not everything is always as it seems.

He adds: ‘People who look at our Instagram feed might assume that full time travelling is the perfect life and every day is full of fun and adventure.

‘The truth is, we only post the good times and our best shots to our Instagram feed itself.

‘Nobody wants to see our bad experiences documented in pictures and posted to our feed, nor do they want to see us sat on a bus waiting to cross a border or chilling in the airport looking tired at four in the morning.

He went on: ‘We still do share all of our most real candid moments, good or bad, but we reserve those for our Instagram stories where we can show it in a video and explain what’s happening in our day to day life.

The couple, pictured here in Bali in May 2019, say they’re all about being ‘real and relatable’, but say it’s difficult to be away from friends and family for a long time 

The couple admitted that despite their seemingly  ‘perfect’ life, they still had down days (pictured here in Bali in May 2019)  

Jack and Becky run an Instagram page @twotickets.toanywhere as well as teaching English online to fund their lifestyle (pictured in Langkawi, Malaysia, March 2019) 

Jack and Becky, who have been in a relationship for five years before their adventure, admitted travelling together was ‘such a big commitment’

‘We’re all about staying real and relatable. It’s clear to most that we’re far from the ‘perfect’ Instagram couple – there’s enough of those already. We’re just here to enjoy ourselves, be real and hopefully make people laugh.’

‘I love what we do, but it’s still difficult being away from family and friends for long periods of time,’ adds Becky.

‘We’ve managed to visit home twice since we’ve been away but it would obviously be nice to see family more often. Face time is great though!’ 

Jack and Becky’s top travel tips for other couples  

– It’s probably not the best idea to travel full time with somebody you’ve not been with for too long. We were together for 5 years before we did it. It’s such a big commitment and if you don’t know all of your own and your partner’s quirks then you might very quickly start to get on each other’s nerves.

– It’s important to know that you’re comfortable with each other, the travel life throws all kinds of unexpected twists and turns at you. You need to be able to stay calm and deal with it.

– Set your boundaries before you travel. What’s your budget? How much are you comfortable spending on accommodation etc. Will you be sharing all your money or keeping it separate? We have a joint account that we pay for all of our travels with. It works for us but not for everyone.

– Don’t think it’s easy to just become a travel blogger/Instagrammer. It’s not only very hard (especially if you have no previous experience) but also takes up a lot of time. We work every day on our photography and editing skills, blog writing, replying to people on Instagram to help with their own travelling. Being a content creator takes up more time than a full-time job. But at the end of the day, we enjoy it and do it on our own terms!

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