Time to Roam Magazine Issue 9 - June/July 2014 | Page 41

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on the roam travel
PARIS BOSCH recently caught up with
the couple to find out what brought
them together and how they manage
to combine work with travel while still
maintaining a good relationship.
Jane: I first met Michael at a New Year’s
Eve Party, when he approached a group of
friends and I and asked if we were teachers
or nurses. Even though I was working as a
nurse at the time, a friend of mine decided
that was the wrong question to ask and so told
Michael that I was a photographer. Of course,
Michael was working as a photographer, so
his eyes lit up and it all went from there.
I think we knew we were made for each
other. We both have a love of travel that
has existed from childhood and we both
went on a lot of caravanning holidays as
kids. But I think my passion for travel really
took off when I left behind my day job and
hit the road with Michael. That was 14 years
ago now, and we’ve never looked back.
One of the things I love most about what
we do is being in different places all the time.
Simple things, like having a different place
to go for a run in the morning or finding new
coffee shops. It’s the exploration. Travelling

a lot, Mike and I have made it an everyday
motto to look at the place that we’re in through
travel eyes, rather than normal “lifestyle”
eyes. We’re always refreshing our curiosity.
Even though some people think we’re nuts,
we enjoy being together all the time, which is
one of the things that makes life on the road a
lot easier. There’s never any rush to get home
when we travel, because there’s no one we have
to rush home to. Mike is always just there, which
means it’s easy to add a couple of days onto
a trip – it’s like being on holiday all the time.
But it’s not always smooth sailing. One thing
I’ve learnt about travelling with another person
is that it’s important to be aware of each other’s
interests. Mike is a very nature-oriented person,
so he’ll always want to go bushwalking, whereas
I like seeing the towns and the communities and
the cultural stuff. Sometimes, you just have to
give in a bit and do what the other person likes.
But for us, it’s always about coming back to
knowing that we want to travel together. When
we’re sending each other mad, we need to
remind ourselves that we do actually want to do
this and that the lifestyle is special, so enjoy it.
Another pitfall is that we’re often away for
special occasions and social events. We’re
also away from family a lot, but with modern

technologies like mobiles, Facebook and emails
it’s quite easy to keep in touch. Sometimes
when we housesit, my mum will come over, or
Mike’s mum will come and stay with us for the
weekend, so it’s like a holiday for them too.
It’s not always easy, but I think Michael and
I are very lucky to have found something that
we love to do and have been able to monetise
it. There’s always excuses for why you can’t do
something, like work and other commitments,
but one thing I’ve found is that the more
you do what you love, the better life gets.
Michael: Jane and I first met when I was
working as a freelance photographer for a
couple of newspapers in Perth. We were both
at a New Year’s Eve party and even though she
was working as a nurse at the time, she told me
she was a photographer as well, which is what
got the interest going. Later of course, I found
out she wasn’t a photographer, but I’d lied about
my age so it was all pretty even in the end.
One thing we did have in common though
was our love of travel. I think what we’re doing
now emerged from that mutual passion,
as we both had this great desire to go
travelling everywhere and anywhere and
> continued on page 42

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Issue 09 Jun/Jul 2014

41