After 15 years of working in advertising and marketing, Chanel and Steve needed a change. Sure, their lives in Johannesburg, South Africa were comfortable, but they felt like the ease of it all was aging them prematurely. That’s when they decided to give it all up and travel the world. The two work as volunteers in different places around the globe, but it’s not all as luxurious and fantastical as you might thing. Here’s a recent excerpt from their blog, which attempts to show readers the real side of volunteer travel: > Browsing through our blog posts and Instagram feed, it seems like we’re having the time of our lives. And don’t get me wrong – we are. It’s bloody amazing. But it’s not all ice creams in the sun and pretty landscapes. Noooooo. So far, I think we’ve tallied 135 toilets scrubbed, 250 kilos of cow dung spread, 2 tons of rocks shoveled, 60 meters of pathway laid, 57 beds made, and I cannot even remember how many wine glasses we’ve polished. It sounds like a lot of work, but after you see their photos below, you’re totally going to understand why they do it.
0km // Johannesburg // South Africa Nestled in the heart of the #Sandton CBD, the 6-meter-tall #NelsonMandela statue towers over the piazza. Paying tribute to the greatest activist #SouthAfrica has ever seen, the statue brings in crowds 24/7/365. Arguably, still the most photographed guy in the country. Follow our story >> link to blog in profile. #HFFH_home A photo posted by How Far From Home (@howfarfromhome) on Feb 1, 2015 at 8:52pm PST
8366km // Salzburg // Austria When we’re not eating Ferrero’s golden balls, we’re touching a giant one in Salzburg’s Domplatz. Follow our story >> link to blog in profile. #HFFH_travels A photo posted by How Far From Home (@howfarfromhome) on Mar 20, 2015 at 11:46pm PDT
21 722km // Hallstatt // Austria From chilly Nordic summers to the heat of Central Europe. Hello Hallstatt! We have traveled over 20 000km since we left @southafrica. Here’s to the next 20 000! Follow our story >> link to blog in profile. #HFFH_travels A photo posted by How Far From Home (@howfarfromhome) on Jul 23, 2015 at 11:42am PDT
25 071km // Athens // Greece After previously shooting parliament in Stockholm and Vienna, we found the buildings near #SyntagmaSquare in Athens to be the some of the most striking. Thank you Greece! Next stop > Italia ??? Follow our story >> link to blog in profile. #HFFH_travels A photo posted by How Far From Home (@howfarfromhome) on Sep 1, 2015 at 5:44am PDT
24 800km // Somewhere in the Mediterranean // Greece After 5 magical days sailing through the Greek Isles with our friends @LiveBioEveryday, we are back! This is the view of the Aegean Sea, as seen from our beautiful boat, Naziara. Follow our story >> link to blog in profile. #HFFH_travels A photo posted by How Far From Home (@howfarfromhome) on Aug 12, 2015 at 4:03am PDT
24 390m // Poros // Greece We’ve arrived in gorgeous Greece! And it couldn’t be more beautiful. The view you see in front of @ChanelCartell is what we’ll be looking at for the next 3 weeks, whilst we explore the scintillating island of Poros, staying with our friends from @LiveBioEveryday. Expect plenty of sunshine (and maybe some it’s-too-hot-to-wear-clothes nudity) coming from us. Follow our story >> link to blog in profile. #HFFH_travels A photo posted by How Far From Home (@howfarfromhome) on Jul 28, 2015 at 3:58pm PDT
21 722km // Hallstatt // Austria If you’re looking for a charming breakaway from reality, this little town should be added to your travel plans immediately. Follow our story >> link to blog in profile. #HFFH_travels A photo posted by How Far From Home (@howfarfromhome) on Jul 25, 2015 at 2:40am PDT
19 813km // Stockholm // Sweden Besides being a gorgeous city, Stockholm has many green lungs scattered throughout it, and when the days are as good as these, we visit them! Follow our story >> link to blog in profile. #HFFH_travels A photo posted by How Far From Home (@howfarfromhome) on Jul 21, 2015 at 8:48am PDT
24 830km // Hydra // Greece Maybe the water looked so good that it tempted @stevodirnberger to finally jump off something higher than his own bed. This is what the locals do in #Hydra, #Greece. Follow our story >> link to blog in profile. #HFFH_travels A photo posted by How Far From Home (@howfarfromhome) on Aug 19, 2015 at 1:31pm PDT
24 800km // Somewhere in the Mediterranean // Greece After 5 magical days sailing through the Greek Isles with our friends @LiveBioEveryday, we are back! This is the view of the Aegean Sea, as seen from our beautiful boat, Naziara. Follow our story >> link to blog in profile. #HFFH_travels A photo posted by How Far From Home (@howfarfromhome) on Aug 12, 2015 at 4:03am PDT
19 805km // Stockholm // Sweden Welcome to Stockholm! We thought the old town, known as Gamla Stan, was a good place to start and we weren’t disappointed. This is one of the guards watching over the Royal Palace. We almost got a smile out of him. Follow our story >> link to blog in profile. #HFFH_travels A photo posted by How Far From Home (@howfarfromhome) on Jul 19, 2015 at 12:45am PDT
18 972km // Tännforsen // Sweden One of the popular stops along the Panoramavägen between Östersund and Trondheim is the Tännforsen Vattenfall. We had to see it for ourselves and are sure glad we did. To see some of the other sightings on this route, visit panoramaroute.com. Follow our story >> link to blog in profile. #HFFH_travels A photo posted by How Far From Home (@howfarfromhome) on Jul 13, 2015 at 7:38am PDT
17 456km // Copenhagen // Denmark Time to say goodbye to the sunshine, bicycles, pastries and buzz. Thank you Copenhagen, you were amazing and will see us again. Next stop > Stockholm Follow our story >> link to blog in profile. #HFFH_travels #HFFH_takesover #DITakeOver A photo posted by How Far From Home (@howfarfromhome) on Jun 12, 2015 at 4:35am PDT
24 829km // Hydra // Greece After docking in one of the smallest and busiest harbours, we explored one of the most beautiful islands we had ever seen. A short stroll along cobbled pathways to end up here. Friends, say hello to Hydra. Follow our story >> link to blog in profile. #HFFH_travels A photo posted by How Far From Home (@howfarfromhome) on Aug 14, 2015 at 2:03pm PDT
13 317km // North Cape // Norway The final destination of our road trip and the reason we left Alta was this – 71 degrees North, the North Cape and the most northern tip of Europe. Good guess @lisee_mariee and thank you @stefandahlqvist for this shot. Follow our story >> link to blog in profile. #HFFH_travels A photo posted by How Far From Home (@howfarfromhome) on Jun 1, 2015 at 2:59pm PDT
24 744km // Poros // Greece Walking on water was not on @StevoDirnberger’s CV, but Poros has some magical secrets. We are lucky enough to be going sailing through the Greek Isles with the @LiveBioEveryday team tomorrow. We’ll be out of contact for the next few days ticking off another item off our #HFFH_wanderlist. Let us know what you’re up to and maybe we can meet up? #HFFH_travels A photo posted by How Far From Home (@howfarfromhome) on Aug 5, 2015 at 11:17pm PDT
13 070km // Alta // Norway We came to the top of Norway to work with huskies and to experience the midnight sun. This shot was taken shortly after 12am, and we get to cross off another item from the #HFFH_Wanderlist! Just remember: we take suggestions from our community of what we should add to our Wanderlist (our version of a bucket list), so if you know of a really awesome place, or want to challenge us to do something, drop a comment here, or on our blog. Thanks for all the support! Follow our story >> link to blog in profile. #HFFH_travels A photo posted by How Far From Home (@howfarfromhome) on May 28, 2015 at 1:36pm PDT
15 868km // Lærdal // Norway This is what the longest road-tunnel in the world looks like when you get to the halfway point. At a whopping 24.5km long, the Lærdal Tunnel had us, quite literally, stopping in our tracks. Follow our story >> link to blog in profile. #HFFH_travels #DITakeOver #HFFH_takesover A photo posted by How Far From Home (@howfarfromhome) on Jun 8, 2015 at 12:15pm PDT
13 268km // Porsanger Kommun // Norway Truly breathtaking scenery on our way up north. We just had to stop here and take it all in. Thanks for all the guesses about our final destination. All will be revealed soon. Follow our story >> link to blog in profile. #HFFH_travels A photo posted by How Far From Home (@howfarfromhome) on May 31, 2015 at 11:15am PDT
13 012km // Alta // Norway As we are staying here for a month, our distance number won’t change, but there is lots to show you of this incredible place. Alta lies in the county of Finnmark, at the top of Norway and has some of the most dramatic landscapes we have ever seen. Follow our story >> link to blog in profile. #HFFH_travels A photo posted by How Far From Home (@howfarfromhome) on May 4, 2015 at 12:31pm PDT
9217km // St. Gilgen am Wolfgangsee // Austria Ok. We lied yesterday. We probably won’t get a better backdrop than THIS. Follow our story >> link to blog in profile. #HFFH_travels A photo posted by How Far From Home (@howfarfromhome) on Apr 17, 2015 at 12:29am PDT
8365km // Salzburg // Austria In the Summer, the legendary Mirabell Gardens are a horticultural masterpiece. In Spring, they don’t quite resemble that. We will come back to see them in full bloom. Follow our story >> link to blog in profile. #HFFH_travels A photo posted by How Far From Home (@howfarfromhome) on Mar 18, 2015 at 1:18am PDT
0km // Johannesburg // South Africa The day has come. Our year-long adventure is about to kick off. We have quit our jobs, sold our stuff and packed our lives up into 4 bags (one of them being a tiny backpack mostly filled with camera gear – what else do we need!?) Next stop Abu Dhabi. Follow our story >> link to blog in profile. #HFFH_travels A photo posted by How Far From Home (@howfarfromhome) on Mar 2, 2015 at 3:46am PST
9066km // Burghausen // Germany Standing on the inside of the fortified wall of the longest castle in Europe, over a kilometer long we regret not bringing our hiking boots. Follow our story >> link to blog in profile. #HFFH_travels #vsco #vscocam #landscape #artofvisuals #liveauthentic #exploringtheglobe #teamvl #peoplescreatives A photo posted by How Far From Home (@howfarfromhome) on Apr 7, 2015 at 10:25pm PDT