Guest of the Week: Jacob and Frida Ode, adventurers

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Only 27 and 28 years old, Jacob and Frida Ode have already travelled extensively in Asia and spent a year in New Zealand. They have also worked for long periods as ski and diving instructors in different parts of the world. Right now, the couple is planning a brand new project unlike anything they've done before. They will be travelling around the world for 2-3 years in a van, which they are furnishing to live in.

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We asked the adventurous couple some curious questions, and if you want to follow them on their upcoming trip, you can do so on their blog. Everyday Explorers.

Can you tell us a bit about yourselves?

Jacob: When I was growing up, I travelled around Europe with my family in a camper van or in a regular car, camping. We would sit at home at the beginning of the summer and see that the weather would be bad the following week. Then we would pack the car and the next day we would leave. Travelling was fun and simple.

Since leaving high school (it's been a while now) I've been travelling, studying and working in different parts of the world. I studied and freelanced as a photographer and retoucher for a while (still do, but not as much), but in recent years I have switched more to skiing and diving instructor.

For a while I did what all young adults in Sweden do, I went to Norway and earned money. Spent a few months at McDonald's, it wasn't the most fun but it was educational. It is so far the only job I have had that is not the same as my interest.

Frida: Travelling is my life. I have a completely different background than Jacob, I have never travelled with my family but first travelled abroad when I was 21 years old and then on business. But it hasn't affected my interest in travelling, I love it and I really felt like I "came home" when I took the plunge, left everything behind and lived my dream by travelling all by myself to the other side of the world at the age of 23.

I have my roots in the Örebro area and have a background as a project manager and have worked with various entrepreneurship projects. Since I started travelling, we have been trained as ski and diving instructors to be able to work anywhere around the world and that is what I work with now in the periods when I work, which is quite rare.

Both of us are very interested in health. We exercise daily, even when travelling, and prefer to be outdoors in nature. We love good food and have both been living as vegans for a couple of years and one of the highlights when travelling is exploring the local food culture.

You are young, but already have a lot of travelling experience. Can you tell us briefly about your previous travels?

Since we met 5 years ago we have been travelling non-stop with seasonal jobs along the way. We have spent a year in New Zealand, cycled 500 kilometres in China and Vietnam, hiking for a month in Nepal and backpacking in Southeast Asia and India.

We started travelling together in New Zealand. Frida had gone there herself to stay for a year, I (Jacob) came there to travel for a month. We started travelling together and soon realised that we didn't plan to stop. Via a short visit to Australia we travelled to Southeast Asia with Indonesia as our first stop. We had no plans and had never been there before. We travelled and said we would continue until we felt satisfied or the money ran out. After a year and a half of travelling, it was time to go to Sweden.

Since then, we have worked two seasons as a ski instructor in Norway, a ski season in Switzerland, a diving season in New Zealand and lots of travelling in between.

Your blog says that you have cracked the code on how to live on the move and earn money on the road. Can you reveal that code?

Haha, it's not really possible in such a short text, but we'll explain some parts briefly. There are many guides on how to save money, earn more, book cheap flights. We have several of these guides on our blog, but for it to work, something more is needed.

For the most part, it consists of ideas and basic concepts. We target the Swedish market and for us it is so incredibly easy to travel a lot, we get visas easily, we have a strong currency and a good reputation around the world. We have all the prerequisites for living on the move.

One of our basic concepts is "There are only priorities". It is about prioritising what you want, but above all taking responsibility for your priorities and their consequences. There are so many people who say "I wish I could travel more BUT..." What they are really saying is "it would be nice to travel more but I prioritise instead...".

It could be that they prioritise the security of a permanent job, a nice house, children etc. Then they use these as excuses for not being able to travel and they claim we are "lucky" instead of facing the consequences of their priorities and decisions. I don't mean that these things are bad, that the consequences of the priorities are bad or that we will never change our priorities but at the end of the day it is each person's priorities. You always have a choice.

As for money, you need it to travel, no question about it. Here, too, we have a basic concept that we often stick to. First, we have chosen to educate ourselves in jobs that you can travel with and work in different countries. Then we choose to work in countries with good salaries, such as Sweden, Norway, Switzerland and Australia, and then we travel to cheap countries, such as Nepal, China and South-East Asia. We couldn't have travelled this much if we were in Europe or North America.

Now you are planning perhaps the most exciting trip yet. Tell us about it!

We will drive a car around the world! 1 car, 1 journey, 5 continents. We leave in the summer and drive eastwards through Asia. We'll stop in Southeast Asia and work for a season as diving instructors. From there we ship the car to Canada to work as ski instructors before driving through the USA to Central America for more diving. Then we drive around South America before shipping over to South Africa. From there we drive north back to Sweden. We plan for the journey to take between 2-3 years!

We felt that we have travelled a lot and wanted to do something new and unique. Many people have backpacked in Thailand but not as many have done this kind of road trip.

You will be travelling in a van which you will convert to live in. Tell us about the construction!

We have bought a VW Caravelle which we are currently decorating. We build everything ourselves, both to keep costs down but also because it is so much fun. We have spent days on Pinterest and in forums and blogs to find inspiration and smart solutions. So much is already done and it has been great with all the tips and advice we got through it, but there are still plenty of mistakes we have made!

The good thing today is that you don't have to know everything yourself. None of us know anything about cars, we can fill up and change tyres. We have no experience in woodcarving or car interior construction apart from what we learnt in woodwork at school and I built many huts when I was little. That's the foundation we went into the project with.

But we have big dreams and dare to invest. We have been treated so incredibly well by everyone. We have a friend who knows about cars who helps us with that, another friend who knows about building, a third who knows about electricity, someone who wants to help us sew curtains, etc. We have received a lot of the building materials as well, many people want to support an idea like this.

You will be travelling through countries that may be perceived as unsafe and living in a car. How do you think about risks and safety?

There are two sides to the coin. You have to know that the world is not as horrible and scary as many people think. Happy people, safety and everyday life are not newsworthy and we don't see that here in Sweden.

Of course, we will not be naive and go to dangerous areas or war zones. When we drive in Turkey, we stay away from the border with Syria etc. But almost all people want to do good and help. Everyone who has travelled through Iran says it is one of their favourite countries, but people who have never been there have a completely different view. When we cycled around Vietnam, we were often invited for dinner and to stay with families. Many people ask us how we dared.

What are the biggest challenges before travelling and what do you have to fix before you leave?

The biggest challenge at the moment is China: in many countries you can drive with an international driving licence, but it is not accepted in China and you also need a guide to drive through the country. This means that there is an enormous amount of bureaucracy but also very expensive. With the quotes we've received now for travelling through, we can't afford it. We try to look at different possibilities to solve it but it is difficult to get around China, it is a huge country plus it is a very exciting country that we would like to travel more in.

The car is getting ready. It is insulated and almost all the interior is built, we still have a shelf to build and solar panels to install. We have had the car serviced and there is nothing we need to do with it.

Finally, a question we ask everyone we interview: What is your dream destination?

So incredibly hard to say! We usually stick to the cliché phrase that the journey is the goal, not the destination. So now during the road trip, it's the whole thing that's exhilarating but if we have to say one place, it's to come back to. China. We were there for 3 months last year and loved it, everything from the people to the food and nature. That is why we are working so hard on that particular visa, we really want to go there.

But we love diving and would love to go to Raja Ampat in Indonesia, which is considered one of the best diving spots in the world. Maybe we can get a job there someday!

Thank you Jacob and Frida Ode, for sharing your experiences and thoughts!

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