So, you want to travel forever and make money on the road? After giving you ideas on how to travel for free and how to make money while traveling. Now I’m talking to people who are doing just that! Maybe they can inspire you to also make your dreams of a life of travel a reality?
Interview with a traveling Yoga Teacher and Masseuse
I recently caught up with Kach to ask her about her lifestyle working on the road as a traveling yoga teacher and masseuse.
Kach, from the Philippines and Jon from the UK, met in Laos after quitting the corporate life to travel. Now they have found a great way to work on the road to fund their travels as certified Tantra Yoga Teachers, Ayurveda Massage Therapists and TEFL Teachers. They have been traveling and working wherever and whenever they want since April 2013 and are currently in Arequipa, Peru where they work as Ayurveda Massage Therapists. You can check out more about their mobile yoga and massage business here http://www.omyogamassage.com/ or read about their adventures on the blog at http://twomonkeystravelgroup.com/
So you’re travelling the world and topping up your travel funds working as a tantric yoga teacher and a massage therapist! Sounds incredible – So what gave you the idea to do this and how did you make it happen?
Jon and I met while backpacking in Laos but we separated ways after 2 days as I continued my journey and he continued his! After 2 months of just keeping in touch online we decided to be together, that was when I had just finished my yoga retreat in Thailand. You might been wondering about what is Tantra Yoga – we’re doing the traditional one (not the sexual!) which is more like a Hatha Yoga.
After living in Vietnam together for 7 months, we travelled to India to become certified Yoga teachers then studied Ayurveda Massage therapy too! We just love receiving massage therapy for ourselves and studying Ayurveda is really interesting! We initially just wanted to do it for our self-practice but now our main source of income is from the Ayurveda Massage Therapy – it was quite scary when we brought all 5KG of Ayurvedic powders from India to Peru via UK!
Please describe your life in 3 words…
Exciting. Happy. Positive!
Being featured on a TV show in Peru!What do you like the best about your work?
I love the feeling you get from healing people and you’ll see it immediately with their glowing aura after the therapy!
Wow! Nice! So what has been the greatest challenge?
As a travelling Massage therapist, of course you need to have a massage bed but with Ayurveda – you need a different bed and oils aside from the herbal powders. We arrived in Peru almost broke and we decided to volunteer in a small town in Cuzco! Luckily, we met a Scottish girl with a folding massage bed we could borrow so we were sorted – one down! Another was that we needed a place to do the therapy, we couldn’t do it in the guest house as we were only volunteers so what we decided was to do a hotel service – the massage bed was pretty heavy so Jon decided to carry it with a wheelbarrow whenever I had massage clients!
What do you wish you had known before starting to work and travel like this?
Only that I wish I had known that all of these things were so achievable, because I would have started doing them all earlier! But I don’t regret taking the long way to get to this point, it’s all a journey at the end of the day.
You’ve seen and done so many things! Do you have one stand out highlight of your travels or a particular favourite destination?
This is the most difficult question but so far, I think I’m going to have to go with our recent trip through Patagonia de Chile. We hitch hiked down the Carretera Austral in trucks, pickups, flat beds, a giant freight liner and even empty buses and taxis! We loads of awesome people along the way and the incredible scenery is non-stop and breathtaking every second! We hiked for miles through the mountains when there were no vehicles stopping and set foot on our first glacier, so all in all, it was pretty awesome!
What do you miss the most about home and do you have any tips to deal with homesickness?
My grandmother’s cooking, that’s what I miss most! The thing is, I already lived abroad for almost 6 years (4 years as an Expat in the Middle East) and the last 2 years is with Jonathan, so I don’t really get homesick.
What is the most important lesson that life on the road has taught you?
The most important thing I’ve learned is to keep life simple. This goes for everything from belongings to people, because when you’re always on the move, you’re just going to give yourself more to carry, and complicated people are a different type of weight in themselves!
What about the future? Where do you see yourself in 5 years time?
After backpacking in Latin America and Oceania (maybe in the next 3 years), we plan to go back to Philippines and backpack to all the 81 provinces while looking for the perfect beach where we can build our Yoga and Ayurveda Resort! When we eventually settle down we want to live a life of simplistic luxury.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, what tips would you give for people wanting to follow in your footsteps?
First, know what you really want then when you finally decide to backpack long term as a lifestyle you need to invest in your skills and certifications before the trip, so you can work while on the road, whenever and wherever you want! Also, don’t forget to settle any issues before you go on a trip; anything from money issues to family or friends. Anything you ignore now will only end up dragging you back at some point and spoiling all your fun!
Wow, sounds like you two are really living the dream! Thanks so much for giving us an insight into your exciting life!
Global Gallivanting is still looking to interview people working abroad, if you are interested in being featured email [email protected]
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