Inspiring Travellers: An Interview with John & Andrea Spirov

Inspiring Traveller's John & Andrea Spirov

John and Andrea Spirov are the nomadic thirty-something couple behind InspiringTravellers.com. Our blog features not only our own stories but also those of the people we meet along the way. For the last few years we've been living in Australia, but on 25 December, we’re heading off on another round the world adventure for at least a year. After that the plan is to do a long-term expat stint in Asia or the Middle East (but who really knows?)
1. How would you define your travel “style”?

Go with the flow. We’re pretty laid back when travelling. We make a rough sketch of what we want to do and then the plan is usually altered at the last minute. It also depends on the trip. When we’re living in one place and just going here and there on shorter trips, we plan a lot more meticulously. Next year we’re pretty flexible.

Cave in Northern Tasmania

 2. If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would you be and why?

We’ve had a pretty tough, high-stress year leading up to now, so probably somewhere nice and chill. A beach in Thailand, the Caribbean or hanging in Amsterdam are all sounding pretty good right about now. Or even a pub where we know we don’t have to go to work the next day.

3. What was your best travel experience?

We met in Crete in a tiny little town along the southern coast, called Plakias. It’s probably exactly halfway across the world from where each of us grew up. We still can’t believe it. This just proves the blissful randomness of travel.

4. What was your worst travel experience?

John takes the cake on this one. After a drunken night out in Prague he walked to the tram stop to get back to the hostel and instead woke up hours later in a jail cell with various cuts and abrasions. He’d been mugged, his money belt and all its contents stolen.



Tasmania's Cradle Mountain



5. What is your best travel advice for the TravelPost community?

Awareness. Not only for safety reasons, but also to fully integrate into your surroundings and to appreciate those little moments that can easily be missed.

6. What have been your greatest challenges and rewards of travel writing?

We’re pretty new to travel writing: our blog turns one in February. So that’s a challenge in itself. So far the biggest reward has been the warm embrace of the travel community. It is amazing to meet so many great people online that we hope to see in person one day.

7. Anything you can’t resist buying from a minibar?

A nice cold beer (even if the use-by date has passed).

Sailing in the Whitsundays after their wedding on Hamilton Island

8. Where will you never return to?

Slovakia. When the cops pull you over for making a supposed illegal left-hand turn in a camper van and then ask for a bribe, you know it’s time to leave and not look back.

9. Most memorable travel mishap?

We were in Paris and John had already had an unsuccessful job interview. While walking in the Tuileries, we had decided to go on to Bordeaux and sadly forget about staying in Paris to live. Seconds later a bird relieved himself on John’s head. The next day he found a job and we lived in Paris for four months.