Ya’lright, mate? Welcome to our blog! Cheers for visiting.
We are Nic and Paul: The Roaming Renegades! One married couple with an affinity for globe-trotting shenanigans, travel adventures, and growing up slowly…
Yeah, that’s us in 2013 getting married in New York! Since then, it’s been more than a decade of building a life of travel and love together. All WITHOUT killing each other (…yet).
All up, that’s more than 10 years of real-world travel experience and expertise. And more than 20 between us!
That is why we started The Roaming Renegades. To spread the good word of travel and life lived going against the grain. We’re so glad you found our blog – enjoy the ride.
This is our story, from humble beginnings to international renegade status. This is our site, stacked with stories and inside knowledge from the road.
Don’t grow up too fast, nomads. Life’s more fun when you take it slow. Let us show you how.
The Roaming Renegades: Humble Beginnings
Paul and I have been together since we were teenagers. We first met alllll the way back in 2003 just outside of Manchester in our home village of Littleborough in the UK. We were just two kids who loved skateboarding, heavy metal, and making mischief!
We were all about adventure… But in those days that meant exploring the nearby cities of Manchester and Leeds, skateboards under our feet, searching back alleys and overlooked areas for the next killer hideout.
Honestly, it was pretty hardcore!
We’d be out from sunrise to sunset slamming into the pavement, covered in dirt and blood, and fuelled by nothing more than a few chicken nuggets from Maccas! We’d hide in the luggage rack on the train to skip the fare, we got arrested for shoplifting at TKMaxx (I know!), got into fights (honestly it was self-defence), and got kicked off the trains more times than I can recall. (PM for details!! 😜)
Pretty much every weekend was spent either digging glass out of my palm down at the gasworks after launching myself down another set of steps, or throwing ourselves around like maniacs in the pit at a metal show…
(And I wonder why I’ve got bad knees – ahh, to have so much healthy cartilage again!)
Sadly, adult life always eventually comes knocking even for the most dedicated renegades. In 2007, I went off to University in Staffordshire to continue my pursuit of not growing up by way of studying Fine Art and Paul had to face reality and get a “real job” as a lab technician.
We settled down, bought a house in our hometown, got jobs, a mortgage, and a splash of existential dread. But to be honest, it felt like we skipped the growing-up part.
Something just didn’t sit right!
A Call to Adventure: The Turning Point
Spontaneously booking flights to Moscow on a whim on my computer at work should have been a sign that all was not right… Or at least normal. I was working part-time in a law firm while studying for my M.A.; I still distinctly remember the other faces of the women in the secretary room when they found out what I had done.
They thought I was mental. In hindsight, they might have been at least 20% right. I didn’t even realise I needed a visa for Russia or that it would be a very complicated and expensive one at that…
But we did it. Paul and I went to Russia for a week in 2012 when everyone else at work was nipping over to Benidorm!
Then on a city break to Krakow, we insisted on taking a night bus over to Lviv in Ukraine for the day and then jumping on the night bus back. Let’s just say the border crossing was a little tense with my Russian visa!
It became obvious we craved more than just the “normal” life. We were disillusioned. We were trying to cram “life” into the limited amount of holidays we had from work.
Hell, we actually flew all the way to Tokyo for a week after getting married in New York for our honeymoon. I mean, we did a lot. A bloody lot. And I’m proud of it.
But jeez, looking back it was WILD!
And if we weren’t on a trip abroad we’d instead be exploring abandoned buildings and hidden tunnels in the city or canyoning, slacklining, climbing, and hiking mountains out in the country.
It all seemed to culminate in the most amazing trip to Switzerland where we went paragliding, rafting, and scaled the most spectacular via ferrata you’ve ever seen!
Planted Seeds: 10 Years Of Travel As A Couple
We learnt a lot during that time about travelling, but it left us with an even deeper yearning to travel. More specifically, it left us with a yearning to go backpacking and find offbeat adventures.
I’d seen a few mates who’d done it and I started obsessively reading blogs about other normal working-class people who were able to go backpacking. In my mind, I thought these people all had their parents bankrolling them. However, I soon discovered that in fact, it was VERY possible.
The seed was planted. Immediately, we began figuring out how we’d do it, how much money we’d need, and what the logistics required for backpacking around the world were!
In April 2016, we set off backpacking and budgeteering around Europe, starting in Italy and exploring down through the Balkans into Turkey and then back up through Eastern Europe into the Baltic states, all finishing in Finland.
It was a crazy trip and we learnt so much as we went along and grew as travellers, people, and as a team.
Looking back, it’s a challenging region for a first backpacking trip. Many of the places we visited were wayyy off the beaten track. This included exploring Albania before it had become (a little) more popular, visiting Chernobyl, and spending the craziest day in the breakaway state of Transnistria.
Later that year we began our biggest trip and love affair with the chaos of Aisa.
We headed to China in late 2016 and explored pretty much all of Southeast Asia over the next 12 months.
From travelling 5000km from one end of Vietnam to the other on motorbikes to trekking for 3 days through villages in Myanmar, we devoured Asia as much as it devoured us:
- Climbing mountains in Malaysia…
- Caring for elephants in Thailand…
- Swimming in waterfalls in Laos…
- Wandering around Angkor Wat in Cambodia…
- Island hopping in The Philippines.
- Going full Bali in Indonesia after climbing some active volcanos…
This is just to mention a fraction of what we did!
Our adventures eventually took us Down Under to the little island-continent known as Australia. We lived in Melbourne for 2 unforgettable years whilst also darting off for adventures around the state and country. From driving the Great Ocean Road to numerous cross-country road trips, including Melbourne to Darwin and Brisbane to Cairns, we covered a lot of ground.
While exploring Australia we learnt to surf on its beautiful beaches, saw jumping crocs, snakes, kangaroos, ancient First Nations’ art, Vegemite, and the Red Centre itself.
Between these adventures, we even made a trip home for Christmas and hit up Scandinavia, Berlin, Dubai, and Sri Lanka on the way back to the southern hemisphere.
After Australia, we moved on to New Zealand and stayed there for a year. We lived in Christchurch and made some incredible mates in this cool little city. We took a road trip (whilst living in our car) around the South Island, calling in at all the main spots such as Aoraki (Mount Cook), Milford Sound, Queenstown, Wanaka, and Abel Tasman National Park while also trying to see New Zealand’s more offbeat side.
We fell in LOVE with this stunning country. The people are so warm and friendly and, as climbers, we just adored the rugged and diverse rural landscape of South Island.
The Before-Times, Meet Now: Navigating the Pandemic
Ahh yes, everybody’s favourite PTSD trigger, good old COVID! Sorry to bring it up like this, but alas, it was but another turning point!
After our time in New Zealand, we decided to retrace our steps back through Asia and hit up some of the places we loved as well as some new ones on the way. We were getting back into backpacking life again, taking things slower and enjoying the feeling of being back in Asia whilst planning out some other ideas like finally visiting India.
We were in Bali where we met up with family for a nice holiday together. That’s when COVID hit real bad! All flights were cancelled and the world went into lockdown!
We ended up back home in Manchester in mid-2020. During that time, we planned out our next moves, re-developed the blog (this one!), took stock of what we’d learnt on the road, saved some dough, and most importantly spent time with our dog, Dooku, our family, and our friends.
We also took advantage of this time to visit places in Western Europe and Northern Africa that had been too expensive to backpack around when we were younger.
When life closes a door, you boot it back open in its stinkin’ faces! While the pandemic changed a lot, it also gave us an opportunity to see the world with new perspectives. Having trips closer to home reignited our passion for this region of the planet after always shunning it for adventures further afield.
As the world exited the acute stages of the pandemic and recovered, we enjoyed short backpacking trips around Spain (including Andorra) and Morocco as well as shorter breaks to the South of France, Rome, Portugal, Paris, and two holidays to Malta (one with the family in tow)!
We also went over to Belgium to see our favourite band, Rammstein and nipped over to Luxembourg while we were there. It was also our 10th wedding anniversary in 2023, so we went back to New York to celebrate and visited Philadelphia too.
We also enjoyed seeing more of the UK with memorable trips to Pembrokeshire, the Yorkshire Coast, and the Lake District to hike Hellvelyn. We even smashed out the UK’s notorious 3 Peaks Challenge!
In 2024 we were supposed to be having a “chill year” saving up, but ended up following Rammstein around Europe to see them perform in Prague, Athens, Barcelona, and Italy before having a family holiday in Mallorca with my Nan. Oh, and I nipped over to Bali and did a stopover in Qatar to see some family on a work trip! So 13 flights later, it wasn’t so chill after all!
Travel or not though, life never stops throwing lessons at you.
During this time both my Grandad and pup Dooku passed away, within the same year. Moving through that has been honestly a strange time with so many highs and lows. I will forever be grateful for the time I got with both of them as well as with my nan, my brother, my parents, and their new dog, Billy (who we named after my Grandad).
Transformative grief, matey! Through the trials and tribulations of a post-2020 world, I’ve gained a new appreciation for my home and Western Europe (and, as much as it pains me, Ryanair lol) as well as for my family, friends, and the smaller pleasures that make life… life.
It’s true what they say about the hard times. This time at home was probably the most challenging period in my life but also the most valuable.
With the isolation of lockdown after being so free-spirited for so long before then losing two of the souls that meant the most to me in this world, honestly, I felt lost. At one point, I couldn’t even contemplate the idea of travelling again…
But then, travel has always been my outlet, my escape, and my inspiration. It’s my therapy.
And so, when we were ready, we opened our hearts to the road again. Maybe we weren’t quite the same kids we were before… Maybe I lied… Maybe I did grow up a little bit.
But we do it for the ones we love.
Older, Wiser, and Just a Bit More Tired: Looking to The Future
But whoever said being an adult had to be lame? We get to eat ice cream for breakfast, travel the world, and follow our favourite German rock band around Europe just for the pyrotechnics!
Right now, we’re planning our next backpacking trip.
This time we plan on heading to India, South America, and Central America (while also stopping off for a few weeks in Australia and NZ to see friends).
After that, we want to explore Central Asia and Africa before packing our bags for Southeast Asia once more!
Beyond that, well, we’ll think about settling down one day. Maybe home, maybe overseas, maybe on the Moon. Either way, we’ve still got our house back in Littleborough – our nest and base – but we also like the idea of settling in New Zealand or Barcelona. Or maybe just keeping the good times rolling as digital nomads in Asia!
But as we all know, the more places you visit… the more you want to travel! So for now, we will see!
But you can follow along to see how it unfolds. 😉
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Stay in the Loop: The Blog
So, this blog. The Roaming Renegades.
I started this site back in 2012 when I was studying for my M.A. It initially started as a way to share my design work and my adventures both at home and abroad. These were very much linked with my work – I spent my Masters exploring the idea of seeing and shedding light on the overlooked.
In fact, I still have a site that houses my design work.
But as you can tell, things began to snowball way beyond what I thought initially and this site eventually became The Roaming Renegades. After our travels developed from shorter trips to full-on long-term backpacking on a budget, I became passionate about spreading the good word of travel to others.
In summary, YOU can do it too!
After so many years on the road and so many countries under our belts, it only made sense to take all these questions people had and share the answers we had discovered through our experiences. Plus, I wanted the world to know that you don’t need to be rich to travel.
With the tips and content from The Roaming Renegades, you can travel the world on a budget just like we have.
Not only that, but I remember that before I went backpacking, along with the questions about backpacking I had, came all the doubts I had. But I didn’t need grand resolutions – doubts are normal! I just needed inspiration.
And so you have the origins of this site. I started The Roaming Renegades to teach others how to travel, travel cheaply, travel safely, and travel for as long as they damn well please.
Today, The Roaming Renegades is home to a wealth of practical destination guides and the hardest-hitting info on offbeat and budget backpacking, travelling both solo and as a couple, and building the lifestyle of a digital nomad.’
Learn how to travel the world. Learn how to travel on a budget. Learn how to leave home, not grow up, and squeeze life of all its most delicious juices, all the while maybe accidentally growing up a little bit along the way.
But whatever you do, Renegade, just make sure you do it YOUR way.
My Backpacking Arsenal: The Gear That Helps Us Travel
After so long on the road, you could say we’ve picked up a thing or two about travel gear and resources. Across the blog, you’ll find all kinds of tasty content about essential backpacking gear.
Why not dive in and see what we use?
However, as a quick summary, I’ve put our favourite and MOST essential gear down below. These are the 6 items we never embark without… Even on Ryanair!
Our Favourite Gear
The Best Backpack
Osprey Farpoint Backpack
We’ve used the Osprey Farpoint for 5+ years and they’re still going! They open like a suitcase clamshell-style and even have a detachable day pack.
They’re super comfortable and tough. I honestly can’t recommend them enough. Clamshell backpacks are tops – they store heaps WITHOUT feeling bulky!
Noise-CANCELLING Headphones 🙂
Sony WH-1000XM5 Headphones
DON’T go travelling without noise-cancelling headphones. From long flights and night buses to watching a film or having a jetlag induced midday nap in the hostel dorm, you will NEED them.
If you’re at all prone to overstimulation and introversion, buy a set. For me, these Sony headphones have been a game-changer.
My Favourite Travel Camera
Sony RX100 VII
The Sony RX100 VII is our go to selfie camera, thanks to its 1-inch sensor, articulating screen, and compact size. I do also travel with a larger camera set up, but this is a perfect all-rounder for on-the-road snapping that I’ve been using in various forms for nearly 10 years.
Every Backpacker Needs a Power Bank
Anker Power Bank Battery Pack
Refer back to those night buses and long train rides! We literally never leave the house without one power bank minimum! Travellers rely on their phones a lot more than they used to; mapping, taking photos, catching ‘mons in Pokemon Go… these things drain your juice!
This Anker power bank is pretty much always ready to go in mine or Paul’s backpack – it’s super-high capacity and supports charging for 4 simultaneous devices!
Travel AND Hiking-Friendly Shoes
SALOMON Speedcross Trail Shoes
Trail shoes are a perfect all-rounders for travel. They’re built for comfort regardless of whether you’re city-exploring or hiking trails. Rather than travelling with large hiking boots, I’ve found that trail shoes offer the best compromise between weight, size, durability, and functionality.
Made in men’s and women’s models, the SALOMON Speedcross have fast become both mine and Paul’s go-to travel shoe!
Stay Dry, Renegades
Rab Arc Eco Waterproof Jacket
Yup, you NEED wet weather gear. No matter where you’re travelling to, a waterproof jacket is a must!
Whatever trip we’re taking, we always pack our Rab waterproof jackets. They’ve honestly been one of our best travel investments (aside from those very first tickets to Moscow).
Other MUST-HAVE Travel Resources We Use
It’s not only gear we need to keep us on the road. Banking, booking, insurance… You can see a broader list of the travel resources we utilise by clicking the button below…
But for us, these resources below have become the best way to smash admin on the road while keeping fees low and costs cheap!
The Best Place to Book Your Accommodation
Booking.com
Over the course of the last 10+ years of travelling, we’ve used Booking.com to book probably around 90% of our accommodation. These days you can book anything from a luxury resort to budget hotels and even hostels and rentals similar to Airbnb.
Plus, if you make an account, you get access to their ‘Genius’ loyalty program… and DISCOUNTS. Everything is laid out super easy so you know what you’re getting, and honestly, I’m just a really big fan of the platform over other major providers.
Top-Notch Travel Insurance for Nomads
SafetyWing
Travel insurance is one of those annoying things that no one likes to think about, let alone pay for, when you’re planning your next trip. It can also be bloody annoying as a backpacker/long-term traveller to find affordable coverage that meets the itinerary-less lifestyle (*cough* World Nomads *cough*).
So instead of getting subpar travel insurance, now we just always go with SafetyWing. It takes like 5-10 minutes to purchase your policy and essentially functions as a monthly subscription plan with near-global coverage!
Money Made Easy on the Road
Wise (The Artist Formerly Known as TransferWise)
In the early days of travel we would get a stack of money out and carry it with us… It wasn’t the best way to avoid a disaster really, but getting constantly stung by ATM fees wasn’t much better,
Now we have Wise and, phew, things have CHANGED!! With our Wise account we can keep money in multiple currencies as well as withdrawing cash and paying by card without paying transaction fees. Plus, if you work online like we do, then it’s a fantastic platform for payments.
Explore More of The Roaming Renegades
And that’s The Roaming Renegades! Below we’ve added some links to a few posts we feel represent us, our way of travelling and our outlook on things ‘n’ shiz! Check them out.
Read My Favourite Posts!
Decision paralysis got ya? Don’t worry! It happens to all travellers from time to time.
Beat the backpacking blues with some classic destination inspiration!
These are my 10 TOP destinations on the planet for backpacking adventures!
Never hostelled before? It’s easy. It’s NOT scary. Most of all…
It’ll change your life.
Make your first hostel stay the best it can be: read my guide for first-timers straight from a seasoned pro!
Speaking of seasoned pros… With more than a decade of travel experience, I got the tips you NEED.
How to travel. How to travel cheap. How to travel and not end up lost, hungry, and lugging a waterborne parasite across the wilds.
Get all my MUST-KNOW travel tips and hacks.
Get snapping like a PRO.
With a soft spot for all things graphic design and photography, I might just know a thing about capturing the perfect travel shot.
For picture-perfect photos on the road, read my beginner’s guide to the snap-life!
Buy Us a Coffee
A few people have asked us recently how they could help us out on our travels, so we thought we’d add our very own tip jar for those who can’t support us by clicking through our affiliate links.
We work hella hard on this site to bring you all the most epic and up-to-date travel info from around the planet. So if you’ve enjoyed what you’ve seen, then we’d appreciate anything, no matter how small, you can contribute as a thank you.
Above all, thank you for being here and reading our content, it means the world to us.
Nic & Paul
For transparency’s sake: Many of the links we have on our site are affiliate links. This means that when you click one of these links and make a booking or purchase, for example: accommodation, gear, insurance or transport, we earn a small commission (at no extra cost to you). Also, know that as an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Most importantly, know that we still only recommend services, gear and products we believe in and our earned commission helps us keep travelling and bringing you high-quality posts and content.
