Meet Eric and Allison From The Endless Adventure
We are so excited to share with our readers here at Nothing Familiar the amazing traveling duo of Eric and Allison. Not only did they sell everything that they own to travel the world, but they documented everything on the Endless Adventure! The Endless Adventure Vlog is awesome in more ways than we can count, but don’t take our word for it… Check it out below!
Nothing Familiar Travel Tips
Endless Adventure: Q&A With Eric and Allison
1. What made you decide to travel? Did you have any plans or goals when you set out?
A few years ago we randomly signed up for French lessons and once the course ended, we thought what better way to celebrate than by going to France?! At the time, our good friend was living in London, so we did two weeks between London and Paris. After that, we had definitely had a travel itch which then grew steadily over the next couple years until into a full blown travel bug. We brainstormed all sorts of ways to start traveling from buying an RV to teaching english abroad and finally decided to just sell it all and see what happens!
When we left San Francisco in 2015, we road tripped around the states for a few months but didn’t have any plans after that. Luckily, that same friend from London had just found a really cheap transatlantic cruise from Florida to Spain and asked if we were interested. We’d never been on a cruise and it was an insanely affordable way to get to Europe, so we said hell ya and booked tickets!
That’s a pretty great example of how we travel actually… we typically book the cheapest flight/bus/train we can find (usually only a week or two in advance) and just go for it! So far it’s worked out pretty well :
2. What is a Vlog, and how is it different from a regular blog?
A vlog (short for video blog) is basically a visual representation of a blog post or a journal entry. For Eric and I, our vlogs show our days as we travel. We typically start the vlog by giving a brief overview of what we’re up to and from there we show scenes and highlights of the places we visit, foods we eat and people we interact with. Also, we give a bit of commentary about what we’re doing, which we try to keep informational and funny (but sometimes the funny doesn’t always happen haha!).
We feel that the Endless Adventure Vlog gives our audience a more relatable and up-close look at the places we visit, more than a traditional blog post would. We like that vlogs allow people to see what we’re seeing from every angle and provide a more immersive experience.
3. Vlogs/Blogs (as you do both) are a ton of work. Are you constantly filming and editing on the road? How do you balance your time?
Time management is definitely a constant struggle for us. We like to be spontaneous on the road, but when you’re juggling work, a website, vlogs, frequent traveling and sightseeing, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. We learned pretty quickly that we needed to schedule days off where we just hunker down in a coffee shop and get shit done. Unfortunately that has meant going from daily vlogging to vlogging every other day or a couple times a week.
So now our schedule is typically a vlog day where we’ll also try to get a stockpile of Instagram pics and blog post content, followed by a work day (or two) where Eric will edit the vlog and work on his contract gigs, I’ll plan out our next day(s) and book our upcoming travel and we’ll both work on the blog and update social media.
4. We LOVE your “3 Foods you HAVE to Try” Vlogs. What’s some of the best and worst foods you’ve tried while traveling?
We love making them! We try to stay pretty thrifty on the road, but our food days are usually a bit of a splurge which is always a bit exciting. Plus we always learn so much about the people and culture while researching their most famous dishes and how they came to be so popular.
That said, some food days are way more delicious than others. I think we’d both agree that Berlin has been our favorite day with currywurst being the shining star – seriously, who knew curry on a sausage could be such a magical combination!?
Reykjavik’s was by far the worst haha! Both the fermented shark and the boiled sheep’s head are tastes (and textures) that I especially hope to never experience again!
5. You often post about your budget and costs. For someone who is looking to set out on trip what advice would you give them?
Budgets are really hard to stick to and it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the struggle of trying to stay on track. That’s why we like to be open and honest about what we spend. Our hope is that it’ll show our readers and viewers that:
a) You don’t have to have a lot of money to travel
b) We have financial struggles just like everyone else
c) While it’s hard, it’s definitely not impossible!
One thing we recommend to someone wanting to travel on a budget is to do as many cheap and free sight-seeing days as possible. That includes exploring public gardens, taking hikes, renting bikes and riding around the city, hitting up free museums days, strolling the castle grounds, and taking free walking tours. It’s a bit more research up front, but the money saved is well worth the digging! Yelp, TripAdvisor, city websites and other travel bloggers are awesome resources for finding free and cheap ways to visit a city without blazing through your budget!
Booking shared Airbnbs with access to a full kitchen or kitchenette is also a great way to cut down on costs. We know that eating in isn’t always the most exciting or glamorous option when traveling, but grocery shopping in a foreign country can sometimes be more exciting than eating out.
6. What’s your wildest travel dream?
Our wildest travel dream is definitely to hike the Mount Hua in China via the HuaShan plank walk. Assuming we aren’t paralyzed by fear, I’m pretty sure it’ll end up being one of those life changing moments.
7. If someone could only watch one of the Endless Adventure Vlogs which one would it be and why?
What a great and tough question haha! If we could only pick just one, it’d probably be the day we crossed off a pretty awesome bucket list item in Austria!
Once again a HUGE thanks to Eric and Allison for answering our questions and sharing all their stories. For more Endless Adventure Vlogs that will not only give you a serious case of wanderlust, but transport you on their adventures check out The Endless Adventure HERE!
Who are the travelers with endless adventure
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Hello adventurers! We’re Eric and Allison Bieller and we’re traveling the world full-time!
To answer your questions – no.
We’re not rich. We don’t have a huge savings account or any inheritance. We don’t have a long history of traveling. We have no grand plan, timeline or bucket list that’s guiding us. And we’re not on some quest to find out who we really are. although we’re the first ones to admit that that’s definitely a byproduct of traveling!
Nope. We’re just two midwestern goofballs who moved to San Francisco after college, got fed up with our career-first lifestyles and decided we just wanted to live a more intentional life full of adventure. And for us, that adventure ended up being traveling the world and vlogging the the entire journey.
In our previous life, I (Allison) was in HR for an online clothing company and Eric was the co-founder of a funded, remote-working tech startup. By all accounts, we were “living the dream” in San Francisco with our steady jobs, two cuddly cats and a sunny studio apart.
But our lives felt really stale. We realized that all we did was work, hit up happy hours and then watch Netflix on our couch with our two furry children. While that was definitely great and fun, it left us feeling directionless and pretty lazy.
For years we’d kicked around the idea of selling it all and traveling the world. But after multiple bouts of getting hopped up on travel documentaries, setting hypothetical budgets and deciding we needed to buy an RV or build a tiny home or whatever other travel craze was currently popular, we’d inevitably get overwhelmed and give up.
Finally, we had an aha! moment.
Eric already worked remotely and a few people at my office had just started working from home. What if I could do the same?! So I told my team we wanted to start traveling and proposed that I work from the road while we did. And you know what? They said yes! Well, okay so technically they said no. BUT they’d let me keep my job until they hired a replacement which would likely take months… close enough, right?!
FREEDOM.
Literally one month later, we left San Francisco on a one-way flight and started our new life as traveling, digital nomads.
Since then, we’ve both left our companies – which was pretty scary. But Eric, being the badass that he is, immediately found some sweet contract positions which currently support us on the road. And while I’m still on the prowl for a new remote gig, I currently spend my time planning and focusing on The Endless Adventure.
Being digital nomads definitely isn’t the most glamorous. We’re working constantly and for every day of adventuring comes at least two days of hunkering down in coffee shops to get shit done.
But you know what? Those cafes are in Costa Rica and Iceland and Croatia and Hungary and anywhere that’s a cheap flight or train ride away.
Don’t get us wrong, this was the hardest decision we’ve ever had to make. It’s a decision that twisted our stomaches into knots. But we eventually found the courage to jump and just figure out the rest on the way down.
Our goals with this new life are really simple:
To share our adventures with the world and hopefully inspire others to break out of their comfort zones and travel more.
To provide an intimate look at our lifestyle of long-term travel. From budgeting to planning to the frustrations of day to day travel, we’re showing it all.
If you’d like to follow along on our journey, there are lots of ways you can do that!
- We vlog our daily adventures and post fun travel tips on our YouTube Channel.
- Follow our journey in pictures on Instagram.
- Follow us on Twitter for 140 character doses of travel and adventure!
- Keep up with The Endless Adventure on Facebook. for epic travel stories and fun travel tips.
Thanks for stopping by. We’ll see you on the road!
The Endless Adventure
Hi! We’re Eric and Allison. We quit our full-time jobs and sold everything to travel full-time. We make daily vlogs of our travels and feature travel tips, hacks and photography.
Meet the Woman on an Endless Adventure, Travel Blogger Allison
What happens when you stop dreaming about the life you could be living and actually go for it? Meet Allison Bieller, one-half of the duo behind The Endless Adventure, and a travel blogger exploring the world with her husband Eric. They left their comfortable jobs, beloved cats, and an apartment in San Francisco behind to pack their lives into a suitcase. The decision led them to pursue a life fulfilling their wanderlust callings in cities all over the world, including Berlin, Milan, Castellane, Brussels, and counting. You can tag along their adventure through their travel vlogs on YouTube!
Tell us about yourself and how you found yourself on this endless adventure.
Hi! I’m Allison Bieller. I’m from a crazy, midwestern family of 9 and have been married to my high school sweetheart and partner-in-crime, Eric, for 8 years. I moved around a lot when I was younger – I’d lived in 6 different states by the time I was 15 – and I think that’s what ultimately sparked my interest in traveling.
After college, we moved to the bigger city of San Francisco to start our professional lives. After almost 6 years on the west coast, we found that despite having high paying jobs and an apartment downtown, something was still missing. We realized our lives have become predictable. We’d go to work, then happy hour, then eat dinner at home with our cats and go to bed. And it wasn’t the kind of funk we thought we could shake by moving to another city.
Traveling full time was something we’d fantasized about for years and making YouTube content is something we’ve always dabbled with. It eventually all just fell into place. We decided, why not travel and make vlogs about it?! That way it’s both exciting and creative – the things we were lacking most in our daily life. Plus, our moms would always know what we’re up to
And the Endless Adventure was born!
What was the hardest thing you had to let go in order to free yourself through traveling?
Definitely my cats! My husband and I actually spent a good bit of time trying to figure out a way to travel with them. We looked up flight costs and pet-friendly Airbnbs all over the states and Europe. Ultimately we realized it’d be far too stressful for all parties involved, so we ended up rehoming them. They now live with our friend who’s an awesome cat dad, which is really comforting! Plus he lives in an actual house, not a tiny studio like we did. So I imagine they’re having the time of their lives running from room to room and laying in all the sunbeams.
If you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would you say?
This one’s tricky. There are so many things I’d love to tell my younger self to potentially do differently, but in the end, it all led to this part of my life where I’m literally living my dream.
I do wish that I could go back and give my younger self a dose of confidence though. I still deal with insecurities here and there, but back in middle school and high school I really held myself back. Who knows who I could have met, where I could have gone or what hobbies I could have gotten into had I just had a little more faith in myself and my abilities.
How has traveling with your husband affected your marriage? Do you ever feel the need to spend some quality time alone?
Luckily Eric and I have always had a really close relationship. Even when we weren’t traveling, we were pretty much inseparable. I think this definitely helped ease the transition from spending the majority of time together to spending all of our time together.
I will say it has been really interesting seeing pretty much every emotion, action and decision he makes on a daily basis. I feel like I understand him a lot more and at the same time I’m constantly in awe at how differently our brains work. I’m sure he’s finding my inner workings fairly entertaining as well
I don’t really ever feel the need to go off on my own. But I think having some time with your own thoughts is really important. For me, I get that when I work out and cook – both of which I do almost daily.
What is the scariest thing you’ve done and why did you do it?
Sitting on the edge of the Grand Canyon. It was such a consuming, physical fear having your legs dangle over a 5,000 foot drop.
The whole experience was beyond words. I’d seen plenty of pictures of the Grand Canyon and had just done what I thought was a pretty big hike in Big Bend, so I really didn’t expect to be taken aback as much as I was. I think that’s why I did it. It was just so amazing and epic that I wanted to take it all in and for me that meant sitting on the furthest point and really trying to process the vastness.
What was your most favorite place to visit and why?
The Gorge du Verdon in southern France has definitely been a highlight for me. It’s actually referred to as the European Grand Canyon – I guess cats and canyons are my vices! It’s not quite as grand as the one in the states – only reaching about 2,300ft at its deepest compared to 6,000ft in the states – but the Verdon river is the real star. It’s this absolutely stunning greenish blue river that snakes through the canyon. There are a few man-made lakes throughout the canyon which really show off the color of the water. I was terribly carsick during our bus ride through the canyon, but I couldn’t take my eyes off of it!!
We stayed in a little campsite in the town of Castellane which sits directly on the Verdon. It was such a perfect mesh of French culture and nature.
Tell us about the biggest lesson you’ve learned about the world through traveling.
The biggest lesson I’ve learned is that traveling is not scary. It’s exciting and frustrating and confusing, but it’s not something to be feared. Sure you want to be aware of pickpockets and try not to get screwed on prices at restaurants and markets, but that happens everywhere!
I think people have this misconception, and I had it to an extent before traveling, that the world is a big, terrifying place full of scary situations and bad people. But in reality, we’ve met all kinds of amazingly nice people from all sorts of countries and backgrounds. We’ve stayed at crappy campsites and in really nice Airbnbs. We’ve eaten really gross food and really delicious food. And you know what? We survived it all so far and had a blast!
Taking a step into the unknown is nerve-racking, but it shouldn’t keep you from experiencing the world. The experiences and realizations you have on the road will always top sitting at home and watching Netflix. And eventually, travel actually becomes just as comfortable as a stroll around your hometown.
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