World on a shoestring
They may have exchanged waking up to a view of the Sandton skyline for cleaning toilets and lugging luggage, but the South African couple who quit their jobs to travel the world are taking the journey in their stride. Chanel Cartell, of "How Far From Home" blog fame, has laid bare the uglier side of her and partner Stevo Dirnberger's year-long "creative sabbatical" thousands of kilometres from home in her latest post.The post tells of the couple scrubbing 135 toilets, spreading 250kg of cow dung, shovelling two tons of rocks, laying 60m of pathway, making 57 beds and polishing countless wine glasses.This is in stark contrast to the couple's Instagram feed, which is filled with pictures of beautiful landscapes, sunny skies, golden beaches and every other delight the romantic armchair traveller might imagine an overseas wandering adventure to be.Cartell and Dirnberger, both 29, have no regrets.Speaking from Athens yesterday, the couple said their trip was "rewarding" at the end of each day, and there was "no way" they would cut it short."If anything, we hope we can carry on and do this for longer than just a year," Cartell said.Living with and looking after 70 husky dogs in the Arctic Circle, celebrating Cartell's birthday at the world-famous Noma restaurant in Denmark, and taking an evening road trip to the northernmost point of Europe in the midnight sun are some of the couple's best experiences so far.Cleaning toilets in Sweden and lugging luggage through Oslo came in as the worst.And while they have to count every penny they live on, which could test any relationship, the Johannesburg couple believe their experience has solidified their relationship and made it "bulletproof".Dirnberger said they wanted to inspire people to follow in their footsteps."There's nothing more rewarding, educational, exhilarating, challenging than to sell it all, saying 'no' to complacency and 'yes' to everything life has to offer."Getting outside of your comfort zone, exploring the world and challenging the norm will evoke that creativity," he added...
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