This couple works remotely while exploring the world

And sometimes they feel like having a conversation with someone else

Eric and Alison Bieller seem awesome. They’ve had all sorts of incredible sounding adventures whilst travelling the world and still bringing in a paycheck (proof right here). They seem great. Amazing job guys — follow their blog, The Endless Adventure. They’re about a million times more digital-marketing digital-nomad trendy than me.

Their lifestyle is, in fact, so painfully awesome that I feel utterly compelled and inspired to follow their lead and share my own life-changing tips and tricks for working remotely whilst travelling with your favourite person. Hold on to your hats guys, throwing some life-advice grenades.

Rachel’s top tips for staying friends with [insert name of significant other]*, in no particular order:

1. Make sure you both have a clear role/employment — making money matters, but it’s also super-important to have a purpose day to day, and that your careers are advancing (or being put on hold even) to a similar extent. Make sure somebody external cares about the work you’re doing. You’ll both feel valued and happy without being dependent on the other — and you will (mostly) avoid the situation where one of you has to work and the other wants to play outside.
2. Embrace everything being an adventure. Call them adventures in your conversations together. When you travel a lot, even going home to see your parents and visit the dentist you’re still registered with can be pretty damn thrilling.
3. Let them shower by themselves unless you’re specifically invited. It’s important self-reflection time.
4. There will be times when all you want is to sit in your pants together and watch cartoons while eating Indian takeaway. Make time for the important things in life.
5. Source your Indian takeaway place in advance. Sometimes it’s an emergency.
6. For God’s sake, make a proper effort to do things separately on occasion. It gives you the bubbly excitement of new stuff to take home (wherever they may be) and tell them about. It’s very, very easy to slip into only ever interacting with other people when your partner is standing next to you.
7. Huge pile of mixed-currency change and receipts dumped on the bedside table (that weirdly gets moved from place to place) annoying? Work out if that bugbear is actually one of the inexplicable little things that actually make your other half feel at home in an unfamiliar place. And if it matters to them more than it irritates you, leave it where it is.
8. Cuddle whenever you can. Unless it’s hot, you’re uncomfortably British and there’s no aircon, in which case have a safeword for when it’s just too damn sweaty to cuddle.
9. Have enough plug adapters for both of you. Do everything you can to avoid situations where you have to compromise on who gets to charge their things.
10. Push for day to day activities separate enough to keep your moods not always tied together. Constant adventuring is amazing, but sometimes one of you might have an off day, and the world is best when your favourite is on-hand and feeling awesome, to cheer you up.
11. Keep some context when marketing your adventures — you might want to go back and hang out with your friends at home one day, don’t piss them off with constant ‘isn’t our life so fabulous’ self-promotion. Of course, you’re having the best time ever, but there’s no need to show off (much). Gloat predominantly in private with your other half, like everyone else.
12. Be aware of your own weird idiosyncrasies and account for them, even if they don’t make sense. I don’t like odd numbers of bullet points.

There you go, guys. Relationships and travel. Nailed it.

One last thing. No matter where you go, no matter how far you run, one day you will have to go home in the evening to do life admin.

*Note, Tim has not in any way endorsed these