Le and David are a couple from Australia who describe themselves on their blog as “neither budget or luxury travellers – we like to consider ourselves as comfortable and modest travellers, just doing what we love.” They have full-time jobs and fit in travel (both internationally and within Australia) when they can, going on multiple trips each year, and visiting many of the places on the UNESCO Heritage List, which they call their “unofficial bucket list.”

They now also have an “official travel bucket list” and a “retrospective bucket list,” which is “the list of things that we’ve done that we are so happy we did. The stuff on this list is not necessarily something we would have put on a ‘bucket list’ in the first place but has turned out to be worthy of being on a list of some sort.” Below, they share some of their lives with us, including how a childhood lesson applies to everything in life.

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Names and blog:
Le and David from Wise Monkeys Abroad

Fun fact about you:
We collect 3 wise monkeys abroad (we’ve found at least half of them overseas) and have about 40 sets.

Funner fact:
As fate would have it, every year we are always travelling for our anniversary. We were going away around that time of year even before we got married but it has become almost a tradition since. One year, we didn’t think it was possible that we could go away, as we had only been away in April and were going again in December but the hands of fate made sure that we did travel for our anniversary. Since then, we have made it a certainty that we travel for our anniversary 🙂

Funnest fact:
We love games –  all types. Board games and computer games. We love arcade games and retro-style games. We love darts, air-hockey and table tennis. We even went as far as trying to rearrange our 2-bedroom apartment so we could fit in a table tennis table and a dedicated “games” room.

What do you think has been essential to your success as travel bloggers?
We would like to think that we are successful but when we compare ourselves to other blogs out there, we are definitely “infants” still. But if we were to comment on our growth, we think it’s because of our relationship with our readers. We like to engage with them. We ensure that we make the time for everyone who interacts with us on the blog as well as on social media. We see everyone as friends and truly love that we can connect with so many different people. We value every one of our readers and want to ensure we stay grounded because the reality is, we are all the same. We are all throwing ourselves out into the blogging world and hope that what we share reaches someone 🙂

Our mission has and always will be: to enjoy blogging. The minute it becomes a chore, we know that we have stopped enjoying it! We want to do it because we want to, not because we have to. And we hope that it shows when we blog 🙂

What was something that surprised you about blogging?
The amount of friends we have made all over the globe. Everyone in the blogging world is so friendly and supportive.

If you had to describe your blog in 6 words or less, what would you say?
Showcases our passion for travel.

Who or what inspires you?
This is a no-brainer. Each other! We inspire one another all the time. Everything from reinforcing the importance of being good people, through to where we want to go next, to what we want to write on the blog. The Camino [de Santiago] also really helped us to peel back some of the layers of our lives and really see us and what surrounds us in a different light.

What is your all-time favorite bucket list item (of yours or someone else’s)?
It would have to be a toss-up between visiting Egypt and seeing the Northern Lights.

If you aren’t doing anything related to travel, what do you do during your free time?
Reading, watching TV series on DVDs, music, spend time with the family.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
Look both ways before crossing the road – the basic lesson we receive as children when crossing the road, can be extrapolated to everything we do in life because tunnel vision doesn’t allow you to see the bigger picture. And ironically, that piece of advice doesn’t help when crossing roads in countries like Vietnam or Italy 🙂

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Thanks, Le and David, for sharing your time and some of your life experience with us!

Want to keep reading? You can learn more about Le and David, and read stories from their travels on their blog, and on Twitter and Facebook.

Who else do you want to see interviewed? If you have an inspiring person in mind, please let me know using the contact form or comments below.

Will you consider joining with me in supporting children’s literacy, providing curriculum kits to schools worldwide, and teaching healthy self-expression through storytelling? My goal is to raise $1000 for National Novel Writing Month, a non-profit involved in all these things. Learn more at my fundraising page.