About

 

Hello, we are Mike and lauren.

Welcome to ABANDONISM!

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We are a couple currently living and working in Sydney, Australia, taking every opportunity we have to abandon the monotony of life and explore the world.

Both with a passion for travel and all of the cool stuff that comes with it, we have visited many far away places (and some not so far) in our 10+ years together. But our real love for travel came in 2010-2012 when we lived and worked in Zambia.

Being in Zambia gave us the opportunity to visit lots of Southern and Eastern Africa, a real treat coming from Australia. Anyone who lives in Australia, or has visited, knows, a 10 hour car trip might get you to a brand new state, maybe a new capital city if you’re lucky! Suddenly from our home in Livingstone, Zambia, we could travel an hour or two and be in a whole new country. We did this all in our trusty Toyota Prado ‘Ruth’ and suddenly it was not just about the destination but the journey itself!

Back in Australia we have built a dream to travel the world, the same way we could when in Zambia. With a slightly more updated version of ‘Ruth’ who we’ve named ‘Fran’ and an obsession with airline frequent flyer points, we have developed a plan and through this blog share the execution of it with others.

We hope this blog inspires you to be open to new experiences and explore new places… with abandonism!

Some fun facts about us:

  • Lauren is not a natural born camper - wish her luck :-)

  • Mike still owns (and wears!!) t-shirts he wore in Zambia - Lauren cannot get him to throw them away, even the ones with holes

  • Mike managed to scrape his marriage proposal inside a decade with only months to spare. After waiting so long Lauren thought he was joking

  • Lauren loves to run, lift, shop, drink wine, golden retrievers and watch her teams the Swans (AFL) & Knicks (NBA)

  • Mike loves to code, drink beer, talk nerd and drive his truck (aka Fran)

  • Mike and Lauren are both obsessed with coffee and can not operate without it

  • Combine, Mike and Lauren have visited 6 continents and 47 countries - with soooo many more to go!