Q: Your blog headline is “live to travel…or travel to live”. What is the difference for you? With which one do you identify more?
Arantxa: We don’t see a big difference, that’s the reason for the question…. If we had to choose one, I guess it would be… travel to live. The countries we have visited have given us values for our daily life in a society where everything is permitted, where you feel a lack of humanity.
Q: But, what do you search in your travels? Do you want to discover the world, meet other cultures…
Ana: We love to know people, their culture, religion, gastronomy and everything a country has to offer. We learn from all and it helps us to respect things that we didn’t know before.
Q: It seems that you work very well together! I guess that right now you don’t think about traveling alone anymore!
Ana: That’s right! I can’t imagine myself traveling alone, without Arantxa. Vipavi are two people, what would vip do without avi!
Arantxa: I have never thought about traveling alone, and now even less than before! I’m getting older and I like to have somebody to share all the special moments that you live during your travels.
Q: Are there places where you are afraid to go, two women traveling alone, or you feel that you can go anywhere?
Arantxa: When we are choosing our next destination, we never think if it could be dangerous or not for two women. In fact, we have been in India and we had no problems at all.
Q: Looking at your travel experience, it seems that you feel an especial attraction for Asia…
Ana: We love Asia, people are very nice and welcoming. It’s a continent where it’s very easy to travel, it’s cheap and it never leaves you indifferent. Africa also attracts us a lot, but it’s more difficult to reach. There infrastructure is not good and it’s hard to reach places in public transport. People are more aggressive, there is little variety of food… All that makes a trip to Africa more expensive.
Q: But you had a very special experience in Ethiopia.
Arantxa: We really wanted to discover the tribes that we had seen at books, documentaries… It seemed incredible that there is people still living like that and we wanted to check it ourselves! And there we were, we entered in their huts, we saw their rituals, the barter transactions…
Q: Which place has left you a special mark on you?
Arantxa: Every country gives you something, but Ethiopia was really special. To be at Omo Valley, surrounded by different tribes, all with their ancestral cultures… It was impressive, a privilege for us.
Q: I have seen that you use Couchsurfing a lot. Is it only to save money or there are more reasons?
Ana: Couchsurfing is more than saving money. You get to know unusual spots from the locals, you discover the gastronomy in a more authentic way, you can increase your circle and of course share your passion for travelling.
Q: Which was your best experience? And the worst?
Ana: The best is clearly the people that we knew on the way. The worst was in Laos, we almost crashed with a truck because the driver was sleepy.
Q: It seems that you also had really nice experiences receiving travelers at your home. Is that a way of travelling without leaving home?
Arantxa: All our experiences have been good so far. A lot of people from different countries have been at our house and we have connected with all of them. It’s easy because we all love to travel! We have shared experiences and of course gastronomy! That’s always present!
Q: Finally, we would like to know what is in your bucket list for the future
Arantxa: We have a lot of destinations we would like to explore, a trip around the world, to travel in Asia for 6 months, ride a balloon and swim with dolphins! And we also have to see the northern lights!
Ana: It’s really difficult to choose the next destination. All the destinations are good, we don’t really know where we are going before buying the plane tickets! But we have some priorities that we hope to make real soon, like Iceland and Namibia.
The photos in this article are from the private collection of Vipavi, if you want to watch more visit their website.
