Saturday Chat Interview with Jenn from Who Needs Maps

Saturday Chat with Jenn from Who Needs Maps

Welcome back to Saturday Chat, the weekly column where I interview travel bloggers! This week I had the pleasure of talking to Jenn from the fun blog Who Needs Maps where, along with her boyfriend Jack, write about their adventures in South East Asia. I’d better let them introduce themselves. 😉

We are Jack and Jenn from Who Needs Maps, a long distance couple, from America and Australia, so why not meet in the middle and use travel as an excuse! We are thrill seekers, food lovers, world travelers, adventure finders, misadventure attracters, and a fun loving couple who just wants to explore the world together. We hope to inspire, inform and entertain people through our experiences and stories! Embrace the fun, enjoy the craziness, and let’s take on the world together!

1. How did you and Jack meet and what was the first trip you took together?

Jack and Jenn at the great wall of China - Saturday Chat interview

We met when I (Jenn) studied abroad in Melbourne in 2011. We were in the same marketing class and he lived next door to my friends place so we always ran into each other. We never really thought anything of it as, because we live on polar opposite sides of the world so the chances of us seeing each other ever again was slim to none. However, when I left back for the States, we were still talking and he told me he got into his abroad program. Out of all the schools he applied to (like Canada and all over the US) he got into a school in LA- my university for that matter. And it just worked out!

We first really traveled together when he was here in LA and we did a bunch of road trips in California and to Vegas. But the first real trip we took, with a flight, was Cabo, Mexico for spring break! It was super fun!

2. What music festival would you most like to attend?

I work with music festivals, so I love going and we have big dreams to attend MANY! I think we would love to go to Burning Man, SXSW (which I get to work this year!), Tomorrowland and Holy Ship! Those would be awesome!

3. What are the best and the worst things about traveling in South East Asia?

Rice Paddies in Ubud - Saturday Chat interview
Rice Paddies in Ubud

The best thing is that there is always something to do and you meet the coolest people. In Southeast Asia, you tend to travel it in a certain path depending where you come from so you always ending up crossing paths with other travelers. It is so cool because everyone is up to do something fun. There is adventure sports, foodie tours, site seeing, huge parties, motor biking to insane views, and beaches beyond belief- always something. The worst is having to be cautious with what you eat, what you drink and your safety. The water can be full of bacteria and food can be rinsed in it or not properly cooked. Also, everyone at this point knows I got stitches in Vietnam from an air conditioning panel falling on my face. So who knew you weren’t even protected in your very own bed! On a positive, stitches only cost $10!

4. If you could go anywhere this year, where would it be?

Jack is finally in America for the year, so we no longer have to meet in the middle to see each other. This year will be exploring a bit of America—road trips everywhere! Lots of California (like Lake Tahoe, Yosemite, and the Sequoia National Park) and hopefully a bit of Utah and Texas!

5. What is the stupidest thing you and Jack argued about while traveling?

Jenn and Jack kayaking in Laos - Saturday Chat interview

Oh man, we bicker about nearly everything when we are traveling! We went from never seeing each other for 5 months to being with each other for 24/7, do you know how big of a change that was? We argued about where to eat, where to stay, what to do- everything. I mean they were nothing fights and lasted for 5 minutes but it happens! At the end of the day, we were traveling together in the little time we had with each other so we never let the little arguments get in our way.

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