Busbud Stories

Q&A with Dan & Audrey from Uncornered Market: A Husband-And-Wife Team on the Secrets to Long-Term Travel in 70+ Countries

Audrey and Dan on Camel at Giza Pyramids
Audrey and Dan on Camel at Giza Pyramids

As part of our goal to make life easier for bus travelers, we contact travelers who’ve had firsthand experiences around the world. Last time, we featured Samuel Jeffery from Nomadic Samuel. Today, we’re happy to share an interview with our first traveling couple, Dan and Audrey from Uncornered Market. Daniel Noll and Audrey Scott are the husband-and-wife team that brings you deep stories from the 70 countries they’ve visited in the past five years.

Like National Geographic’s digital nomad Andrew Evans, Dan and Audrey have braved the cold in Antarctica. They do amazing video recipes. They have the most epic marriage proposal story ever. Through their adventures, they show how you can travel as a couple and have the time of your life.

1. Where are you now, and where are you headed?

Currently in Oaxaca, Mexico for a couple of months to catch up on a couple of projects. After that, we’re still in planning mode. Have a few places like Japan, Israel, South Africa, Australia on the brain for this year.

2. You aim to humanize the places you visit by drawing your readers in through photographs and stories. How successful have you been so far with your blog? And what’s the most rewarding comment you’ve received from your fans?

When we get comments like, “I’ve never thought about X country (or region), but now I want to learn more and maybe visit.” This was a common response to our articles on Bangladesh, Central Asia and Iran. We consider that a success.

As for the most rewarding comment, I can’t choose just one. But, I do know of readers who have taken their first trip because we gave them the inspiration and confidence to do so. And from that trip they have started exploring more in their lives. That means the world to us.

Salkantay Mountain in Peru
Salkantay Mountain in Peru

 

3. Since you’re the first featured married travelers on Busbud, I can’t help but ask you about your relationship. Can you share the challenges and the benefits of traveling with your significant other?

There are many of both! Dan and I often observe and process different things, so when we talk about a situation later it’s like we are both learning more from the experience as we have each other’s perspectives on top of our own. And we balance each other out when one of us is feeling sick or down, the other can pick up the slack. Long-term travel and spending so much time with one person does also cause stress where you start having silly fights and picking on stupid things. We wrote about how to balance all this out in an appropriately named piece called: How to Travel the World Together Without Killing Each Other.

4. You’ve got an amazing original series of videos available online in which you share what your adventures, the food you eat as well as the people you meet. Which video are you most proud of?

That’s a tough question! Our food videos are the most popular, but the one that we’re most proud of would have to be Battambang on a Bike from Cambodia. We’ve shown this short video to students in Estonia and the United States and we’ve been amazed at the response we’ve gotten from students on this and how it begins to question their assumptions about money, poverty, happiness and life around the world.

5. At Busbud, our mission is to make life easier for bus travelers. You’ve taken the bus in China, Cambodia and Argentina. Which country have you found most bus-friendly, and why?

Argentina has the best buses of the three. If you splurge for the high end service, you get champagne, wine and pretty good food. Often there is free wifi, too. In China, my suggestion is to take the train if you can.

Detaille Island in Antarctica 
Detaille Island in Antarctica

6. And for a related question, what do you enjoy most about bus travel?

Bus travel is slow travel, meaning that you see the progression and changes in landscape, people and culture go by. This provides understanding of the places you’re visiting. When you travel by plane, it can be a shock to land in such a different place without having the context of building up to it.

7. Finally, my favorite section on your blog is the “Make Me Laugh” section. You’ve got a great sense of humor, and you use your keen sense of observations to give us perspective on our lives through these articles. After all these years on the road, are you still surprised by what you discover on your travels? What keeps you going?

Each time we think we’ve seen it all, something else comes our way that makes us realize we’ve seen nothing. Just the other night, we were at a bar in Oaxaca when when a vendor came around with a little box selling electric shocks. Yes, electric shocks! Not sure why, but supposedly it’s a common game that people think is fun. If you keep your eyes open, you’ll always find something that will surprise you.

What keeps us going with our travels? Curiosity and people.

Thanks Dan & Audrey!

I’ve attached one of my favorite video recipes from them below, on how to cook classic Thai dishes. You can find more videos on their Youtube channelYou can get in touch with them on Facebook and Twitter.

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Photos by Uncornered Market