Hi, it's Kenji & Rieneke, nice to meet you!
Travel Bloggers, Photographers & Videographers
When we first met we had no idea we would travel the world together to the extent that we’re doing right now. Our first holiday together was just a two-week trip to Italy, not too far, just in case it didn’t work out.
That short trip turned into another and another and before we knew it we were planning a world trip. We left in 2016 for at least a year with no plans whatsoever. When we returned home we had been traveling for 494 days!
But we can’t shake this travel bug and want to discover more so we’re in the middle of planning our next big trip. Planning probably isn’t the right word because we just go wherever the wind takes us.
Discover the world with us
Our journey
We both did our fair bit of traveling before we met. Kenji traveled a lot with his parents when he was younger and made a couple of trips by himself. Rieneke never traveled as a child but became a recurrent visitor of the United States when she hit it off with her summer au pair family.
The idea of a world trip started when we stumbled upon the story of Otto. A couple had been traveling the world in their jeep for over 23 years. That got us thinking. Why not do something similar? It would give us time to really get to know a country.
We left in 2016 after saving up a lot of money. We sold everything, including our home, and we quit our jobs. Nothing to return home to if this didn’t work out. But also, no strings attached and the ultimate freedom to do something else.
We had the time of our lives! Having no plans felt strange at first, but we enjoyed the freedom it gave us to stay somewhere for a special event or leave if we didn’t like it there. No one to respond to, nothing to worry about other than what to eat.
After 494 days we were running low on cash and we decided to go home. We had all these amazing ideas about everything we’d learned and we wanted to implement them in our lives from now on. But doing this is hard when you get swept up by life.
So after struggling for a few years we decided to take a leap of faith again: we’re going on another world trip with no plans. Yes, that means once again quitting our jobs, and selling our things including our house. Adventure, here we come!
From Backpackjunkies to Boots & Sunshine
When we left in 2016 we started a travel blog to keep friends and family in the loop. We had to think of a name and decided to go with Backpackjunkies. We wrote a lot of blogs and shared as much information about places we went to, accommodations we stayed at, and ways to travel cheaply.
But we outgrew the name a bit and it became a problem that other people started to use the name as well. We wanted a fresh new start for our travel blog and at the same time switch from Dutch content to English content. Thus, Boots & Sunshine was born! Still the same people, but a different brand and a new fresh web design.
We’re still merging both websites so you might see some old content. We’re working on updating everything as soon as possible, but it’s a lot of work! If you come across some errors, please let us know via our contact page.
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