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Do you have an insatiable wanderlust, an incurable urge to seek out what lies beyond your horizon, or a restlessness for discovery? It’s not FOMO driving these feelings, pushing you to travel and explore your world. The answer might lie in your genes! An estimated 20% of humans have an actual “explorer gene” embedded within their DNA. The good news is you don’t need genetic testing to confirm if you possess this gene. If you, like us, have the nagging curiosity to explore your environment then you very likely test positive for the Explorer Gene too.

After many years trying to hopelessly suppress our explorer genes, in 2018 we finally gave in to them, sold or gave away our possessions, left behind our careers, and set out with our new homes on our backs. We spent years planning and saving like mad to prepare for our leap to become fully nomadic. Along the way we’ve discovered financial independence, countless connections to people and places, and have fallen in love with home-free slow travel.

The Explorer Genes blog is the story of our unique journey, with quirky snapshots of our life slowmading the globe on a $50 (combined) budget per day. We love to geek out and write about all the fun insights and facts we uncover, make history not boring, and share obscure or off-beat discoveries as we go. We are also culture hounds, avid hikers and walkers, and try to seek out adventure on a budget whenever and wherever possible. We truly believe that travel isn’t simply what you read in guidebooks, or is something found only in a lists of “must do’s”, “must see’s”, or “top ten’s.” Instead, we create a by-the-seat-of-our-pants itinerary that comes from slow travel, meeting and living with locals, and finding wondrous and off-beat travel opportunities when we can.

– Mandy & Greg Chase

Northern Victoria: An Aussie Explorer’s Paradise

Upon landing a bit spontaneously in Northern Victoria and graciously being provided a loaner Ute by Farmer Joel’s father, we were able to see a resplendent, and quite abundantly gifted part of the country. It was a part that felt incredibly familiar to us…a mix of Eastern Oregon and Northern California, exuding some of the same […]

June 6, 2025

Cairns to Brisbane: A Roadie in Queensland for $1/Day

From South to North: Into the Tropics After five days of fervently fanning flies and letting the fragrance of farmland soak into our sniffers, we bid adieu to Farmer Joel at the train station in “The Wang.” It was time to commence our next Ozcapade…to the far north…where we would join forces with Avis relocating a […]

June 5, 2025

Hot and Breezy in Brissie City, Australia

Two French Bulldogs who think they’re humans We were excited to arrive to Brisbane after four nights of camping for a few reasons, with A/C, a real bed and fewer creepy crawlers at the top of the list. For three nights, we would get some crawlers of a different variety, or more accurately…waddlers. Ah yes, […]

June 4, 2025

Off the Grid in a New South Wales Rainforest, Australia

The Voyage from Brissie to Kyogle Waking up in Brisbane, we cranked our engines at 3:30 to make our 5:00 southbound train into New South Wales, which cost an astronomical amount compared to other public transport we’d had in Oz. ($51 USD/2 tickets/2 hours.) We were quickly learning that prices can range drastically from region […]

June 3, 2025

Australia: It’s a Wrap!

Believe it or not, this was our first jaunt Down Under and we knew in this expensive country that we had to be strategic about stretching the budget. Part of that strategy took us a bit out of our comfort zone and definitely forced us to be way more flexible and last minute than we […]

June 2, 2025

Adjusting to the Kiwi Life in Queenstown, New Zealand

Arriving to New Zealand We arrived to New Zealand in utter zombie state. Considering the distance most people travel to get this island nation, I’m sure we weren’t the first. But, we were only coming three hours from Australia so it should have been easy, right? Nah, Jetstar wanted to assure we were up at the […]

June 1, 2025

Want to explore by specific destination? This map displays every country we have visited since becoming nomadic in 2018. It’s color coded with green colored countries linking to anything we’ve written on them. And, all those uncolored countries… well, those are all our upcoming adventures; so stay tuned as we color them green!

In our country wraps series, we summarize the upsides and downsides of our time in a country, breaking down expenses, sharing insights, and offering general impressions to help you plan your own adventures.