Alara Pelin Ülker 
Bram and Manon are a Dutch travel couple who have been exploring the world together for over ten years. The couple currently lives in Curaçao in the southern Caribbean sea. They are creating their content to inspire other travelers under the name of Flip Flop Wanderers on the web. The reason why they choose ‘Flip Flop Wanderers’ is simply because they love warm places and prefer to walk on flip flops in their travels. Now, let’s take a look at the story of Flip Flop Wanderers: Bram and Manon!
Biography
| Name | Manon van Os & Bram School |
| Age | 31 & 33 |
| Nationality | Dutch |
| Residency | Netherlands |
| Job | Social Media Influencers |
| Hobbies / Interests | Photography & Traveling |
| Number of Countries Visited | ? 40 |
| Social Media Accounts | Instagram/flipflopwanderers Youtube/flipflopwanderers Blog/flipflopwanderers.com |
How did you guys meet? Can you tell us the story of you becoming a couple as well?
We met almost 11 years ago on a festival in the Netherlands. We were there separate with our own friends but our had mutual friends. So via them we came in contact with each other. After that, we started dating and we became a couple!
How did you decide to travel the world together?
This actually came naturally. About 6 months after we got a relationship, Manon went to Curacao to go on an internship for her study. Bram visited her there after 2,5 months and stayed on the island. Afterward, we also traveled through the US together and that’s when the travel bug really started. We went back home to the Netherlands but we both had a dream to go to Australia, so 2 years later we went there together. And of course, then we couldn’t stop traveling anymore. So we started traveling all over the world!
What are the best/worst sides of traveling as a couple?
The best side of traveling is that you are never alone. You have someone to share all these experiences with and always have someone to talk to afterwards. When you are traveling alone it can be hard to share you stories with people from back home. Also, it’s just way more fun together! An annoying part of traveling as a couple is that you are always together. It’s easier to get into a fight with each other and to have your own space. We actually fixed that by just doing our own activities now and then and sometimes just sit in a different room to have a bit of alone time.
Is there any particular moment from your trips that you’ll always remember?
Actually, all our trips are great to remember! But what really stood out for us was the times that we lived in a van full-time. We did this in Australia and in New Zealand. Traveling and living in a van gives you so much freedom, you can park wherever you want and see whatever you want. We love trips like that!
Manon works as a full-time engineer and Bram is working on your online business for 9+ hours a day. How do you guys manage your time while traveling?
Actually, it’s the other way around 😉 But managing our time while full-time traveling is still something we struggle with! When you are on the road the whole day you just want to relax in the evening, but for us, that’s not possible. During our travels, Bram is not working as an engineer but we do our online creation together. During the day we mostly explore and create our content, while during the evenings we do all our other work, like sorting through our photos, editing, writing blogs, and contact with brands. When we are working on big projects we have to take some downtime during our travels. For example, we stay at one play for a longer time to be able to finish all our projects.
Traveling as two people can be challenging from time to time. What would be your advice for other couples to travel in harmony as well?
Do the things you both love to do! That way you’ll have less fights. Or if someone loves photography for example and the other one hates then make agreements together. One part of the day you take photos together and the other part of the day you do something that the other one likes. It’s all about giving and taking in a relationship! And as we said before, give each other some space. Even when we were living in a tiny van this was possible for us. For example, when we wanted to be alone, one of us went sitting outside of the van and the other one sat inside. It can be as simple as that!
How long have you been traveling together?
Since Manon went on her internship to Curacao in 2011, so that’s 10 years already!
The first city you’ve ever visited as a couple:
Willemstad, Curacao and after that Miami in the US.
The most romantic city for Valentine’s Day:
Rome in Italy
The destination you love going to the most as a couple:
Curacao, which we are also living right now!
Your favourite beach destination:
Curacao of course! But also the Philippines and the rest of the Caribbean.
The most romantic hotel/restaurant you’ve been to together:
Templation Hotel in Siem Reap, Cambodia. The private villa with pool was just amazing!
Where’s next?
Hopefully some more islands in the Caribbean. We hope to go to Sint Maarten in one month.
For more travel inspiration, dont forget to check out our interviews!
