Couple save £32,000 in two years and quit their 9-5 jobs to become travel vloggers
What does it take to become a travel vlogger? Just ask Dylan Evans and Adriana de Pertis, a couple who saved £32,000 in two years and quit their day jobs to chase their vlogging dream.
Evans, 30, and de Pertis, 33, met in 2018 and soon bonded over their love of travel and their desire to explore the world.
It took two years for dental therapist de Pertis and Evans, who worked in data warehousing at an insurance company, to save up the money before they quit their jobs in 2020 and started their own YouTube channel, 2Passports1Dream.
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With no video editing skills at the time, the couple had to learn everything from scratch, but they now have more than 120,000 subscribers and have travelled to Singapore, the Philippines, Cambodia, and Thailand.
“To begin with, our social media accounts were making no money at all,” Cardiff-born Evans says. “The first day we got monetised on YouTube, we were cheering to making around £1 in one day.
“It felt like much more than that, though. It was £1 that we made for ourselves from something that we love.”
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He adds that their monthly income has grown since, but that it can “vary greatly” depending on their location and how often they are posting.
“We are fortunate to be making more now than we were from our 9-5 jobs,” he continues. “But, with this travelling content creation lifestyle comes a lot more expenditures, such as camera gear, travel, insurance, and hotels with good wifi.
“There's a common misconception that travel YouTubers are just sipping cocktails on the beach and the videos upload themselves. But we have never worked this hard in our lives, and we wouldn't change this for the world.”
He says he and Swedish-born de Pertis saw quitting their day jobs as a “massive load off our shoulders knowing that we can be our own bosses from now on” and that they had a “very strict budget” in order to save the £32,000.
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Now, some of the couple’s most popular videos include trying the spiciest dish in Bangkok and buying the world's cheapest suit in Vietnam.
Evans now runs a digital marking agency too, but says that being away from family and friends for long periods is the most challenging part of their new jobs.
“During the pandemic, we were away for almost two years before we finally returned to the UK and Sweden for a month,” he adds.
“It's tough, but we're working hard now so that we can afford to make more regular trips home in the future.”
He says that “anyone” can make a living off of YouTube. “Whether you want to travel like us or explore a different industry, with hard work and dedication, you too can build an epic follower base.”
Additional reporting by SWNS.
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