Catching flights + feelings: 6 Workaway love stories to inspire you this Valentine's Day
Deep down, we all just want to find someone who looks at us the way we look at travel photos. These stories prove if you hit the road open-hearted, anything can happen. Love is the greatest adventure - but Workaway is a great place to start!
1. The unexpected romance turned real-life fairytale
Ingvild and Ashley
Ingvild reached out to say: “I met my husband Ashley while I was solo travelling and Workawaying at a school in Nepal five years ago, and we just got married this summer! Thank you for the great matchmaking - you did better than Tinder!
It wasn't love at first sight, but there was a connection. We taught a class together and hit it off, but I was only there for a week. We stayed in touch and ended up Workawaying together for six months! He moved to Norway with me, and we got married this summer. There's nowhere to hide when you're travelling together, which teaches you a lot about the other person. Although, it was a more difficult adjustment to domestic life and things like the dishes. Real life is definitely harder than Workawaying!"
Dream Workaway to take each other to this Valentine's Day?
"We really enjoyed our last Workaway in Guatemala, where we stayed in this beautiful old hippie bus. But our next would probably be our last one for a while… because we're expecting a baby in August!
It would be amazing to do something adventurous like some manual work. Maybe at a tea plantation or a rice farm somewhere in Asia, or Africa."
Congratulations! Do you think that you'll ever Workaway as a family in the future?
"Yes, we’ve talked about it. We met families doing this and it was hugely inspiring. It's a great way to spend your holidays and feel like you're actually contributing and making a difference. Workaway has changed my perspective, and our lives. We wouldn't be sitting here married with a baby on the way if it wasn’t for Workaway!"
2. The eco-conscious power couple with serious #relationshipgoals
Eliza and Francesca
Eliza and Francesca met two and a half years ago in Naples, and as their relationship bloomed, they realised they shared the same ambitions. This duo decided to take the leap and fully dedicate themselves to realising their dreams through their Workaway adventures…
"We're using Workaway as a platform to learn more about permaculture and agriculture. We want to open an eco-lodge in Cilento, in the south of Italy. Developing a sense of community is really important to us, and we love that Workaway helps create deep and meaningful connections. It's helping us make our dream a reality, and to grow as people."
Most romantic Workaway experience?
"In Portugal, we stayed in a tent for two months. It was a little bit uncomfortable, but the colours and the sounds in the morning were really amazing. It was in the middle of nature, we'd open up our tent in the morning and be looking across this valley at all the hills.
The tent was also a tiny cocoon where the two of us could have privacy. We grew together as a couple because we had a lot of time to talk about our goals."
Dream Workaway to take each other to this Valentine's day?
"A beautiful place like Italy. Our own eco-project, in 15 years!"
3. The backpacking bikers who’ve got date night nailed
Morgane and Max
Morgane and Max started out as flatmates, but ten years on, they’re loved up and in the middle of a year-long motorcycle trip around Europe. We caught up with them as they ‘ride out’ the cold winter in Greece, to find out why they think Workaway is almost as perfect for them as they are for each other…
"About two years ago, we started planning a motorcycle trip across Europe, and we wanted to do some volunteering. We looked at several platforms, and we chose Workaway because it allowed us to travel all over Europe with the same subscription, without paying for each individual country. Since we knew we wanted to go to lots of countries, it was definitely the best option, and we felt like it offered a more diverse choice of hosts.
We share one bike, Max drives! Morgane is the more romantic one - she pays attention to the little things, like looking for places to watch the sunset, nice restaurants ... and new Workaways!
We went to so many incredible places together: Tuscany was so beautiful - nice vibes, nice landscape, nice restaurants to spend the evening in, everything is magical. Slovenia, where we escaped and created a bubble in nature together. It was the greenest and quietest country we travelled to."
Dream Workaway to take each other to this Valentine’s Day?
"The Workaway we did in the south of Greece was perfect, actually. We were house-sitting over New Year's Eve in a big villa with a swimming pool. They only wanted us to clean the swimming pool, and feed the chickens! We watched the last sunset of the year from the olive groves, it was paradise."
4. The night-out spark that ignited a round-the-world romance
Giada and Carlotta
A more relatable meet-cute - ever had a tipsy chat on a night out, felt a spark, but they slipped away? After meeting Giada, Carlotta decided their story wasn’t going to end there. Some Instagram sleuthing, a text flirtationship, a first kiss on Valentine’s Day and five years later, these backpacking babes are head-over-heels in Australia...
"We wanted to see the world, and Workaway is a really great way to do it. We graduated from University, packed everything into backpacks and took off. We prefer Workawaying to normal travel. It’s the best of both worlds because we have time for ourselves, but we can also learn new things and meet new people. We’re still in touch with our fantastic hosts in Amsterdam, we just found out their daughter is having a baby! One of the best things about Workaway is the relationships you form."
What are you learning about relationships through travelling together?
"If we argue, I (Carlotta) want to talk straight away, but Giada needs some space. When we first met, I would get angry about it at first. Now that we have travelled together, we understand each other more. I have learned to let her go and then we can talk about what happened later."
Who’s the most hopeless romantic?
"Carlotta is the romantic one. She wants to have ‘experiences’ and Giada wants to go for nice dinners, so we have to balance this as well… so a new experience, and then after, dinner!"
5. The full-of-love family redefining their relationships on the road
5. The full-of-love family redefining their relationships on the road
Terry and Guillaume
Terry was only supposed to stay in Italy for two years, but her spark with Guillaume grew into something stronger. They had (somewhat!) settled to raise their family - until they heard about Workaway. We caught up with Terry from Thailand while Guillaume kept the kids distracted with beach games…
"We want our family relationships to be our priority. That had kind of gotten away from us with work, the kids being in school all day … you basically don't spend any time together. When our friend told us about their wonderful Workaway experience, we thought, we could do that! We quit our jobs and cut all ties because we wanted to be 100% dedicated to the kids while we were travelling. We are away for a full school year world-schooling our kids on the road. They love it, some of their favourite memories of our travels are of being at Workaways."
What's the most romantic destination you visited?
"Chang Mai in Thailand, because my husband and I got Sak Yant tattoos together from an Ajarn.
If we could do a Valentine’s Day Workaway with just the two of us, that would be really cool. Somewhere in nature where it’s nice and quiet. There’s something kind of romantic about just using our hands and working the land alongside my husband."
6. Six best friends that show soulmates come in all shapes and sizes
Romantic love isn’t the only kind of love that deserves to be celebrated today. Sometimes our soulmates are platonic, and sometimes, they come in sixes! These BFFs, a blend of actual couples and some solo friends, met at University, bonded over a love of travel, and decided to seriously go all in. Find out how fireside chats on camping trips led to a five-month Workaway whirlwind…
"We were planning to all move to Florida together. That plan fell through, but we thought if we were all on board with that, why not travel together? Brooke found Workaway online and sent it to everyone. We thought there were so many different opportunities, the site is very user-friendly, and it’s super easy to search for hosts. It took some extra time to find Workaways that had space for us all but it was a fun process. At one point in Spain, we had even more friends from back home visit us, so the group got even bigger!"
How did you prepare to travel together?
"From day one, we were talking about how it was pretty much going to be like we're actually all in a relationship together, and we should prepare to experience the same highs and lows.
Communication is key! We definitely had difficult moments, but I have never met people that were just able to be so open, vulnerable and honest with each other."
What do you think are the special benefits of travelling the way you do?
"We got to see the world through our friends' eyes. We would do different things that reflected the interests of each person which was really cool. It was like being in a relationship with five other people, and some of us haven't been in a long-term relationship with one person yet. So there was a lot of self-reflection and growth involved. Watching all of us go through challenges and overcome them to get to where we are today, is so beautiful."
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