Thank you for taking the time to look at Feet Do Travel! It’s great you want to know more about who we are.
We are Angie & Simon Briggs, two wandering souls whose feet haven’t stopped travelling since we were bitten by the “wanderlust” bug! But when were we bitten and how did Feet Do Travel start??
Angie's Birthday - China, Chengdu 2013
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Angie’s story
Hiya! My name is Angie and this is how wanderlust became a part of my life. How my travels began... My travelling days started in 1997 when I did a two month overland expedition through Africa – I didn’t realise it would change my life forever! Prior to then, I had been on holidays to Italy, Spain, France and Greece, but Africa was a completely different experience! When I look back and read my journal, I am reminded of the emotional rollercoaster I was on. I do recall thinking at the time that I would never travel again! |
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I was young, naive, insecure... and also left behind in the Serengeti National Park by my tour group which didn’t make me feel very loved!! I was thousands of miles from home, away from my friends and my security, why was I doing this again?? Despite all these emotions, I fell in love with the good experiences and the bad memories began to fade away, replaced with warm and fuzzy thoughts. In 1999, I returned to Africa for a further two months and that was it – I was bitten by the wanderlust bug forever!! In 2002 I travelled through Thailand and Malaysia then onto Australia with a year’s working visa. I had the most amazing time in Oz, I loved the feeling that I wasn’t just a tourist, but someone who “lived” in another country (albeit for a short period of time). |
Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe 1997
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Cuddling a Koala, Townsville 2002
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Upon returning to England, I was lucky enough to meet my husband and we built a “conventional” life together, but travelling was still a large part of who I was and I didn’t want that to stop despite having a husband, mortgage and cat! Thankfully it didn’t take a lot of convincing to show Sy the life I had become accustomed to! Together we have embarked on a life dedicated to travel. I have grown so much as a person through travelling. I have challenged myself, faced fears, overcome idiosyncrasies and felt emotions I didn’t think were possible. I believe I am more a rounded individual through the knowledge I have gained from seeing how other cultures live – travelling is the best education! I found the person I was through travel, maybe you will too! |
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Simon’s story
Hi, I’m Sy and I love adventure! My main passion is scuba diving, mountain biking and bushcraft (think Bear Grylls or Ray Mears!). My ideal weekend would be jumping out of a helicopter on a mountain bike, cycling to an idyllic beach for a couple of dives, then building a camp fire to cook my dinner followed by a night sleeping under the stars in a basha or self-made leaf shelter! As that is not going to happen, I will just have to be content with travelling the globe and doing each activity separately! I had always loved going on holidays and I have a lot of fond memories from them. I vividly remember a trip to Tunisia when I was 14 and rode a camel into the Sahara Desert… that feeling of being in such vast isolation. I recall the heat being so intense and over-bearing, so different to anything else I had experienced. We spent the night in an underground hotel where Star Wars was filmed! Yes, STAR WARS!!! A dream right? |
Egypt, Cairo 2010
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Taj Mahal, Agra, India 2008
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Up to the age of 17, I was passionate about ski-ing and was a very accomplished ski-er… I was going to be a ski-instructor. Few things match standing on a mountain top in a set of skies, looking at the ranges then throwing yourself down black runs at high speed, feeling the air rush and hearing the “schwoosh” of skis on snow. Unfortunately, I had to have an arthroscopy operation on my knee. My ski career was over.
Four years later I met Angie. Hearing her stories of travelling and backpacking with groups of people she didn’t even know made me realise that this is something people do, maybe I could too? But I wasn’t quite convinced at this point. She told me of numerous safaris in Africa… the thrill of seeing wildlife whet my appetite even more for adventurous holidays. When I heard there were tigers in India, this became a destination I needed to experience. |
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Now I realise that the more you travel, the culture difference is what you travel for. I love seeing how people live in different countries where as before, I used to feel isolated as a foreigner… now I find that part of the attraction. In India, I was bitten by the Wanderlust bug!!
So my passion for travel intensified. The more you travel the more your eyes are opened, especially as Angie was a scuba diver and I wasn’t! She always said I would like it, however being afraid of the sea was a big obstacle for me! Yes, I was afraid of the sea! When we were in Cyprus, after much arm twisting, Angie convinced me to do an “Undersea Walkers” trip. I loved it! I NEEDED to do Scuba!! In 2012 while in Cape Verde, the time felt right to do a PADI Open Water course, so I qualified! Through diving, I not only overcame my fear of large expanses of water but this also made me want to travel even more.Scuba diving has opened up the possibilities of many destinations I hadn’t even dreamt or heard of before! I now struggle to think of places I wouldn’t go – Nowhere seems off limits anymore. I simply love experiencing life as much as I can. I have now become a PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor... no more fear, loving life! |
PADI Open Water, Cape Verde, 2013
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So where does Feet Do Travel come into all this?
Why did we start blogging? Angie kept all journals from holidays and her travelling days, she even kept emails sent home whilst she was away! Little did she realise she was in the early stages of blogging!
People have always asked us to share our adventures and they seem to want to know our story. They are keen to hear what excitement we’ve had and what else have we done? Over the years, we feel proud to have helped a lot of people choose their next holiday destination and so a blog seemed the most natural and easiest way of getting our message across.
Wherever we go, we always seem to create a travel community. We will chat to strangers, then one things leads to another, suddenly there are many of us all sharing knowledge whilst sipping a cocktail or beer in the bar. It just makes sense to do this on a bigger scale (minus the alcohol).
People have always asked us to share our adventures and they seem to want to know our story. They are keen to hear what excitement we’ve had and what else have we done? Over the years, we feel proud to have helped a lot of people choose their next holiday destination and so a blog seemed the most natural and easiest way of getting our message across.
Wherever we go, we always seem to create a travel community. We will chat to strangers, then one things leads to another, suddenly there are many of us all sharing knowledge whilst sipping a cocktail or beer in the bar. It just makes sense to do this on a bigger scale (minus the alcohol).
And so Feet Do Travel was born!!
Our Wedding, IceHotel, Lapland 2006
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Mabul, Borneo, Christmas 2015
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