Jenna Carr and Joao Paias haven’t let parenthood dull their wanderlust – in fact, they’ve been able to turn travel into the way they make their living.
They’ve journeyed across Portugal and the UK, as well as France, Switzerland, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Bali.
They also explored Cyprus and the Greek islands in 2019, as well as Italy, before travelling across the US – with a quick stop in the Bahamas – and ended up in New York.
Jenna started sharing their parenting travel tips online, and her audience grew until she was able to give up her stressful job as locum doctor in February to focus on her website. Now, she’s earning around £6,000 solely through the website.
The couple, who are now engaged and based in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, met on Tinder in 2017 while Joao was on holiday in his native country Portugal.
Jenna had attended a hen party that April, in Albufeira, and decided she wanted to alter her plans and stay to see more of the Algarve.
After scrolling through Tinder and matching with Joao, a former civil engineer, the pair bonded over their shared love of travel and spent a few weeks exploring the area’s beautiful beaches.
‘During the hen party we would go out and lie by the pool, and when it came to leaving I realised I’d barely seen any of the Algarve,’ Jenna recalled.
‘I ditched the flight home and booked a hostel in Lagos but quickly realised the hostel was a bit dead and there wasn’t much to do.
‘I went on Tinder to find someone to hang out with and matched with Joao.
‘I explained I was in Portugal for a few weeks and he showed me the lesser-known beaches – we went camping on this beach and cooked food outside and just had the best few weeks, it all felt really natural.
‘I had texted my friends after one of the first times I’d met him, saying “I’m going to marry this man and have his babies” as a joke.’
When she eventually did have to leave, Jenna and Joao kept in touch over WhatsApp and soon enough she was on another flight to see him again.
Come August, the two decided to have a go at making a relationship work long distance.
They met up in England and Portugal, and travelled to the Philippines and Bali together.
Joao the huge step of moving to England to be with Jenna, who was living in her parents’ house at the time, in April 2018.
It was only a few months later that they discovered they were expecting surprise baby Leo, who is now three.
‘I had previously tried for a baby for years and had been told I was infertile,’ Jenna said.
‘I told all of this to poor Joao and said we didn’t need to be too careful, so when I found out I was pregnant I was shocked.
‘It felt like it was bad timing, but secretly deep down I had been wanting a baby for so long and knew Joao was a good guy – we had already established it was a serious thing.
‘I knew when we looked back, we would think it was perfect timing, and we’ve now been trying for a second baby for two years and it hasn’t happened, so Leo is definitely a bit of a miracle baby.’
When Leo was just two weeks old, the couple went to Portugal, so Joao’s family could meet their new grandchild.
That summer, they even took Leo to Glastonbury festival with them – when he was just 12 weeks old.
‘Taking Leo to Portugal at two weeks old was so easy,’ said now-former doctor Jenna. ‘He slept the whole flight and was happy enough in Portugal.
‘We had bought Glastonbury festival tickets before I knew I was pregnant and decided to take Leo with us.
‘It went really well, and we realised we could do whatever we wanted to do and it would make him confident and adaptable.’
And the couple plan to keep going with their travels full-time. In fact, Joao handed in his notice just a couple of weeks ago and Jenna continues to work on the website.
‘The income we get is significant enough that we can both survive, and we know this is the life we want,’ she explains.
Jenna said: ‘We earned £6,000 last month from our website and have realised we could do everything we did before, just with a baby.
‘We don’t have to live a boring life to provide for him.
‘It’s getting to the point where we can travel and be nomadic and live the life we want to live.’
So far this year, the family of three has spent time in Italy and they have plans to visit Japan later this year.
Jenna’s top tips for travelling on a budget:
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