About Us
Do you live for new experiences? Do you crave the thrill of exciting adventures? Do you yearn for getting out there and discovering new places?
Well friend, you’ve come to the right place.
We’re James & Sarah and we love to travel. In fact it’s our biggest passion and we can’t imagine it not being a huge part of our lives.
We’re totally travel obsessed. We dream about it day and night, we read about it till our eyes go funny, but most of all we love getting out there and actually doing it.
Since you’re here, we’re pretty sure this probably describes you pretty well too. And that’s why we created this website. To help you, our fellow travel enthusiasts, get your travel dreams off the ground and get the most out of your adventures.
To make travel a priority, experience it to its fullest and create lifelong memories in the process in incredible destinations.
Here at The Whole World Or Nothing we’re also all about travelling better and having a positive impact on the places we visit. So we hope you’ll join us on that journey too.
We love linking up with like minded people on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram and hearing from you at hello@thewholeworldornothing.com. We personally respond to every single one of the lovely messages we get, so go on, feel free to reach out to us!
Our Story
We’re not hippies – although we do yoga. We’re not running away from “real life” – we do run to keep fit though. And we’re not beach bums playing the guitar and talking eastern philosophy all day long to anyone who’ll listen – but we have been known to do both when rum is involved.
Actually, we’re just a normal, down to earth couple. And we’re working harder than we’ve ever done before. But the great thing is that it no longer feels like work to us because we’ve designed a life that we absolutely love which allows us to travel where we want, when we want.
Want to know more about what we do?
Well rewind to 2014 and we were stressed out, highly strung and chained to the office. We had everything we thought we wanted – corporate jobs, company cars and our own house. But it turned out all that stuff really wasn’t making us happy.
What changed? Nothing and everything. We didn’t just wake up one day, get a cab to the airport and buy a one way ticket to anywheresville. That would be irresponsible!
We sat down on a wall on the way back from the pub, on a warm Saturday evening and had an honest conversation. We talked about how much we dreaded Monday mornings, where our lives were headed, how scared we were of getting stuck doing the same thing for the next 30 years and ultimately kept coming up with one question.
“What are we gonna do about it?”
It was at that precise moment that the dream of travelling started to become a reality.
We researched, we planned and we saved for what we thought would be a one year, round the world trip. It was incredible!
And it became clear that the idea of going back to a 9 to 5 job with the Monday morning doom and the pressures of working for someone else was the last thing either of us wanted to do.
Believe us when we say that this was not the easy option. The easy thing would have been to return home and back to life as we knew it.
But sometimes it’s the things that are difficult in life that give you the most pleasure. So we started to carve out a little corner of the internet for ourselves and we built this website to earn a living and be our own bosses.
But the best bit? We can be anywhere in the world (anywhere with a half decent wifi connection anyway).
So what’s with the name, The Whole World Or Nothing?
Well we’re not really the passport-stamp collecting types and it’s not our ambition to travel to every country, or even every continent in the world. Actually that sounds pretty exhausting. That’s not what the name’s about.
In fact, it’s not even really about travel.
The Whole World Or Nothing is all about the spirit. The spirit of getting out there and making your dreams a reality, whatever they are. The spirit of keeping on moving forward regardless of how difficult it may seem. The spirit of doing something you love over any other alternative.
It’s from a line by one of our favourite authors, Charles Bukowski, who was all about doing. He also said: “if you’re going to try, go all the way. Otherwise, don’t even start”. We’ve found these words to live by. Phew! That got heavy didn’t it!
And where are we now?
Well when the world pressed pause on travel in 2020 we were faced with somewhat of a dilemma on how to continue doing what we love safely and responsibly.
So we unpacked our backpacks and made the decision to switch up our travel style and try our hand at vanlife. And while we were forced to stay put, poured our energy into building our very own tiny home on wheels.
A base that in true ‘The Whole World Or Nothing’ style we can take anywhere in the world. A sort of freedom machine if you will.
Okay now it’s over to you! Check out our blog, have a look around our site and let us know what you think. Oh and we also have a YouTube channel, you should check that out too.
We can’t wait to hear from you!
James & Sarah
P.s. If you’ve got time, head on over to one of our brand new blogs too.
This one is on all things Ireland travel and this one is for any whisk(e)y fans out there and covers the amazing resurgence of Irish whiskey. They’re both still in their infancy (read unfinished) but we’re super proud of the designs and can’t wait to get publishing awesome content on them.