ABOUT US

Early days…

Surprisingly, we both decided to pursue the digital nomad lifestyle separately, but at around the same time. 

Ryan first left the UK long-term in November 2018, when he packed up everything, sold the rest, and flew to Australia. It was during the next 18-months around Oceania and Asia that Ryan realised that there were people out there who were getting paid to travel… that was it, he’d decided that’s where he wanted his life to be.

Sara’s story is even crazier! She never felt like she belonged in her community back in Switzerland, so at the end of 2017 she “fled” to India. This is where she spent the next year travelling around the beautifully chaotic country, followed by a budget-backpacking stint through south-east Asia. In a similar vein, it’s during this time Sara discovered digital nomadism.

Over the next few years, we worked on honing our skills in social media and photography, in the hopes to transition our hobbies into careers. Ryan grew a fairly successful landscape photography page to over 17,000 followers and Sara began learning the intricacies of social media, algorithms and marketing strategies.

And then, the pandemic.

A sad time…

We both returned back to Europe in 2021 – now stuck inside. Entering back into the workforce, we suddenly felt our lives stagnate.

No longer were we moving from country to country every month. We weren’t even allowed outside, which stunted our growth in travel photography. Consistency on social media became difficult and morale began to drop.

But once the lockdowns became more lenient, Ryan fired up his YouTube channel and dove headfirst into learning storytelling and filmmaking. He didn’t know it at the time, but this was going to be his ticket to becoming a digital nomad.

Living the island life…

Unbeknownst to each other, we both decided to escape Europe at exactly the same time!

In November 2021, there was a window during which Indonesia only required two nights of quarantine to enter. We jumped at the opportunity to move to Bali!

For the next six months, we were living the high life!

We spent evenings walking along the beach, sipping coconuts while the sun set. Eating our way around Canggu and Seminyak, attempting to try every restaurant we could. Whizzing around rural Bali on scooters, taking in the views of volcanoes and rice fields.

In May 2022, Ryan landed his first job using his filmmaking and photography skills. He started working for Christian, a.k.a. Lost LeBlanc, one of the largest travel creators on YouTube. He’d seen on Instagram that Ryan was in Bali and reached out to offer him the position of travel assistant and video editor, which Ryan accepted without question.

Sara had also been busy. Continuing to grow her own YouTube channel and Instagram, she had been learning the ins and outs of the social media business. She was loving sharing her Bali experiences online with her friends.

And then in June 2022, we met.

The travel power couple…

Thanks to a mutual friend of ours being born 28 years earlier, we were both invited to his birthday celebrations in Bali in June 2022. We didn’t get to talk too much that night – loud music is the enemy of conversation – but we got along so well that we met up again… and again… and again.

Before we knew it, we were testing the waters of a relationship, high on this fresh new experience of sharing the world with each other. 

We moved in together after six weeks. We said it was to save money, but secretly, we were both excited!

Then began a year of sharing the digital nomad life together. We explored every inch of the island of Bali. We organised collaborations with unique accommodations and businesses.

Our freelance careers started to bloom. We were taking paid gigs from companies like Tinggly and Bluetti. Sara picked up her first client as a social media manager, and Ryan parted ways with Christian in late 2022 to become a full-time freelance video editor.

In 2023 we started travelling together as digital nomads for real. We left Bali and spent two and a half months visiting all corners of Thailand, followed by six weeks basing ourselves in Kuala Lumper, Malaysia.

At this point, we’d done it. We both had several ongoing clients and a steady income every month… we’d successfully achieved our dream of becoming digital nomads and full-time travellers.

Welcoming Across Every Border…

During the summer of 2023, right before a new, long adventure through Latin America, we sat down and had a serious conversation…

What could we create that would utilise both of our expertise and be a resource that could help others?

We both had our YouTube channels, but didn’t really click with the thought of starting a joint channel – the workload would become unmanageable.

At this point, we both had clients that ran online blogs.

Then it hit us, we can bring together our content creation skills and social media management skills to develop and nurture a blog that could directly help digital nomads!

And thus Across Every Border was born.

In September 2023, we uploaded our first Reel to Instagram, and just a month later, our first online article went live.

In the last year, we’ve uploaded over 350 pieces of valuable content across our social media platforms, and over 50 in-depth, transparent, and high-value digital nomad and travel guides on this blog right here.

In total, we’ve travelled to 13 different countries together, creating clusters of content to help YOU plan for your next digital nomad destination.

So why Across Every Border?

Between us, Across Every Border has 15+ years of combined travelling experience, that spans over 40 different countries and 6 continents. Couple this with the fact we have been full-time digital nomads for over 3 years, and you’ve got yourself a killer combo!

We pride ourselves on seeking out the best digital nomad hotspots and sticking around for months at a time. This means that we gain a much more in-depth understanding of a destination than your usual backpacker or traveller.

From working in cafes, to discovering coworking spaces, and assimilating ourselves in with the local digital nomad community, we want to share our experiences and tips with other nomads. 

So if you’re looking for your next digital nomad destination, then look no further than Across Every Border!

In our safe hands, you’ll be able to find all of the local knowledge you’ll need before committing to your next homebase.