Aga and Iza, please give my readers a background about yourselves. What made you want to start www.hottoddiesunlimited.com?
Allow us to introduce our self’s as the two Hot Toddies originally from Poland but we met in the States. Barely knowing each other, we dropped everything, took our life savings, and started backpacking around the globe, on a mission to step foot on all 7 continents. It’s our endless possibilities, limitless dreams, fleeting love, backpacker’s experiences, and sexy one nighters that we capture through the eye of a lens and the detail of the written word on HotToddiesUnlimited.com. It initially began as our intimate journal and it has developed into Hot Toddies worldwide travel stories.
If you both had to choose one favorite destination, which one would you chose?
Antarctica! Before we will say why, we do want to give credit to all other 29 countries we have visited on this journey, every place is a different story and a different vibe, it’s very difficult to choose. However, Antarctica will forever be frozen deep in our hearts, as the shinning crystal of our nomadic world. Giant icebergs, deep blue waters, natures silence, frozen flakes, and mating penguins all formed into a cool real fairytale that we often replay.
What has been the least exciting destination you both traveled to? Kuta Bali, to some this is the number one place to visit and party when traveling into Bali. We felt it was over populated with tourists, hunting chaotic locals and the beaches were dirty. Nothing special to record into our books, Gili Islands which are very near to Kuta is a better option.
Did you both develop your love of traveling when you were young or did you develop your love of traveling as you both became adults?
We both have slightly different answers to this one; Iza was a nomad the minute she was born, as a child she often traveled with her finger on the globe. Collecting maps, and images from all around the world was her hobby for years. Any opportunity to escape from her daily activities she was on it. Aga, I was always in search of something new, as a child I ventured out and stayed long ours exploring, my neighborhood’s forest was my normal getaway. As an adult I always made spontaneous decisions, especially when in a search for new experiences, traveling the world is for sure one of them. Together with my impulsive decision and Iza’s longed love for traveling we make a perfect Ying-yang duo.
What impact has hottoddiesunlimited.com had on your life?
In the first year of our travels we have used our iPhone to write and upload all the travel stories. When our fans increased and the joy of sharing grew, we invested into a laptop and became more active. We added a Polish section, YouTube stories of our everyday nomadic life. Through our blog we have landed a gig, sharing our thrills, culture shocks and backpacking experiences in a weekly column in the travel section of Nowy Dziennik, a Polish daily news located in New York City. The blog is making us famous! Just kidding, but it is opening different allies of communication with the world. It also makes us psyched to share our travel randomness with the world.
What do your friends and family think about your world traveling adventures?
Some thought that we would backpack the world with a machete and rip through the toughest jungles. Some thought we wouldn’t survive more then 6 months. Some envy, but all of our friends give us full support and they can’t wait for us to get back, we think.
If you could relive one traveling experience, which experience would you chose?
Definitely a tuff one to choose, but digging deep into our memories of all the extremes and the emotions that accompanied each one we both agreed on trekking in the Himalayas. Himalayas is a stunning range of magnificent giants topped with the best vanilla icing on the cake. Changing altitude give a different story and a new glory. The 8 day climb to Annapurna Base Camp, in Nepal was tuff, painful yet rewording with the best view mother nature could have played on. Without a doubt we would love to do it again.
What has been the most surprising destination you’ve been to? Meaning, you had a specific mindset about a certain destination but it was totally a different experience than you had imagined.
For sure India, people either love or hate India, we heard the good and the bad, and we also heard that nothing absolutely nothing can prepare you for India. We though we were ready, especially after 20 months on the road. When we arrived to Varanasi, one of India’s holy cities we were shocked. Beeping cars, loud rickshaws, ringing bicycles, screaming people, cows, dying dogs, and raging monkeys were all rolling and stepping in and over holy crap. We knew it was going to be crazy, but first impression was insanely crazy.
If you had to decide which destination has been the most influential in your lives, which destination would you chose?
After a full night of sleep thinking about this question, we still don’t have the answer. Hehehe, each destination on this journey has added a new experience, new influence and new perspective. We would answer this a bit differently; instead picking a destination we will answer it as a whole. Visiting all the different countries and their cultures, seeing the poor, the rich, the happy and the sad, the blues and the red we came to the conclusion that rich people are not happy and poor don’t know it but they are happy. This defiantly has a major influence on our current perspective on how we would like to move forward with life. Greediness will lead to unhappiness, and sharing is carrying is a way of life for happiness.
Aga, you could travel with any celebrity for one week, who would you chose?
I am so out of the loop, who is who, I have no idea. I don’t even watch TV, nor do I read anything celebrity hyped related, it’s just so out of my interests. The ideal person that I would like to travel for a week is the best chef in the world. Who is that? I have no idea, but if he/she can make healthy food for me for one week I will be in glory. A salad maker would be the idealist. I promise to share with Iza.
Iza, you could travel with any celebrity for one week, who would you chose?
I would love to travel with Juliet Binose, who was a chocolate maker in the movie “Chocolate”. I would like for her to make millions of chocolates to make me smile and be happy. I won’t share with Aga.
What advice would you give to a newbie traveler?
Open your mind, taste everything and most importantly never plan details. The best way to travel is to allow each circumstance to develop and use your instinct to move forward. We followed our instinct and it has never let us down.
In 10 years, do you see yourselves still traveling or slowing down?
Before our journey started someone told us that once a nomad always would be a nomad. We highly agree with that statement as we continuously mark places where we want to return, places that we skipped due to money or time. Traveling is currently part of our daily life and it will continue to be a big part of our existence. Many things can happen in 10 years, who knows what we going to see, smell, feel and taste in 10 years, for now we will flow with the glow. A fairytale told us that apparently it will be the end of the world in 2012, so we don’t plan just live according to what makes us smile.