Today we’d like to introduce you to Eric Bournot & Joana Boukhabza.
Hi Eric & Joana, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Eric 35 years old / Joana 34 years old.
Before living on the road, we were both architects in France.
Caught in the whirlwind of life, we have accumulated long studies and agency work in parallel, then freshly graduated, we worked for ourselves without counting the hours. Lots of pressure and responsibility. Our work literally took all our time.
Long studies, an exhausting active life, a life that mistreats us personally… We had the feeling of suffocating in a daily life that was not for us. Passionate about travel and old vehicles (We have some old vehicles that we have restored ourselves and we participated to a humanitarian rally in Morocco in 2011 with an old Renault 4L, a French car from 70′), we always had the idea of a long road trip in mind. But we were just pushing back, claiming that this was not the right time…
Until the day we were so exhausted, and we accepted the fact that there was no good time to finally live the life we wanted.
So, after leaving our apartment in France and selling all our stuff (except old vehicles of course haha), we took a ticket to Canada in June 2015 and bought an 84′ VW van there.
It was the start of the adventure, with no real plan. Just hit the road and ride, discover, meet, live!
Since then, the road trip has become a real way of life!
7.5 years later we are still on the road. We explored 49 states in the USA (we only have Hawaii left), all the provinces of Canada, Mexico, and part of Central America.
But after all that, our favorite remains Utah. We have been there and back in all seasons, also in the coldest of winters, and we never tire of exploring these lands and discovering its secrets. When we are asked where could we live after seeing all this, we answer Utah, without hesitation.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Life on the road is not necessarily easy, even if it brings enormous freedom, there are of course certain constraints. But this word “constraint” is not the most appropriate because we are on the roads by choice and therefore, we cannot complain. It’s just that all the easy everyday things takes more time: finding water, taking a shower, cooking, doing the dishes,… These are above all the daily gestures that you no longer pay attention to when you are in a house that requires a little more time and anticipation. You have to pay attention to your water management (this is where you also become aware of the excesses in sedentary life), your electricity, your reserves, etc… Being autonomous and a real challenge every day.
Even breakdowns on the van, which could be stressful in the first months, are now handled stress-free. It’s just hardware, it can be fixed. There are worse things in life, we know that all too well, so…
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Our professional projects have evolved. Our passion for photography has become our profession. We are now photographers and editors for magazines, for outdoor equipment/véhicules manufacturers, etc… Our life on the road feeds our profession and vice versa.
This is ideal when traveling full-time. Constantly discovering allows us to always offer more content and to write more and more new articles for the press. The outdoor brands we collaborate with know that we are 100% of the time in the middle of incredible landscapes and it is ideal for them to work with us. This is what differentiates us from others. No need to think of a scenario, we are in a situation every day!
We never thought in 2015 that it would come to this and be able to continue this lifestyle. The RoadTrip should only be a break in our lives as Architects, and today everything has changed. And for nothing in the world would we go back behind a desk.
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
We were both born in the South of France, in Marseille, and grew up there. It is a pleasant city on the shores of the Mediterranean with a very interesting cultural mix like all the major ports.
Joana didn’t have an easy life, she had to deal with adult things when she was still a child. She, therefore, had to grow up very quickly and face the harsh reality of life… This is why she is so passionate and constantly seeks to discover new places, to always go further. The morning she is the first up (early) ready to explore, to see every corner of our beautiful planet. We only have one life so let’s live it!
Eric is quieter, he always likes to make and repair things, it’s like a Swiss army knife, he knows how to do almost anything and learns quickly. With the van he was not bored the first years (now he is reliable). He’s also kind of the geek of the band. Like Joana, Eric had the chance to travel a little here and there with his parents when he was younger and that gives a taste of adventure, that’s for sure.
What’s funny is that we look alike and complement each other at the same time. We have the same passions (photography, writing, travel, restoring old vehicles…). And when you put all of that in a shaker you inevitably get our current life. Everything makes sense.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.DesFenetresSurLeMonde.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/desfenetressurlemonde/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DesFenetresSurLeMonde.blog
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/desfenetressurlemonde
Image Credits
Joana Boukhabza
Eric Bournot
