We left everything.
We had no idea what we were doing.
It was the best decision of our lives.
One year on the road — two people, one motorcycle, 7 countries, 12,000€ total. Here’s everything that happened.
We left on a Sunday. In the rain. Led by a spinning wine bottle.
August 1st, 2021. 3:15 PM. Dardagny, Switzerland. We were overloaded, slightly hungover from our goodbye party the night before, and our friends and family were standing in a semicircle in the rain, waiting for us to leave. The tears were real. The plan was not.
A few minutes earlier, our eight-year-old nephew Seth had spun a bottle of Rouvinez wine on a world map spread across the living room floor. It stopped pointing west. France. That was our direction. No further details. Just west.
In 2021, with COVID still closing borders across half the world, we’d decided to let chance decide. We had skills — photography, videography, marketing — a 2014 BMW F800 GS we’d named Falkor after the luck dragon from The Neverending Story, a tent we called Bedawang, and the belief that when nothing is planned, everything is possible.
That first night, we pitched Bedawang next to a fairly busy road near Bassy, France. We had too much stuff, couldn’t remember where anything was, and had no system yet for life in 236 liters of luggage (Side Panniers 2x48l + Duffle bag 80l + 2x small backpacks 25l + Tank bag 10l). We cooked risotto on our camping stove and went to sleep at 8 PM. We were lost — not on the map, but in this new life. And it was perfect.
From the Swiss Alps to the Moroccan Sahara — taking all the time in the world
This was not a checklist. We didn’t tick countries like boxes. We spent over five months in France alone — from the Alps and the Vercors plateau, down through Provence, the Camargue salt flats, the Languedoc wine country, all the way to the Pyrénées where we stayed for two months. We then dipped through Andorra, crossed into Spain, bivouacked in the lunar landscape of the Bardenas Reales desert, passed through Madrid and Toledo before reaching Portugal.
Portugal swallowed us whole. Nearly five months between the surf breaks of Peniche, the hills of Sintra, the cliffs of Sagres, and the old streets of Porto. Portugal has a way of making you stay longer than planned — and we were in no rush.
In May 2022, we crossed Gibraltar — a strange one-hour detour into British territory wedged between two seas — before boarding the ferry to Africa. On May 21st, 2022, we rode into Morocco.
We traded skills for shelter. Here’s how it actually works.
Before we left, we had a dream but no system. We wanted to travel by exchanging what we knew how to do — photography, video production, marketing, social media, cooking, taking care of children, gardening — for accommodation, food, or meaningful experiences. Modern barter. Human connection over money. But we had no idea how to make it real.
The answer came on day two of the trip, completely by chance. We were having lunch at a snack bar in Chanaz, Savoie. Across the canal: a stunning campsite with overwater bungalows on a mountain lake. On a whim, we walked over and proposed to film a promotional video for them in exchange for a place to stay. The rooms were full — it was August — but the manager offered us a free pitch for three nights anyway.
A few weeks later, we discovered Workaway — a platform that connects travelers with hosts around the world who offer accommodation in exchange for a few hours of help each day. It changed everything. The deal is simple: roughly 4–5 hours of work per day, and you receive a bed, often meals (or money to eat), and an experience that no hotel can replicate.
Over the year, the work ranged enormously — gardening, caring for animals, helping with children, creating photo and video content, managing social media accounts, assisting with renovation projects, hosting guests. Every exchange was different. None felt like a job.
4–5h of help/day in exchange for a bed and often meals
Farms, guesthouses, eco-projects, families, hostels
We traveled for €1,000/month for two — total
You don’t just visit a place — you become part of it
Annual membership: ~€49 — easily paid back by your first exchange.
Our 11 work exchanges — Year 1 in full
| # | Experience | Platform | Country | Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chanaz — Promo video for lakeside campsite | Self-arranged | 🇫🇷 France | 3 |
| 2 | L’Évasion au Naturel — Eco-chalets | Self-arranged | 🇫🇷 France | 7 |
| 3 | Méaudre (Vercors) — Mountain gîte | Self-arranged | 🇫🇷 France | 3 |
| 4 | ★ La Taillede — Cooper family, renovated mas | Workaway | 🇫🇷 France | 62 |
| 5 | Mérida — Refuge & 360° virtual tour | Self-arranged | 🇪🇸 Spain | 3 |
| 6 | ★ Chez Francis — Coastal stay near Peniche | Self-arranged | 🇵🇹 Portugal | 96 |
| 7 | Casa dos Amigos — Guesthouse help | Workaway | 🇵🇹 Portugal | 21 |
| 8 | Ain Taoujdate — Omar’s farm | Workaway | 🇲🇦 Morocco | 7 |
| 9 | Ksar El Boya — Desert guesthouse | Workaway | 🇲🇦 Morocco | 15 |
| 10 | Hôtel Imilchil — Atlas Mountains | Self-arranged | 🇲🇦 Morocco | 2 |
| 11 | Essaouira — Chez Tessa, guesthouse | Workaway | 🇲🇦 Morocco | 23 |
★ In total, 242 days of exchange/volunteering for the 1st year! More then 66% of the year with free food and/or accommodation!
★ Highlights — exchanges that lasted more than a month and shaped the entire journey.
62 days at La Taillede — becoming a family with strangers
In September 2021, we arrived at La Taillede, a beautifully renovated old mas tucked in the French Pyrénées near Corsavy. Ali and Matt Cooper — British parents who’d left their careers behind to rebuild an ancient farmhouse into a guesthouse — welcomed us in. Their kids, Olea and Simi, became our little companions.
For 62 days, we helped with everything: feeding and caring for animals, managing guests, helping with children’s activities, creating marketing content, fixing things that needed fixing. In exchange: a home, meals, the mountains, and a family we didn’t know we needed. This is what Workaway really is. Not labor for accommodation. It’s a completely different way to belong somewhere.
We still speak to them today. We’re part of their story. They’re part of ours.
€12,000 for two people. For an entire year. Everything included.
When people hear this, they often ask: « But how? Is that even possible? » Yes. And the math isn’t magic — it’s a different philosophy.
Before we left, our life in Switzerland cost us around €5,000 per month for two — rent, food, transport, insurance, taxes. All of it. On the road for a full year, we spent €12,000 total — roughly €1,000 per month for both of us. That’s less than what one person pays for rent alone in Geneva.
(for two)
(for two)
our previous life
work exchanges
The biggest expense? Food — specifically on the weeks and months when we weren’t in a work exchange and cooking for ourselves from markets and local shops. Petrol and motorcycle maintenance came second. What nearly disappeared from our budget: accommodation (replaced by exchanges and wild camping), subscriptions, impulse purchases, and the invisible cost of « convenience » that city life charges you every single day.
What we don’t always show on Instagram
Year one on the road sounds romantic. And it was. But it also looked like this: a tent flooding in three consecutive days of rain, a chain that needed adjustment at every garage because Falkor was overloaded, two people sharing 14 square feet of living space with nowhere to retreat to.
The rain that wouldn’t stop
Our first weeks in France — Bedawang flooded, bags damp, gear scattered everywhere. We hadn’t yet built a system for life in 47 liters. It took weeks to figure out where everything lived and how to stay organized inside a two-person tent. Discomfort is the best teacher we’ve ever had.
The doubt that comes at 11 PM
Polarsteps has one entry near Châtillon-en-Diois that just says: « some moments harder than others. » We were lost — not geographically, but existentially. That kind of doubt is part of the process. You can’t skip it. You sit with it and keep moving.
Falkor and his opinions
A fully loaded adventure motorcycle has thoughts. The chain needed maximum slackening on day one in Sion. The weight distribution took weeks to perfect. Learning to be your own roadside assistance is a skill nobody teaches you — you just acquire it, one adjustment at a time.
Being together, all the time
Traveling as a couple — 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with no separate office, no friends to decompress with, no space that’s just yours — is an extraordinary exercise. We had friction. We had days where the motorcycle felt very small. We came out the other side closer than we’ve ever been.
Six moments from Year 1 we’ll carry forever
La Taillede, Pyrénées 🇫🇷
62 days that taught us what it means to truly belong somewhere. We became family with strangers. Still true today.
The first « yes », Chanaz 🇫🇷
Day two. We asked. They said yes. That single moment changed the entire philosophy of how we travel. Everything became possible after that.
The roads of southern France 🇫🇷
The Vercors. Provence. The Camargue. The Pyrénées. France alone was more than a country — it was an entire first chapter.
Ksar El Boya, Morocco 🇲🇦
15 days at a remote desert guesthouse near Errachidia. Silence, stars, sandy roads and the feeling that we were finally deep into something real.
La Cathédrale, Imsfrane 🇲🇦
One of the most stunning offroad pistes in Morocco. A hidden valley carved like a cathedral in stone. Worth every difficult kilometer.
Merzouga, Sahara 🇲🇦
Falkor parked in front of the dunes at sunset. We hadn’t planned to reach Africa in year one. The Sahara disagreed.
365 days of lessons no classroom gives you
Ask. The answer is usually yes.
The worst that can happen is a no. But most people — everywhere, in every culture — respond to genuine, respectful asking with generosity. Our entire model is built on asking.
Slow travel is not slow.
Five months in France. Five months in Portugal. We didn’t miss anything by staying. We gained depth that sprint-travel can never buy. Speed is the enemy of experience.
Less is genuinely more.
We started with too much. We shipped boxes home. What remained was exactly what we needed. Constraint is liberating once you stop fighting it.
Exchanges beat hotels, always.
We’ve never learned more from a hotel room than from a family’s kitchen. Work exchanges aren’t about saving money. They’re about gaining access to a version of a place that doesn’t exist on any booking platform.
Discomfort is data.
Every flooded tent, every difficult night, every moment of doubt told us something true about ourselves. Comfort keeps you stuck. Discomfort moves you forward.
The plan you don’t make is often the best one.
Putting a random point on the GPS and seeing what appeared — that produced more magic in year one than any carefully researched itinerary could have.
One year in motion
We made a film for the anniversary. Not a travel reel — a real film. Shot across seven countries, with a poetic voiceover written at 11 PM in a guesthouse in Essaouira on the eve of our second year beginning.
Africa changed the scale of everything
When we crossed into Morocco on May 21st, the trip changed dimension. The Rif mountains. Chefchaouen. The Middle Atlas. The Sahara. Gorges that go on for hours. Families inviting us for tea on pistes with no names. The Moroccan road system is a metaphor: officially paved, actually an adventure.
At the end of our 23 days at Chez Tessa in Essaouira — our final Workaway exchange of year one — we made the biggest decision of the journey. We pulled out a deck of plant tarot cards. The rule we invented: if the plant was from Asia, we’d head toward Asia. If it was from Africa, we’d do a full loop of the continent. We drew one card. The plant was Asian. The direction was set.
A year in 16 images
Year 1 — the full summary
- 🗺️ 138 steps recorded on Polarsteps — from Sierre, Switzerland to Essaouira, Morocco
- 🌍 7 countries — 🇨🇭🇫🇷🇦🇩🇪🇸🇵🇹🇬🇮🇲🇦 — at an average of 52 days per country
- 🤝 11 work exchanges via Workaway and self-arranged — over 230 nights covered
- 💸 €12,000 total for two — €1,000/month — food was the main expense, not accommodation
- ⏱️ 4–5 hours of work per day on exchanges — gardening, animals, children, marketing, photo/video
- 🏕️ Dozens of wild bivouacs — from Alpine meadows to the Moroccan Anti-Atlas
- 🏍️ Falkor — BMW F800 GS 2014 — never stopped once
- ❤️ Families of the heart built in France, Portugal, and Morocco — still with us today
If you’ve ever thought about leaving — or just slowing down and going deeper — this is where to start.
No obligation. Just the door to a different kind of travel.
Year one was just the appetizer.
We’ve been asked if we consider ourselves adventurers. We think each person creates their own reality. If calling yourself an adventurer lights up stars in your sky — why hesitate? We are adventurers. Of our own lives.
Year one taught us that the most meaningful moments don’t come from planning — they come from asking, staying longer than expected, and saying yes to things that are slightly too big for the person you currently are. We left Switzerland with skills, a motorcycle, and the world’s most naive optimism. We arrived in Morocco, a year later, with a philosophy.
The plant card chose Asia. The Year 2 compass pointed east. Turkey, Iran, Lebanon. And beyond that — the whole slow crawl toward Southeast Asia that has now, four years later, brought us to Thailand with 115,000 km on Falkor’s odometer and 45 countries in the rearview.
But that’s another story. 🐲
Follow the rest of the journey
5 years on the road. 45 countries. 115,000 km. Falkor is still running. So are we. Don’t miss what comes next.