Who are Digital Travel Couple?
Hi! We are Atiba & Ilse, founders of Digital Travel Couple. Welcome on our blog, we’re happy to have you here and hope you enjoy reading all our travel, photo & videography tips!
If you want to get to know us better, read our FAQ on this page or go to this blog post where we share our personal story.
If you still have questions, don’t hesitate to send us a message via info@digitaltravelcouple.com
We were both born and raised in the west of The Netherlands, nearby Rotterdam in small villages.
We think our name says everything about what we do and who we are. We work online, using digital tools, we travel, and we are a couple. DigitalTravelCouple! When we were brainstorming about our website and social media name we wanted to keep it personal and a name which is easy to remember. We started our Instagram at the beginning of 2018 and this website and blog in January 2019.
On 8-8-2018 we got on a flight to Bali without a return ticket. We didn’t realize this while booking the flight on this specific date, but the three numbers eight in this date mean a lot to us. If you turn the 8 to 180 degrees, you see the sign of infinity. And that is exactly how this adventure feels to us, as an infinite journey 🙂
Having our fulltime jobs, owning a house, and having the ability to practice our sports on top level, people would say we have ‘everything’. But we felt that we didn’t want to be ‘stuck’ in one place. The adventure was calling us. We had the urge to develop our creative and entrepreneurial side. We felt that we want to tell a story through visuals, explore the world as content creators. Becoming the best photo and videographers we can be.
Also we realized the value of time and how important it is to use it wisely. We didn’t want to be stuck in a weekly race of office work, training etc. We wanted to have the time to develop ourselves as better persons, entrepreneurs and as a couple. This would give us the opportunity to build on our own dreams and create a life we don’t need a vacation from. And that’s exactly the position where we are in now. We love our work so much, and we are living our lives in the most beautiful parts of the world. So we don’t need ‘vacation’ from this life anymore! 🙂
We started our own business, developed ourselves as photo and videographers, quit our jobs, sold our house and all our belongings and packed all we needed in our backpacks. Of course these steps took time. From the start of this plan to the implementation and the date on which we left for Bali, months of preparation have preceded it.
We are the so called “slowmads”, Digital Nomads – travelers that like to stay in one place for a longer term and explore everything a country has to offer. That always gives us the opportunity to connect with the local people, culture and country in the best way. But besides that, slow travel also gives us the opportunity to sit down and work on our business. Maybe you would think we are exploring and capturing photos for the blog everyday. But the articles also have to be written and photos and videos have to be edited for social media. So there is always a balance for us of being outdoors and creating content, or working from home to process the content. Since 2022 we are officially based in Bali since we bought a house there. That means we will come back to our home in Bali after traveling and rent it out when we are on the road.
Besides blogging we also have our own small production company with which we specialise in video & photo shoots for Travel companies, Luxury Resorts, Real Estate and brand shoots. This is also a huge part of our business and sometimes determines how our days and weeks look like. But we love these jobs from time to time and are always open to discuss your needs if you are looking for video & photographers to work with!
