Hi, we're Laurence and Vera. We're travellers, into writing and photography, slowly exploring the world. We both started our journeys around June 2009; Laurence after quitting the corporate life and Vera looking for a change of scenery. We met in Australia in January 2010.
This blog was started in May 2010 by Laurence as a way to catalogue his experiences and share his photos, and has since evolved into a place on the web where you can find honest travel advice, humorous tales from the road, and photography to inspire!
Where have you been?
Laurence's first adventure on this trip was a year long 60,000km road trip around Australia, where we met. Together we then spent a summer living in Germany, followed by a year travelling New Zealand by campervan.
We're currently in France, which we're using as a base to explore Europe, and helping run an adults only campsite in Dordogne on the side :).
Before that, whilst working, Laurence still managed to travel extensively, clocking up time in Central America, the US, Africa and Europe.
Where are you from?
Laurence was born in the UK, but he spent a lot of his childhood growing up on a small desert island in the Seychelles. So it's a tricky one to answer. Usually the short response involves London or Oxford, and the long response can go on for a while, and involves some time spent growing up in a VW van touring the UK.
Vera was born in Berlin, Germany, and spent some of her childhood in the Ivory Coast, Africa, before moving back to the Cologne region of Germany. As a teenager, she also went to high school near Toronto, Canada, for a year.
What's this all about then?
This site serves as the focal point for our travels and associated photography. We share news from the road, thoughts on travelling, and photos of our adventures. When we're not writing about our trips, we'll often be talking about photography, travelling tips and technology, which are our other passions.
And the name? That's a bit weird, isn't it?
Is it a co-incidence that Laurence's favourite author's books happen to include a reference to the Universe in many of their titles? We think not. We're hitch hiking our way through the Universe folks. We just ended up on Earth for longer than expected. This blog is about life, the universe, and everything. And us finding our place in it :).
What's next?
After nearly three years on the road, we've moved to a semi-nomadic lifestyle. We spend part of our time enjoying the European summer and exploring around our French base. When the northern hemisphere cools down into winter, we make like swallows and find somewhere warmer to while away the months!
What else do you write about?We like travelling and taking pictures. We like to write about how we experience travel, what we learn from it, and try to share some awesome photos.
Over the course of the site's lifetime, we've shifted to posting more and more of Laurence's photos from our trips. Of course, we have other interests. Technology is liable to crop up, as are food and beer ;).
I like your stuff, how do I tell the world about it?
The simplest way is to hit any one of the sharing buttons at the end of each post.
I want to know more about you!
I want to know more about you!
We haven't managed to scare you off yet? Good. A couple of excellent sites have run interviews with Laurence, and you can find those either at yTravelBlog or A Dangerous Business. More of our contributions to the internet can be found on our hall of fame page.
How can I be kept up to date with your ramblings?
At the top right hand side of the page are a number of buttons that will let you follow us in a variety of ways. If you follow the site on Facebook, you'll be able to take part in the ever growing site community and see almost daily photos.
If, on the other hand, you just want to be notified every time we do a new post, then the orange RSS logo is the place to go. Even without an RSS reader (Google Reader is a good place to start!) you can get e-mail notifications of every post.
If, on the other hand, you just want to be notified every time we do a new post, then the orange RSS logo is the place to go. Even without an RSS reader (Google Reader is a good place to start!) you can get e-mail notifications of every post.
Do you get paid to do this?
Not in the traditional sense! Any revenue comes from advertising content, people clicking site ads, or following links to Amazon. If you have an urge to send us money, or like our writing so much you want us to write something for you, drop us a line. We also have a page with information for people interested in advertising on Finding the Universe, right here.
Do you do guest posts / Can I use your articles on my site?Just drop us a line to let us know how we can help, and we'll be able to work something out.
What about the photos on the site? Can I use / buy them?
The majority of the photos on the site are taken by Laurence, so get in touch for re-use. Pretty much every shot will be available in a high resolution JPEG, as well as the original Canon RAW file.
I currently shoot with a Canon EOS 400D and a variety of lenses. If you are interested in purchasing photos off me, take a look at my gallery where you can buy works, a flickr stream and a 500px profile, plus I'm always open for offers. For other needs, just drop us an e-mail at laurence at findingtheniverse.com, and we can work something out.
How can I contact you?
There's a contact page linked off to the right, or available here. E-mail works, too, laurence at findingtheuniverse.com. Or you can just leave a comment in the comments box if you have thoughts on a particular post.
Where else can I follow you?
You can find us at all kinds of places on the web:
- on twitter as lozula;
- on facebook at facebook.com/findingtheuniverse;
- on my photo gallery
- on flickr as lozula
- on my Google Profile
- on 500px as lozula
- on stumbleupon as lozula
I have more questions!
Well, we can't answer everything here, sadly. Post a comment somewhere on the site, or drop us a line, and we'll do our best to help out :). Or you can read 14 things you didn't already know about Laurence, and see how you score. That'll pass a bit of time.
Ok, I've wasted enough time here, where else do you recommend I go to waste time?
Well, the internet sure is a big place. If you like some humour, of the geeky sort, you'd do worse than xkcd. If you are more into the darker side of web based comicery, then a softer world may be for you. Otherwise, we also maintain a list of other excellent travel blogs here and you can check out our other writings here. We'll leave you with this excellent comic from the xkcd genius, which explains us far better than we ever could...
