Welcome to BestCaptured! A blog by an American couple (Mo and Jo) with a passion for the places and cultures that the world has to offer, and a gift for sharing it with others through journaling and photography.
How Our Travels Began
Almost seven years ago we set out on our first trip together from North Carolina to the New England Coast for four days of exploring the likes of Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, and Boston. This inaugural trip (which also happened to be our honeymoon) was then followed by a three day visit to Washington DC for the Fourth of July, a five day road trip through the Blue Ridge Mountains of NC to Charleston, SC, a four day stent in New York City, and a seven day trek around Costa Rica all before our first anniversary. Over the years several of our friends approached us not only wanting to hear about our travel stories, but also wanting to know HOW we made our pace of traveling so attainable. After some discussion and research we came up with the idea for a travel blog that encompasses both travel stories AND planning to hopefully inspire and help our readers make travel a reality in their own lives.
Why BestCaptured
We chose the name BestCaptured because as a blog we aspire to 'capture' the beauty and wonder of the world around us and share the best of those captures with our followers. Its also fair to mention that we are The Bests.
Travel Like a Pro (Without Quitting Your Job)
The web is full of travel sites with guides, tutorials, and suggestions on how to quit your job and travel the world indefinitely. This may be a great option for some, but for others, such as ourselves, we prefer to mix the adventure of travel with the familiarity and comfort of home whether that be because of friends, family, or career aspirations. Here is a quick overlook at how we have learned to make travel a lifestyle without quitting our jobs and while continuing to build our long-term wealth.
- Make Travel A Priority - The easiest way to keep travel from becoming a reality is to NOT have a plan. A few years ago we created a spreadsheet that helped us to organize our travels monthly. This allowed us to prioritize our travels by combining our bucket list destinations with our non-optional travels from a zoomed-out approach to ensure efficient use of our time and resources.
- Get Organized - This one is linked with number. For most working Americans vacation time needs to be planned well in advance. We try to plan a general travel outline together at the beginning of every year or whenever vacation time is renewed. We may not have our destinations narrowed down at this point, but we know a general timeline for when we will be able to travel.
- Go Destination "Shopping" - Look at your bucket list of places whether that be on Pinterest or other blogs and find at least 3 feasible options for your next trip destination. Then, narrow this down by looking at the realities of each trip, the financial damage of each option, and really your personal top priority.
- Keep Your Eye on the Ball - This one is important for getting the most out of your travel experiences. Don't attempt to plan more that one trip at a time as you do not want the anticipation of the "next" trip overshadowing the one that you are currently on. Enjoy the process of dreaming and planning each trip.
- Pack Your Bags, Unplug, and Enjoy - Last but not least, this is the part where you get to enjoy the benefits of travel. Soak in each experience and each destination.
Check out our Travel Resources Page for our complete lineup of tips and strategies.
Photography
Another passion of ours that goes hand in hand with travel is photography. We love documenting the different aspects of the places we visit through photography because the age old adage of "a picture is worth a thousand words" speaks a ton of truth. You will find our photography work on display throughout the site via photo essays and photo intensive posts. Another way that we feature our photography is through our Capture of the Week posts.
Let Us Provide Some Adventure Inspiration
Life Blog
Travel is just a part of our life that we have been blessed enough to experience. Check out our most recent posts about the things outside of our travels at our life blog here.