Interview with Mike and Luci of 1000 Fights
Mike, please give my readers a background about yourself. What made you want to start 1000fights.com?
We are Mike and Luci: The
Fighting Couple. After our honeymoon to Lake Tahoe, Mike turned to Luci
and said, “Where are we going next year?” So began our yearly pilgrimage
to somewhere new; somewhere we
could spend time together (or not) somewhere to fight, somewhere to discover.
We started 1000fights.com at the prompting of our friends and family who love hearing about our fights. Who knew that complete strangers would want to hear about our fights?
Did you have a natural affinity for traveling ever since you were small or did you develop your love of traveling when you got older?
We are both wanderers. We love to explore. We enjoy meeting new people, seeing new places, and experiencing new adventures together. As we get older, out tastes in travel might change but our fights keep getting better! Stay tuned!
What has been the most surprising destination you've been to? Meaning, you had a specific mindset about a certain destination but it was totally a different experience than you had imagined.
Our most surprising location visited was Turkey. We LOVE Turkey. It is such an interesting destination. It truly has it all: history, great cuisine, warm people, and adventure! What more could you want? We weren’t completely sure what to expect before our first visit. Candidly we just got a really good deal on the flight and said to ourselves, Turkey is interesting. Lets go. We are so glad we did. It is a special place.
If you had to choose one favorite destination, which one would you chose?
Mike: Tie: Amazon Jungle, Peru and Bihac, Bosnia
Luci: Tuscany, Italy
What has been the least exciting destination you've traveled to?
Rab, Croatia-We were totally pumped about seeing this island off the coast of Croatia. When we got there, the boat we reserved 3 months in advance was suddenly “unavailable”, we then got an expensive ticket for passing in a no passing zone, after following three other cars passing a slow moving dump truck on a straight flat road. If that wasn’t bad enough, we had to hand wash all of our laundry as there is not one laundrymat on the entire tourist laden island! We are still a little bitter, sorry about venting.
What impact has 1000fights.com had on your life?
Through our blog, we have met some really cool people (see next question). We love interacting with our readers as well as other couple travel bloggers. Everyone has a story. Everyone has a different perspective. The blog has really forced us to learn how to write. We also are learning the ins and outs of promoting our site which has been an adventure in itself. Still learning.
Through blogging, have you met any interesting people?
Yes! Yes! Yes! Just last week we had the @CoupleofSports come to Boise. We had a chance to take them around town and share in their amazing adventure as they try a different sport in every state. We also had a chance to hang out with @journeywoman when we attended a travel blog convention in Vancouver BC this past spring. She has such an amazing story. Follow her!
If you could travel with one celebrity for one week, who would you chose?
Luci: Kate Winslet. I think she is one of the finest actresses of our
time. And while she is glamorous and gorgerous, she seems real. I think she’d
have dessert!
Mike: Tie: Jenni Garth or Carmen Electra-they are both very intelligent
women that I could learn much from…. Or Luci…yeah..Luci.
What advice would you give to a newbie traveler?
Luci- I have two pieces of advice: First, read everything you can about where you are visiting. Don’t just read travel books. Read history books. Read novels set in the country. Get to know as much as you can before you go. Second, don’t be afraid to talk to people. I get tired of just talking to Michael so I start making friends on trains, in lounges, on boats. People are friendly when you are friendly. You’ll learn more by talking to others than your spouse!
Mike- My advice is simple. Go. If you lack the financial ability to go international, explore your city, your state or your own country. Discovery is so refreshing. It’s ok to fight. It‘s really ok. Fighting is a clash of ideas and opinions; the fact that you both feel strongly is to be celebrated. I don’t know how many times one of us has said, “I want to go see this.” The immediate response for the other is “why?” A discussion of why a given topic is important ensues. You learn so much from this exercise. You learn about your spouse likes and dislikes. You learn about their passions. Traveling is a microcosm for life. You must budget, agree on directions (thank goodness for GPS!) set priorities and work together. Recognize and enjoy those aspects as you travel. The best part of fighting is it gives you an excuse to make up (we won’t offer any advice on that topic, we will leave it to you!)
In 10 years, do you see yourself still traveling or slowing down?
Traveling!!! And Fighting!!!
Thanks Mike and Luci. Please visit their blog @ 1000 Fights