Why Onestepinto – rough guide to freedom?
Onestepinto – because we like dipping our feet in new territories, creating adventures, capturing moments through the viewfinder and pinning new places on our travel maps.
Rough guide to freedom – this is our soul project, the one which makes us free past the borders of our jobs, our address or day to day routine. It is the place where we get creative, nostalgic, inspired. It is in these words and feelings that we find reason to step into new destinations every time.
Who are we?
Two individuals who make a good team. Alex is the geography guy, he rarely gets lost, optimises routes and is very good with directions. Raluca is the detail-oriented girl, she zips through guidebooks, forums and blogs to find what she needs and remembers a lot of numbers. We are both into photography. We own a Nikon D7000 and a Sigma 17-70mm which are unfortunately past their prime and a more recent addition – Fujifilm X-T1, Fujinon XF 16-55mm, f2.8 and Fujinon XF 55-200mm, f3.5 – 4.8.
How do we travel?
We travel as light as we can. Our longest self-imposed challenge was traveling through Southeast Asia for 2 months using only hand luggage. Mission accomplished.
We walk as much as we can. Be it paved roads, cobbled streets, steep stairs or green fields, we prefer enjoying them by foot. For long distances, we like getting around as the locals do.
We enjoy as many sunrises and sunsets in scenic spots as we can. We are the crazy people getting up at 3 AM in Stockholm to see the first rays of the Nordic sun or freezing atop a hill on a windy day in Athens before the Parthenon lights turn on at night.
Why do we write?
Over the years, we realised many of our friends had a positive reaction when we shared our travel experiences, whether about budget travel, photographs, our way of organising a trip or simply trivia about places we’ve been to. Why not share our experiences with everyone interested? Also, we write because we want our photos to see the light of your screens too, not just ours. We hope this project will prove to be inspirational in pursuing your passion – no matter what it is and the effort that comes with it. To us, it is the reason to sleep an hour less at night (or skip the night altogether), to get out of bed on a rainy day or simply to dare dreaming about a new travel adventure.
What about the money?
We are budget travellers. We organise our trips in advance to get good fares, we follow promotions, we fly with low cost carriers, get around like the locals do every time we can and we stay in good value hotels or Airbnb places. We usually book private rooms and we highly value the cleanliness and location of our accommodation. We keep an eye on our budget and try to be informed about usual costs, such as entry tickets and local transport.
Have any other questions?
You can always drop us a line and we will gladly answer!