A Week-In-The-Life of Nat and Rob: Love and Road

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Rob is a freak runner and Nat is a nail polish addict, and together they’re two lovebirds travelling the world as Love and Road. They sold everything they had, and left Brazil with two backpacks, some dreams, and a saving account. They are Love and Road: Budget Travellers, Newbie Bloggers, Sun Seekers. Please enjoy this week-in-the-life of Nat and Rob in Turkey!

This post was originally published in 2015 . It has since been updated for accuracy of links and content. 

Day 1 – Saturday

9:00am – The alarm goes off…10 min later it rings again…We switch it off one more time.

11:00am – Finally we wake up! I was so tired. We arrived in Istanbul really late last night, went to bed around 2am. We truly needed some good sleep.

12:10pm – Lunch time, we grab some tavuk dürüm (chicken kebab) and walk around Istiklal Avenue. It is so good to be back here. It’s our third time in Istanbul and seems we will never get enough of it.

4:00pm – Time flies when we are having fun! Straight to the market to buy some food and back to the apartment. Lot’s of work to be done: Facebook, Twitter updates, writing and blogging.

8:00pm – Now comes the best part of Turkey: dinner! We always try to avoid tourist restaurants and find delicious budget food. We go to Selvi, one of the pioneers in selfserv turkish food. Yummy!

Turkish dinner; photo by Love and Road

9:30pm – Saturday Night Fever. Some electronic music just to shake the dust off. Last year when we were in Istanbul a friend took us to Kassete, a nice bar/club in Taksim area. Free entrance and good music (everything that a budget traveller needs), so we go there again. Happy days!

Day 2 – Sunday

10:00am – Rob prepares our coffee while I organize the room. He is responsible for the kitchen and I look after the clothes. Since we started this journey we set the tasks and it’s working pretty well.

11:00am – Work again. We are new in this blogging world and it absorbs a lot of our time. Rob finishes the new post for Monday. I look after the Social Media. We are kinda late; before Turkey we spent two weeks in Croatia partying, so now we have to run!

2:00pm – Rob is in the kitchen…hot meal is on the way!

3:30pm – Time to go to the touristic world! Hagia Sophia Museum and Blue Mosque is on our plan.

7:00pm – We are tired! All the beauty of the mosques, the busy streets and the rush of the Istanbul makes us feel exhausted, but deeply happy. Again, we love this place. We stop by the Bosphorus channel for a çay, a kofte and sunset. Stunning!

Bosphorus channel at sunset; photo by Love and road

8:00pm – Bed time, but before – some research. We need to find a new place to stay. This room is too small, too hot and not so clean for the money we are paying.

Day 3 – Monday

8:30am – Let the week begin! Breakfast and we go for a 5km run. It feels good to be back on training.

10:00am – We make a big decision to stay in Istanbul for two months and rent a place just for us!

10:45am – Rob is talking with some friends to see if we can rent a studio directly with the owner, so we can save money. I am blogging as usual.

4:10pm – After eating something, we leave home to visit a model agency. Rob is the beauty of the relationship. We have some friends that work in this industry in Europe and they set up a meeting for Rob. Hope he gets some jobs and we can cash some money! On the road every little bit helps.

6:30pm – The meeting took a while, but Rob has been accepted by the agency. Tomorrow will be his first photo shooting after 6 years without working as model.

Rob of Love and road

7:10pm – Dinner at a wonderful street food truck. The best kofte I have ever eaten, a simple food freshly prepared beside kabataş ferry station. Then home and a little bit more work.

Day 4 – Wednesday

8:00am – Run baby Run! 5km again!

9:30am – Rob goes to his first model job, some photographs for his portfolio. I stay home working.

1:00pm – We meet at Taksim square and go to şişhane metro station to meet a friend of a friend. He has an apartment to rent. Fingers crossed it will be a good one.

2:45pm – The place is beautiful, newly renovated, small & comfy. Everything we need! After five months on the road this will be the first time we have a place only for us. Some food on the go and we decide to explore the city, especially the Cihangir neighborhood.

Nat of Love and road sitting on a colourful staircase petting a cat

7:30pm – We meet a great friend for dinner. She is turkish and knows all the best places to dine. We go to a local restaurant on the top of an old building, the view of Sultanahmet and the Golden Horn is amazing. Great local food and wine! After four bottles of wine and cocktails on the rooftop we decide it’s time to leave.

Day 5 – Thursday

2:00pm – The day starts late and with a huge hangover.

3:00pm – New post online, lots of work to do and big news. Rob got a phone call from the apartment owner, they agreed the price. We are moving tomorrow!!!!! Let’s work and pack!

Day 6 – Friday

7:30am – Rob goes for his morning run, I don’t. Not feeling well, I have a sore throat and stomach pain. I hate to be sick while travelling.

11:30am – The girl who looks after the rooms arrives to do the check out.

12:45pm – Welcome to our “home sweet home”. We unpack, eat something, work, and enjoy the studio.

Nat and Rob of Love and road

7:20pm – Our flat is so well located that we walk up to Taksim square in less than 20 minutes. We go to meet a virtual friend. Last year when we were in Brazil an American pal introduced us to this guy. We planned to host him in our hometown but it didn’t work. So we crossed the Atlantic and the whole of Europe to have a beer with Jeff in Istanbul.

Day 7 – Saturday

10:00am – I open my eyes and I am feeling like crap. Fever, coughing, body aches and diarrhea. Can it get worse?? Rob makes us breakfast and goes to the pharmacy to buy some medicine.

11:15am – He is back with a bag of tablets and a bunch of laughs. Our neighbourhood is really local, not many tourists around, so to explain what he needs to the turkish pharmacist took a while. She gave me “öksürük şurubu” and some paracetamol tea. Let’s hope it works!

3:00pm – I am still feeling bad so we decide to stay in as the weather is getting chilly outside. While I am writing for the blog, Rob checks the flights to Southeast Asia.

8:35pm – We booked the flights! Soon we’ll be leaving Turkey to keep following the summer in Thailand. Super excited! It will be one more Love and Road dream coming true!

Rob and Nat in Turkey

Nat and Rob are currently traveling around Southeast Asia (Thailand, Indonesia and Cambodia). The master plan is to stay there until April 2015 when they will be back in Europe. Rob is going to run the Paris Marathon (12th of April) and after they’ll be hosting some Brazilian friends on a trip through France, Netherlands, Germany and Czech Republic. Meanwhile they blog about their journey on their website Love and Road to inspire people to leave their comfort zone. You can follow their daily news on Facebook and Twitter @LoveandRoad.

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