INTERVIEW WITH THE AMAZING ‘THE AGAPE CO.’

1. What are some of the ways you guys make income when you guys travel? Do you monetize strictly your blog or do you also utilize social media? 

Good question! We actually make money a few ways as we travel but I’ll start with the obvious: collaborations. We work with brands and people that reflect our values by posting about their product. We always have personally used their products so we know they meet the quality level we wish to promote. In turn, they provide us with sample products for a giveaway, goods or services for our personal use, payment, or a mix of the methods.

Amazingly, we haven’t monetized our blog yet. We aren’t a huge fan of advertisements on our website and haven’t used affiliate link services before. It may be something we integrate in the future but for now, we’re happy without them. Social media is a great way for us to promote other brands but we have been very careful as to who we partner with and how often, we don’t want to overload our followers feeds with products we don’t personally support.

This one is so tough because we could both pick 100 things but I’ll try to narrow them down for you. Kestra is all about the variance in landscapes and geography across the globe. She absolutely loves exploring new or unique places. As far as she’s concerned the more different, strange, or grand the spot, the more wonderful it is. I love that too, but my favorite part about travel is the release from monotony. When we travel everything is new and waiting to be explored. Whether that be outside exploring or learning about the culture and people of the area, I live and breathe for new experiences.

We wanted to share with others things we’ve learned on our travels and the beautiful places God has put on this earth. Agape actually means, “God’s love for mankind” and we believe he demonstrates this love in a multitude of ways. One of our favorites is the beautiful places he created just for us. We want to inspire others to find and see these places for themselves and give them the know-how to do it, that’s where the blog comes in. We want to write articles that provide value to the readers, whether that’s helping them find fun things to do in Lake Tahoe or telling them the truth about the Blue Lagoon, we hope to be a light and resource for others.

Haha don’t laugh, but… how does a Christian travel couple focused on budget and family travel sound? I know it’s a mouthful but it’s sort of an all-encompassing statement of who we are. We actually put out a quick about us video that summarizes that perfectly:https://youtu.be/QTlhtKeb1HY Basically, we want to be travelers who provide a real-look into traveling as a couple and on a budget. Luxury travel is so cool but we aren’t at a point in our lives where we can justify the expense. We think a lot of people can identify with that. Anyway, that’s why I wrap it all up neatly with, ‘Christian travel couple focused on budget and family travel

Yeah, it does, but they’re all worth overcoming 🙂 The biggest challenge for us while traveling is making time to hear each other out. When we travel we hope to bring out raw, unfiltered emotions. We really want to absorb where we are and make the most of it. Oftentimes, this means we are doing things that are out of our comfort zones, and tensions can be running high. In these moments it’s easy to forget to respect where the other person is coming from. These are the moments we both need to slow down, hear each other out, and grasp what the other is feeling or thinking. We’re still working on that part.

Iceland, Costa Rica, and the North Shore of Minnesota. Iceland was the first place we traveled to together and it was magical. Cascading waterfalls, broiling oceans, foreign landscapes, everything was breathtaking and we were blessed with great weather. Costa Rica has it all, from beaches to mountains, to jungles it’s an adventurer’s paradise. Plus, Kestra and I are huge fans of the food and lifestyle of Costa Rica so it made it a blast. The North Shore of Minnesota, lots of people are missing out on this gem! Right on the shore of Lake Superior are tons of state and national parks. The weather is a perfect low 70’s every day in the summer, Duluth is a beautiful little city you can “base camp” out of, and there are so many cute towns and diners you’ll never want to leave.

Great question! It was actually the first time I realized I needed to make travel a priority in my life. Kestra and I were on day 3 of our road trip around Iceland and had stopped at a secret pool up in the mountains. We woke up early, hiked about a mile in, and had the pool all to ourselves for about an hour. Looking back I should have taken way more pictures but the whole moment was so surreal I just had to live in it. Turns out there were hidden valleys and canyons all around the mountains so we explored there for a while afterward. It still is the moment I look back on and say that’s why I need to travel.

Norway and the northern lights! We’ve both loved the stars and night sky for as long as we could remember, and the opportunity to see the northern lights swimming over snow-capped peaks pulled our hearts to Norway. We currently are planning around a ten day trip to Lofoten in early March. Does anyone have any recommendations on things we must-see or must-do in the area?

Enjoy the little moments. So often I get caught up in waiting to see my next planned stop, say a waterfall in Iceland, that I almost miss enjoying where I’m at currently. It’s kind of like always looking ahead in life for the next big thing when you do you often forget the beauty of where you are. I’ve been trying to be more conscious of