ADVENTUROUS LOVE

Elise, Domenic & Scout 
What is the story of how you both met?
I had a one way ticket to London, and meeting a boy was not on my radar. But, four weeks before I left, a new manager started at the hotel I was working at in Adelaide. I grew up by the beach with a family of surf life savers, Domenic was Italian, worked too much, and unlike anyone I’d ever been attracted to, but there was just something about him that I gravitated towards.
We went on a couple of “secret” dates, and I told him I was going, possibly for a year or two, and suggested that once I returned, if we were both still single, we should definitely catch up. It was our fourth date, and I’m not kidding, he looked at me and said; “What are you talking about? I’m in love with you. I don’t care if you’re gone for three years, I’ll be at the airport when you get back.”
I was a little gobsmacked, thought he was a little crazy, and I think I said something like, “Ok… cooool.”
I went, backpacked around Europe, then lived and worked in London. It was before smartphones and I didn’t even have a phone, plus Dom didn’t use Facebook, so over the year I was away we spoke all of 3 times - using a landline! It was Christmas time and it was our third phone call that year, and it lasted hours. I had this gut feeling that I was going to marry this guy one day. I told the girls I was living with I was going home for two weeks to visit. They told me I was crazy and I think they knew I wouldn’t come back.
He was at the airport. I fell in love with him immediately. That was nearly nine years ago, and we will celebrate our fourth wedding anniversary this week.
 
What do you both love about life on the road?
There is so much we love about life on the road.
All I’ve ever wanted to do is travel and explore. Dom’s dream has always been running his own business (yes - we are quite different), but life on the road has enabled us to bring both of our dreams together. Before we bought Scout, our van, I was always planning the next overseas trip. Then we started doing little weekend trips in the van, then bigger trips, and I totally, completely fell in love with this beautiful country we live in. Now we’re always on the move. I get to satisfy my soul’s craving for endless adventure, and we are also able to run our business.
It has taught us to slow down, it has given us perspective in ways I never would have imagined, it has given us an incredible sense of freedom, and we have enjoyed each other more in the last year than ever before. We have always been happy, but we have discovered a whole new level of happy.
 
What’s next for you both on your adventure?
Life feels like one big adventure right now, and I love it.
After long periods of time in the van we realised how little we really need to be happy, and how happy moving around with very little makes us. So, in March we move out of our big seaside house, get rid of everything, and move into our van full time! We plan to spend at least a year slowly travelling around Australia. We’ll have to be back for vintage (wine time) early next year but we’ll keep travelling afterwards.
 
What’s your favourite quote about Love?
If home is really where the heart is, then we’re the smartest kids I know. Because, wherever we are in this great big world, if I’m with you, and you’re with me, we’re home.

My adaption of some Kimya Dawson lyrics.
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