Meet Jim and Inna
By: Lis Kanzler
Tags: Digital Nomads, Travel, Mapify, Culture, Community

Meet Jim and Inna

The two full-time world trotters that discovered Mapify back in 2018 and declared the app an essential travel hack in their life! Lis Kanzler Follow Jan 14, 2020 · 7 min read

As mentioned, we are starting the year strong and the energy is surely not only noticeable in our Berlin HQ. Beginn of 2020 the App Store highlighted Mapify again as a ‘life hack’ and an ‘inspiration app’, and a few days later, we got surprised by a remarkable article from “The Executive Thrillseeker”, featuring Mapify as part of their “16 Best Travel Apps of 2020”!

Obviously, we immediately took the chance to interview Inna and Jim, the two digital nomads running this popular Blog. Their fascination for traveling is outstanding and their positive feedback about the Mapify app kept us genuinely touched. Are you ready to find out more?

Hey Inna and Jim! First of all: could you briefly introduce yourself to our readers? Where are you from and what are your biggest passions?

Hello! We are Jim & Inna, an international travel couple who are always on the move. We met 2 years ago when the two of us were individually pursuing the things that we love the most: Inna was teaching English and traveling, and Jim was blogging and traveling. Suddenly, the two paths crossed one another!

Inna is from Ukraine, she loves teaching, volunteering and creating art. Jim is from the US, his passions are singing, djing, and business. And both of us love traveling more than anything…well besides one another :)

Inna and Jim, exploring Turkey with the Mapify spirit.

Was traveling full-time something you have always pursued or would it have seemed impossible to you a few years back in time? How did you manage to live this lifestyle?

Inna: I have always dreamt about touring the world. I guess it was because my mom has always loved traveling and took me on trips abroad when I was still at school. Back then, we didn’t travel as much as I do now, and we had a very different style of traveling. So… although it never seemed impossible for me to travel full-time, my ideas of how I was going to do it were different. When I was younger, I thought I would hitchhike around the world and live out of my backpack, but as I get older, I want to travel more comfortably. Funny enough, the idea I had as a child is the one that seems impossible to me right now!

Jim: I had a different experience. When I was a student living in New York 10 years ago it seemed like it was absolutely impossible! It wasn’t until I started working full-time doing national tours with musicals and seeing all 50 states that I truly felt empowered to continue. After my first trip to South East Asia, my mindset changed. That experience really opened up my eyes to what is possible! I not only learned to stretch and manage my money as best as I could but also discovered the first bits and pieces of how to travel full-time.

Do you think that you will always be a digital nomad couple or do you have plans to settle down somewhere?

At the moment it feels as thought we will always be a nomadic couple, as we can’t get enough from all the different cultures, food, and languages that are out there. We know we want to settle down somewhere eventually, but we truly haven’t found that place yet… Let’s see what the future holds!

“We can’t get enough from all the different cultures, food, and languages that are out there…”

‘It’s never too late to say I did it’ — Is that your life quote? Do you think everybody should live with this mindset?

This is the core value of what we do, yes! We want to inspire people to realize that no matter how old they are or what’s happening in their life, “it’s never too late to say I did it”! Isn’t it powerful?! Also, we genuinely think that this phrase applies to so many areas in your life apart from traveling. So yes, we do believe it should be everyone’s mindset towards life.

Now let’s talk a bit about your blog. As mentioned, you stated Mapify as one of your biggest travel hacks for two years in a row! What were the main reasons to include us in your “best travel apps of 2020” article?

The original reason for including Mapify into the travel apps of 2019 was completely due to the fact of us traveling and loving the ability to look up photos of places that were added by the average traveler and not something that’s been completely edited to draw you in. Authenticity and local recommendations while traveling are key! As for 2020, it was due to the amazing Mapify updates that brought the performance ahead by leaps and bounds! From our point of view, the new adjustments made the app so much simpler and easier to use, but still had the functionality and value for traveling world in their focus. That’s why we wanted to share it with our community.

Do you remember where in the world you were when you first found out about Mapify? Did you foresee it becoming one of your most-used travel apps?

We actually remember it, yes. It was during our first long-term trip together around South East Asia, back in 2018. We just got engaged and started blogging full-time. At that time, we were doing the research to write our “top travel apps for 2019” article, and one of our friends told us about Mapify. At first, we honestly had no idea of what exactly it was nor did we have any further expectations, as we were cycling through different apps every day. But something made Mapify stick out from the rest! Today, we are so grateful to have discovered it and also to be part of this brilliant community.

As you know, the Mapify app gives its users a big range of possibilities. From following and contacting other travelers, to getting world-wide inspiration for your next travels and planning trips, to setting up your own little travel diary and documenting your experiences… What are the three main features that you personally like or use the most — and why?

Definitely, the app offers a broad variety of features! The one that we love the most is the possibility to see what percentage of the world we’ve conquered thus far. It motivates us to keep on traveling and makes us feel proud of what we have accomplished. We also like to post pictures of places we’ve been and share our honest opinion, with the idea to inspire and help others. Recently we have been back to backpacking full-time, so it’s nice to use the “popular places” and “food and drink” options to have quick decisions made for us.

Describe the “MapiFamily” feeling in 3 words :)

We would go with…’International’, ‘Culture’ and ‘Sharing’!

They are international, culture-interested and excited to share with the MapiFamily.

As passionate world trotters, we would love to hear about your most hilarious travel story!

We don’t know if it can quite be considered ‘hilarious’, but one of the most unique things of traveling is when magical coincidences happen. There was a time when Jim was in Bangkok and a girl he worked with 10 years ago just happened to walk by. They got lunch and caught up with one another when they asked the two guys sitting at the table across from them if they minded taking a picture. So as he was taking the picture with Jim’s phone the Facebook messenger notification went off and the guy saw the name and asked Jim where he was from…turns out they had almost 100 friends in common and the person who messaged Jim was also the exact same person the guy thought it was! Takeaway from this: The world is tiny if you let it be!

And finally, our last question: imagine you could only travel between 3 countries for the rest of your life — what would those be?

Let us think…We think it would be the US to be able to visit Jim’s family, Ukraine to visit Inna’s family and the third country would be Vietnam as it’s where we met, fell in love and has a special place in our heart.

Any other comments, quotes or ideas you would like to leave for our Mapify readers?

As much as we love traveling, we also love helping all of you find your ideal destinations as well. Feel free to reach out to us on our social platforms with any questions or concerns at any time, we would love to get in touch with you!

Thank you guys!

Follow their journeys on their Website, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, to continue enjoying their travel spirit or to reach out to them :)

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