The story of H2H began back in 2014 when Gemma and I went backpacking for the very first time all across Australia, the Pacific Islands, and Southeast Asia. We drove a campervan up the eastern coast of Australia, roughed it through the backpacker paradise of Thailand and Singapore, and then island hopped our way around the Yasawa islands in Fiji. After this trip of a lifetime, we returned to our University studies and made a promise to ourselves that once we graduated we would save up some money and go for another around the world adventure. In the meantime, we wanted to start sharing our stories and tips from travelling across the globe, as well as just around our home country, through the means of a blog and social media. It would be our journey from the highlands of Scotland back to the hammocks of Fiji - hence Highlands2hammocks was born.

Fast forward 10 years, Highlands2hammocks is now 7 years old, we have been travelling fulltime for 3 years and job hopping for 6. After the pandemic, we decided that the best and most affordable way to travel around our home country and get the best from it was by living in a campervan (or after a quick and impressive tour of our friends motorhome, a motorhome of our own). Vanlife has since allowed us to spend enough time in the remote and beautiful parts of the UK and Ireland in order to get the photographs and do the research necessary to publish three travel guides under our own publishing company, Destination Earth Guides. It allows us to slow down more than traditional travel, spend days parked up and working on our laptops without feeling like we are wasting money on accommodation, and allows us to wake up in a new location whenever we want. Vanlife is essentially freedom.

There are two sides to running a content creation business whilst living on the road. The first is the glamorous side that we all see and lust for - the freedom to explore, the beautiful park ups, the salty hair and sandy feet. However, the other side is one that is a lot less discussed, and it comes in the form of being overworked and exhausted a lot of the time. The fact that our business revolves around constantly having new adventures, week in and week out, leaves very little time to relax and soak up certain parts of the world. To simply sit still and become so used to a place that it becomes boring. This is a luxury that I never realised existed until we began our nomadic lifestyle and felt the need to constantly be on the go.

The solution to this is the simplest of all, and yet also the most difficult to master - it is to slow down and find balance. This is by far our biggest challenge that we have faced whilst living on the road and it is one that we still struggle with to this day, with our lifestyle following the cycle of "slow down and get bored, speed up and get exhausted".
As time goes on though, with more mindful practice towards taking it easy, focusing on what we enjoy and reminding ourselves why we chose to live this way, I am sure we will continue to get better at maintaining this balance. 

There are so many places that we would recommend to anyone, both well-known and hidden gems, all across the world. The Maldives, for example, world-famous for its beaches and luxury, but it is actually very cheap to visit if you stick to the local islands (we paid about $80 per night for a full board hotel with activities). Then of course there are the European gems that we have found, from the Amalfi Coast hidden gem of Maori (short bus to Positano and a quarter of the price), to the seaside town of Sagres in Portugal, aka. every vanlifers dream destination. There is a car park here that it has become accepted for vans to park up in for free and use the local bars, cafes, restaurants, and of course, stunning beaches.

At the moment, however, we are heavily focusing on home and everything that Scotland has to offer. We have recently spent our trips island hopping around the western isles, finding the beautiful and secluded paradise of Tiree, Islay, Jura, and all of the lower western peninsulas. These parts of Scotland are often overlooked as people tend to fly straight through the central belt and up into the highlands. You do not have to head as far north as the NC500 though to find beautiful beaches, ancient castles, and stunning mountain ranges. All of that is just a short trip from Glasgow, right there on the Isle of Arran.

The one rule that we always try to live by is to respect the local environment, the local people, and the local culture. This can be done in many ways, but ultimately it all comes down to making sure that the actions we take are not going to change the landscape that we have enjoyed and are going to ensure its preservation for future generations to enjoy - to put simply "leave no trace".

We do this by basically making the decision to only share about a location across our platforms that we believe can not only handle, but could benefit from the increase in tourism that it will produce. We have a LOT of secret spots that we have visited over the years that ultimately were too small, too quiet, and did not have the facilities to handle an influx of tourism, and as such decided to put them on the shelf and keep them under the radar for people to find on their own.

We love to hear the stories of how the tourism industry in Scotland has changed people's lives for the better, providing jobs, funding, and appreciation for the delicate and beautiful eco-systems that Scotland has to behold. With this love, we also have a passion for protecting it as much as we can.

Follow Campbell and Gemma on Instagram below, where they share their love of adventure with over 63k followers. You can buy guides and find out more about travel destinations they recommend on their website here.

Join us every Saturday at 10am at the Fittie end of Aberdeen beach for invigorating dips in the sea. The refreshing waters will not only revitalize your body but also uplift your spirits, offering a perfect blend of mental clarity and physical well-being.

For updates on volunteering at beach cleans, joining adventure days, and other upcoming events please see our social media pages.