Camille and Jean, a couple that leads @backpackdiariez is globally famous. Their instagram account has more than 300.000 followers and they travel the world to discover new places & cultures and share their stories with people who follow them. The fascinating fact – they decided to leave their steady jobs and pursue the passion for travelling. After graduating they both moved to London for work but after several dreamy trips to South America and Asia they realised that something has to change in their lives. They quit their jobs and “security” of modern life and decided to start a new chapter.
Most of the photos on their Instagram account features the couple together in some of the most amazing places of the planet. However, some of the photos also show Brussels, the city where both Camille and Jean grew up and went to high school. In one of their posts, the couple shared the story of how they met in Brussels and how they started travelling the world! Here below you can read their story and don’t forget to follow @backpackdiariez or visit their website for more inspirations.
HOW DID WE MEET? We went to the same high-school in Brussels and Jean was a good friend of my older brother. When I was in 4th grade I threw a kick-ass birthday party (which resulted in quite some damage to the house and a serious reprimand from my parents) BUT it was cool enough for my brother to invite his friends, which as a 15 year old I found THRILLING. Jean turned my kitchen into a cocktail bar, asking money to my friends, so he immediately drew my attention. We hit it off and after that started making secret rendez-vous at school (which in our conservative school of course was forbidden) and started calling each other a lot after the hours. It’s only 3 months later that we had a first kiss at a high-school party and we officially started dating, and the rest is history!
Jean was in 6th grade when we started dating so he moved to university after that whilst I was still stuck in high school. I sometimes invented a middle of the week pyjama party at one of my friends houses so I could sneak off to see him in the week! Two years later I finally graduated and of course picked to same university as he did (stating they supposedly had the best programme) so we were reunited. We partied, studied and partied more together, we had some ups and some downs in those years, but we survived together till graduation.
After graduating from university we moved in together in a flat in Brussels. It was amazing to actually live together for the first time and to have our own place!
We both got a job in Brussels but after a few years we started to yearn for something different. We wanted to live abroad so Jean enrolled for an MBA in London and I asked for a transfer so that we could stay together. Those years were even more amazing : we met new people, partied till the middle of the night and started to travel more. We even moved to Hong Kong together for 6 months, Jean as part of an exchange program and me for work.
At the end of his MBA Jean proposed – I said yes – and we decided to drop everything after the wedding to go on a 4 month backpacking honeymoon to Asia. @backpackdiariez was born, and two years later here we are!
