Long distance (language) love story: Dan and Becca

Meet Dan and Becca: adventurous world travelers and photographers who created the Instagram account @halfhalftravel to keep close when they’re apart.

We’ve loved learning about their modern-day love story and how they’ve made long distance a chance to grow and experience other cultures. Now that they’re finally in one place again, these two still haven’t lost their sense of adventure — they’re gearing up to learn new languages with us that they’ll be putting to the test on some upcoming travels.

We sat down with them to hear all about their adventures, from road tripping through Portugal to hiking amongst the world’s tallest palm trees in Colombia, and find out why they’ve decided to find new ground in Spanish and Arabic.

Fluent City: What’s your story? How did you two meet?

Dan: We met in December 2015 in NYC. When we met, Becca told me that living abroad in China and Hong Kong was the best thing she had ever done. I mentioned I was applying to a program that would bring me around the world for 12 months while working remotely as a web developer. We bonded over a mutual love of adventure and travel.

FC: What inspired you to start your Instagram account @HalfHalfTravel?

Becca: After stitching together a photo of our two cups of coffee (Mine in Manhattan and Dan’s in London) and receiving a great response from all our friends on my personal Instagram account, we created a few more images and started @HalfHalfTravel.

FC: How has sharing this account helped you stay connected with each other?

Dan: Halfhalftravel helped give us something to work on while we were really far apart from each other! We both love photography and the half-half aspect of this project has challenged us continually. It helps us feel connected when we’re apart.

FC: How has being in different parts of the world impacted your relationship?

Becca: It actually has really strengthened it. Being in different parts of the world made us more flexible and understanding. Living abroad can really change your outlook on so many things! We have more knowledge about other cultures and the “personalities” of different cities. With that experience, we can apply different thought processes to solving things together.

FC: How have you grown as a couple from doing long distance?

Dan: We’ve grown mostly in terms of trust and loyalty, and we’ve also grown in how we communicate with each other. It’s also helped us expand in the ways we show we care about each other and surprise each other from far away.

FC: How is it being reunited after so much time apart?

Becca: It’s awesome! Being apart has made us stronger. We’re experiencing things together now.

FC: What’s your favorite thing about each other?

Dan: We both like that the other is laid-back and down for adventure. We both speak our minds, which is another classic favorite.

FC: Where have you traveled together? What were some of your favorite places?

Becca: Together we’ve been to Portugal, Spain, Colombia, Argentina, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, Mexico and some locations within the USA (Washington DC, Philadelphia and more). Among our favorite travels are road-tripping around Portugal from Lisbon down to the southern Algarve coast, and backpacking in the coffee region of Colombia — hiking through the Valle de Cocora, home to the world’s tallest palm trees.

FC: Do you guys have any travel plans coming up?

Both: Yes! (haha)

Dan: Our upcoming travel will allow us to use what we’re learning in Fluent City class, which is super cool for us. We’ll be in the Canary Islands (which is a part of Spain), where I can practice Spanish, and we’ll be in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, Israel, where Becca will try to read signs in Arabic.

FC: What motivated you (Dan) to learn Spanish and you (Becca) to learn Arabic?

Becca: We are super excited to be taking Fluent City classes this year. For ages now, Dan has wanted a classroom experience for practicing and learning more Spanish so that he can work on improving speaking and grammar. For me, I felt it was time to delve into a new alphabet and I chose Arabic 1 for this challenge. We’re both looking forward to gaining new skills after 10 weeks of class: a new adventure!

Follow their story at HalfHalfTravel – including updates on their language learning experience with us.