Stephanie & Mitchell Moulton of Pittsburgh on Life, Lessons & Legacy

We recently had the chance to connect with Stephanie & Mitchell Moulton and have shared our conversation below.

Stephanie & Mitchell, so good to connect and we’re excited to share your story and insights with our audience. There’s a ton to learn from your story, but let’s start with a warm up before we get into the heart of the interview. What is something outside of work that is bringing you joy lately?
After traveling the world for two years we have so many stories! Some make us laugh or smile in awe, while others still raise our blood pressure or make us blush from embarrassment. Some we’ll never tell. Sitting in an airport in Tunisia we decided it’s time to write them down, before the snakes get longer, the beds get harder, or the mountains get steeper. Since returning to the United States in July, our book has given us an opportunity to decompress, reflect, relive, revisit, and re-experience our adventures. Each story we write takes us back to that time and place. We feel the frustration, joy, embarrassment, and humor as we document our experiences to share with the world. We’re hoping to have our book finished by next summer.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Hi! We’re Mitch and Stephanie, a couple from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with a travel problem. Only three shorts months after being introduced to each other, we went on our first trip together, and haven’t stopped traveling since. In June 2023, we both quit our corporate jobs to travel full time. It’s been an amazing 2 years. At our travel blog, milandbean.com, we share our traveling essentials, if we thought unique attractions around the world were worth it, easy day trips from popular cities, and reveal hidden gems that remained undiscovered during our internet searches.

Great, so let’s dive into your journey a bit more. What’s a moment that really shaped how you see the world?
Our first night in Auckland, New Zealand was not what we expected. Our hostel was on K-Road, known (unfortunately not to us) for being unsafe since the pandemic. It’s become overrun with drug and alcohol abuse, beggars, and homeless. The hostel was clean, modern, and everyone was friendly, but outside was chaos. Our first night, a half-naked man screamed into the street until dawn, while bass from nearby clubs rattled our walls. Sleep was impossible. By morning, we decided to look for a new place to stay outside of the city.

But before we left, something happened that will stay with us longer than our first impression. In a small Asian grocery store, we tried buying potstickers for dinner. Our foreign credit cards were declined and we hadn’t visited an ATM yet. As we were leaving the store empty handed, a man behind us in line insisted on buying for them. It was only about 5 USD, but it was such an act of kindness. We walked with him on the way back to our hostel and learned he was a business owner on the street and was disappointed how crime was hurting the area and many stores were closing their doors. His kindness reminded us that even in the worst places, there are still good people. We left Auckland determined to carry that forward.

Is there something you miss that no one else knows about?
Coming back to Pittsburgh has been the hardest part of our journey. While we were traveling, we rarely missed home. But now, we miss traveling every day. We miss the sense of freedom, excitement that came with exploring new places, the feeling of success after overcoming challenges, and the unpredictableness of it all. We loved that each day was as unique as the place we were visiting. We also miss Woolworths White Chocolate & Macadamia Cookies. If you’re reading this and live in Australia, will you please send us some?

Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. What are the biggest lies your industry tells itself?
We thought if we made enough reels, Instagram stories, Facebook posts, and YouTube shorts, we quickly would gain a large social media following. We experimented with different hashtags, various types of reels, and more or less frequent posts. But, none of it mattered. We have one reel, thrown together, of an Airbnb in Poland that has nearly 600,000 views, but other than that we remained unseen. We still don’t know what about that reel caused it to become more popular than the rest. It’s deceiving to see influencers posting about quitting their jobs to travel, how affordable it is, and effortlessly they became famous. There’s a lot behind the scenes that aren’t factored into their cost per day to travel and accidental fame.

Thank you so much for all of your openness so far. Maybe we can close with a future oriented question. Have you ever gotten what you wanted, and found it did not satisfy you?
We thought at some point while traveling we would be ready to come home or feel accomplished. Instead, the longer we traveled the more it fueled an even bigger desire to keep going. Our journey wasn’t about checking off a list or country counting, it was about the endless possibilities, the freedom to discover new places, cultures, and perspectives. Coming home wasn’t the finish line we imagined, but a moment to reflect and plan our next adventure.

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