Hi, I’m Jake Junda. Nice to meet ya!
I’m one of the co-founders here at Two Roaming Souls. I have years of experience as a blogger covering my passions like vanlife, travel, and outdoor adventure.
As a blogger, I often gravitate towards writing about camper vans, off-grid electricity, DIY projects, backpacking, and amazing natural destinations.
Emily and I split a lot of the duties of running this website. But I do probably 90% of the photography, and campervan driving.
Emily plans most of our trips, and then I am the one who actually gets us from point A to point B.
Together we love embarking on epic adventures in the outdoors and traveling to new places in our campervan.
As the owner of a small business, I have many duties:
- Blogging (Writing & Editing)
- Photography
- SEO
- Social Media
- Content Creation
- Video Editing
- Brand Collaboration
- Research & Trip Planning
My photographs have been published in several books including ‘The Great American Road Trip’ by Gestalten and ‘Roaming Home’ by The Van Conversion.
Early Life
But before I became an avid outdoorsman, nature lover, and traveler blogger, I grew up in a place far removed from the life I lead now.
I grew up on the East Coast in Massachusetts, with my only nature experiences taking place at the beach and occasional ski trips to Vermont or New Hampshire.
Amid a somewhat troubled phase in high school, my parents sent me to a month-long camp in Washington State. The trip involved hiking, kayaking, backpacking, and even a summit attempt of Mt Rainier.
At the time I was not grateful or really even excited about going to this camp. But now with the hindsight of an adult, I realise how lucky and privileged I was to go on this trip. It opened my eyes to outdoor adventure like I had never experienced before and likely changed the course of my life.
In 2010, I began my undergraduate at Connecticut College in New London, Connecticut. One of the biggest highlights was joining the ski club there. We would make several ski trips per winter, and my love of skiing grew.
I graduated in 2014 with a double major in Computer Science and Music & Technology.
After college, I followed some friends out to Vail, Colorado to be a ski bum for a winter (or so I thought). Unable to find a 6-month lease, I signed on for a year.
I got a seasonal winter job as a valet at the base of the ski resort.
That first winter skiing in Vail was transformative! The powder, sunshine, and wild terrain were like a dream compared to the icy groomers of the East.
When summer rolled around, I needed a new job. I got hired to work as a restaurant server. Again, not a dream job, but enough to pay the bills.
That first summer in Colorado, I fell in love with the amazing summer activities like hiking, camping, and river floats.
There’s a well-known saying around here that “People move here for the winter, but stay for the summer”.
But it’s up for debate whether that’s because they actually fall in love with the Colorado summers, or just can’t find a reasonable 6-month lease, haha.
After my first full year in Colorado, the winter was fast approaching again, so I wasn’t about the leave right before the snow started flying.
Luckily for me, a like-minded young woman from Wisconsin was about to make a similar move to Colorado and change my life forever.
Emily arrived that winter to work as a snowboard instructor, but also got a second job as a hostess at the same restaurant as me. We quickly became inseparable. (more About Us).
Each year we fell more in love with each other and kept traveling to amazing destinations. Emily had the ambitious idea of starting a blog that could support us living our dreams.
Eventually, full-time vanlife seemed like the only way to satisfy our endless desire for travel and outdoor activities. We got obsessed with learning everything we could about campervans. Eventually buying and converting our own dream campervan ourselves.
Vanlife opened up a world of possibilities for exploring more and sharing tons of content on this blog.
Through our persistence over many years, Two Roaming Souls has grown to be one of the most successful blogs in the vanlife and outdoor travel niches.
We have also grown our YouTube channel into another part of our business. Sharing helpful and entertaining videos of our travels.
We continue trying to fit as much travel and adventure into our lives as possible. And professionally we’re always adapting to make this blog an excellent resource for anyone trying to find their own adventure.
Connect & Follow Jake
– Jake Junda