Meet the Nomads: Pete Heck

Last time, we featured Dalene Heck of Hecktic Travels in Meet the Nomads. This time, it’s Pete’s turn.

Pete is Dalene’s husband and co-author at Hecktic Travels. They pursued full time travelling after leaving their jobs and home in Canada. Aside from travelling, volunteering and blogging, Pete is also a talented photographer. You’ll find a lot of amazing pictures in their blog that will surely inspire you to travel.

Get to know Pete more and visit him at Hecktic Travels.

But before you do that, check out my short interview with Pete.

How did you discover your passion for travelling?

“I honestly don’t know. There was never a magic moment or epiphany that I had a passion for it – it just sort of evolved. Growing up with my family we very rarely left the borders of Canada (I think only once up till I was 18 and that was only to the U.S.). My first international trip was in 1997 when I went to Japan to participate in the world curling championships, and that heightened my curiosity. Years later I met Dalene and after some pretty shitty events in our lives we made the decision that we were not going to live our lives being unhappy and making someone else rich. We decided to enrich our own lives with travel.”

What’s the most horrible experience that you’ve had on the road?

“The most horrible experience I have had on the road was the second day of our year long trip to South America. We had not even arrived to our final destination and had to stay in La Paz, Bolivia for the night. Dalene fell extremely sick and was vomiting all night. I had no idea what was wrong, but I just couldn’t help her. No matter what she took, it came back up. I couldn’t ask for help as I didn’t know a word of Spanish yet. Thoughts were running through my head along the lines of “if something is seriously wrong, we will need to hop on a plane back home” – never mind that it was only day 2 and I began to question if this lifestyle was suited for us. Long story short, we were both up all night, (Dalene having it much worse) but in the morning as soon as we got on the next plane Dalene was fine. She was adversely affected by the altitude and we found out about altitude sickness the hard way.”

What’s the best travel experience that you’ve ever had?

“Being stuck in the middle of an active volcano in Banos, Ecuador. In the middle of the night, the eruptions caused windows to violently shake, each boom woke us with tremendous force. There was no sleep. We watched numerous people pack up their belongings and leave town, but Dalene and I decided that we would not leave until we were forced to. At the time we were volunteering at an interactive library and the management asked us to stay to keep the library running for the children. Staying put was the best decision and luckily after 2 weeks the eruptions calmed and we had a pretty cool experience under our belt. It gave us a true indication of the force of Mother Nature.”

What’s the biggest realization that you’ve got out of travelling?

“Other than to enjoy each day as if it is your last, I think the biggest realization that I have got out of traveling is finding out what I don’t want from life. I know that I will never be able to return to the lifestyle that I once had. The thought of sitting behind a desk crunching numbers kinda makes me a little nauseous now.”

What keeps you going? What keeps you motivated?

“The way we do it I actually don’t find it tiring at all. We travel very slow, spending usually a couple of weeks in each location. Finding housesitting gigs allows us to sit still for a bit, and when that itch comes to move again we move onto our new destination. If anything, we can get tired of sitting still in 1 location for too long.

This is a silly and hypothetical one. If you would be given a chance to travel with a popular person or a celebrity, who would it be and why?

“Tough question. I would have to say Zack Arias. The guy is a brilliant photographer. And if he’s reading this, I would love if he would take me on as a mentor.”

Where’s your favourite place in this planet and why?

“Out of all the places I have been, my heart still lies in Canada. Give me a home in the middle of the mountains, a lake nearby and a kayak to explore and it would be pretty tough for me to leave.”

What’s your best tip for newbie traveller?

“I have a couple. Firstly, understand the culture and respect it. Don’t try to bring your customs to their country and expect them to be ok with it. Other than that bring 2 travel power adapters (this will be something you eventually lose).”

“What’s the funniest and silliest thing you’ve ever done while traveling?

“Learning a new language is always fun. I try my best at using a new language whenever I can and usually this involves making mistakes. One of my biggest red face mistakes was when I was getting a haircut in Peru and the woman asked me if Dalene and I had any kids. I said “no”, but then proceeded to somehow say that I was going to take one home from Peru, like kidnap one (I didn’t know the Spanish word for “adopt”). The hairdresser had quite a blank look on her face and Dalene was laughing pretty hysterically. When we finally explained what we really meant, I’m glad we all had a good laugh.”

What do you think about yourself?

“The good – I like to think that I am a kind, respectful thoughtful person. I like to experiment and try new things, most of the time it works out well. I’m not afraid to try things once, only then I can give an opinion. The bad – at times I can probably be over cautious and it annoys the shit out Dalene (ask Dalene and she’ll give you a big head nod) but I’m working on that.”

“It is a not a typical travel blog in that you will find very few instances of Go Here! See This! or How To! Our blog is our story, focusing mostly on how we feel as we make our way around the globe. Our posts are also increasingly being accompanied by better photography as we recently upgraded our camera and enrolled in a class to learn how to use it!” – Dalene and Pete Heck

Editor’s Note: All pics are provided by Pete.

Next: Mica Rodriguez of Senyorita. Previously: Nicole Wears of Traveling Canucks. For more interviews with travel bloggers, check out the archives of Meet the Nomads.