Hello and welcome to Where Are Those Morgans travel, hiking and photography blog! Here, you can learn more about the co-founders, writers and creators of everything you’ll find on this site; Mark and Kristen Morgan.
So, Who Are We?
We’re a British-American couple who left careers as scientists in 2018 to follow our dreams and explore the world together, starting with an 18 month honeymoon around the world.
Over the last 6 years, we’ve visited over 40 countries across 4 continents, explored more than 30 US states, hiked some of the world’s most iconic trails and self taught the art of travel photography.
Today, we’re full time travelers, hikers and professional photographers with images published in various media outlets and a popular travel photography gallery.
We currently have no home base so we can experience new travel destinations long term. But since founding this blog, we’ve lived in:
- Upstate NY
- New York City
- Seattle, Washington
- York, England
- Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
- Singapore
- Raleigh, North Carolina
- Durham, North Carolina
Where Are Those Morgans receives more than 2.5 million visitors each year and we couldn’t be happier to know we’re helping our readers travel to their bucket list destinations.
Since we both worked in the scientific industry for almost 10 years, we use this methodical approach to create comprehensive and helpful travel guides for those who love to plan trips thoroughly.
We also pay for all of our own travel to ensure you’re always reading unbiased guides. You can read more in our editorial process.
Here’s a little bit more about us individually:
Mark Morgan
Mark is from York in the North of England and immigrated to the US in July of 2019. Prior to founding this blog, he was a Senior Flow Cytometry Scientist overseeing projects in both the US and Singapore from the UK.
Creating efficient travel itineraries is Mark’s top priority, which means you’ll always find the most detailed information on our site, including tips to help you make the most of your time.
Mark loves photography and always has a camera in hand. His favorite travel memories to date include various US National Parks in different seasons, temples in Cambodia and capturing the architecture in Italy. He can’t travel without Yorkshire tea bags!
- Contact: mark@wherearethosemorgans.com
- Connect: LinkedIn
Kristen Morgan
Kristen is from the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York. Prior to founding this blog, she held various laboratory scientist roles in R&D, Quality Assurance and Project Management. Kristen also completed her masters during our initial 18 month world trip.
Finding attractions and hidden gems is Kristen’s top priority, which means you’ll always find the best things to do in any destination, including lesser known activities that support the local community.
Kristen loves being outdoors and hiking is her happy place. Her favorite travel memories to date include our multi-day trips through Patagonia in Chile, Mont Blanc in Europe and the Inca Trail in Peru. She can’t travel without Franks Hot Sauce and her Kindle!
- Contact: kristen@wherearethosemorgans.com
- Connect: LinkedIn
Connect With Us
Feel free to email us anytime: markandkristen@wherearethosemorgans.com.
Be sure to follow along with us on social media:
Or join our Facebook Group which is dedicated to helping you travel better.
Now that you know us on an individual level, you can continue reading to learn about our journey and what inspired us to create this blog.
How Mark And Kristen Met
Enough about the blog, what about the romantic story of how we met and how we transformed a life in the laboratory into a life on the road? Well, we hope our story inspires you to chase your dreams!
Here’s how it all began:
We both worked for the same global scientific company, Mark in York UK and Kristen in Rochester NY. Mark managed a flow cytometry team in the UK and Kristen joined the flow cytometry team in the US lab.
For years we had spoken on conference calls but had never met in person. This would all change when Mark was sent to the US laboratory to set up new testing profiles.
There was instant chemistry (please forgive our science pun) about a passion for travel and wanting to tick off our bucket list destinations around the world.
A series of trans-Atlantic flights quickly followed and every time we visited each other, we would add on a new country or city to visit together.
These trips further fueled our desire to travel full time and eventually we were at a crossroads.
Our 18 Month Honeymoon
Travel was always an important part of our relationship. We were fortunate to have thriving careers, but we felt something was missing. We both wanted more out of life. The world was waiting and we weren’t getting any younger.
So we decided to take a huge risk and quit our jobs to travel the world long term. We temporarily threw everything into storage, hung up our lab coats, got married and traveled to over 35 countries across 4 continents over a period of 18 months.
It was hands down the most frightening yet liberating decision we have ever made. And it changed our lives forever.
During our global adventure we discovered an unknown passion for photography, nurtured our love for hiking, and kindled a strong desire to create amazing travel content.
The Origins Of Where Are Those Morgans
During our honeymoon in 2018, we were instantly inspired to create our own platform so that we could help others experience the beauty of the world.
The name Where Are Those Morgans was borne out of a play on words taken from catch up calls with friends or family who would ask ‘and where are those Morgans now?”
We bought our blog domain in June 2018 and planned to officially launch it when we returned from our honeymoon at the end of 2019.
This next year was critical because we learned how to travel as bloggers and develop our photography skills, so we could create in depth itineraries for each new place we visited.
We returned from our honeymoon in December 2019, completely broke but incredibly motivated. The idea of running our travel blog was the ultimate dream job but we had a lot of work to do and we didn’t know if the blog could support both of us financially.
Building A Travel Blog In A Pandemic
Kristen had recently finished her Masters in Health System Administration so she returned to the lab and Mark started work on building our blog full time. Our teamwork approach worked well and we began to publish our first travel guides in February in 2020.
Then boom… Just one month later, the world slowly began to shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic. Talk about horrible timing. Starting a travel blog is hard enough, but starting a travel blog when no one can travel is even harder.
Almost every aspect of life was shaken to the core, including US healthcare which saw massive furloughs and layoffs. Kristen was furloughed in her new position and this was another turning point in our lives.
The unpredictable turmoil taught us that we wanted to have complete control over our future by working for ourselves. We found 2020 to be an extremely difficult year like many others around the world, but it was exactly what we needed.
At the end of 2020, we made more big life decisions. We moved to New York City for the first part of 2021, before moving to Seattle, Washington for the rest of the year.
Building Our New Businesses
By the end of 2021, our blog was at a point where it could financially support both of us. So Kristen officially left her position in the lab and we spent 2022 living all over the world working full time together on our new business.
In early 2023, we launched a brand new website to run side by side with Where Are Those Morgans that we feel will greatly benefit our readers in the future.
We call our unique hotel finding platform, Best Hotels Anywhere. This resource is solely dedicated to helping travelers figure out exactly where to stay on any trip.
Using the same scientific and data driven approach, we show you the best places to stay in popular travel destinations around the world for any kind of budget.
What This Travel Blog Means To Us
Travel has been the one constant thing in our lives since the day we met. After we applied for Mark’s US Green Card, travel was the only way we could be together while his application processed.
If you’ve ever gone through an immigration process, you’ll understand how frustrating and time consuming the entire process can be. Travel gave us the ability to grow together as a couple despite the limitations of an immigration process.
And with our families in different countries, our blogging platform has also given us the freedom to work from anywhere in the world. We can visit both of our families anytime we want, which has been one of the most rewarding aspects of choosing this lifestyle.
We hope our story motivates you to take that once in a lifetime trip or to follow your professional dreams because life is short and you have to make everyday count.
Thanks For Reading About Us
Thank you again for taking the time to read the story behind our travel blog. We hope our detailed travel guides help with planning your next vacation.
You can use the links below to explore more of Where Are Those Morgans:
- Blog – Read our latest travel guides
- Destinations – Search for travel inspiration
- eBooks – Shop our popular guidebooks
Or if you are looking to work with us, you can use these additional resources:
- Contact – The best way to get ahold of us
- Press Page – Discover where we have been featured
- Work With Us – See if our values align with your needs